One Grave Too Many

movies, where you get the shit beat out of you and get up and go some more. I’m going to take you home, and you are going to stay there.”
    “You won’t get an argument from me.”
    Diane felt doubly tired by the time she got back to Frank’s car. He drove her home. Diane stopped by her landlady’s apartment to see if the locks had been changed.
    “They just left.” She smiled sweetly and handed Diane two keys. “I hope you’re feeling better. It’s a shame how crime’s just moving into a nice neighborhood like this.”
    Diane thanked her, backed out the door and let Frank see her safely inside her apartment.
    “I need to go visit Star awhile. The doctors want to keep her another day. I’ll come back and stay the night here.”
    “I imagine you’ll be glad to get back to work so you can get some rest.”
    Frank smiled and kissed her. “When all this is over, we need to go do something fun—just the two of us. You like fishing?”
    “As a matter of fact, I do. How about you, think you’d like to go caving?”
    “Maybe we’ll compromise and go to the beach.” He kissed her again. “I haven’t forgotten your problem with the forgery. I’m checking on some of your employees right now. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
    “You have a lead?”
    “Not sure. Get some sleep. I’ll be back soon.”
    Frank left, and Diane settled into the comfort of the couch and dozed off. Hours later she was awakened by the ringing of the phone. She reached over and picked it up and managed a muffled hello.
    “Diane? Is this Diane Fallon?” The voice sounded hysterical and came in gasps and sobs.
    “Yes. Who is this?”
    “It’s Star. Please come. Please. It’s Uncle Frank. They told me somebody shot him. I’m afraid he might be dead. Please come.”

Chapter 30
    Diane put down the phone and fell on the sofa, sick, shaking and panicky. She ran to the bathroom and threw up.
    “Oh, God, no. Not again, no. Please, no. Please not again.”
    When she thought she was finished vomiting, she rinsed her mouth and washed her face with cool water. She had told Star she would come as soon as she could. At the moment, she wasn’t sure she could even drive. One thing at a time. First, she packed an overnight bag, just in case. I’ve got to get control, she told herself as she tried to calm her shaking hands. Packing done, she raced down the stairs of her apartment and out to her car.
    She hardly remembered the drive to the hospital, but there she was, pulling into the visitors’ parking. By the time she got inside, she was shaking almost too much to walk straight. She went up to Star’s room first and found her sobbing uncontrollably while a nurse was trying to give her a sedative.
    “Can you take off these restraints?” asked Diane.
    “I’ve asked the policeman outside and he said no. You’d think he’d have more compassion.”
    Star cried and pulled at the restraints. Diane stroked her hair as the nurse gave her the shot.
    “This will take effect pretty quickly,” she said.
    “Will you find out for me?” said Star. “Go see him and tell him not to die.”
    “I will. I’ll go right now. I know it’s hard, but try to stay calm. The shot the nurse gave you will help.”
    Diane left the room, sweeping past the guard at Star’s door who was reading his Western. She resisted the urge to pull it out of his hands and toss it down the corridor.
    The nurse at the front desk downstairs told her that Frank was in surgery and gave her directions to the waiting room. When she got there, Izzy Wallace and his partner were already there.
    “How is he?” she asked.
    “We don’t know. He’s in surgery. It didn’t look good.”
    “What happened?”
    “He’d just taken some money out of the ATM outside the hospital and was leaving, when this black guy came up, shot him and took his wallet.”
    Diane looked at Izzy in amazement. “Frank and I are certainly having a run of bad luck, aren’t we?”
    “We have witnesses to what happened.” Izzy sounded defensive. He didn’t like Diane, and she didn’t care.
    “What did the witnesses say?”
    Izzy hesitated a moment, as though thinking whether he should give her information.
    “A black guy in a cap and dreadlocks came up to within about ten feet of Frank and pulled out a gun and shot him just as he was putting his money in his wallet. The perp grabbed the wallet off the ground and ran. He got lost in the dark. It happened quickly. Two people saw