Last Licks

“And we’ll start that right now,” Tobe said, “by going to the sheriff.” He turned to Sunny and Will. “I understand one of you has the evidence?”

Will reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the little bottle, still wrapped in its plastic bag. “It’s either been in Sunny’s possession or mine since Luke gave it up.”

Tobe nodded, acknowledging the chain of evidence, as he slipped the bag into the side pocket of his suit. He put a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Time to go.”

“Don’t let Nesbit or the DA push you into something stupid,” Ollie warned as they headed for the door.

“That’s why I’m coming along,” Tobe said over his shoulder, “to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Sunny waited until they were out of earshot before she asked Will, “What are Luke’s chances, really?”

“Not as good as Tobe’s trying to make them.” Will sounded serious as he spoke. “Maine has a law on the books for unintentional murder. That can make things pretty rough for Luke.”

“Yeah.” Ollie grinned and then began to laugh. “But you forget who you’re dealing with. I think Frank Nesbit would much rather call this a medical mistake than any kind of murder.”

Will’s lips quirked. “Well, you’ve got a point there.” He stretched, trying to hide a yawn. “I figure I’d better make myself scarce while the sheriff absorbs these new developments. Do you mind an extended visit, Ollie?”

“More to the point, what about you, Ollie?” Sunny said. “You just dropped a big bomb here. It might not make you popular. Do you want to leave Bridgewater Hall and go somewhere else?”

“Why?” Ollie demanded. “It’s not as if they hand out poison nerve tonic every night. I’m settled here, used to the way they do things. I like the therapists. As far as I see it, the only problem is that witch Gavrik, and how often do I have to see her?”

“Soon you may not be seeing her at all,” Sunny reminded him. “She’s applying for that job down in North Carolina.”

“Even better.” Ollie rested back on his pillow with a satisfied smile.

“So you’re not actually going to press Nesbit on the death rate here?” Will asked.

“I was mostly just going for intimidation,” Ollie said. Then his eyes sharpened. “That might make a nice campaign issue for you—if and when you decide to run for sheriff,” he said thoughtfully. “But remember, I’ve been backing Nesbit all these years.”

“Sure you don’t want to switch horses?” This was the first politicking from Will that Sunny had ever seen. At least he kept it light.

“Not in midrace,” Ollie told him. “Besides, even Sunny had her doubts about those figures. I read somewhere there are four kinds of lies: lies, white lies, damned lies, and statistics. The numbers may not pan out, and I don’t see much percentage in stirring things up.”

“You told Dr. Gavrik you were going to go to the sheriff over it,” Sunny felt obliged to point out.

“Aaaaah, she got me annoyed.” Ollie waved it away and then gave her an impish grin. “It really did shut her up for once, though.”

“That it did,” Sunny had to agree. “That it did.”

*

Keeping low to the ground, Shadow made his way unobtrusively but quickly down the hallway to the entrance to the kitchen. There he peered suspiciously around the doorway. The Old One sat at the table, drinking hot stuff out of a cup. Although it probably wasn’t so hot now. Shadow didn’t see any steam rising from the cup.

That was good. Things were normal. Too many odd things had happened since last night. Shadow didn’t like it when things changed—well, not unless he changed them.

Last night, however, had been more disturbed than in longer than he could remember. First, Sunny and the Old One had each gone to stand under water and then had left the house after eating when it wasn’t even eating time. That definitely wasn’t usual. Then Sunny had come back after dark with her He, and they’d tried to hide in the backyard. Very, very strange, even for two-legs. Shadow still hadn’t been able to figure out what they’d been doing out there. And, of course, it hadn’t gotten any better when he’d fallen on them. Then Sunny had gone off again, the Old One had come home late, Sunny had come back, and Sunny’s He had turned up again. All these comings and goings were enough to make a cat nervous.

Even this morning, Sunny had gotten up very early and left the house, moving in that funny way the two-legs did when they thought they were being quiet. Shadow hadn’t been fooled, of course. He’d been awake when she got out of bed and trailed after her through her whole morning routine. Even when Sunny left some food out for him, and Shadow’s stomach had rumbled at the sound of the dry food landing in his dish, he’d stayed where he was, watching the room and Sunny from afar instead of running in for a bite.

Shadow had considered trying to follow Sunny, discover where she went when she’d come home smelling of that She he found so interesting. But he’d given up the idea. Even if he managed to get outside, it was hard to sneak into her go-fast thing.