Page 26 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part One

“No. I don’t want you to do a thing about him. I just want him to disappear from my life. I never want to see, hear, or think about him again. Going to work now.”

I trudged off without another word, hot coffee in hand, and sat down at my desk. On the right side were three piles of case folders that I’d already begun sorting according to my process which was as follows. Take a first pass through the stack and toss out all those that were too, too ridiculous. Then go through again and make two piles: one of maybes, one of potentials. You might fail to see the distinction, but it was clear in my head and that was what mattered.

On the left of both stacks, not included in my normal process, was the worn folder Lochlan had left earlier. I was conflicted about whether it should be first or last. It seemed reasonable to get out of the way a task that was, by now, routine before facing the unknown.

After the first hour, Olivia brought finger sandwiches that hit the spot. Bless Olivia and all the generations of her issue.

After another hour, I’d flown through first scans and leveled the piles. The stack of potentials was shorter than usual. Perhaps my criteria had changed. Or perhaps the magic community was behaving better with a new sheriff in town. Either way, it was going to be a light Samhain Court.

I yawned.

What a day it had been! And it was just mid-afternoon. I was thinking the best approach to my immediate future would be a quick toes-up. Naps are the best path to clarity, I always say. Sometimes the best course of action is inaction of the unconscious sort.

When I appeared at Keir’s door to tell him, he looked up and said, “Have a nice nap.”

I closed my mouth and stared for a moment before saying, “Scary. I’ve become that predictable.”

“I like routine.” He chuckled and returned his attention to the clipboard where he kept track of his sports bets for the day.

“Do you make any money doing that?” I asked.

He didn’t look up but smiled and said, “Yes. Do you need some?”

“Um. No.” My curiosity had the better of me and naps were all but forgotten. “What do you, um, do with it?”

There were few things about Keir I loved more than his laugh. “Feeling nosy?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, I have a few charities that get the benefit of my guessing expertise.”

“Really?” Now I had to know more. “Now you have to tell me more.”

He took his feet off the desk. “Do you want to sit down?”

“The list is that long?”

“It is respectable.”

“Wow. You’ve managed to surprise the socks off me. Again.”

“Good. I understand surprise keeps marriages fresh.”

“Well, uh, I guess. Are there lots of other, um, surprises in store for me?”

His smile turned wicked. “Maybe.”

“But you plan to leak them little by little.”

“As you are fond of saying… Bingo!” I nodded then yawned. “Sleep tight.”

I hadn’t gone two steps before I heard a scratching sound coming from the mudroom. It was quickly followed by such high-pitched barking that it closely resembled squeaking. When the three of us, the dogs and I, arrived in the mudroom, we saw Aisling’s head poking through the dog door. Judging by the movement of her head, she was wagging her tail eagerly. She was, apparently, too polite to come in without an invitation, but had no qualms about a look-see. My pups were ecstatic about a visit from mom even though they romped about the hills a few hours before.

“What’s this?’’ I bent to take the rolled paper held carefully in her jaws. “Do you want to come in?”

Her answer was to pull the rest of her body through the opening. She gave her babies a sweet muzzle licking then turned and left the way she came.

The paper was a note from Ivy. “Don’t be too hard on poor Lochlan. He’s always got your best interest at heart.”

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