And now what? Did Clarice confront Veronica with what she knew and demand the truth? Clarice didn’t trust herself not to fold like a wet paper towel. Veronica would be ruthless and logical and point out all the little flaws in Clarice’s assumptions. She was a master of manipulation. Clarice was no match for her straight on.
Did she face Bruno and remind him that she knew that Gil could teleport? Did she warn him about Veronica’s interest in him and in Tiny Paws?
Or did she play along with both of them and decide the truth for herself for once?
Horatio was displeased that she was spending so much time on her computer instead of reading a book every night and trying to coax him within arm’s length. He sat on the opposite side of the couch from her now, looking fixedly away, his ears pinned back in her direction, undoubtedly waiting for her pathetic little psp psp psps.
“I have better things to do, Horatio,” Clarice told the back of his head, instead of trying to pet the tip of his twitching tail.
Horatio eventually lay down and curled into a ball that Clarice might have been able to reach, but instead, she opened a 3-ring binder labeled “Scooby Doo.”
She started where Veronica had, sort of, with Tiny Paws.
It was a selective day care, but their webpage wasn’t clear about what the selection process actuallywas. A search of social media suggested that some groups of moms thought they were unreasonably snobby. Another suggested that they were understaffed. Certainly a significant and varied swath of Nickel City parents had knocked on the door and been rebuffed.
The owner of Tiny Paws was a matter of public record, even if Clarice hadn’t known her name from Veronica’s rental files. Cherry Aimes always paid her rent on time, even when very questionable extra fees were levied, and she seemed well enough respected in the area. Very little was known about her, but her licenses were all in perfect order, as were those of all of her listed employees.
None of them looked like cultists.
No more than Bruno did.
Clarice didn’t have to snoop into Veronica’s personal files, but she could find out quite a lot with the office rental agreements, combined with public records and social media. She gathered a few license plate numbers over the week that she could plug into the public registry.
The parents whose childrenwereaccepted into the day care were all fairly quiet on social media…but it didn’t follow any cultural or financial lines that she could discern. There were several ethnicities represented, various ages, all genders. Some of them were puzzlingly poor for a day care that billed itself as super exclusive. They had a swath of diverse jobs: blue collar plumbers, mechanics, waiters, ranchers, nurses, and veterinarians; she knew Kendra because she’d helped her find her house, and there was Theo the escort turned waiter. As far as she could glean from Facebook pages and Instagram accounts, none of the children were disabled or special needs.
So whatdidthey have in common?
Were they really witches? Some of them casually attended mainstream churches, which seemed fairly counter to being a weird cultist. They didn’t have matching pagan symbols on their cars.
Horatio startled when Clarice’s phone buzzed, and Clarice felt her heart pound faster at the sight of a message alert from Bruno.
I haven’t been able to find a sitter this weekend. Maybe next weekend?
Clarice didn’t have a lot of experience with kids, but wasn’t finding a sitter fairly straight-forward? Gil was five, which wasn’t a particularly fragile or tricky age, as far as she knew. Was Bruno trying to let her down easy? If so, why suggest meeting in the first place?
Something in Clarice’s head snapped together. She was ignoring the very best source of information that she could possibly get: Gil himself.
Clarice did a swift web search.
Do you and Gil like mini golf?
There was a pause, and the three teaser dots came and went a few times.
Gil’s never been but I bet he’d like it. We’re probably both terrible.
Clarice grinned.I am, too. Would you like to golf together terribly at Neon Indoor Golf on Saturday afternoon?
He thumbs-up reacted, then changed it to a heart, then changed it back, probably hoping she hadn’t noticed.
That sounds great. See you there at 4?
Clarice thumbs-up reacted, then changed it to a heart…and left it that way.
24
BRUNO
Bruno stood by the door in his coat, holding Gil’s jacket. “Gil, we have to GO!”
