“Dragons are real,” Malone insisted.
“Prove it. I want to see this body of the one you uncovered.”
“I can’t show it to you.”
“Why not?”
“Because I ran into a bit of a situation and lost access to the lab with the remains.”
“What kind of situation?”
Malone stood abruptly. “I can see this meeting is a waste of time. Sorry to have bothered.”
As the doctor strode for the front door, Apollo followed, but I remained seated. I glanced at my grandfather.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“The man is slime, and he’s not telling us everything.” Keanu popped the last crab cake into his mouth.
“Yeah, he definitely held back on some stuff,” I murmured.
Apollo returned, shaking his head. “Well, that was weird. I expected him to try harder to get my money.”
“I think you mean my money.” Tigger slithered from a potted plant and waddled into the room.
“I told you to stay on the roof,” I chided.
“And I chose to not listen.” Tigger craned to see the platter on the table before huffing. “You didn’t leave me one?”
“I was hungry.” Keanu didn’t apologize.
“So am I. Feed me!” Tigger demanded, and my grandfather actually didn’t tell him to bugger off. Off the pair went to raid the fridge.
Apollo sighed. “I’d better order more groceries.”
“Sorry they’re eating all your food.”
“Don’t be. I can afford it. Although, I’m going to mention you’ve seen the extent of my cooking skills at this point. Either we’re going to be ordering in a lot, or we might have to let Francine in on the secret. Before you ask, I trust her.”
“What about Malone?” I countered.
“Not one bit.” He didn’t hesitate. “I get the impression the man was looking for something.”
“Money.”
“Not just that. Did you notice how he kept scanning the room?”
I frowned. “I hadn’t actually.” Or I’d just played it off as him being impressed. The house was really nice. “There’s no way he knows about Tigger.”
“Don’t be so sure. Someone sent those thugs to your house.”
“You think the doctor hired someone?”
“I think it’s a really big coincidence that the man who believes in dragons happens to show up the day after the break-in. A break-in we know is connected to Tigger, given what they took.”
“All because my grandfather and my little orange rascal couldn’t keep their mouths shut.” I paused. “So what next?”
“Amping up my security for starters. Ordering in dinner?—”
