You call this fate?

Chapter 14

“Hmm… Is that so? And what did John say to that?” I took a humungous bite of the chocolate donut in my hand, listening to Howard chatter over the phone.

“No…way.” I took a sip of green tea. It had gone stone cold half an hour ago. I loved it. “And then what did you do?”

The next thing Howard said made me spew all the precious tea, plus the gooey chewed up bite of donut, out of my mouth and onto the coffee table in front of me.

“Howard!” I said. “You can’t just say something like that!”

The doorbell rang.

“Hey, Howard, I gotta go. Catch me up later on this, will you?”

Saying my goodbyes, I shoved the rest of the donut and tea into my mouth, knowing who it was out there. The doorbell rang again.

“Comphing...” I coughed, trying to clear all the evidence away into the trash. I wiped the flecks of donut from the coffee table onto a plate and threw it in the sink, running water over it for good measure. When I was sure there was nothing left to incriminate me, I straightened my hair and went to open the door.

Who was outside? Well, of course...

“What took you so long?” Tasha pushed past me, her pumps pumping my carpet. She left sharp holes in her wake.

I shut the door behind her. “You should know that I am a cripple. I can’t exactly run to open the door.”

There must have been something guilty in my voice, for Tasha immediately spun around and narrowed her eyes, her Zara-is-hiding-something radar beeping like mad. Then she sniffed the air.

Her eyes widened. “What’s that smell?”

“Smell? What smell? I don’t smell any smell? Are you sure you smell a smell?”

Tasha’s eyes narrowed further, till she was looking at me with two lines. “You’re mumbling. You don’t mumble unless…” She gasped.

Then she threw her bag and coat onto the couch and started hunting at the sides of the room. “It’s here somewhere. I know it is…” She looked under the coffee table and then under the sofa. She looked inside the kitchen dust bin--good thing I thought of burying the trash deep.

“Tasha, what are you doing?” I asked as she neared the couch again. “I am not hiding anything.”

“I know you are… I know…” Her eyes fell on the couch cushions.

I gasped. Turns out I did forget something. No, no, no…

“Hey, Tasha, wanna hear what Howard just did? He bou—“

Her hand neared the foamy cuboid.

“Tasha, did you hear who was going to run for pres—“

She caught hold of the side of the first cushion and pulled. Nothing.

“Tasha, I would really like to go shopping today. Want to come?”

The second cushion went flying.

“Tasha, can I please borrow you string swimsuit? I feel like the beach today.”

The last landed near Granny Tonks’ silent sleeping figure.

And there it lay. The last bit of evidence I hadn't had time to clean. The one lose end that always gets the felon thrown in prison or hung from the rope. A criminal always leaves a clue behind. I reflected on that saying. I was probably the worst criminal in the whole wide universe. I might as well have left a written confession.