Page 78 of Hoodoo House
Charlie’s pulse quickened. “Are you kidding? You mean it? We could do that?”
“I think we’d be crazy not to,” Declan replied.
“But, wait a minute. That’s…that’s not what I meant. When I asked about us, I meant…you know…us,” he said.
The edges of Declan’s mouth curled into a slight smile. “You know what you’d be letting yourself in for? I’m not the most stable guy around.”
Charlie shrugged. “I’d be willing to try.”
“We could maybe take it slow,” Declan said, putting his arms around Charlie.
“That would be nice.”
“Spend a few more nights together?” Declan said as he kissed Charlie’s neck.
“Mm-hmm.”
“And see how that feels?” Declan whispered as he nibbled Charlie’s ear.
“That feels right.” Charlie sighed.
Declan picked Charlie up in his arms, and said, “What do you say we put that king bed to good use?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Epilogue
Charlie sat at his desk looking at his new screensaver image. It was a picture he had taken the morning after the fire had burned Hoodoo House to the ground. The image showed nothing but a pile of charred timbers, and the soot and ash-covered Spirit of the Hoodoo statue standing proudly against the prairie sky.
That morning, Sergeant Bowen had taken everyone’s statement, but her focus had been more on how the fire had started, and if Henry could identify Adolph Moses as the man he had encountered on the night of the break-in. Malcolm Tull’s death was never mentioned.
The following day, Charlie had called upon his tech wizardry to anonymously send the video of Adolph Moses with Malcolm Tull to the RCMP. He’d ensured that it was sent through encrypted accounts that couldn’t be traced back to him. And to be double-sure, Charlie had imported the file onto a burner phone, sent it from a remote location then destroyed the device. While the video wasn’t meant to be conclusive proof that Moses had been involved in the death of Malcolm Tull, Declan and Charlie had hoped that it would point the police away from Henry’s involvement.
One thing Charlie was stumped about was the motivation for Moses’ attack on the house. If Moses had known the bikers who had stolen the computer, then he knew it wasn’t in the house and he had nothing to gain by burning it down. Charlie could only assume that it had been an act of rage-driven spite after being bested and injured by a kid during the break-in. No matter what, Charlie suspected that Moses was going to be locked away for a very long time.
The door to the office opened and Declan came in with a couple of large coffees and a bag.
“One large latte for you,” he said, handing it to Charlie. “And this is from Gwen.” He passed Charlie the bag. “She instructed me not to open it. It was for your eyes only. I don’t know what spell you’ve cast over that woman.” He shook his head. “So did you get in touch with Cody White?”
Charlie nodded. “I let him know that the files connected to his indiscretion were destroyed and that we haven’t kept a back-up copy.”
“Good. And our other client?” Declan asked.
“Sinclair has reviewed Tull’s last book and decided that it was trash. He said even as erotica, it was a joke. Apparently he’s hoping to find work with the publishing company that was in the process of acquiring Mount Temple Press, and maybe trying his hand at writing fiction. He mentioned an idea for a story about a popular romance writer who’s gone AWOL and is killing off the ghostwriters that have been hired to finish her work.”
Declan grinned. “Nobody would ever believe it. By the way, I just had a call from Mrs Cameron. Mount Temple Press is going to pay her a release settlement which will allow her to start looking for a new home. She’s decided that she and Henry will move to Red Deer so she can be closer to her sister. And in other good news, Michael has been in touch with her and has referred Henry to a therapist friend in the area who will take him on as a client.”
“Fantastic,” Charlie said, raising his latte in a toast.
Declan leaned over and kissed Charlie on the head. “I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”
Charlie took a sip of his coffee and began to open the mail. On the top of the pile was an envelope from the Heart’s Shadow Foundation containing a cheque to cover the expenses of Declan Hunt Investigations. Charlie looked more closely at the cheque and laughed.
He poked his nose into Declan’s office. “You’ll be glad to know that the cheque’s in from Heart’s Shadow and it should cover the rest of the month’s expenses. I’ll deposit it after lunch.”
“Great. Thanks.”
“Oh,” Charlie continued, “you’ll never guess who signed it.”
