Imogen crinkled her nose.“Licked your toes?”
“There must be another driver,” I said. “Or we’ll need to commandeer a vehicle from the lot. This way,” I said, and began walking.
“Wait.”
Imogen hung back, slothing her way along, but I didn’t bother slowing to match her pace. Enough time had already passed in getting us here, I wasn’t willing to waste another minute.
I looked over the parking lot to determine which vehicle we should take.
“I got us a Whoot,” Imogen said, between ragged breaths.
“A Whoot?”
“A car,” she said. “It’s like Whirl.”
“How long will it take to arrive?”
In answer, she pointed to a small, parked car back by the entrance to the airport.
Our ride was already here. I gave Imogen a pat on the back. “Great work, partner.”
She gave me a tired look and a thumbs up.
Two hours later,we arrived in Inorog, and I ran for Silas’s aunt’s B&B. I climbed the ladder up to Silas’s room. I tapped on the window, but he didn’t answer.
Was he not here? Was he attempting to deal with Kurnbottom on his own? Had he been missing all of this time? I prayed that wasn’t the case.
“Silas?” I called as I opened the window and climbed inside.
He wasn’t here, but his things were. I needed to go to the museum, but first, I had to check and make sure there was nothing of importance here that would tell me what he was thinking.
I dug through his suitcase and his nightstand. When I found nothing, I checked the bathroom cabinets.
Imogen fell through the open window, moaning.
“Help me ransack this place,” I told her.
“Yes, Lily, after you left me alone to die, I am okay, thank you for asking.”
I blew out a short breath.“To die?”
“I can’t run. It’s physically impossible.”
“You made it here, didn’t you? And if you’re unable to run, it sounds like exercise is exactly what you need. Now help me find clues.”
“No. Exercise is not what I need. I exercise every single day, thank you very much. I do strength training. I could bench press you. My body is simply not made for running.”
She appeared to be completely serious about bench pressing me.
“All right,” I said, “I apologize for my attempted murder in leaving you to walk twenty feet. Now will you help me?”
“Thank you. And maybe. What are we looking for? Do we have permission to dig through your lover’s belongings? Because I don’t see him here giving permission.”
“It’s implied,” I said. “And he’s not my lover.”
Maybe he could be. Maybe I wanted him to be.
“Is it really implied?” She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t think consentcanbe implied.”