“You want meandLulu to come out to Wisconsin?”
“Yeah, I do,” I replied. It was the first time I think I’d ever wanted Lulu to do anything. I’d become resigned to Lulu being a part of our family, such as it was, but now I actually found myselfhoping that Noah would agree to come out here. And that he’d bring Lulu with him. Because Luluwaspart of our weird, sad little family. “Please, Nono?”
I hoped Elliot wouldn’t mind. I hadn’t asked him, and even if I did wake him up and ask him now, he wasn’t really in any condition to actually agree to anything.
I could tell Noah was thinking. Then, “I… have to talk to Lulu. But… I want to.”
“It’d be a real white Christmas,” I told him.
“There’d better be snow. A snowman. Snowball fights.”
“And hot cocoa with a candy cane in it that will warm you up at the end of it,” I promised. “And cookies.”
“Would we get a real tree?” Noah asked, suddenly. “We’ve never had a real tree.”
34
Elliot Crane
When are you coming home?
Seth Mays
When I can.
What do you want me to bring you?
You.
Anything else?
You can’t really eat me.
Wanna bet?
And obtain sufficient vitamins, minerals, and calories for it to count as a meal.
You’re no fun.
I want gyros.
And you shall have them.
Lacy had called me in,telling me that she needed my help with a case. When I got there, she had easily two dozen swabbed samples. “I don’t actually need your help,” she said. “But I thought you might want to be here for this.”
“What’re they from?” I asked, looking at the swabs.
Her face was serious, grey eyes intense over her mask. “The front of an ATV,” she replied.
Tingles swept through my body, and not the good kind. “I’m not supposed?—”
“Which is why you are here tohelpand not to actuallydo,” she replied. “And we are not going to tell Gale that you were anywhere near them. In fact, youaren’tgoing to even touch them. You’re going to take notes while I do the testing.”
“I can do that.” I wanted to be here. I wanted to know thesecondanything came back that might confirm who had been threatening Elliot.
I’d stoppedto pick up dinner—garlic cheese curds for Elliot along with two traditional gyros, lots of french fries for both of us to share, and two gyros for me, as well, one shrimp and one salmon—hold the feta.
The bags were still hot when I got back to the house, and I pulled up behind Elliot’s truck. There were heavy tracks on the other side of the drive that looked like they belonged to the Harts’ Explorer. I knew they were supposed to have spent the day with Elliot—and that they had dinner plans, so they had to leave in time to get there.
