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Chapter 7
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2021-09-02 07:55:41Neither of us wanted to crawl out of bed the following morning and go into the office. Not only had we been deprived of adequate rest the night before, but the house wasn’t in as convenient a location as our apartments were and we needed to allow an extra twenty minutes of travel time.
“Are you sorry that we moved in yet?” I asked as I started the car and put it in drive.
“Not yet,” Nora said as she handed me my travel cup that was filled with steaming hot coffee and a warm, toasted bagel with cream cheese that was wrapped in a paper towel. “If we have any more things like yesterday occur, I might be.”
I heaved a sigh. “I don’t feel like going into work today. Rumor has it that I’ll be starting a new case that will require a good deal of observation.”
“That means hours of sitting with a camera,” she offered.
I took a bite of my bagel and nodded. &l
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We spent the next few days resting and recovering from the chain of dramatic events that led up to the life altering decision of our quitting our jobs. Fortunately, there were no more incidents such as transparent men wandering about or unknown sex partners in the middle of the night.Admittedly, we were nervous and expectant for one or the other to occur on the first and second night. Therefore, we spent the third day and night sleeping to compensate for three nights of insufficient rest.It was decided that we would take at least a month off to regroup before forming the new business and setting up shop somewhere. It was our fourth day of unemployment when Nora decided that she’d had enough rest and relaxation. It was time to resume searching for that magic box. Her sheer determination to find it put wind in my sails.Although we felt rested and rejuvenated from our few days of doing absolutely nothing, we hadn’t recov
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That night, sleep evaded me. It wasn’t due to an unknown visitor awakening me or anything like that. It was due to loneliness. I missed Lance so much that my heart hurt inside of my chest. I’d only recently had a complete physical, including a cardiogram, so I knew that it wasn’t a heart attack. It was longing and loneliness, plain and simple.As I struggled to breathe and calm myself down, I let the tears flow as I whispered into the darkness. “Oh, Lance, how did we get like this? I love you, but sometimes I wish that you never found me. I wasn’t lonely before I fell in love with you. I was content with my life and the people in it. Now, everything is a mess and I’m in genuine physical pain for want of you.”A bright glow that reminded me of the one that Agatha had appeared in when I was back in time began to form in the same spot. It was then that I
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“How many trunks are there?” I asked with dismay as I closed the lid to the oversized one containing clothes belonging to a man that I’d just finished going through.We’d already searched through five generously sized trunks and there were still a good deal more to go.“There are at least a dozen or more. Did every generation store their clothing like it was some sort of prized commodity? You could put whole bodies into these things with room to spare. Maybe more than one at a time. Whatever happened to giving away to the poor?” Nora puffed as she placed her hands against the small of her back and bent backward to stretch it out. I could hear a faint popping sound as she did it. “By chance, did the woman in your dream give you any indication of what room the trunk was in?”I pursed my lips with disgust. “None whatsoever.”My friend held her hands in front of her and twisted them
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I decided that the first point of action was to find out who had been the caretaker of the house prior to my ownership. It was in far too perfect a condition not to have been tended to. Besides, someone had to notice the loose floorboards and arrange to have them repaired.I determined that the best person to provide such information to me would be the lawyer who Lance used to arrange for the estate transfer from him to me. I’d placed the papers in the top drawer of a large mahogany desk in the study, so I hurried to get them. To my surprise and dismay, they weren’t where I’d left them.“Of course not,” I complained aloud to an empty room. “That would make things far too easy.”I sat in the oversized leather office chair while I thought on whether I’d moved them and forgotten. I’d admired the chair when I first toured the house. It was in such fine condition that I th
