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“Oh, you’re finished all right.” Holding the woman’s upper arm, Agnes marched her downstairs toward her office.
“I’ll take her,” Logan said. “You go get changed. Unless you want to do this in your pajamas.”
Agnes glanced down at herself and seemed irritated that she was wearing her sleepwear. “I’ll be five minutes. Don’t let her escape.”
He barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “I think I can handle Jean.” The woman was in her sixties and barely topped five feet tall, and even though she’d taken Lake’s self-defense class years ago, he was pretty sure he could take her in a fight. None of this he said to Agnes, mainly because he didn’t think she’d appreciate it.
With an irritated humph, she ran up the stairs to her room.
“Do you think we could get a cup of tea and some cake while we wait?” Jean said as Logan gestured toward Agnes’ office.
“This isn’t morning tea, Jean. We just caught you stealing from Dougal.”
She gaped at him. “What do you mean stealing? I wasn’t stealing anything. We have an arrangement with Dougal.”
“We?” Oh crap, he knew where this was going. Forgetting his nose was bruised, he pinched the bridge then winced.
“Aye,” Jean said. “Knit or Die. We’ve had this arrangement for years.”
And there it was. “My mum’s in on this? Of course, she’s in on it. Where there’s one of you, there’s always more.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I didn’t have any breakfast, and my sugar levels are getting dangerously low.” She put out a hand to hold on to the wall. “I feel woozy. There’s a good chance I might faint. Who knows how long I’ll be out? You might have to take me to the hospital or call the doctor. Wouldn’t it just be easier to get me a cup of tea and a slice of cake? Chef always makes a nice cake for morning tea. I expect it’s just sitting in there, waiting to be sliced.”
“Get in the office,” Logan said. “I’ll get you some tea after I’ve called the rest of your coven.”
“Thanks.” She sat in one of the straight-backed guest chairs. “When this was Dougal’s office, he had a sofa in here. But he probably got rid of it because of the bad memories.”
Don’t ask. Don’t ask.
He had to ask. “What bad memories?”
“Well, he wouldn’t want to sit at the desk and look at one of the places where we’d made love. He was brokenhearted when I left him. Said those were the best three months of his life.”
He shouldn’t have asked. “I feel nauseous.”
“You’re probably hungry.”
Logan pinched his nose again and yelped.
“Do you think we should get the tea before you ring your mum?” Jean said. “I’d like to fortify myself before the new manager gets back. I think she might have some anger-management issues. Are you sure you know what you’re doing with her?” She rummaged in her tote. “Tell you what, I’ll ring the girls and you get the tea. We have a conference call thingie.” Before he could stop her, she’d swiped the screen. “I’ll put it on speaker. Hello? Hello? Shona, is that you?”
“Aye.” His mother’s voice came through the phone, followed by the other main members of Knit or Die.
“What’s going on?” Heather Donaldson, the mother of Invertary’s only cop, said. “Do you realize what time it is?”
“Aye, I’m at the hotel, and Logan’s arrested me.”
There was a pause before all hell broke loose.
“I didn’t arrest you,” Logan said over the shouting. “I have no powers of arrest.”
“You also don’t have any cake. You’re still standing there, and I’m still suffering from low blood sugar.”
“Jean,” his mother shouted, “pay attention. What’s going on?”
This could take all day, and Agnes would be back any minute. He snatched the phone from Jean. “This is Logan,” he said to the rest of the gang. “I need every member of Knit or Die at the hotel, right now.” Then he hung up. He put the phone into his back pocket. “I’ll keep this until they get here.” Who knew what plans they’d hatch if they could talk to each other.
“Are we getting tea now?”
