Page 74
After an initial greeting, they cut to the chase. “I have a home address for Donald Wentworth for you.”
For such simple words, they had one hell of an impact on me.
Chapter Twenty-four
Rowan
“The thing is,” I said to Caligo, “entering someone else’s home without permission is illegal. If I get caught…”
“Why would you get caught?”
“I don’t know. People do.”
“People don’t have me. I’ll check whether he’s out before letting you in, and I’ll keep watch in case he comes home.”
I paced another circuit of the room. “You’re a terrible influence.”
“You want to enter this man’s home, and I can make that possible. Why would I not help you when it’s so simple?”
I laughed. “Most people just give flowers.”
“Flowers?”
“It’s a human thing. You must have seen it.”
Caligo tipped his head to one side. It was a gesture he used frequently when he wanted to consider something carefully. “No. What kind of flowers?”
“Any kind.”
Caligo blinked out of existence.
“Caligo?” I said to the space where he’d been only seconds earlier. “Are you there?” No answer. “We were having a serious conversation. We were discussing the possibility of searching someone’s house for evidence. I kind of need you here for that, even if you do have the morals of someone serving a life sentence for mass murder.” I continued to stare at the space as the seconds ticked by. Then, just as quickly as he’d disappeared, he returned, an assortment of daisies and dandelions clutched in his hand.
He held them out with a smile. “Flowers.”
“Well, almost,” I said.
His face fell. “I didn’t get it right.”
Feeling guilty, I took them from him. “No, you did well. Thank you. They’re beautiful.” I even held them to my nose and sniffed them for added effect. “Tyler never got me flowers.”
“Tyler was a lying sack of shit.”
“He was,” I agreed as I headed into the kitchen. After locating a vase, I made a big production of arranging the flowers in it. It wasn’t the easiest task, given how short the stems were, but I eventually got everything balanced so that, even if the stems weren’t actually touching the water, they did a good job of pretending. Caligo watched me as I arranged my collection of weeds in the center of the kitchen table. It wasn’t like I was planning any dinner parties in the near future, so it would be fine.
“Where did you get them from?” I asked.
“The park.”
“You can travel between places that quickly?”
“I can.”
“Neat trick.”
Now that I didn’t have the impromptu gift to distract me, I was back to chewing over the same quandary: do nothing, or do something wildly inappropriate that could get me into a heap of trouble. “He’s probably at home tonight,” I said.
“Let’s find out.”
