A Tale of Two Goblins - By H. P. Mallory Page 0,59

have the chance to ponder how completely bizarre the situation had been because moments later my phone rang.

I gripped the receiver, bringing it to my mouth before checking the caller ID as I opened the kitchen door and Blue came galloping in.

“Hello?” I demanded, petting Blue’s head as he danced around me.

“It’s me,” Knight answered.

“Where the hell did you go?”

There was silence on the other line. “What?”

I sighed and it was full of frustration. “Two seconds ago, you showed up in my house uninvited and when I tried to talk to you, you just ignored me and left. Really nice, Knight, I don’t have the time for this crap.”

More silence. I pulled out the Alpo bag from my broom closet and walked to the back door, reaching down for Blue’s bowl as I wondered if Knight had dropped off the line.

“Hello?” I insisted, placing Blue’s food dish on the kitchen floor.

“Dulcie, is everything okay?” Knight asked in a concerned voice.

“Yes,” I bit out, wondering why the hell he was playing games. We didn’t have time for games. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I’ve been at the hospital ever since you left—I never came to see you.”

Now it was my turn for silence—the only sound in the room was the tinkling of the dog kibbles as they dropped into the silver bowl. Blue devoured them hungrily as I wondered what the hell was wrong with me? First I’d seen a baby who wasn’t there and now I’d imagined Knight? I was losing my mind—it was a sign that I had to get off the Mandrake. But, the very thought of abandoning the Mandrake suddenly made my gut clench and anger bubbled up within me. I couldn’t go cold turkey, er, cold fairy. I couldn’t stop taking the Mandrake, not now when Sam’s life still depended on it. No, my resolution was firm—I had to crack the case and I had two days left to do it in; if no one else would help me, then damn them. I’d do it myself.

“Are you still there?” Knight asked.

“Yeah,” I started, my voice echoing my muddled thoughts. “Sorry. I must have just…been confused, that’s all.”

He cleared his throat. “Dulcie, you need to sleep.”

“I’m fine.”

“Dia said she offered to give you a couple of hours and you turned her down…repeatedly.”

Damn Dia and her big mouth. “I don’t have time to sleep. Not when Sam’s life depends on us finding this guy,” I blurted out.

“Your health is suffering, Dulcie, you don’t look good.”

“To hell with looking good!” I yelled into the phone. “I don’t give a shit about my hair or…”

“I’m not talking about your hair,” Knight snapped. “I’m talking about the fact that you’ve lost too much weight, you aren’t eating and you look sick.” He paused. “And now it sounds like you’re seeing things.”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m focused on my best friend and not my looks,” I spat out, ignoring the part about seeing things. I didn’t have an excuse for that one.

“Stop turning this around on me, Dulcie. You know what I’m talking about.”

“No, I…”

“Anyway, you need to take the night off. I’m going to send Dia over later and you’d better get some sleep, understood?”

“Don’t send Dia over,” I started, panic spiraling through me as I realized I’d be found out as soon as Dia realized I couldn’t fall asleep. “I’m coming back to the hospital. I’m not leaving Sam by herself.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Knight said in a steely voice. “I’m the head of this investigation and what I say goes. Dia is coming over tonight and you’ll thank me tomorrow.”

Before I could argue, he hung up.

“Cocky bastard!” I yelled into the receiver before slamming the phone down. Blue jumped about two feet and retired to the far end of the room, his tail between his legs. I put my hand out, trying to coax him back over again. “Sorry, Boy, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He didn’t make any motion to approach me and, instead, went back to his half-eaten bowl of kibbles and picked up where he’d left off, eyeing me suspiciously from time to time as if to make sure I wasn’t going to wig out on him again.

I collapsed onto the couch and tried to concentrate on what to do next. I attempted to focus but my mind was beyond the point of concentration and into the realm of make believe.

A knock on the door grabbed my attention as irritation swept through me. Dia. Knight must