Chapter 14

Bellingham, Washington

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

The next morning Mel was already off to work when Kyle showed up for breakfast. He gave me a grin and a double thumbs-up.

“Mission accomplished,” he said. “Rick did the trash raid last night and scored a dozen or so cigarette butts. I told him

to mail them to me here. He said he won’t be able to get to the post office until after school today.”

“Good-o,” I said.

“He says they’re getting ready to shut schools down in Ashland, too,” he added. “It’ll probably happen in both places about

the same time—sometime in the next couple of weeks. I guess everyone’s trying to figure out how to go about putting things

online.”

“Like band, for instance?” I asked. “How’s your dad going to manage that?”

Kyle shrugged. “That’s his problem.”

“What about you, Kyle? Are you sure you want to be locked up with a couple of old fogies like Mel and me for the duration

of all this, or would you rather wait out Covid in Eugene with your mom and sister?”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” he asked.

“No, I’m trying to find out what you want. Mel and I are good either way.”

“I’d rather be here,” he said.

“All right then,” I told him. “I’m glad that’s settled. Like it or not, online schooling here we come.”

Once he left the house, I dialed up Lulu.

“You called that shot,” I said. “We’re expecting a shipment of Caroline Richards’s cigarette butts to arrive here sometime

later this week. What’s your best address?”

She gave it to me, and I jotted it down. “So now how about tackling another case?” I asked.

“You’ve got another one for me?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” I told her. Then I filled her in on the Darius Jackson situation.

“I know your type, J. P. Beaumont,” she said with a sigh. “Give you an inch and you think you’re a ruler. Now you’ve got me

working three separate cases—Caroline’s and two separate overdose cases.”

“Two for right now,” I told her. “But there may be more.”

“Keep me posted then,” she said. “I’m glad to be of service. And as soon as I get off the phone, I’ll give Gretchen Walther

a call.”

“She’ll be over the moon,” I told her. “Turns out the storied Lucille Benson is one of her idols.”

“Give me a break,” Lulu said dismissively. “People tend to give me way too much credit for something that’s nothing other

than longevity.”

Longevity , I thought, combined with a whole lot of smarts .