Page 11 of The Beachside Cafe
Jaymee ran to her nightstand and grabbed her phone from the charging pad. She pulled up her camera and took a picture of the vial. Then she dialed his number and put the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she held the vial with both hands.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Hey, it’s me. Look, I found something I want you to look at. I’m going to send you a picture.”
“Okay.”
Jaymee pulled the phone from her ear and went to her messages, sending him the picture she’d taken of the vial. When she was done, she put the phone back to her ear and set the vial down on the nightstand.
“Let me know when you get it,” she said.
There was a short pause during which she could hear him moving through his phone. “Okay, I got it. What the heck is that? Perfume?”
“No, it’s not mine. It’s his. I only picked it up with my thumb on the top and my fingers on the bottom. So his fingerprints should be on the other part. Unless it’s been wiped. Or it wasn’t him to begin with but someone else used the drug on him and was able to get him away from the house without anyone seeing.”
“I know it’s late but do you mind if I come over? I’d like to talk to you about this.”
“Yeah, it’s late. But you can come over.”
Twenty minutes later, Cameron was standing in her study, examining the vial. “I think I have a solution,” he said, urgently. “I have a friend who might be able to help us.”
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. Jaymee waited, watching his anxious face.
“Hey, Alex, it’s Cam. Yeah, I know it’s late, I’m sorry. I need your help.”
After much cajoling and begging, Cameron got his friend to agree to meet him at the lab to do the tests. He pressed the end button, a triumphant look on his face.
“Let’s get that over therenow!”
EIGHT
It appeared Cameron and Jaymee arrived at the lab at the exact same time as his friend, Alex. Jaymee got an immediate good vibe from the young man. He was Cheyenne’s age or thereabouts, with a head of curly brown hair and excited brown eyes. He was thin and wearing – of all things – a white lab coat, as if he was going to work.
He walked with an energy in his step that Jaymee admired. He approached with his hand out, though he wasn’t smiling. “You must be Jaymee. Cameron’s told me nothing about you. Don’t hold that against him. I’m sure he has his reasons.”
“Oh, nice,” Cameron responded in a teasing voice. “So you’re just gonna throw me under the bus like that?”
Alex gave him a funny look that made Jaymee laugh. “It’s okay, he’s only known me since yesterday,” she said.
“Ah,” Alex nodded, eyeing his friend with an amused look. “I suppose he does have a good excuse for not mentioning you then. I haven’t talked to him since last week. So what’s this you need me to test?”
“Let’s go inside,” Cameron said, holding up both arms as if to herd them inside. “It’s too exposed out here. I don’t even want to bring it out in the open.”
Nervousness slipped through Jaymee. She gave him a wide-eyed look. “You don’t think we’re being watched, do you?” Fear made her chest tighten.
“No, I don’t,” he responded in a firm voice. “But there’s just no way to know and it’s better not to take chances like that.”
“You’re right,” Alex said. “Let’s go inside.”
“Is this whole facility yours?” Jaymee asked as they walked up to the front door and Alex bent to unlock it. He looked so young to head up a lab like this one.
“It is. It was my uncle’s till he passed and he didn’t pass until after he noticed I’d taken an interest in this kind of thing and started training me to do these tests. I find forensic science fascinating.”
“I do, too,” Jaymee said, feeling a sense of kinship with the young man. He smiled at her as she continued, “I’ve watched so many of those forensic shows on tv, you know the ones that detail how these things are done. The science network. Other than that I’m watching crime shows, fiction or non-fiction. It’s kind of an addiction.”
All three laughed.
“I don’t consider myself an expert though and would love to hear what a real scientist thinks of this.” She pulled the vial from her pocket and held it out to him as they walked down a white tile-floor hallway with closed doors on either side. They were headed toward the two double doors that ended the hallway.
