CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Trisha was fuming. ‘We don’t want your type around here,’ she mimicked. ‘Fuck I hate it when they bring that shit into it. He was way out of line. We didn’t do a dammed thing wrong. His old mum was enjoying our company. I know she was.’ She kicked a boot at a tree root.
‘Until we mentioned the pool house or folly or whatever it is,’ Michaela said. ‘Did you see the look on her face when you said the door was unlocked? The poor old thing, she doesn’t like that place, that’s for sure.’
‘I don’t bloody well blame her,’ Trisha said. ‘I didn’t like it either.’
Michaela was thinking. ‘It’s supposed to be locked,’ she said. ‘And when you think about it, that would make sense. You sure as hell wouldn’t want to stumble upon that place and take a fall.’ The thought of it had her grimacing.
Trisha kicked another tree. ‘She was upset about that for sure. I wish I hadn’t said anything now. She was a sweet old bird.’ She turned and looked at Michaela. ‘Didn’t like the son though.
‘Yeah,’ Michaela agreed. ‘Kind of got the impression there that he wouldn’t have been happy to see us no matter what.’
Trisha tugged on her hair. ‘He was a jerk-off. Went an interesting shade of pale when the pool house was mentioned though, don’t you think?’
They’d reached the spot where Michaela had discovered the residue on the tree. Michaela stopped and looked around. ‘A very interesting shade indeed, now that you mention it.’ She checked out the tree trunks, looking for more evidence. ‘I wonder what he knows.’
Trisha stopped trying to uproot a small bush and gave Michaela a considering look. ‘You don’t think last night was about ghosts and shit at all, do you?’
Michaela finished examining the trees. She put her arm around Trisha and looked back toward the lodge. ‘No,’ she said. ‘No, I don’t think that at all.’ She looked down at Trisha. ‘Unfortunately,’ she added, ‘that raises even more questions than it answers.’
Trisha stared toward the lodge too. ‘Huh,’ she said. She grabbed Michaela’s hand and pulled her away. ‘Bet that asshole’s watching us. Let’s go. You can get on the case from the comfort of our place, Sherlock because this woman wants a drink. It’s been way too eventful a day.’
‘I don’t think Nancy Drew had a drinking problem, you know,’ Michaela said, laughing.
Trisha laughed, and the day lightened a little. ‘Get fucked,’ she said.
‘Okay,’ Michaela was laughing too now. ‘I think I have a bit of a thing for girl detectives.’