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I’d called the alarm company almost as soon as I’d realized that we’d had an intruder. Other than sincere apologies and a suggestion that we change the code to the alarm system in our house, I got nothing of value from them. It didn’t surprise me. It’s far less intimidating and easy to be uncooperative over the telephone than in person. The only reason that I even bothered to call in the first place was to use it as a means of venting some nervous energy while I waited for my business credentials to be available to me. Besides, you never know, I could have gotten lucky with whoever answered the phone.Nora went to a same day printer and had a small batch of business cards made up right away. Since I was only working on the one case and it was my own personal case, she felt secure in sending me off with only a few cards in my wallet until the ones that she’d ordered over the interne
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The sounds of the monitors next to my bed were the first things that registered when I finally came alive again. I opened my eyes. The light was dim, but it still hurt if I didn’t squint. I could see that I was in a hospital room. Little by little I began to remember that I’d suffered a terrible blow on the head and that there was blood as a result.“Do I have a concussion?” I said with a mouth that felt like I’d eaten a cup of sand.Nora rushed to my bedside. “You’re awake. Good.”“Do I have a concussion?” I asked again.“Of course you have a concussion. Whoever hit you over the head struck you so hard that they literally cracked your skull,” she said in a worried and reprimanding tone. “What the devil were you doing in that sketchy part of the city? And, in a deserted building, no less. Who knows what kind of sordid c
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I could barely open my eyes, but the little I was able to showed me that my hospital room had only a faint nightlight and the small lights from my monitor illuminating it. The shadowy figure of a tall male was standing next to my bed. I could see that he was inserting a needle into my I.V. tube.“What are you doing?” I managed to say in a voice that was just above a whisper.“I want you relaxed, but not asleep,” he whispered back.I felt an immediate sense of euphoria spread through my body from the drug entering my bloodstream. He wasted no time in pulling the covers away from me. The air felt cool and invigorating, yet invasive at the same time. Whether it was because of what Agatha said or if it was my own gut telling me, but I knew, rather than saw, that it was Jason.“My head,” I whimpered. &ldqu
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I heard Nora scolding the hospital staff about their incompetency long before my eyes opened and focused enough on the world around me for me to see her. I felt, rather than saw that there were others in the room that weren’t hospital staff.My head felt like I should remove it and place it on a shelf until it was healed again. I gave an involuntary moan as I lifted my hand in an attempt to caress the pain away.“You poor thing,” Nora said as she rushed to my side. Still not finished with her tirade about the hospital’s incompetency, she said in a voice loud enough for the nurse and doctor to hear, “I leave you here thinking that you’re in safe and competent hands and look what happens.”Doctor Cline’s face remained stoic as she moved to the foot of my bed. Whether she was insulted by Nora’s rantings or agreed with her, it was difficult to tell. “I need to examine her now, Miss O
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It took a while for me to fall asleep. My mind was too tortured by guilt over feeling love and desire for two men -as well as anger and frustration- to easily settle down. When it finally did, I slept until Nora woke me up in the late afternoon.“If you sleep all day, you’ll be up all night,” she said.I rolled onto my back and yawned. “You’re right, I said as I stretched in a cat-like manner. “What time is it?”“Four-thirty,” she said. “Did you know that Killian is moving out?”I sat up with a start. “What?”“You shouldn’t have had sex with him, Esma,” she complained.“He told you?” I gasped.She shook her head. “I came up to check on you and saw you two in the linen closet going at it like bulls.”I looked away. “It was pretty intense.”“Well, it r
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We said nothing on the drive home, for which I was thankful. Killian had learned enough about me to recognize when I wasn’t in the mood for talking.I spent my ride home fretting over the overuse of the magic box and the possible depletion of its magic. I’d reminded him about it just as he’d placed me in the car and he quickly went back into the house to fetch it for me. He was a good man and an even better friend.Nora was just getting up when we entered the kitchen.“What the devil?” she said with a shocked expression that quickly erased all signs of sleep from her face. “Esmerelda, you look exhausted. Where have you two been?”I looked, questioningly, at Killian and then back at her. “You didn’t tell Killian that I was gone?”“Gone? Gone where?” she asked. “When?”“I was ripped from my bed in the middle of th
