to be staying on after the tour ends.”
“Long enough to return to Port Campbell and look for your grandmother’s plant?” asked Tilly.
“Ellie didn’t say how long they’d be staying. She was more upset about where the money was going to come from to foot the bill.”
“Are you thinkin’ the same person what killed Claire Bellows killed Nora?” asked Nana.
“That’s my current theory. Why, do you think it sounds stupid?”
“Nope, but there’s somethin’ I don’t get, dear. Makes sense to me that Roger, Diana, or Conrad might a killed Claire ’cause a the plant business. Even makes sense why they’d wanna kill each other. But what’s got me stumped is why Jake or Heath woulda killed Claire when they got no connection to her.”
“Perhaps they didn’t need a connection,” said Tilly. “Have you considered the possibility that we might be dealing with a sociopath who kills for no reason at all?”
Nana gave that careful thought. “Where would you write ‘Sociopath’ on them medical forms we filled out? Under ‘Pre-existing Conditions’ or ‘Other?’”
Unh-oh. I felt an acid indigestion moment coming on. “Umm, I never mentioned this before because I didn’t want to scare you, but Jake could have had a hand in Claire’s death. He didn’t do anything deliberately, but there’s a chance he might have killed her.” I dropped my voice to a raspy whisper. “Accidentally.”
“With poison?” asked Nana.
The words shot from my mouth like speeding bullets. “When he let his redback spider escape on the bus the other day.” I held my breath, waiting for their reaction.
Nana looked at Tilly. Tilly looked at Nana. They both looked at me, Nana’s eyes rounding to the size of half-dollars. “He let one a them poison spiders loose?”
“Accidentally.”
“And he didn’t tell no one?”
“He told Lola. That’s who told me.”
“Are you thinking the spider could have hidden in Claire’s hair or clothing and bitten her right before she died?” asked Tilly.
“It’s possible, isn’t it?”
“Any chance the critter could still be on the bus?” Nana asked, dry-mouthed.
“Uhhhhh, I’m guessing if it’s still on the bus, it’s dead. Someone probably stepped on it long ago. I mean, we didn’t notice anyone twitching abnormally, discharging all their body fluids, and dying a grisly death while we were on the bus, did we?”
“What about Nora?” asked Tilly.
Nora? Shoot, I was so sure she’d been poisoned, I never considered she might have died from a spider bite. “Did anyone notice Nora twitching?”
“Could be the twitchin’ didn’t kick in ’til she was on the ambulance,” said Nana as she examined the bottom of her boots for squished spiders.
“Or it could be that there’s no twitching, fluid discharge, or grisly death involved at all,” Tilly speculated. “Emily said that Jake is a fear monger. How do we know he was telling us the truth about a person’s reaction to a redback bite?”
Nana sucked noisily on her dentures. “I’ll find out.” She stuffed her feet back into her boots, marched to the desk, and powered up her laptop.
Knock, knock, knock.
“You do your search,” I said to Nana as I stood up. “I’ll get that.”
“I can’t come in, but I have news for your grandmother,” Conrad said when I opened the door. “The team of zoologists the university sent to Sovereign Hill are beating the bushes in search of the rat kangaroo, but they’ve asked if you could fax your grandmother’s photo to them at this number.” He handed me a slip of paper. “I know what they should be looking for, but I’m not sure they know what they should be looking for. They might be embarrassed that a creature they’d misplaced for sixty-five years might have been living right under their noses, and it took a Yank to find it.”
I arched a brow at the number. “What about the angiosperm photo? Should I fax that to the university’s botany department? That might give them a better idea of what they’re looking for, too.”
“No, no.” He took an awkward step back. “Sadly, the botany team has given up their search, so it would do you no good. Just the rat kangaroo, please. I must get back now. Ellie isn’t feeling so well. I think it was the last Shiraz. Much too peppery for her.”
I hoped it was the Shiraz and not something more sinister. I wasn’t sure how much I trusted Conrad anymore.
I returned to the room and hovered over Nana’s shoulder. “Conrad would like us to fax your photo of the rat kangaroo to the university zoologists at Sovereign Hill. Seems