Daisy added, “I have to put food on the table.”
“We all do.” Finn tried to be the voice of reason. “You can’t take away our livelihoods.”
“I can, for the duration of the investigation. This whole place is a crime scene.”
“How long does it take to process a crime scene?” Finn asked.
“Probably about two weeks. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find the perp sooner. But maybe not.”
That silenced them.
“Look at it this way,” he continued. “Do you all want to endanger yourselves and your clients by working here right now?”
“No, of course not.” Finn was torn. He could go back to sessions out of his house and Heath could practice because he could use the space at his medical practice. He didn’t know much about Scarlet at all, including her finances. And he and Oliver had talked about money so he knew his friend would be okay. But Daisy and Juliet probably couldn’t afford two weeks off.
Daisy said, “Maybe we could rent another place for a while.”
“The mechanics of that would take too long,” Heath put in. “By the time we got settled, this place would be cleared.”
Finn sighed. “I have a reiki room in my house. If we juggled out schedules, one of you could practice there too.”
Scarlet said, “I have a converted barn on my property. It has two big spaces in it. In some ways, it’s nicer than my house. I only moved to this location because, like most of you, I wanted to work with others in alternative medicine.”
Finn was shocked at her invitation. She’d never seemed that interested in the others in the collective.
Marshall nodded. “So you all can make do.”
Reluctantly, they agreed.
Chapter 11
Scarlet opened the barn padlock and walked inside with Juliet. Her colleague’s eyes widened. “Wow. What a place.”
“Yeah. My grandfather didn’t do anything halfway. When he built on this property, he used the rooms for entertaining.”
“They’re big and beautiful. He must have done a lot of entertaining.”
“My grandfather was Henson Smith.”
“Seriously. The one who developed Go-Go Flash, the search engine?”
“He had no idea it would take off like it did.” She smiled at Daisy. “You’re set for clients here?”
“Yeah, they come from all over the city so it’s no hardship to come out a little further.”
“I’ll leave you to get setup.”
Juliet tugged on her arm. “Scarlet, thanks for doing this. You…haven’t warmed up the group, but we’d all like to change that.”
Her heart started to beat faster. “I’m a private person.”
“I know. But give us a shot?” She gestured to the barn. “Like this.”
“I’ll try.”
When she walked outside, she saw a dusty red pickup pulling up to the house. She walked over to where he stopped. A guy got out of his truck. His gait was easy as he strode toward her. “Hi, there,” he said, taking off his cowboy hat. “I’m Joe Larson. I moved next door.”
“Hello. I’m Scarlet Smith.”