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I sat up and waited for my surroundings to come into focus while I listened to Roger’s angry voice giving my kidnapper his rights. Someone was kneeling beside me and was supporting me with his arms around my shoulders. It was Killian.“How did you find me?” I asked.“I used magic,” he said in a hushed voice, “but don’t repeat that. As far as everyone is concerned, you got to a phone and called for help.”“He forced me to send Lance a message that I’m sure ate up most of the magic in the box,” I whimpered.“We’ll worry about that later,” he said as he helped me into a chair. Holding up two fingers, he asked, “How many fingers am I holding up?”“I’m fine,” I said as I pushed some wild curls from my face. “I could use a hair tie, though.”He gently brushed a few strands of hair behind my ear
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The car was parked next to a weathered shed in a small clearing that was surrounded by trees. I’d guessed right, the place was definitely hidden and secluded. I assumed that the shed was my intended prison, had I not been fortunate to get free.I stole a quick glance at my abductors. Although I’d put a sizable gash on the side of the larger one’s head, I was sure that he was still breathing. Fred, on the other hand, was stone dead and lying in a pool of his own blood. I longed for water to rinse the taste of his blood and the residue feel of his flesh from my mouth.I’d walked a few yards away from the car in the direction of a grove of trees to the east of the gravel drive when I heard the faint barking of a dog. Was there a guard dog wandering about?I ran toward the trees for protection. When the light from the floodlight dissipated, I stop to lean against a large tree trunk while I caugh
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My evening with Nora was a long time coming. Since she and Roger became a couple, she’d spent most of her evenings with him or doing research about houseboats for him. Apparently, it was his lifelong dream to own one.We’d watched the movie “Beaches” in the media room and ate too much popcorn until my body screamed for sleep. Since she’d had a long day as well, she needed no convincing when I suggested that we call it an early night.It was the first night since Killian moved in that he wasn’t home by ten o’clock. There’d been no intruders or anything suspicious to warrant him staying in residence, but I’d grown accustomed to his company and the house was so big that I suggested that he make it his home. Nora seconded the suggestion. After making a joke about missing Nora’s cooking too much to leave it, he readily agreed.It felt almost eerie getting ready for bed kno
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I was coming downstairs when Killian rushed into the house and grabbed both my hands. He wore a look of excited satisfaction. “I have something for you.”“A present?” I said with childlike excitement.It was a few weeks since we’d all sat down for a lasagna dinner and Nora bonded with Roger. Since then, she’d paid minimal attention to Killian; leaving him open for conversations with me about investigating, magic, the secret society, or a variety of other topics. It turned out that we had a good deal in common.He gently pulled me down the steps without letting go of my hands. His satisfied Cheshire cat grin made me giggle with anticipation.“What is it?” I asked with excitement.“In a minute,” he said. “I want you seated before I show you.”“Will I like it?” I asked.“Oh, no you don’t,” he chu
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Several days passed without my running into Killian. He was leaving the house long before I arose and returning after I’d gone to bed. Of course, the hours that I was keeping were those of someone in recovery, so they didn’t necessarily coincide with those of a healthy and active homicide detective. There was also the fact that he was called away to investigate something at the drop of a dime; making it even more difficult to spontaneously meet up with him.“I can’t seem to catch Killian,” I complained as I strode into the kitchen were Nora was making lasagna. “You’ve seen him, haven’t you?”“Why do you want him?” Nora asked in a tone that made me think that she was still worried about me usurping her with the good inspector.Annoyed, I said with a sassy tone, “Oh, I don’t know. I thought I’d strip him naked and have my way with him on the livi
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I went straight to bed upon returning home, but I had no intention of staying in bed the following day, so Nora set me up in the media room to binge on movies.The first movie that I selected from the enormous collection was “Gone With The Wind”. After having gone back to a time just prior to when the story depicted, I wanted to view it with a new perspective. The movie was still in the opening credits when she brought Killian Epps into the room.I found it interesting how easily I adapted to calling this stranger by his first name. Not only that, but, when he eased his lean, muscular frame into the media recliner next to mine, it felt like we’d done it dozens of times. Almost as if we were old friends.It was still fairly early in the morning, so Nora brought in a pot of coffee and some mugs. She’d also grabbed the box of cheese Danish that she’d purchased as a treat for me for when I got h
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