Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
“It looks kind of like…” Natalie wrinkled her nose. “…a funeral urn.”
“It’s not. It’s fifteen pounds of solid lead, coated on the exterior in a thick layer of epoxy because lead is toxic to humans, with an interlocking lid to prevent radiation leaks.”
That all sounded very impressive, but Natalie’s larger concern was, would it stop killer brain ghost leaks?
“So it will function kind of like trapping a genie in a bottle,” she said.
Liam nodded. “That’s the idea.”
“And you just walked out of the hospital with it?” she asked. He still hadn’t given her any details. He’d just shown up at the shop with this thing in his hands.
“Not exactly, but close enough.”
She opened her mouth, about to follow up with more questions, when through the window she spotted a sheriff’s department vehicle pulling up to the curb in front of her shop.
She hit the deck. Or in this case, the shop floor behind the counter. Then she remembered the stolen vessel, still sitting on the check-out counter in plain view.
Reaching up from her position on the floor, she grabbed it with just her fingertips, sending it toppling toward her.
Liam hadn’t been kidding. The damn thing was heavier than it looked. She managed to catch it with both hands before it hit the floor or did bodily harm to her. But it wasn’t pretty. More like a messy, near fumble in football.
“What are you doing?” Liam asked, leaning over the counter to look down at her on the floor.
“Carson! Here! Gotta hide this.”
The vessel clutched under one arm, she knee-walked toward the back. When she heard the bell above the door sound, she panicked.
“Distract him,” she hissed, low but with feeling then put on the speed.
She moved as fast as a person could on their knees while trying not to drop an urn made of fifteen pounds of toxic lead. She made it out of sight of the store and clambered to her feet, taking off at a run toward the apartment bedroom.
Inside she looked around. Where could she hide this thing?
Her gaze hit the unmade bed where the plastic storage totes Liam had mocked her for peeked out from beneath.
Hitting her knees once again, she reached for the nearest tote. Then thought better of it and pushed that one aside, leaning lower to grab the one behind it.
The move wrenched her shoulder, sending a shot of pain from the joint all the way to her neck.
Stifling both a shout of pain and a string of obscenities, she put down the urn and used her other arm to drag the tote partially out from beneath the bed.
She managed to lift the lid just enough to shove the urn inside and camouflage it with her bathing suits and cover-ups, neither of which she’d used in years.
Satisfied the stolen goods weren’t visible, she shoved the one tote back underneath, then positioned the other tote in front of it.
Pushing off the floor, the shot of pain in her wrenched muscle had her clutching her shoulder as she managed to get to her feet.
Making the bed with one hand left it messy, but at least the plastic bins beneath the bed were hidden by the newly straightened dust ruffle sticking out below the comforter.
Meanwhile, she had no idea what was happening out in the shop. Liam could be in handcuffs by now for all she knew.
After one more glance back at the bed so she could be satisfied she’d done the best she could with the limited resources she had, she headed toward the door between the apartment and the store. Stopping only to grab the bottle of ibuprofen from the kitchen cabinet as she passed.
Clearing the doorway she skidded to a stop when she saw Liam.
He stood where she’d left him, alone, his brows raised as he took in her appearance.
She probably was a sight. Her left hand clutched her right shoulder as the giant box store-sized ibuprofen bottle dangled precariously from the fingers of her right hand as her arm hung at her side, limp, painful and nearly useless.
“Where’s Carson?” she asked, low in case he was lurking somewhere.
“He left.”
“He left? He wasn’t here about the… you know?” She wasn’t about to mention Liam’s crime aloud. So she tipped her head back toward where the urn was hidden.
“No. Not at all.”
“Then what did he want?”
“To see if Harper was here.”
Uh, oh.
The one thing that was possibly as bad as Carson being here to arrest Liam for stealing hospital equipment from an oncology lab, was Carson here looking for Harper.
“Why was he looking for Harper?” she asked.
Liam drew in a breath. “He didn’t say. But I doubt it’s good.”