Part 11 (1/2)
Meredythe scowled into her water gla.s.s. ”And that's probably where it will stay unless there's another one.” Of course, if she wrote a story about the two that came before this one, the public would be clamoring for the police to find the murderer. But it was still too soon. Someone else could find the murderer before she did.
Jon's waving hand caught her attention. ”Earth to Meredythe. Are you still with me?”
”Sorry.” She set her gla.s.s down. ”Ah, did you get anything back on the hair samples you sent to the lab?”
He shook his head. ”You don't forget anything, do you?”
”No,” she answered with a grin, ”I don't.”
The waiter placed their salads on the table.
He poured more beer in his gla.s.s. ”The samples were contaminated.”
She reached for her fork. ”What do you mean?”
”The DNA reading came back as wolf and human. Since there's no way that's possible, somebody screwed up,” he answered and took another sip of his beer.
The hand holding her fork froze halfway to her mouth. Salad dressing dripped onto the tablecloth. Wolf and human! The information about werewolves leaped into her mind.
Jon waved his hand in front of her face again. ”Meredythe, are you okay?”
She shook her head. ”What?”
”You look like you've just seen a ghost.”
She set her fork on the edge of her plate and reached for her water. After a quick sip, she picked up her fork again. ”It was nothing. I just felt a tickle in my throat.”
Jon dug into his salad.
Meredythe picked at hers. ”How... how did the sample get contaminated?”
Jon shrugged. ”Who knows? A tiny sc.r.a.p of skin, a microscopic drop of blood. All we know is the DNA didn't match the guy who was killed. My bet is one of the technicians made a mistake and won't admit to it.”
The thoughts whirling in Meredythe's brain slowed. After a bite of salad, she said, ”You're probably right. I guess you don't have any hair samples left.”
Jon grinned. ”We do. This time I'm going to check it myself as soon as I get some time. But that's enough about work. The work week's over. There have got to be other, more interesting things to talk about.”
She didn't fail to notice the slight blush on his cheeks or the way he pushed his gla.s.ses back up onto the bridge of his nose. The waiter set their meals in front of them, and Meredythe forced herself to relax. Jon was really a nice guy, and she was hungry. She could take a couple hours off. ”So, how did you get interested in cutting dead people open?”
Time pa.s.sed quickly. Jon was a charming and witty companion. As they left the restaurant, he threw his arm around her shoulders. She didn't shrug it off. Laughing at another of his seemingly endless stories about working in a morgue, she allowed him to steer her down the sidewalk.
The November evening was warm. It was a nice night for a walk.
As the laughing couple brushed past him, Slade turned and followed them with his gaze. The woman had wavy red hair, but she had to be past twenty-five. Besides, neither the wolf nor the druid would ever allow another man to be so familiar with the wolf's woman. Pulling a cell phone from his pocket, he punched in a number.
”They've left the city,” said the voice on the other end, ”heading north.”
”They're heading for Bleddyn's estate, then,” he muttered.
He tossed one more look toward the redheaded woman walking away from him. Something about her...
He shrugged and turned away. There were thousands of redheaded women in New York City. Throwing his arm into the air, he hailed a cab, slid in and gave the address of his hotel.
As the cab merged with the other traffic, a tall man dressed completely in black stepped from the shadows. The light from a streetlamp flashed off dark eyes in a pale face as he turned and followed Meredythe. He'd promised Rhys that he'd keep an eye on her.
Chapter Six.
Splotches of bright November sun speckled the driveway as Meredythe eased her car to a stop underneath the almost leafless oak trees.
His bushy tail las.h.i.+ng back and forth, Methuselah braced his forefeet on the dashboard. ”Merrooww.”
Her fingers stirred the fur on his head. ”Glad to be home, aren't you, Thuse? Me too. The one bad thing about living in the city is not having you and Aunt Evie with me.”
The front door slammed open and a sprightly, gray-haired woman dressed in a bright orange sweater and brown skirt flitted across the porch and down the steps. Stopping halfway to the car, she set her hands on her hips and scolded, ”It's about time you're finally home. What took you so long?”
As soon as Meredythe opened the car door, Methuselah leaped out and sprang across the lawn. Evelyn Woods bent, scooped the cat into her arms and cuddled him against her chest.
Grinning, Meredythe got out of the car and followed at a more sedate pace. ”Sorry, Aunt Evie,” she said after giving her aunt a quick peck on the cheek. ”I overslept and traffic this morning was horrible. Seems like everybody was trying to get out of the city. Oh, and James says h.e.l.lo.”
Her aunt beamed. ”Such a nice man, James King. I'm so glad you work for him.”
The gray cat squirmed in her arms. ”Merrooww?”
She hugged him once more. ”Of course I'll put you down now, dear. Off you go.”
With a quick flick of his tail, Methuselah disappeared around the corner of the house.
Smiling, Meredythe shook her head. Aunt Evie would never believe that her cat didn't understand every word she said.
Evelyn tucked her arm through her niece's. ”Come along, dear. I have pies in the oven.”
Meredythe patted her aunt's hand then shrugged free. ”I'll be right in. I have to get Thuse's things from the car.”
”I'll put on water for tea and we'll have a nice chat.” Looking over her niece's shoulder, Evelyn waved and called, ”Good morning, Mr. Hoffnagle.”
Meredythe grimaced as the neighbor's tirade about daughters of h.e.l.l, blasphemy, abominations walking the earth and not suffering witches to live shot fanatically across the street.
”Why are you so nice to him, Aunt Evie, when he's so mean to you?”
Her aunt patted her arm. ”He can't help the way he was raised, dear. Besides, the nicer I am to him, the more frustrated he gets. Now get Methuselah's things. The water will be ready for tea in a jiffy.”
A door across the street boomed shut. Evelyn waved at the closed door then turned and walked into her own house.
Meredythe chuckled as she hurried back to the car and grabbed the two bags that held the cat toys, two cans and a half-empty box of cat food, and a spare litter box. Shoving the car door shut with her hip, she lifted the load in her arms and headed toward her aunt's house.
Her lips twitched. Like every other house on the block, the flowerbeds at the front of the house had been cleaned and mulched for the winter. The fallen leaves from the oak trees were all raked up and bagged. The house was even freshly painted-at least the Wiccan good luck symbols were.