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We didn’t discuss how dragons mark their territory while he was chasing me across yourocean.
I sighed. “Did you find anything suspicious inhere?”
I do not detect anything magical in here, but I have not completed my search.He lifted his nose and wandered out into the living roomagain.
I found a bottle of odor-eliminating spray in a cabinet in the bathroom and liberally squirted the duvet. Did other service-animal owners deal withthis?
In here,Sindari called from the kitchen.And I know what you’redoing.
Good. Keep your butt offthings.
I joined him in the kitchen as he pawed open the cabinet under thesink.
Check that black cylinder attached to the sink,he toldme.
“The garbage disposal?” I leaned forward and looked into the drain dubiously. “There are blades in that thing, youknow.”
I sensesomething.
“You sure it’s not in the trash can?” I poked through a bin hanging inside the cabinet door, the coffee grounds inside starting to grow fuzzy mold. Colonel Willard must not have expected to be admitted to the hospital when she’d left, or I was certain she would have taken out thegarbage.
It is in thecylinder.
“Of course it is.” Reluctantly, I slid my hand past the plastic flaps and probed around the blades, trying not to imagine the disposal turning on of its own accord and cutting off my fingers. “What am I looking for?” There were more grimy, still-damp coffee grounds inside, and Igrimaced.
Something veryfaint.
It must have been. I couldn’t sense anything magical. But my fingers brushed something that felt like a tiny vial, and triumph rushed through myveins.
I pulled it out, brushing off coffee grounds, and started to reach for the faucet lever but paused. If something interesting had been in the container, I shouldn’t washit.
“Is this what you sense?” I grabbed a paper towel and wiped it but notvigorously.
Itwasa vial of some kind, though the stopper was missing. Transparent and only two inches tall, with a narrow neck and a bulbous bottom, it had heft that suggested glass rather thanplastic.
Yes.Sindari gazed at it.As I said, it has a very faint magical signature. Less than what even the weakest of your charms givesoff.
“Coming from the vial itself or some residue at the bottom?” I peered inside, but I couldn’t see a smudge or stain to hint at what it hadcontained.
I can’ttell.
“I wonder if Willard has any police friends that I could send this to. Maybe someone in forensics could scrape enough residue off the bottom to look at under a microscope.” Though I doubtedmagicwould show up in a mundane crimelab.
Besides, whoever had left the vial had probably washed it out. Otherwise, why leave a clue behind? Unless the person had been on the verge of being caught and had shoved it in the disposal, certain someone would use it and destroy the vial before ever seeingit…
You should not let it out of your sight, since that’s your only clue. Doyounot have police friends you couldask?
“No. I don’t have many friends. I’m discussing this dearth with a therapist.” Not that I intended to goback.
Perhaps it is because you mask their scents with offensiveodors.
“I’m positive that isn’t thereason.”
Hm. We should—Sindari spun toward the door.The elf isback.
He sprang into the living room.I will chase herdown.
But before he reached the door, something clattered onto the outdoorwalkway.
