Page 141 of Power of the Mind

The minute Tallus had shared his train of thought back at the office, I knew it would be me taking the plunge, so to speak. Tallus might like adventure and breaking the rules, and he might get a boner for detective work, but he was not one to get physically dirty if the job called for it.

We all had limits.

“You’re a manipulative brat.”

He gasped and clutched his chest. “You’ve been talking to Kitty. It’s not true.”

I deadpanned.

“Fine. It’s a little true, but in my defense, up until last week, I didn’t know.”

“Shut up and keep watch.” I tossed him the keys to the Jeep in case he had to make a quick getaway, and scanned the street, still grumbling under my breath because this was going to suck ass.

When there was a lull in traffic, I scaled the dumpster, lifted the lid, and glanced inside. It was full and wafted heat and a pungent, swampy odor. The impossibility of the task slapped me in the face. I was looking for two black garbage bags in a sea of black garbage bags. How the fuck was I supposed to know which ones had come from the back of Sally’s rusted Caprice? Not only that, but we had no idea what might be inside the bags we sought.

“Your plan sucks.”

“I concur. Now hop to it.”

“Fuck’s sake.” Donning the rubber gloves I’d brought, I peered at Tallus. “Are you absolutely sure about this?”

“Yes.”

Sighing, I turned back to the full dumpster and formulated a rough plan of attack.

Reluctantly, I took the plunge, knowing the bags we sought would be nearer the bottom since Tallus had witnessed the suspicious behavior almost a week ago. I tried to organize the task of searching, piling the newer bags into one corner as I dug deeper, holding my breath as much as possible. As I neared the bottom, I tore open random bags and rooted inside, quickly dismissing most when they contained the usual trash found in offices.

Hilty’s office used flex-style trash bags for the most part, whereas the supplements store used a regular kind. Thebookstore used smaller white ones, so they were easily eliminated. By the time I’d ripped open more than a dozen bags, doubt had slipped in.

I shifted to the other side of the bin and searched every bag, tearing and tossing as I weeded through the ones I hadn’t already checked. It wasn’t until I was three-quarters of the way down the second half of the dumpster, intent on giving up, when I found two black bags with red plastic drawstring ties. The only two of that kind I’d seen in my search. I shredded the first one and paused.

Janek’s supplement store discarded a lot of identifiable junk. Empty bottles, packages, and expired wares that couldn’t be returned, but I had yet to come across a bag loaded with full pill bottles, all with identical labels.

Thousands of capsules rattled in their plastic jars as I dug through them, confirming I wasn’t losing my mind. All the same. All full. And in a garbage bag that didn’t match the rest, as though it had come from somewhere else.

“Tallus.”

His head appeared over the edge of the dumpster. “Find something?”

“I don’t know. Take this.”

Nose crinkling, he accepted the bag. I tore into the second one. Exactly the same as the first. I tossed it out as well. Searching, I found no others. Was that what we’d been looking for? Two bags. It had to be.

Giving up the search, I scaled the edge of the bin and jumped down beside Tallus, who was picking through the bottles, frowning at the labels, and shaking them at random.

“They’re all the same.”

“Yeah.”

“Like,allof them.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“And they’re full.”

“Tallus, I’m aware. It’s why I grabbed them.”

“Don’t get snarky.” Still frowning with a bottle in hand, he turned it to face me. “Echinacea?”

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