He changed direction and landed next to me.
By now, I was so peeved off with him that I could almost feel steam coming out of my ears.
"Take the anger," he said.
I closed my eyes, and it was as if a fiery ball formed inside of me. I reached deep down – and —
"Ouch!" he cried out. The stress ball from my dresser had hit him right on the nose.
"Oh my God," I said. "I’m so sorry! Did I do that?"
"You sure did." He rubbed his nose. "Hit me full in the face."
"I didn’t mean to do that! How did I do that?"
"You have more pent-up rage inside of you than I expected."
For somebody who had only a minute ago been attacked by a flying object, he sounded surprisingly cheerful.
I probed his little nose with my fingertip.
He snarled at me.
"I’m sorry. I need to make sure that you don’t have to take a trip to the vet."
"It’s nothing," he said.
"That’s up to me to decide. My aunt left you in my care, and that means if I think you’d benefit from some medical attention, you’ll get it."
"Bex," he said, "it’s nothing."
"Okay. Can we now sleep? Without you flying down at me or whatever plans you have?"
"Fine. You’ve done enough for tonight. You’re making excellent progress." He ambled over to his basket and rolled up inside of it.
I pulled the duvet over my head. Maybe I should insist on separate bedrooms until he had learned exactly where Bex Merriweather’s boundaries were.
Although, I did feel slightly impressed with myself.
I had performed witchcraft to defend myself.
For a fleeting moment, I allowed myself the vision of me pelting people who annoyed the heck out of me with different kinds of objects. Oranges were good—nice and round and easy to grip. And it would have been so, so pleasurable to lob them magically into the face of a certain smug detective who belittled my aunt.
On the other hand, I stopped myself. He was only doing his job, even if he was on the wrong track.
I assumed the "reliable source" had been his acquaintance, Louisa.
But why would she spread rumors, even if they’d only started as pillow talk? And how did she fit in with Jimmy's boy and Pamela?
While I was still pondering this, I fell asleep again.
Chapter twenty-seven
When I woke up, my head was surprisingly clear, and I was ravenous.
I tucked into toast, eggs, and bacon while Cosmo barely nibbled his dried cat food.
He said he had no appetite for his usual chicken or fish.
