Page 99 of When She Dreams

“Did she take anything else that she thought would be useful for her blackmail scheme?” Sam asked.

“A bracelet,” Pamela said. “It belonged to her sister. She was convinced she could sell it and the diary and the photo to the Guilfoyles.”

She turned and walked away to the Hudson parked at the curb. Sam watched her drive off down the street. Maggie watched him.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“I’m thinking the person who searched Beverly Nevins’s hotel room was looking for the diary, the photo, and the bracelet. Whoever it was found the diary and the photo but not the bracelet.”

“I suppose this means we can eliminate Oxlade as a suspect in Beverly Nevins’s death,” Maggie said. “Apparently he wasn’t on her list of blackmail targets. Sounds like she was just after the Guilfoyles and Aunt Cornelia.”

“It’s possible Eleanor Nevins never knew the name of the doctor who was supplying the enhancer drug to the Guilfoyles back in their Keeley Point days,” Sam said. “Either that or she simply didn’t care enough to mention him in her diary.”

“What do we do now?” Maggie asked.

Sam studied her across the small table. “Viewed from a strictly professional perspective, this case is closed. In fact, it was closed the first night of the dream conference.”

“The blackmailer was murdered, and the fake Aunt Cornelia was unmasked and sent packing that night.”

“Yes,” Sam said. He drank some coffee. “Case closed.”

She watched him, aware of the energy in the atmosphere around him.

“The thing is,” she said, “there are so many questions left unanswered.”

“None of which relates to your case.”

She frowned. “You’re wrong. One question is very much our business. Who tried to murder you in the parking lot at the hotel?”

“Could have been an accident.”

“It wasn’t an accident,” Maggie said.

Sam waved that off with a slight motion of one hand. “It’s a hazard of the investigation business. I was in someone’s way. If we leave town I will no longer be in that person’s way.”

“So many questions,” Maggie said.

“Yes.”

“We need answers.”

Sam gave her a knowing look. “You mean I need answers. I appreciate that, but—”

“You’re wrong,” Maggie said. “I need them, too. Curiosity is yet another character flaw that is common in writers, just like it is in investigators.”

He looked at her for a long moment and then got to his feet, took out his wallet, and put some cash on the table. “I think we’ll get at least one answer in the evening edition of the local paper. Let’s go back to the hotel and see which of the two male dream guides gets arrested for the murder of Dr. Emerson Oxlade.”

Maggie shivered. “Do you really think one of them was responsible?”

“No, but one of them will make headlines in the late edition of theBurning Cove Herald.”

“That sounds a lot like a psychic prediction.”

“Intuition.”

Chapter 45

ARREST IN SHOCKING MURDER OF DREAM DOCTOR

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