“Yeah, give me a sec and I’ll get you one.”
As Sarah walked into the house, heading straight for the kitchen, her cell phone rang. She rummaged in her purse—a big leather thing that looked ridiculous in comparison to her costume—and saw that it was Caroline.
“Hey,” she said. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah—great, actually. I left the college kids helping Barry and started crawling around in the archives, and I found some stuff on your house. I even found a picture of the witchy housekeeper. Stay there, and I’ll bring them over to you. Wait—you’re not alone, right?”
“No. Gary and Renee are here.”
“Where’s your hunk of heaven?”
Sarah laughed. “Caleb? Investigating.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Caroline said and hung up.
Before Sarah could collect the sodas, her phone rang again. This time it was Caleb.
“What’s going on?” she asked him.
“I’ve been to see Floby, and he’s still waiting on results. But my DNA is a match for Eleanora’s.”
“Oh, Caleb, it’s what we thought,” she said. “Are you all right? They’re your ancestors. Maybe we can arrange to have her buried with Cato. It shouldn’t be that hard to find out where he’s buried.”
“That’s a nice thought, but it’s not why I called you.”
“Oh?”
“I just got a call back on the testing I asked for on Renee’s blood.”
“And?” she asked.
“She had yaupon holly in her bloodstream.”
“So she was an intended victim!” Sarah said. Before he could answer, she heard a noise from the front of the house, then a worrisome silence.
She didn’t want to worry Caleb, but she needed to see what was going on. “Oh, hell, it’s getting busy around here,” she said. “I’d better go.”
She set her phone down and raced to the front of the house.
“Renee? Gary?”
“In here—ladies parlor!” Renee called.
Sarah started to head in that direction, then heard the front doorknob turning. A moment later, Caroline, in costume, walked in, looking very excited. She had a big bag over her shoulder, and a large cup of takeout coffee in each hand. “I’ve brought the stuff—let’s go look at it.”
“Great. Renee and Gary are in the parlor, so—”
“Good, they can look, too. Only I don’t have coffee for them.”
“Someone can have mine,” Sarah offered.
“No, I know how you love your coffee, and I got extra sugar in it—it’s marked on the cup—just the way you like it. I’ll give mine to Gary, if you don’t mind making some tea. Renee prefers tea, anyway,” Caroline said.
Sarah shrugged. “No prob. I’ll put the kettle on and be right there.”
Caleb walked into a bar on a side street just off Castillo. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized that Cary Hagan was sitting at the bar.
And she was wiping tears from her cheeks.
“Cary?” he said cautiously, approaching her. “Can I…do anything?”
She flashed him an angry glare. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You should be. I’ve just been fired.”
He sat down on the stool next to her and asked, genuinely puzzled,
“How is it my fault that you were fired?”
“Tim broke up with me, and then Mr. Griffin fired me, all because of you.”
“I’ve never even spoken with Mr. Griffin,” he told her, noticing the empty glasses in front of her and deciding to cut her some slack.
“But you’ve made Tim’s life hell, making him look incompetent because you, Mr. Hotshot, are always the one to make the breakthrough. He called and told me all about it this morning. And then he said how you practically accused him of being the killer just because he had mud on his shoes. And then…Then he broke up with me, because he said being with me so much was getting in the way of his career, plus people were starting to talk about us and his wife was starting to suspect. So I left and went to find him and try to get him to change his mind, but he wouldn’t listen, and when I got back to the house, an ambulance was there, because Mr. Griffin had fallen out of his chair—and he fired me!”
“Cary, I’m sorry, but I don’t see how I’m responsible because you decided to date a married man, not to mention you’re the one who left your patient alone so you could try to get your lover back,” Caleb pointed out calmly.
“Well, I’m ready to blow this town anyway,” she said, shaking her head. “Everyone pretends to be nice, and then they turn around and talk about you behind your back. And to think I was sorry about that Renee Otten the other night. Well, I’m not sorry now. She got what she deserved.”
“How do you see that?” Caleb asked.
“She talked about Tim and me, just like the rest of them,” Cary said. “I saw the way they all looked at us in Hunky Harry’s. Well, I’ve seen a few things, too, let me tell you.”
“Like what?” Caleb asked.