Fever(73)
I liked Deanne Goldman and I wished her well, so I hoped he was right about her mental health. If so, she not only wouldn’t marry him, she’d throw him out and change all the locks on her doors.
On Saturday morning, early, I called Tamara at home to fill her in on Friday’s events. She had a few questions; when I’d answered them, she said, “Some Friday. For you and for Jake, too. Our first pro bono and it turned out crazy, blew up in a murder-suicide.”
“The hell it did. What happened? He didn’t get caught up in it, did he?”
“Found the bodies, that’s all,” she said, and provided details. “Weird, huh?”
“Very. Sometimes I think this agency is cursed. We get the damnedest cases.”
“Always come out okay, though, don’t we?”
“So far,” I said. “One thing for sure after yesterday: I’ve had it up to here with gamblers and gambling. If there’s even a hint of either one in a future inquiry, we turn the case down flat. In fact, do me a favor and don’t even mention gambling to me anymore.”
She let me hear one of her saucy little chuckles. “I won’t,” she said. “You can bet the house on it.”
Sunday night, in bed, Kerry said, “I’ve made a decision.”
“Good for you. About what?”
“The way I look.”
“You look fine. Kind of sexy tonight, as a matter of fact. Is that a new nightie?”
“Don’t try to change the subject.”
“I didn’t know I was. Since when is a compliment changing the subject?”
“I’m talking about cosmetic surgery,” she said.
Uh-oh. “You’re not serious?”
“Oh yes, I am. Very serious.”
“My God, not one of those bizarre surgeries you and Tamara were talking about the other night…”
“No. Only my face.”
“Nice face. I like it just as it is.”
“You don’t have to look at it in the mirror every day.”
“I look at it every day straight on. Same thing.”
“No. Not from my perspective. Lines, wrinkles, eyebags … on my best days I look my age. On my worst … bleah.”
“Come on,” I said, “you worry too much about things like that. Doesn’t matter. You still think and act young, you’re still sexy as all get-out—that’s what’s important.”
“To you. Not necessarily to me.”
“Vanity,” I said.
“Call it what you want,” she said with a little snap in her voice. Then, “What’s wrong with a little vanity?”
“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it—”
“Men can be just as vain as women. More. It’s human nature.”
I sighed. “All right. So what is it you want to change?”
“Everything.”
“A whole new face? Like Bogart in Dark Passage.”
“If I had my druthers,” she said. “But I’ll settle for a complete makeover. Get rid of the lines around my mouth, the eyebags and wrinkles. I’ve seen and talked to a few women who’ve had the procedure. They all look years younger. Just as important, they all feel years younger.”
“Sometimes,” I said carefully, “that kind of surgery doesn’t work out the way it’s supposed to. I mean, there can be complications. Some face-lifts don’t heal right and the person ends up disfigured—”
“Oh, bosh. There’s a tiny risk, yes, but there’s a tiny risk in just about everything we do in our lives. Surgeons have all sorts of new methods that make the procedure perfectly safe.”
“Famous last words.”
“Will you please stop arguing with me?”
“I wasn’t arguing, I was only—”
“I’ve made an appointment with a cosmetic surgeon,” she said. “Dr. Hamadi. He’s in the same building as my oncologist downtown.”
“… Appointment for when?”
“Next Thursday afternoon.”
“You mean you’re having it done that soon?”
“No. It’s just a preliminary examination to make sure I’m healthy enough to go ahead with the procedure.”
“Healthy enough? So even if this doctor says you are, there could still be complications …”
“You’re acting like I’m going to apply for a heart transplant. It’s a simple operation, done thousands of times every day with no complications whatsoever.”
“We’re not talking about thousands of women, we’re talking about you.”
Her mouth pursed. Stubborn, determined. “I’m doing this for me, not for you or anybody else. After all I’ve been through this past year, I think I’m entitled—whether you agree or not. A face-lift is safe, it’s affordable, and I’m going to have it done and that’s all there is to it.”