Nine Lives (Lily Dale Mystery #1)(53)

“I didn’t see a notebook. Or a laptop, either. Not since I got here. Do you want to take another look?”

Luther glances at his watch. “A quick one. I have to be someplace soon.”

The two of them step back into the study. Luther takes a cursory look around and then picks up the appointment book. “I guess I’ll take this with me.”

He’s going to discover that the page is missing. If Bella mentions it now, she might inadvertently incriminate herself. He’ll wonder why she didn’t bring it up before.

“Do you want to check the rest of the house for the other things?” she asks as they step back out into the parlor, in part hoping he’ll forget the appointment book and in part wanting to reinforce that she’s being cooperative.

“Unfortunately, I can’t. I’m already running late.”

“That’s right, you said earlier that you have a hot date,” Odelia says behind them as Bella locks the study door again and pockets the keys.

“Right now, I have a dentist appointment. I wouldn’t call that a hot date. And then I have to go spend some time at the hospital with my mom.”

“How is she feeling?”

“No better, no worse.” Then Luther explains to Bella, “My mother has been ill.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. It isn’t easy, watching your parents grow old.”

Nor is it easy not getting to see them grow old. Or your spouse, either, for that matter.

“So your mom is your hot date?” Odelia asks Luther. “Because I distinctly remember your saying you had one today.”

“That isn’t until later tonight—and I don’t recall saying hot date.”

“I have a feeling it will be.”

“I thought you were off your game, Odelia,” he says, heading for the hall with the spiral appointment book tucked under his arm.

“Not about everything,” she calls after him as Bella trails him out.

They find Max lying on his belly, shining the flashlight under the registration table.

“Still no cat?” Luther asks.

“Nope.” He clicks off the flashlight and holds it out. “Thanks for letting me use this.”

“You can keep it.”

“Are you sure?” Max happily clicks it on again.

“Positive. I’ve got lots at home.”

“Thanks!” Max shimmies across the floor on his stomach, flashlight once again in search mode.

“Good luck finding your furry friend, Max. If she got out, I’m sure she’ll come back when she gets hungry enough.”

“I just hope it’s before the kittens are born.” Max’s top half disappears under the low edge of an antique console table, but his voice floats from beneath it. “They’re coming today.”

“Scheduled C-section?” Luther asks Bella dryly.

“More like wishful thinking. He wants the kittens to be born while we’re here so that he can name them.”

“Maybe they will be. And listen,” he adds in a low voice, his hand on the doorknob, “if I thought you were in danger here, I’d tell you to get out right now.”

“So you don’t believe in this Lily Dale stuff?” she asks, now that Odelia is safely out of range.

She expects an ambiguous answer, but he nods. “I do believe it. Odelia’s good. She’s told me too many things she couldn’t possibly have known. But mediums can only interpret the information they’re given by Spirit. It’s not a perfect science.”

“Science? Is that what it is?”

“It’s all about energy. Ever study quantum physics?”

“I teach it,” she informs him, and enjoys the look of surprise on his face. “Well, I really just touch upon it. There’s a lot to cover. I’m a science teacher. I mean, I was.”

“Then you probably know what Einstein said.”

“About what?”

Luther reaches into his pocket, pulls out his wallet, and takes a folded slip of paper from it. He hands it to her.

She reads the handwritten note aloud: “Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe.”

She looks up at him. “Einstein said that?”

Luther nods. “Odelia told me that when I met her. I didn’t believe her, so I looked it up. After she’d helped me solve that first case, I wrote it down, and I’ve carried it with me ever since so that I won’t forget.”

She digests that as she refolds the paper along its well-worn crease and starts to hand it back to him.

“Keep it,” he says. “I know it by heart. It might help you while you’re here.”

She tucks it into the back pocket of her shorts. “If you believe that there’s something to this, why are you telling me that it’s safe for us to stay here?”

“It’s just like what Odelia said about connecting the dots. I don’t immediately jump from one fact—Leona died—to another—someone killed her. There would have to be a lot of other facts for me to draw that conclusion, and right now, it’s all too fuzzy.”

“So are you humoring her, then? Is that why you came over here?”