If She Doesn't Scare You

Chapter 7- 1953- The Wife

Anita was exhausted. The constant calls from work, Rodger's insistence in her keeping the house tidy and the lack of news on all fronts. That was the final nail in the coffin really; there was no news at all. Not from the police, not from the hospital... oh god. It had been so awful when Nanny had just collapsed like that. Within a few hours after their homecoming they had had police, doctors and neighbours all over their home. The neighbours they had got rid of easily enough, but the police took an age to leave. They had wanted to speak to her and Rodger too- although he was so furious with Nanny that he took it out on them. Asking why he needed to be interviewed when he'd seen nothing. Anita could do little to calm him when he went off like that.

"You know who you should be pursuing?" he had yelled at them. "That wretched Nanny!"

She was still lying in hospital. They said they would call as soon as they had news of her recovery or... or worse. She had no family of her own- Anita and Rodger were her whole life really. It had only been a few days and yet Anita's whole life had changed. Not only was Rodger driving her mad at his instance to keep to a routine, she now had 15 puppies to feed on her own every hour of the day. With no Perdita to feed them, she had to do it manually herself. There was no news of the dogs' appearance either. That was how Rodger had been spending the last few days. Not caring one jot about her workload, just phoning anyone he could think of in the search for his Pongo. He had shown Anita his list of suspects (much to her horror- why couldn't he just leave it to the police?) and she was aghast when she saw Cruella's name on it.

"Rodger! Why on earth have you put down Cruella? You cannot surely believe she has anything to do with this?" Rodger turned away, his cheeks flushing a little. He didn't try to offer an explanation.

"Besides" Anita continued. "Nanny said she saw 2 men remember? Not a woman." She was working hard not to get too worked up about this. Cruella was her dearest friend and closest companion after Rodger. She didn't want her accused of anything.

"You must see it Anita" said Rodger, trying to explain. "She's always all over our dogs when she comes over; commenting on their coats and the like. Don't forget, she's a great lover of fur coats herself- why wouldn't she take them?" Anita didn't look at him. She didn't want to hear anymore ludicrous accusations- but of course she couldn't say that. In ways, he was making sense, but it was mad, no- downright illogical to accuse Cruella. She held her tongue on all this and said:

"Oh Rodger, I know you dislike her." She knew she had to choose her words carefully here, lest she should upset him. "But think of how considerate she was when I phoned her!" Her mind went back to yesterday. She had been eager to phone Cruella since the second the police left, but she was always commandeered for her attention by her work, the puppies or indeed- Rodger. He was glued to the phone every hour of every day anyhow. It was hard for her to slip in and use it herself. Although they had more than one phone (a fact Rodger was immensely proud of), they all connected to one another, and so only one person could use any phone at one time. Eventually, he handed it over with reluctance and stood next to her with his arms folded as she phoned her friend. She hated him standing over her like some sort of guard, but was so desperate for social conversation that she didn't argue.

"Anita! How awful!" Cruella had exclaimed when Anita had told her. "Is Nanny alright? Is there anything I can do to help you my dear?" Anita half felt like crying. It was so wonderful to have someone on her side, who wanted to help her for once. She hadn't had someone so eager to hear from her for weeks.

"I don't believe so Cruella. Nanny is in a steady state they're saying but-" she took a deep breath, willing the tears back. "They say it could go either way at this point. Her heart isn't coping very well."

"Anita darling, I'm so dreadfully sorry this has happened to you! I'll do everything I can to get you to those dogs of yours." There was a snuffling sound in the background and Anita almost gasped. Cruella never cried- lest about anyone's problems but her own.