Page 73 of Murder By the Millions
“In my car.”
I followed her into the main room and was surprised to see Iggie at the sales counter, paying for the Patterson novel. Chloe was running his credit card. She must have finalized Finette’s purchase already, because Finette was walking out the front door with a gift bag. Iggie lasered me with a look. Had he figured out why Lillian had questioned him about his alibi? Did he blame me for the intrusion?
“Iggie,” I whispered to Tegan.
She said, “I’m on it. Why don’t you help those teens in the mystery aisle?”
I did. And survived.
Once the lull in activity resumed, Tegan lifted the lunch basket Vanna had delivered, withdrew a sub sandwich, gave it to Chloe, and declared we would be back in two to three hours. Chloe said she’d be happy to hang out and watch Darcy. She loved the little rascal.
“Hey, Allie, did you ever figure out how he hurt himself?” Chloe asked.
“I haven’t. I need to address the issue when I get home. Thanks for reminding me.”
I followed Tegan to her MINI Clubman, its bumper filled with feisty stickers. I noticed a sassy new one, which read: I DON’T HAVE THE TIME OR THE CRAYONS TO EXPLAIN IT TO YOU.
I laughed. “Good one. Crayons. Hysterical.”
“Glad you like it.”
We both climbed in and strapped on our seat belts.
“It shouldn’t take too long to get to Linville Caverns.” Tegan cranked the car into gear.
“What?” I glowered at her. “You want to go to the caverns? You couldn’t have mentioned that?”
She cackled. “You would’ve given me guff.”
“The caverns are over an hour away.”
“Not the way I drive.”
“They’re closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” I reminded her.
“Good. We won’t run into any tour groups or guides.” She veered east, out of town.
“What have you got up your sleeve?” I asked, rolling down my window to allow in the fresh summer air.
“I want to rule out Patrick as a suspect.”
“Because you like him.”
“Get real.”
“You do. I’m not blind. The way you clung to him after the bookshelf toppled …” I comically fanned myself.
She blew a raspberry.
For centuries, the Linville Caverns weren’t known to humanity. In the early 1800s a local fisherman who was heading up an expedition in this area of North Carolina was shocked to see fish swimming in and out of what he thought was solid rock. Surprise! The limestone caverns were filled with fascinating formations, including stalagmites and stalactites. To me, many resembled the baleen inside a whale’s mouth.
“What do you hope to discover?” I asked.
“I want to know if he was really caving Monday night,” Tegan answered.
“Who’s going to tell you? The bats?”
Like a demon, she sped along the roadway, zooming past cars, keeping watch for highway patrol vehicles. “Did you know a recent bat survey confirmed that six bats out of the hundreds that dwell in the Linville Caverns are infected with white-nose syndrome?”
