Chapter 26
Awet lick on my face woke me. I sat bolt upright in my motel bed. Mrs. Miniver wagged her tail with abandon, obviously happy with the results of her action.
Mr. Chips had given Ange the same treatment. She flung off her duvet, grabbed her dressing gown and stepped into her slippers. “Breakfast’s coming up,” she told her dogs. To me, she said, “Good morning. You talk in your sleep.”
“I do? Sorry.” I hopped out of bed, too. A glimmer of light fell through a chink in the curtains.
Ange filled two bowls with dog food and put them on a rubber mat. Mrs. Miniver promptly left my side, to take care of her belly. Mr. Chips joined her, and peacefully they enjoyed their food.
“You said, pay … and then a few words I couldn’t understand, before I fell asleep.”
I headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. “That’s not much.”
“That depends. Unless you talk regularly in your sleep, it could be a leftover effect from your spell. In that case, I’d say we’re looking at blackmail.”
“It fits everything we’ve heard about Tim’s character. Money makes a lot more sense as a motive than jealousy or the fear of having your past dragged up.” I turned on the shower. The warm water invigorated me, including my mental process.
When I stepped out of the bathroom, to let Ange have her turn, we both spoke in unison. “Nick.”
Ange grinned at me. “If you don’t mind, I’ll send him a picture of the mysterious lab report.”
“We should have thought about that possibility last night,” I said. I fished out the sheet. “Can you send me a copy of the photo?”
She snapped away, typed a few words, and hit send. “Take the dogs over to Harper and Reina, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“I’ll pack our bags first, and then we’ll go together.”
We breakfasted in a hurry. We’d achieved what we’d set out for, and now all of us were in a hurry to return to our normal jobs and our investigation. The motel had given up its clues.
The reception was closed when we deposited our keys in the drop box. On Ange’s insistence we wore our witchy outfits again. She said it would be weird if we’d stopped being eccentric too soon, in case the young man was up to see us. She grinned. “Not that we’d ever be considered boringly normal.”
I grinned too. I’d grown fond of my hat and considering that Harper and I both carried our brooms, it added to the fun. It also felt right to tell the world who I was without telling the world who I was.
We were loading our cars when Ange’s phone pinged. She scanned it. “It’s Nick’s answer. He's the wrong person to ask, but he suggests we try our luck with an environmental scientist.”
“Like Sam?” I asked.
“Like Sam.”
“Do you need us for anything?” Harper opened her car door.
I hugged her and then Reina. “If so, I’ll call you.”
With a wave, they drove off. Ange and I followed.
She dropped me off at home.
With my broom in my hand, I trotted up the staircase where my faithful familiar rested in the middle of the sofa. He yawned at me but moved over so I could sit next to him. “You look like you could do with a rest. You’re winded after that sprint.”
“I need more exercise,” I admitted, grateful for his considerate manner, although the word winded stung a little.
“In that case, we’ll go to the kitchen, and you can do a few squats and lunges while you feed me and make your coffee.”
He raced ahead without waiting for a reply.
Dutifully, I served his breakfast. While my coffee brewed, I attempted a deep squat.
My joints creaked. The occasional yoga session with Ange and climbing stairs obviously weren’t cutting it.
Another trip to the spa in Cannon Hill wouldn’t be such a bad idea, and this time I’d make sure we added a visit to the karaoke bar.
While I sipped my coffee, I filled Cosmo in with the events of last night. He listened without interruption, until I came to my misadventure in the woods. “I told you the meaning would reveal itself,” he said with a level of smugness befitting an aristocrat.
“You did.” I inspected my palms. Today, the grazes were barely visible.
When I mentioned the lab report and the words I’d supposedly uttered while in dreamland, Cosmo came to the same conclusion as Ange and I, only faster. “Invite Sam over.”
“What, now?”
“Do you want to wait until he’s miles away from civilization, communing with earthworms and whatever else he does?”
As bizarre as that sounded, Cosmo had a point. As an environmental biologist for the county, Sam divided his time between field studies, lab work, and filing reports.
My message reached him at his dad’s. Sam agreed to stop by my place.
He looked exhausted when he arrived.
“Is everything okay with Jimmy?” I asked. I hadn’t seen them both since the evening at the Blue Moon.
“He had a tumble in the bathroom, and it wasn’t the first one. Dad’s right. He needs to be in a place where there’s help at hand, and where he’s surrounded by his buddies. I should have seen that sooner.”
“A tumble?” Was there anything I could have done? No, I told myself. Cookies and teas to ease pain and stress were one thing. But I couldn’t stop old age.
“Nothing too serious. He has a few bruises and Nick insisted on him using a stool to sit in the shower from now on. I’m on my way to Serenity Springs.
With any luck they have a room for him available today.
If I give notice on my apartment and move into Dad’s house, the fees shouldn’t be a problem. ”
“That’s good news.”
I made us both a coffee before I showed him the lab report. He studied it with growing unease.
“Where did you get this?”
“It might have to do with Tim’s death. Why, what does it mean?”
“Contamination. Serious contamination in the soil.”
“Soil?” I jumped up so hastily Sam had to save my coffee cup.
I rummaged in the box where I’d put the crumbs of earth that I’d saved at Bert’s barn. I’d put the sample into a small tin which I now presented to Sam. “Like this?”
“Maybe. Only a real examination can tell.”
“Can you do that? With your lab equipment?”
“I can give it a shot, or if I can’t, I’ll call in a favor from a colleague. Once we have the results, we can try to figure out where your sample came from and get a sample to match them.”
“I appreciate that.”
He swilled the rest of his beverage. “I assume you didn’t touch the sample with your bare hands or used anything that muddies up the results?”
“I wore my gloves.”
A warm glow spread over me. We must be coming to the end of the investigation.
I couldn’t tell if that was due to Sam’s willingness to run some tests or because he’d triggered another revelation.
All I knew was that I was sure I had all the pieces of the puzzle.
They only needed to be fitted into their proper place.