"So that's why I can't allow Ms. Scott to return to her place. It was Grace who kindly told me about the house you're renting down on the cliffs."

Alyssum Tardier said, "Well, Agent MacDougal, this is a surprise. So you'll be guarding Ms. Scott then?"

I told him there'd be a lot of people near her, that Maggie was setting up a schedule, but I was going to be the main one baby-sitting.

"I'll tell you what, Agent MacDougal," Tardier said, pausing for a deep, stentorian breath, "to do my good citizen's part, I'll grant you a month's free rent on the house." I didn't have a problem with that at all. I thanked him and made a date to pick up the house key. The only problem I foresaw was getting Laura away from her condo in Salem and down to Edgerton with me. And maybe getting the truth out of her.

I returned to Salem General Hospital, Nolan and Grub-ster on the backseat of the Taurus, the trunk loaded down with three suitcases holding just about everything I could imagine she'd want and need.

I decided on my way up in the elevator how to get Laura to Edgerton.

Chapter Fourteen

Laura was sitting on the edge of the bed, her feet dangling, the green hospital nightgown falling off her left shoulder. When she saw me in the doorway, her face lit up.

"Mac! I was just going to get myself together. Would you mind taking me home?"

I told her I wouldn't mind at all. The clothes she'd worn when they'd brought her in were hanging in the closet. I spoke outside with Harold Hobbes while she changed.

"Hell of a thing," Harold said, as he nodded toward the door. "Some jerk trying to ice a pretty lady like that." I agreed that it was.

"No one even came by to sniff."

I knocked, heard Laura tell me to come in, and went in to fetch my new roommate.

Laura was still a bit on the shaky side, but she looked much better. They made her ride down in a wheelchair, which she didn't like at all. I put her in the passenger side of the Taurus and quickly shut the door.

"What is this, Mac?"-her first words to me when I slid in behind the steering wheel. I turned to the backseat and said, "Hi, guys. Everything okay?"

"Squawk."

"Grubster, you got any news from the front?"

Nothing from Grubster.

"What's going on here, Mac?"

I drove out of the parking lot. "You're on vacation as of right now, Ms. Scott. I've rented us a small house just south of Edgerton, on the cliffs. It's called Seagull Cottage, and Mr. Alyssum Tarcher has given it to us rent-free for a month. I'm going to be your roommate."

She chewed this over for about twenty-two seconds. "No way. I live in Salem. I'll lose my job."

"No. I got you a two-week vacation, without pay. I told them I was your brother and you'd come down with Lyme disease. They were suitably impressed. It was a Mr. Dirkson who cleared you. All right?"

"My condo."

"I told the manager you were going out of town. He's going to keep an eye on everything."

"I don't have any clothes."

"All in the trunk."

She was done, for the moment. We were out of Salem now, heading toward 101.

"It's okay, Laura," I said, giving her a quick smile. "Really, it's better this way. Except it's interesting about Alyssum Tarcher being our landlord. Hey, if he had anything to do with this, he would have found out that you'd flown the coop. Now everyone knows you're not alone, that you've got protection, namely yours truly."

"You don't know anything, Mac."

"I will, soon enough. I don't want you thinking that you're walking right into the bear cave, what with us going to Edgerton. I'll be in that cave with you and I'm mean. Besides, I've got a big spear. Running away is not the way to find out what's going on in Edgerton, or to find my sister." I waited, but she didn't say anything, just nodded after a bit.

It had started raining, just a drizzle at first, but now it was really coming down. "I didn't bring you a raincoat, sorry."

She didn't say a word for at least seven miles. Finally, I said, "Laura? Is this okay with you?"

"Are you really going to let people know-the whole town-that someone tried to kill me? Or are you going to leave it as both of us?"

"I already told Alyssum Tarcher that it was just you. When we get to Edgerton, I need to stop off at Paul's house to pick up my clothes. Then I need to see Maggie, find out if she's heard anything about Jilly. Also, Charlie Duck's autopsy report should be coming in soon."