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“I’m really sorry,” I said, and I was. “I didn’t expect to stay over at Calvin’s last night.”
Archie raised a paw. “Please spare me the gory details of your love life.”
“Fine. Let me get you your breakfast.”
Without waiting for him to reply, I dropped my purse on the dining room table and hurried into the kitchen so I could get the last can of salmon feast out of the pantry. Darn it — that meant I’d have to squeeze in a trip to Walmart on top of everything else. Yes, there were other cans of cat food in there, but I could tell I was on thin ice with Archie and should do whatever I could to keep him happy.
I scraped the contents of the can into his bowl and stepped out of the way. “There you go. I’m going to take a shower.”
His nose wrinkled. “Yes, you need it.”
Of all the —
Somehow, I managed to hold my tongue as I scooped up my purse and went into the master suite, then shut the door behind me. And all right, I’d fallen into bed with Calvin without washing my face or brushing my teeth, but that was no excuse to be rude.
The hot shower felt lovely, though, and I went ahead and shampooed my hair even though I’d washed it the day before. Yes, I needed to run over to Walmart before I opened the shop, but I thought I could spare the extra fifteen minutes it would take me to blow-dry my hair.
As I got to work with the dryer, though, I found myself frowning. It still hurt to think I’d caused a rift between Calvin and his parents, even though I knew logically that this was all on them for being so stiff-necked and close-minded. The night before, he’d told me he loved me and we’d fallen asleep in one another’s arms, which was probably a better outcome than I could have hoped for, all things considered. All the same, my brain kept worrying at the uncomfortable situation, trying to find a solution.
And on top of everything else, I was still no closer to discovering Danny’s murderer than I’d been at the beginning of the week.
Something was tickling at the back of my mind, though, the faintest hint of an idea that hadn’t quite begun to take shape. I knew when my intuition was poking at me like that, the best thing I could do was wait it out and let the answer come to me with time.
Probably not what Danny would’ve wanted to hear, but some things just shouldn’t be forced.
I emerged from the bathroom to find Archie asleep on the living room couch, his bowl thoroughly cleaned out. Or at least, he looked asleep, but I had a feeling he was actually sulking.
“I’m going to Walmart,” I announced. “I’ll be back in about a half hour.”
And then I let myself out.
The sheer mundanity of the Globe Walmart on a weekday morning was oddly reassuring. I picked up a bunch of cat food and some more cat treats, even though we were well stocked, and added a few more items that I realized I’d run out of, and generally made quick work of the errand.
When I got in line at the checkout counter, however, I thought the woman standing in front of me looked slightly familiar. She was tall, with generously highlighted brown hair, and carried a Coach bag. Not the sort of person you’d generally see in that particular shopping venue.
I began to squint at the stranger, trying to figure out why she seemed so familiar, and then I realized who the woman was.
Susan Laughlin.
Over the past few days, she had slipped pretty far down my mental list of suspects, but I’d left her as a big question mark because I still wasn’t sure quite what to think about her involvement with Danny.
Now, though, I’d been handed a perfect opportunity to gather a little intelligence, all without her suspecting a thing.
If, that is, my flighty talent for seeing auras would just manifest itself at the right time.
The conveyor belt began to move, so I hurriedly started off-loading the items from my cart while at the same time not-quite looking at Susan in the hope that her aura would appear. Unfortunately, it remained stubbornly invisible.
Typical.
However, I wasn’t going to give up that easily. She completed her transaction and began to head toward the exit. I did my best to keep her in my line of sight, even as the clerk tried to strike up a conversation about the weather as he processed my items. I answered absentmindedly, then all but ran out of the store, speed-walking as I pushed my shopping cart out into the parking lot.
I glanced around and caught sight of Susan loading her groceries into a new-looking Lexus SUV. By sheer dumb luck, her car was parked only a few spaces away from mine, so it was easy enough to trundle my shopping cart over there and start stowing my purchases in the cargo compartment. As I did so, I kept looking over at her, willing her aura to appear, but no soap.
It figured.
The last time I glanced in her direction, though, it was to find her standing there, hands on her hips as she shot me a frosty glare. “Can I help you with something?” she asked.
Oops. Guess I was being just a little too obvious. “Sorry,” I said, mind racing to come up with a plausible explanation for why I’d been staring at Susan Laughlin in the Walmart parking lot. “It’s just that I keep thinking I know you from somewhere.”
