Burt let out a happy yawn as he stretched his massive body.
She grinned. “Count me and Burt in.”
Not knowing what the rest of the day would hold for them, Riley dressed all in black just in case. She made a mental note to look into flame-retardant clothing. Nick joined her in the closet and yanked a pair of clean, neatly folded jeans off the shelf. “I gotta say, I miss Tommy more than Sesame. The clean laundry, the home-cooked meals, he even fixed the wobbly leg on my poker table.”
“He was a really good househusband,” Riley admitted. She slid her arms around Nick from behind and gave him a squeeze. “Look on the bright side. Once this mess is over and we go back to getting paid to solve cases, maybe we can hire our own househusband.”
“That sounds—”
He was cut off by a shrill scream.
“That’s Jasmine,” Riley said, running for the door.
Nick grabbed her by the waistband and hauled her back. “Stay behind me, Thorn,” he ordered, pulling his gun from its holster.
“The number of times you’ve had to draw a gun in the house is ridiculous,” Riley said as they jogged around the stairs to the opposite wing.
The door to Sesame’s room burst open just as they reached it, and Jasmine came flying out. She was wearing clothes she’d borrowed from Riley, and an eye mask sat askew on her forehead.
“What’s wrong?” Riley demanded.
“I-I don’t know. I woke up and something waslookingat me!”
“What do you mean ‘something’?” Riley asked.
Nick stepped around the semi-hysterical Jasmine and headed inside to sweep the room.
Jasmine brought her hands to her face and slowly shook her head. “I don’t know. One second I was sound asleep, dreaming about hot firefighters. The next I felt something on the bed with me. I took my eye mask off, but the curtains were drawn so it was dark, and the eye mask is a little tight, so everything was blurry—”
“Jasmine, what did you see?” Riley prompted.
“I don’t know. Some big, white-ish blob…I think.”
“Is it possible you were still dreaming?” Riley asked, drawing her friend away from the room. She could hear Nick searching the room.
“Damn, it still stinks,” he said when he opened the closet.
“Maybe? I guess?” Jasmine admitted.
Nick returned to them and shook his head. Riley didn’t know whether to be relieved that he hadn’t found a white blob hiding in the room or concerned about Jasmine’s mental well-being.
“Let’s get some coffee and a snack in you. You’ll feel better about the white blob with something in your stomach,” she suggested.
“Can I have some tequila?” Jasmine whimpered.
Riley patted her friend’s hand. “Sure.”
They headed downstairs, where they found a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen. They also found Lily and Fred arguing over four trays of cupcakes. There was frosting everywhere.
Now Rileyreallymissed Tommy.
“I told you the orange was too orange,” Fred complained.
“It’s supposed to look like a pumpkin,” Lily insisted.
Mr. Willicott was sitting at the table, braiding orange-and-black streamers. He wore a suit with a black bowler hat, and there was a tiny mustache glued to his upper lip.
“Don’t you guys have your own house to destroy?” Nick asked.
