"Right. You don't know." I studied the glass shards strewn all over the floor and the brick sitting in the middle of the room while filling him in.
He whistled when I finished. "That's an awful lot of random events. What do all these things—painting the vet clinic, stray animals being dumped, stolen tools, damaged boats, and a brick through our window—have to do with each other? Plus, who's stupid enough to break into a vamp's house and then do the same to two tigers' place? It makes no sense at all."
"And a murder," I reminded him.
He threw his hands in the air. "Clearly, that has no relationship with the rest. Murder would be a huge jump from painting about drool on the animal doctor's place of business."
I couldn't disagree. "We have two separate criminal elements, then. Or maybe even more? After all, what does the graffiti have in common with stealing tools? Or damaging boats? None of it makes sense. But I'm going to make it my personal mission to track down the people behind all of it."
"Should we clean it up? The television play that Tess showed me said that we should not disturb evidence."
Jed and Tess had discovered a joint love of true-crime documentaries. I usually spent the time when they watched them going for a run or napping on the porch.
I'd seen enough true crime in my life. I didn't need to watch more of it on TV.
"It's not much in the way of evidence. I'm pretty sure even a stupid criminal would have worn gloves, but if not, I doubt they can get a fingerprint off the rough edges of that brick. Let's just clean it up and conduct our own investigation. Andy is too busy with the murder to bother with this."
"All right. But I'm getting out the whiskey. It feels like a night that calls for a drink or five."
Tigers have very strong metabolisms. It would take a couple ofbottlesof whiskey to get either of us drunk, so a drink or five was no problem.
I texted Tess that Jed was fine, and the break-in was no big deal, which wasn'tentirelyfalse. She said Uncle Mike had driven her home, and that she was worn out and going to bed and would see me tomorrow. I caught myself grinning like a lovesick teenager when she texted me heart emojis.
Jed and I cleaned up the glass, taped a tarp up over the window, and polished off a few bottles of whiskey that he found in the back of the cupboard. Maybe my late uncle had stocked up for a party.
I held up my cup. "To Jeremiah, one of the best men I've ever known. He raised me and loved me, even though it must not have been easy dealing with an adolescent shapeshifter going through the pains of the change for the first time."
Jed held up his own cup. "To Jeremiah. May he rest in peace and glory in the ever after. I wish I'd been able to meet him."
I'd told him about my uncle, of course. How he'd raised me. Left me this house and half the pawnshop. He'd left the other half to Tess, a decision that had changed the course of my life.
One look at her and something inside me had felt a shimmering sense of recognition, as if my soul had taken a deep breath and slowly let it out in relief.
In gratitude.
Knowing that I was finally and forever home.
"Must be the whiskey," I muttered. "My brain is going all mushy."
Jed roared with laughter. "You get that pole-axed look on your face every time you think about Tess, grandson."
He probably wasn't wrong. I felt my face get hot and downed another shot of Jeremiah's finest whiskey to cool off.
Bad choice. It burned all the way down.
And then I burped, which struck both of us as hilariously funny, which probably meant that the two … no,threeempty bottles on the kitchen table had gone down way too fast.
We'd devoured the two leftover pizzas I'd found in the fridge, and I was rummaging around for more food, because … tigers. I looked up and caught Jed with a pole-axed look onhisface, and I grinned.
"Who is she?"
"What?" He tried to give me an innocent face but failed miserably.
"The one who put that gleam in your eyes." I pulled out ham, cheese, and mustard and put it on the table with a loaf of bread. Five or six sandwiches each would go down well.
Jed cleared his throat. "Well. Gia … er … Dr. Hernandez is, ah, well. The women of this time are veryforward, aren't they?"
I caught the flush on his cheeks before he ducked his head. "Are you fraternizing with the professor, Granddad?"
