“Oh. OK. No problem.” Brian’s brow wrinkled, but he withdrew his phone and the two pairs of wireless headphones that we used to contact Special Agent in Charge Grant. As my liaison, it was expected of Smulder that he would always have his phone and earphones with him. In case of emergency.
I slipped the earphones into place, and Brian initiated the call.
“Yes?” Grant’s voice in my ears. Boy, he didn’t sound happy.
“Hi Grandpa,” Brian said. “Your favorite granddaughter wanted to talk to you.”
“About what?”
I cleared my throat. “You’re going to need to be on the lookout for a black SUV from now on.”
“We’re in the middle of looking out for another of your friends, Charlie.” Yeah, he was angrier than a mouse in a cheese drought. “All my resources are… busy.”
“Trust me, you’re going to want to do this.”
“Explain why,” Grant replied.
I took a deep breath, glancing over at Brian and hating that I was about to make him very upset, then started talking. I told them both, in hushed tones, about our trip to the coroner’s office today and how we had discovered that the guilty party may have been driving a black SUV.
Brian’s expression went from soft and caring to hard and impassive again. If he couldn’t accept the fact that I would go out of my way to keep my grandmother and the inn safe, then—
“And you thought it was a good idea to go out of your way to find this information? After all the warnings I’ve given you?” Grant asked, blustering in a tone that sounded like a Pitbull’s bark.
“Frankly, yes, I did feel that way. No offense, Grandpa, but you haven’t exactly got anything to show for the last thirty days. I have a feeling that we’ll figure this out before you do.”
Smulder’s eyes widened.
I snapped my mouth shut and grimaced. It wasn’t like me to be directly subordinate—at least not verbally.
“Speak to me like that again and you’ll face disciplinary action.”
“Yes, Grandpa,” I said, not meeting Smulder’s gaze.
“As for this SUV,” he continued, “I doubt that it’s anything to worry about.”
“But—”
“Let me and my friends handle the problem.” That was his final say. Special Agent in Charge Grant hung up, and Brian withdrew the earphones from his ears right away.
“What were you thinking?” he asked. “You put yourself in danger leaving the grounds, let alone going to see the medical examiner. Are you trying to get yourself killed, Charlotte?”
“No, I’m trying to put an end to this.”
“You’re going to bring that end down on your head if you continue. You’re lucky that Grandpa’s being so lenient with you. If it were me…” He released a breath. “Never mind.” He walked for the door, stopping only to accept the Bluetooth earphones from me.
“Brian, please. I’m trying to do the right thing by telling you what’s going on. Try to get Grandpa to look out for that car. It’s important.”
“Grandpa’s resources are spread thinly enough as it is without chasing after half-cocked theories about that man’s murder. Stay out of it, Charlie. Once and for all.” And then my boyfriend, the same one I’d thought infallibly sweet and caring, strode from the room and slammed the door shut behind him.
Do you blame him? You’ve tested him non-stop.
I stroked Cocoa Puff for a few seconds longer before leaving the room, as well.
12
Evening had come in the Gossip Inn, and with Jordan gone—rest his soul—Gamma, Hannah, Maria, and I had set up a schedule for looking after the youngest kitties at night. Tonight, just so happened to be my turn, and that was fine. I doubted I’d get much sleep anyway, not after the argument with Smulder and Grant.
They seriously didn’t believe us. That or they didn’t believe Dr. Briggs, which was a possibility too. But I doubted that. Grant was convinced he was right. He was used to being the top dog and telling people what to do.
And I was supposed to be the good little spy who did as he asked.
Sunlight, the cutest kitty in the world, meowed at me from the door to the incubator room, and I went out to join him.
It was just past 8:00 p.m., my shift at its beginning, and the smallest kittens were asleep. Sunlight had entered that playful kitty adolescent phase with ease, and I played with him on the kitten foster center’s floor, laughing at his antics.
“You’re a crazy one, you know that?”
He meowed and leaped over my knees, trying to bat at the feather toy I dangled above his head.
The subtle creak of a wood behind me wiped the smile off my face.
Someone’s here. Someone’s in here with you.
I turned my head, as casually as I could manage, and scanned the area that led toward the door that separated the inn and the foster center. Nothing. Empty.
Was I imagining things?
I’d been awful tense lately.
Come on, you know better than to doubt yourself. Kyle could be here. He could be anywhere.
I dragged the feather along the boards again, and a few of the other kittens came to play as well. They play-fought with each other or chased after the cat toy.
You’re fine. Calm down.
My ears were officially pricked up now, though.
I pretended to be fully immersed in what the kitties were doing.
Another creak came, and I zeroed in on where it had come from.
The incubation room.
I set the cat toy aside and rose from my knees. I stretched my arms and legs, carefully and slowly. Nothing worse than going into a fight with tight muscles that wouldn’t do what you wanted them to in a sticky situation.
Finally, I slunk toward the half-door that separated the incubation room from the rest of the center. My pulse pounded, blood rushing in my ears, but I forced myself to take steady, even breaths.
He was here.
It was the slight shift in the air, the atmosphere of ill-intent that had me convinced. Kyle was here.
I stood in front of the doorway
