Page 10 of Reap the Night
“There.” Padma pointed at the spot between her desk and mine.
Holly stood in the spot and waved her arm about.
“Anything?” Edwin asked.
Holly shook her head. “Not even a buzz.”
Padma exhaled in exasperation. “Are you saying I made this up? That I’m lying?”
“No!” Merry cried looking distraught at the very thought.
“Padma,” Edwin said softly. “Maybe we should consider the possibility that what you saw might have been part of the?—”
“Don’t say it,” Padma said. “Don’t you dare say it.”
“What’s going on?” Holly asked. “I can’t help you if I don’t know everything.”
“You don’t need to know everything,” Padma snapped. “You’re only here for the tracker case. You’re not part of the team.”
Holly flinched, and her expression smoothed out. “In that case, seeing as the missing persons cases have been a bust, I’ll pack up my stuff and head back to the city.”
“No!” Merry cried. “We still need you.”
“We do.” I gave Padma a pointed look. “You’re invaluable to the team.”
Padma’s shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry, Holly. That was uncalled for. I appreciate your help, we all do, I just…I’m not myself right now.”
The tightness around Holly’s eyes softened a little. “Apology accepted, but I’ll still take the day off, if that’s all right with all of you.”
I dropped her a nod. “That’s fine. I need to get caught up on what I missed anyway.”
She grabbed her jacket and keys and headed out.
“I’m sorry,” Edwin said to Padma. “I forgot she was here.”
“It’s all right.” Padma dropped into her seat. “It’s been a trying few days.”
Days that I’d missed because I’d been in a healing sleep. Days that I needed to be filled in on. “Can someone please tell me exactly what happened with the teapot?”
Edwin set the teapot on my desk. “How about I make coffee and then Padma can tell you what she told us?”
He left, and I shrugged off my coat and took my seat. There was something different about the teapot now. Not just the fact that it was clean, but more the lack of a draw. I didn’t feel like I wanted to pick it up. Like it was…important. It was just a teapot now.
“What is it?” Padma asked.
I shook my head. “It feels different now.”
“You don’t have the urge to touch it now, do you?”
“No. I don’t.”
“Because the thing that was inside is gone now,” she said. “I’m telling you that?—”
Edwin returned with a tray of coffee mugs. “Start from the beginning, Padma.”
Padma cradled her mug in her hands, fingers tapping against the ceramic, clearly agitated. “I was here last night. Working. I decided to clean your teapot for you, and as soon as it was clean,purple smoke appeared out of nowhere, and a man stepped out of the smoke. He attacked me and…” She chewed on her bottom lip.
“And?” I sat forward. “Did he hurt you?”
