A Beleaguering Spell (The Bewitched Cozy Mysteries Book 4) by Constance Barker

Author:Constance Barker [Barker, Constance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Constance Barker
Published: 2022-07-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Luckily, an office stood between the lab workers and the supernatural investigators. “Sorry, wrong office,” Click said. She tried to back out, but Walter was in the way. Moving like a six-legged creature, they retreated into the hall.

Click’s instinct was to run.

“Hang on, it must be this one,” Scatter said before Click’s feet started flying of their own accord. She popped open another door. Other than dusty desks, this one was empty. The three of them hurried in.

After a moment, Click heard voices in the hall. “Who were those morons?” Henrietta said.

“They had a cat. They’re probably working on the feline genome project,” a man’s voice, Sam, said.

“You’re probably right. I think I saw them at the fried chicken and waffle place,” Henrietta said. “Why are all the cat scientists a bunch of idiots and weirdos? I feel like reporting them. Maybe I should call security.”

“Again?” Sam said.

“What’s going on?” A third voice joined them. Must be Melanie Ballack, Click thought.

“Just people wandering into the wrong office,” Sam said. “Two were women. Good looking. One wore a skirt. Not that I noticed.”

“Are you sure they were in the wrong office?” Melanie asked.

A pause followed.

“Yes, Melanie. Because this is our office,” Henrietta said.

The door slammed. Click let out a breath.

“Okay, so this is the empty office,” Scatter said. “Things look different when you’re not up in the ceiling. Anyway, let’s go back to the lab.”

The lab was as empty as the office. No equipment stood on racks, no test tubes or pipettes rested behind the fume hoods. The back wall was glass blocks, like Scatter said. They let in plenty of light, but you couldn’t really see out of them.

“See? There’s a door that connects to the lab next door,” Scatter said. “We can listen in on those three.”

Click listened. “I can’t hear a thing.”

“That’s because you don’t have super raccoon senses,” she said.

“Should we crack the door, or do you think they’ll notice?” Click asked.

“Sam is standing right next to it. Pretty sure he’d notice,” Scatter said.

“What are they talking about?”

Scatter leaned closer to the door. “Work. Melanie said something’s gone wrong with the polyester chain reaction. Either that, or she’s talking about clog dancing.”

“Polymerase chain reaction,” Walter corrected. “PCR.”

“Henrietta says that’s okay, just run it again,” Scatter said.

“Funny, she seemed a lot meaner when I heard her in the hall,” Click said. “You’d think she’d be yelling at Melanie.”

“And after hearing Melanie in the hall, I never would’ve guessed she could even spell PCR,” Scatter said.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that Henrietta is at work?” Click said. “Her husband died last night—was murdered last night.”

“Sounds like a great excuse to take a few months off,” Scatter said.

“Statistically, she’s the most likely suspect,” Walter said. “Police always check out the spouse first thing.”

Click looked at the cat on her shoulder. “She’s acting suspicious, as far as I’m concerned. I wish we could hear them better.”

“We could all go up in the ceiling. I could remove one of the ceiling tiles on their side.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.