Can you believe it?
Strange, because recently I sent him a dossier for Victor Campion.
I was delighted to distribute the reversal on that bounty, by the way. I know you and Victor are closely acquainted.
Hopefully, this unfortunately sad message finds you in good health.
Very respectfully, Zendorr
What? A year! That was not possible. He shifted his thought to an even more devastating one. If Edgar was dead for the last year, who was running around shifted into his body for the past several months? Certainly not Indigo Smith.
Raphael stood up without realizing he’d done so.
“What’s up?” Diesel asked, looking more concerned than he let show during the drive back from Critters Cafe.
Raphael looked at the crumpled message. “A friend just told me Randel Edgar is dead.”
There were gasps in the room. “When? Was Francine with him?” Lucy asked.
Raphael shook his head. “His body was found on Paludion-Epsilon. He’s been dead for a year.”
Diesel also stood up. “Then who got a black kitten and monster bag of rice from Daphne Charlene?”
No one said a word.
A song started playing in the room.Bad boys, bad boys.
Wyatt quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and answered, “Hey, Hunter. I’m kind of busy right now. Can I call you back later on?” He listened for a few seconds. His eyes widened and he stood up, pushing his chair back from the table. He started moving to the door. “Thank you, Hunter. I owe you big-time.”
Diesel said, “Wait a minute! First of all, how does your cell phone work through the transmission blockers down here?”
Wyatt grinned. “Valene told me about a recently enacted secret fix. If I keep my phone on a special frequency, it works. So, I do.”
“I won’t ask how you got my sister to talk.”
“Good idea. You probably don’t want to know anyway.” Wyatt winked once and grinned. Anyone looking could tell he probably kissed the secret information out of his wife.
“You got that right. Second, what did Hunter tell you and where are you going?”
“I had him keeping an eye on something for me. He just called to let me know that something had changed. I’ll explain on the way.”
“Where are we going?”
“Skeeter Bite. Outskirts of town. A cabin passed down to Daphne Charlene’s father from his parents. It was on a list of properties we looked at back when Valene was kidnapped by Indigo Smith. Hunter spotted some activity there.”
Chapter Eighteen
Francine pushed sticky grains of rice around on her plate with her fork, not daring to actually put any in her mouth. Her “host” worked his way through a second heaping plate with the gusto of a man consuming his food in order to win the grand prize in a rice-eating contest.
He didn’t seem to notice she wasn’t eating. She reconsidered asking for a cup of coffee, then rejected that idea. She didn’t want anything from him. She didn’t trust it not to be drugged.
Across the room she noticed another box positioned low to the ground in front of the only door. The box was wooden, slatted on each side and looked sort of like an old-fashioned chest filled with dynamite. Hopefully not.
“Are you done eating?” he asked abruptly, not finishing the mouthful he was chewing. She did her best not to make a distasteful face, only nodding and placing her fork down next to the plate of uneaten rice.
“You need to fill up. We won’t be able to eat for quite a while.”
