Sesame’s limo was missing from its spot in front of the garage. Riley frowned. Where would she have gone so early in the morning? And should she even be concerned? If Sesame wasn’t in any real danger, did Riley actually have to care that she was lying? Maybe it was time to take a break from the drama and focus on resting her broken brain.
She headed back to the kitchen for more coffee.
“Good morning!”
The chipper greeting had Riley almost upending the contents of her mug. “Jeez, Tommy! You scared me.”
He was putting what looked like a casserole into the refrigerator. “Sorry. Sesame always says she’s going to put a cat collar on me.”
“Where is your wife this morning?” Riley asked. “I saw the limo is gone.”
“She’s taking a Sesame Day,” he said as if that explained anything.
She handed him a mug. “What’s a Sesame Day?”
“Whenever she’s been working too hard, she takes a day and treats herself. Today she’s shopping,” he explained, pouring coffee.
Riley leaned against the counter. “Don’t you like to shop with her?” she asked, recalling one of her earlier visions.
Tommy grinned and started shoveling sugar into the mug. “I sure do. But when she says she needs alone time, I respect that.”
He was the human equivalent of a golden retriever, and if she hadn’t destroyed her powers, she could have taken her grandmother’s advice and jumped straight into the man’s head for all the answers she sought.
“Where is she shopping?” she asked. It was too early for retail stores to be open.
“She’s spending the day at the Hershey outlets,” he said, stirring his coffee with enthusiasm.
The outlets didn’t open until 10:00 a.m. Maybe Sesame was going to breakfast first, Riley rationalized. There was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation. She should definitely let it drop.
Her phone rang in her pocket. Nothing good came from phone calls between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Especially not when the caller was Mrs. Penny.
“Hello?”
“I’ve got a Code Sesame Chicken,” Mrs. Penny squawked.
“Are you placing a lunch order? It’s not even eight a.m.”
“No! Although I wouldn’t say no to a big plate of hot cakes right now. Following people makes me hungry.”
Feeling uneasy, Riley smiled at Tommy and backed out of the room. “Who are you following?” she whispered.
“Your big-boobed friend and her limo driver. And now I’ve got a Code Sesame Chicken.”
“I’m going to need more information,” Riley hissed as she headed for the dining room.
“For Pete’s sake! All that studying investigative crap, and I still need to spoon-feed you. She’s my prime suspect,” Mrs. Penny snapped.
“Prime suspect for what?” Riley demanded.
“The Dog Doody Bandit. Keep up! This Sesame just so happens to show up while someone’s been stealing snacks and pumpkins and leaving poop on porches? That’s not a coincidence in my book.”
Riley slapped a hand to her forehead and prayed for patience. “Uh-huh. You think Sesame is the kind of person who steals snacks and has no problem handling feces, so you followed her shopping?”
Mrs. Penny snorted. “Clean the gunk out of your ears! She didn’t go shopping. Unless you count buying a train ticket and leaving the state as shopping.”
Riley stopped pacing. “She got on a train?”
“You don’t think she’s moving her game to the city, do you? If she starts pooping on porches in New York, that’s outside my jurisdiction.”
