She fumbled, one-handed, for her mobile and slid her thumb to the side before taking it between her ear and shoulder. "DI Smith."
"Anna Smith?"
"Yes," She continued searching for something on her desk. "May I ask who this is?"
"This is Jane Moorsum, the attending nurse for your grandmother." Anna stopped, "I'm afraid to say she's nearing the end, Ms. Smith. Right now she's peaceful, sleeping on and off, but we'd like you here to help settle the final arrangements and she's been asking for you."
"I'll be right there." Anna ended the call and stood, snatching her jacket from the back of her chair so fast it spun to hit her desk.
The dark-haired woman across from her raised her head, frowning, "Steady on there. You'll leave a ding in the desk and then they'll ding you in the reviews next week."
"They can ding what they like." Anna opened her drawer, retrieving her keys and smiling at the other woman, "I'm the favorite Mary, and we both know it. I can do no wrong."
"Just wait until they ask me about you." Mary leaned over her desk, calling after her, "I can tell them all about that pub in Kirbymoorside."
Anna stuck up her middle finger and left through the doors.
Her little car fit into the parking space and she tugged the key out to hurry into the building. With barely a tap at the front desk they had her rushing down a hallway, her blonde ponytail bouncing slightly when she grabbed the lintel to the door. The nurse, noting something on an iPad, turned and beckoned Anna inside.
"How's she doing?"
"She's slipping in and out." The nurse's voice matched the one from the phone call and Anna noted her nametag did as well. "But if you'd like to wait here I can have a chair brought in for you."
"That's alright, thank you." Anna took the old woman lying prostrate in the bed by the hand and worked herself onto the edge. "I'll be fine here."
"It could still be awhile yet. A few hours maybe."
"It's fine," Anna nodded at her, "Thank you Nurse Moorsum."
"It's my pleasure." Nurse Moorsum tucked the iPad to her chest. "She's one of my best behaved patients and she's been nothing but lovely to me since we were put together."
"She always did have a way with people." Anna stroked the woman's hand. "Could I be alone with her or do you need to stay for anything?"
"We've got her vitals here so I can leave you be." Nurse Moorsum tapped her iPad. "There's a button next to her bed if you need anything. Just press and someone'll come running."
"Thank you." Anna arranged herself on the bed, kicking her shoes to the floor and tossing her jacket to the nearby chair to sit cross-legged in the space by her grandmother's stick-like legs. "You've gotten to look like a rail in here Gran. What've they been feeding you?"
"The most awful things." Her hand tightened on Anna's as her eyes flickered open blearily. "You've got to get me out of here Anna. They're trying to force something called Jell-O into my meals and it's the worst thing. It jiggles and shakes of it's own according and comes in the most ghastly colors."
"They say kids love it."
"Do I look like a child to you?"
"Well," Anna shrugged, "The Christmas song says kids from one to ninety-two."
"Oh," Her Gran sank back into her pillows, "If only I could've made it another year. Then people would respect me."
"They already do, I'm sure." Anna rubbed her hand, "But you're cold as ice."
"That's what happens when you're leaving your body one breath at a time."
Anna tried to smile but her eyes teared and she risked a hand to wipe them away, "You can't say things like that Gran."
"Why not, I'm dying?" She snorted, "I can say what I like now because who's going to argue with an old, dying woman?"
"Me, for a start." Anna fought back. "I can't do this without you."
"You're a professional with your own flat and this bed is costing you a pretty penny everyday." Gran sighed, "It's best if I empty it for someone else."
"You make it sound like a good thing."
"It is a good thing Anna." She leaned forward, a trembling and veiny hand caressing Anna's cheek. "My sweet girl you've got to move forward on your own."
"Without you?"
"If you can." She managed a smirk, "I'm a tough act to follow but tough bird though I am we both know the best descriptor you ever had for me you threw when you were fifteen."
"I didn't mean it."
"But I was." She rested back on her pillows, "I was a bitch and you deserved better than me to take care of you."
"You did a fine job." Anna used a hand to trace a line down herself in the air. "I'm healthy, I've got a job, I've got my own flat, I got a degree… that sounds like fine work on your part."
"No that's fine work on your part. Despite anything I did that might've screwed you up."
"You never screwed me up." Anna insisted, "You did the best you could for me. You and Grandad."
"He definitely gave you his Yorkshire accent didn't he."
"I have a few things my partner takes the mickey out of me for because they sound as Australian as you." Anna smiled, "But I wouldn't change it for the world. It's what I've got from you."
"I wanted to give you more Anna. So much more." She snorted, "I wanted to give your mother more too but she wasn't having it."
"She emailed last week, from Phuket." Anna shrugged, "No idea what she's doing there but the guy in the picture looked half her age."
"Always a firecracker your mother. Had to put her on a leash as a kid."
Anna laughed, "You used that on me at the Chester Zoo once."
"You wanted to get into the penguin pen."
"I almost did too."
"Good thing I had the leash then." They settled and Anna leaned forward as her grandmother stroked over her hair. "You make me so proud Anna. So proud and so happy."
"I'm glad." Anna sniffed, holding her grandmother's hand to her face. "I just want to make you proud."
"Then do something for me?"
"Anything."
"Do you remember that trip your Grandad and I were planning before your mum dropped you on our doorstep?"
Anna frowned, "I remember the suitcases."
"We were going to Oz for a trip."
"That I made you postpone indefinitely."
"You were more important than that trip." Her grandmother insisted, "But I want you to go."
"To Oz? And do what?"
"I want you to dig out our travel guide and follow the instructions in there. It's next to that book of fairy stories you always insisted I read to you before bed."
"I was seven."
"We're never too old for them Anna." She clutched Anna's hand with all the strength in her weakening and withered hand. "Promise me you'll go. There's questions I think you can answer for me."
"Questions about what?"
"About my family."
Anna shook her head, confused. "Your family left Melbourne when you were fifteen."
"They weren't my family, Anna."
"They raised you. You've got their last name."
Her Gran shook her head. "My father told me, when I was twenty-one, that he found me at the train station when I was four. Carrying that book of fairy tales and a small suitcase of clothes. No identification, no names, nothing."
"Someone left you at a train station?"
"No, I got off a train from Snowy River."
"What were you doing on a train from Snowy River?"
"I don't know and they tried to find my parents but no one ever came to claim me so my father took me. He raised me and then told me the truth when I was twenty-one." Her Gran choked a moment, "I never spoke to my family again after that."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't feel like I belonged anymore." Her Gran waved a hand, "They still write but I only just managed to write back a few weeks ago."
"You're in contact with the Crawleys?"
"Yes, my sister Violet and our cousin Isobel." She managed a shuddering breath. "Anna, I need you to set this right for me."
"But I'll never get the answers to you in time."
"You'll have the answers for yourself. That's what matters." Her Gran slumped against the pillows. "I'm going to rest now. I've talked for far too long."
"Sleep Gran, I'll be here when you wake up."
Anna held her grandmother's hand in her own, knowing she would never wake again. When Nurse Moorsum entered the room again she saw Anna still holding her grandmother's cold hand as tears dripped off her cheeks. She sniffed when she saw Nurse Moorsum and wiped away the tears threatening to fall from her chin.
"I think you've got some papers I need to sign?"
"You don't have to now."
"I think I should." Anna drew a shuddering breath, "I've got a few things I need to set right and this'll set the ball rolling."