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“Maybe if I shaved you, you’d look thinner and we’d be able to pull one over on the good doctor,” I said, legitimately concerned about the scolding I was sure to get from Dr. Ivers.
Gus finished his chicken pâté in record time and made a beeline again for the living room. He flopped onto the sofa, curled into a big, white ball and promptly went back to sleep.
“Not even a thank you, ungrateful cat,” I grumbled as I turned off the solar flares overhead and made my way back into my living room. “And what does it say about me that the most conversation I’ve had all week is with you?” I sighed and wondered whether this self-imposed loneliness was going to wreak long-term havoc on me.
I stood in front of the sliding glass doors that overlooked the harsh Alaskan winter, debating whether or not to make a new pot of coffee or just heat up the leftovers from yesterday. The moonlight reflected against the blanket of white that covered what was, in the summer, a meadow. Beyond the blanketed meadow was the open wilderness, delineated by the pine tree line. In my small community of Pine Hill, everyone kept their animals indoors. Not just in winter, either. In summer, too. If you didn’t, you’d never see them again. Courtesy of the wolves.
I shivered in spite of myself as I remembered the eyes of the body of the man whom Miguel and I had found preserved in the icy tundra. I’d seen a lot of dead bodies in my time, but there was something about this one that stuck with me. It was the expression in his eyes that was echoed in the curve of his lips. Surprise.
Surprise?I thought to myself as I shook my head and frowned.How obvious could I be?Of course, he was surprised! No one expects to receive a silver dagger straight through the chest! The first thing anyone would feel is the shock of it. Jeez, Elodie.
I exhaled a pent-up breath as I recognized the truth in my thoughts. This case was going to be a big one. As it stood, it was the biggest case I’d come across in my three months here in Hope. That meant I needed to step up my game. Thinking a corpse looked surprised wasn’t going to win me any sleuth awards. If I were going to put this case to bed, first, I had to make sure I put myself to bed. It was true—I wasn’t getting enough sleep. I could read as much in the dark circles underneath my eyes. If my aristocratic mother were to see me now, she’d probably have an aneurysm right on the spot. That reminded me, I still hadn’t called her back.
I glanced at my cell phone on the coffee table in front of the snoring cat and noticed the green light was blinking—I had a voicemail. I was sure it was from my mom. During off-duty hours, she was the only one who called me. I didn’t bother listening to it because her messages were always the same…
Why wasn’t I meeting any eligible men when I was living in a place where men outnumbered women nine to one? Was I over Nick’s death yet? If not, I really should be. I was now thirty and my biological clock was ticking, so why wasn’t I considering my future more seriously? Why had I become a police officer anyway? Didn’t I remember that, once upon a time, I’d been prom queen and, therefore, could have been the enviable wife to any of the guys on the football team? Didn’t I remember that underneath my amorphous uniform, I still had a figure most women would die for? Wasn’t I aware that in looking just like my mother did at my age, I was beautiful?
“No wonder you’re the only one in my life, Gus,” I said as I glanced over at the now-twitching cat. “You don’t talk back.”
