She smiled. “You’re the doctor.”
He nodded, then excused himself to see other patients. Sean reappeared, buttoning his top button and grinning. “I’m officially in good shape,” he told her.
“You’re not in the clear yet.”
“I can drive any day,” he said happily.
“But you shouldn’t,” she said.
“We’ll see.”
“You have Tom.”
“It’s a big house, big lawn. Tom is a busy man.”
“And Clara. She must be busy, too, keeping up with that place.”
“We have maids in a few days each week. No one human being could keep that place clean.”
She smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.” She paused, frowned and asked, “Sean, do any of those maids…”
“Do they have keys to the house?” he asked her.
“Do they?”
“No. Of course not. Clara lets them in, and Clara watches them like a mother hen. A very suspicious mother hen.”
She nodded. “It’s just that…well, that door was open last night.”
He grinned, then leaned down to whisper conspiratorially, “Did you hear?”
“What?” For some reason, she found herself whispering back.
“There’s a banshee in the house.” He smiled and winked.
She smiled weakly in return, and linked her arm through his as they made their way back out to Tom and the car.
But when they were settled in the backseat, she looked at him gravely.
“Sean.”
“Yes.”
She hesitated. “You know…Zach is convinced that your friend Eddie is dead,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
“And I’m afraid someone is trying to kill you, too,” she told him very quietly.
He didn’t look at her; he stared straight ahead.
“I know that, too,” he replied. “That’s part of the reason you’re here, right?”
She felt as if every muscle within her tensed. “Pardon?”
“To see that some sneaky S.O.B. doesn’t do me any medical harm, right?”
“Right,” she said weakly, trying to hide her shock.
“I’m going to be fine,” he assured her. “I still have things to do.”
“Don’t we all say that?” she asked softly.
“Of course. And I know that time waits for no man and all that. I just don’t think that it’s my time. Hey, I’ve been wrong before. But I have you and Zach to look out for me. And all any of us can do is our best, right?”
She nodded as he dismissed the subject and pointed down the road. “That’s the way to Green Animals. It’s an old mansion with an impressive topiary menagerie. Bridey loves the place, but you know Bridey. She loves everything magical. Like banshees,” he said, and grinned.
Detective Morrissey sat behind his desk, studying Zach gravely. “You should have called. We could have sent out officers to look around the neighborhood.”
“Sean refused. He insisted the door had just been left open accidentally, and he could be right. Nothing was stolen.”
“Do you think the door was left open?” Morrissey asked.
“I don’t know. Several people heard noises, but they could have been hearing each other tramping around. I’ll make sure the alarm is set from now on. What about the sample I brought you?”
Morrissey shrugged. “I expect you’re right and it’s talc, but I’m not sure where we go from there.” He hesitated for a second, then sighed. “We still don’t have a body. Let’s face it, we all assume that Eddie Ray is dead, but without a body, we can’t be sure. And, I’ll admit, I don’t think your idea of a diver killing him and swimming away is a long shot anymore. But we’ve done the rounds of the dive shops and came up empty. But plenty of people have their own setups, so…”
“Thanks.” Zach rose.
Morrissey leaned back. “You know, people are usually killed for a reason. Sure, you have your psychos, your random killers. But a thought-out murder—and this was well thought out—is committed for a reason. If we can find the reason, maybe we can figure out who did it.”
“I know.”
“Any ideas?”
“I’m working on it,” Zach assured him.
“Keep in touch. I’ll do the same,” Morrissey said, standing and shaking his hand.
Once he was back in the car, Zach headed for the charter office.
He noted again how different the day was from the night before, with the wind still nonexistent.
Cal and Marni were both in. Cal was on the phone, making arrangements with a cleaning service, and Marni was going over the books.