“I found the body, that’s all. I don’t know anything more about it.”
“Oh come on, Emerald. Surely you know what’s going on!” She motioned and Royal appeared, edging in for a close up.
Once again, unable to muster my diplomacy, I ground my teeth together. “Take a hike, Sutton. If you want answers, wait and talk to the cops.”
I left her there and returned to the clearing, where I mutely watched the police finish their tasks. There was a fluttering in the wind, and the faint whiff of bonfires and autumn decay swept past me. Scar hadn’t been the source of the tumultuous energy I’d felt in the woods. And he hadn’t been killed by a cougar, either. That much, I knew for sure. When a person had been murdered, there was a certain feel to the case, a certain edge that I had learned to pick up, much to my dismay. Scar had died at someone’s hands, not some big cat’s paws. And I had the feeling that whoever—or whatever—had killed him wasn’t finished yet.
Chapter 6
HOME AT LAST. I trudged into the house, somber. Randa glanced up at me from her book. “What’s wrong, Mom? You look worn out.”
Just dandy. Most moms complained about having to herd their kids to baseball games or ice skating lessons. I whined about body counts. I dropped into the recliner. “We found Jimbo’s friend.”
Randa marked her place and closed the book. “He wasn’t okay, was he?”
I shook my head. “No, honey. He was dead. That’s why I didn’t want you guys to come with me.” I looked around. “Where’s Kip? And why aren’t you over at Horvald’s?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t feel so good; I got queasy after lunch so I asked him if I could come home and rest. Mr. Ledbetter has been phoning every half-hour to check on me.”
I rested my hand on her forehead. She was a little hot, but I suspected that her nausea was due to the fact that she’d just started her period this summer and puberty was hitting her hard. “Do you want me to draw you a bath or make you some tea?”
With a little sniff, she leaned against me. “Yeah, mint tea would be nice.”
“Okay, I need to take a quick shower but afterward, we’ll sit in the kitchen and I’ll make you tea and toast. Would you like some soup, too?”
A glint sparkled into her eye and I thought that maybe it wasn’t cramps at all, maybe she just needed a Mom-fix. “Yeah, soup’s good!”
“All right. Do me a favor and go tell Kip to come home. I’ll be back downstairs in a flash.”
Though I longed for a lengthy bubble bath, I made do with a quick rinse and scrub down. By the time I returned to the kitchen, Kip and Randa were both sitting at the table. Even though I knew they’d had a good lunch, I pulled out a box of Lipton Noodle Soup mix and made up a big pot, double-strength, just the way we liked it.
“Randa says you found Jimbo’s friend?” Kip sounded too eager, as always.
“Yeah, and it wasn’t very pleasant so I’d rather not talk about it.”
Randa squirmed. “Mom, why do you get mixed up in this stuff? I mean, it’s not like when we lived in Seattle.”
I ladled the soup into bowls and set them on the table, then trickled hot water over the Moroccan Mint teabags that I’d draped in my Dancing Violets teapot. The gentle scent of mint wafted up to envelop my senses and ran through me like a good massage. I set out teacups and brought the pot over to finish steeping on the table.
As I took my seat and pulled my bowl of soup closer, I thought about what she’d said. True, nothing like this had ever happened in Seattle. Then again, Chiqetaw was proving to be quite the strange little town. There were energies here that I’d never felt in my life before we moved here.
“Maybe there’s some reason I’m supposed to get involved. Maybe the victims need me to help them find some sort of peace. Chiqetaw seems to be a quirky town, so maybe it’s just the energy here that draws me into these cases. Or maybe this is all coincidence. Whatever the reason, please remember that I’ll always protect you from anything that tries to hurt you.”
With a ghost of a smile, Randa scooped up a spoonful of soup and swallowed it. “Sometimes I think you should have been the cop and not Murray. My mom the cop!” She sobered. “I’m glad you aren’t, though. I’d always be afraid you’d get hurt.”
Kip bobbed his head in agreement. “Can I have some toast?” he asked.
I fetched the bread out from the fridge and popped three slices into the toaster, then set the butter on the table, along with a knife. “What are you planning to do for the rest of this afternoon?”
“The Chiqetaw Museum has a lecture on space flight that starts at five o’clock. I thought I’d go,” Randa said. “That is, if you’ll give me five dollars for the entry fee.”
“I’m going to Sly’s house,” Kip chimed in.
I fished the money out of my purse for Randa, eyeing Kip with trepidation. No doubt my morbid son was aching to spill my latest news to his buddy. This kind of thing racked up big-time points in the world of nine-year-old boys.
“All right. Take your bikes, and both of you be home by eight-thirty. And don’t you eat anything over at Sly’s. I don’t trust his mother to make sure the food’s cooked right.” Sly’s mother had about as much common sense as a lemming. The last time Kip had dinner there, he’d gotten a mild case of food poisoning and that had put an end to dinner exchanges, at least on Kip’s end. As for Sly, I always gave in and fed the pint-sized runt whenever he showed up on our doorstep.
Kip planted a quick peck on my cheek and took off. Randa followed suit, with me close behind. I crossed the street to Horvald’s place, as she grabbed her bike and headed down the road.