Page 87 of Renard's Deliverance

“Shouldn’t you take her to the doctor?” Alec asked with a frown.

“Will be doing that today.”

“There’s really no point,” Opal said. “It feels better already. By tomorrow it will be all good.”

“Unfortunately, there’s one more complaint,” Jake said.

“For fuck’s sake, that woman needs a hobby,” Renard complained. “What is it that I’ve done now?”

“This one isn’t about you.”

“Tell me,” Opal said tiredly.

“Mrs. Gingers stated that she saw someone carrying a dead body in the middle of the night out of this house. That they dragged it out of the house, down the driveway and into the shed.”

Opal started to laugh and then she groaned in pain.

“That’s it,” Renard snapped. “You all need to leave so I can help Opal.”

“Opal, do you need a break for a moment?” Jake asked in concern.

“No, no. Keep going. Let’s get this craziness over and done with. It wasn’t a dead body; it was a roll of carpet. It’s in the shed. I can show you.”

Jake waved a hand at her. “Stay there. Alec and I will go. Renard can get you some painkillers.”

“There’s a key for the padlock under a rock to the right of the door,” she told them.

They headed out the door and Renard walked over to crouch in front of her. “Scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain?”

“About a three,” she told him.

“So that means it’s more like a six.”

“What makes you say that?” she demanded.

“Because you and me? We’re alike in a lot of ways and if I was in pain, I’d downgrade it too. But you don’t have to do that with me, Gem. Got it?”

“Um, right.”

Sometimes it was scary how well he seemed to be able to read her.

There was a knock on the door before Jake and Alec returned. To her surprise, Renard stayed crouched in front of her.

“Right. All good,” Jake said. “Thanks for your patience, Opal. Sorry to get you up on a Sunday morning. You’ll get her to see one of the Docs, right, Renard?”

“Course I will,” Renard replied darkly. “You wanna have a word with Mrs. Gingers about not wasting everyone’s time with all her complaints?”

“I will be talking to her now.” Jake nodded at them all and left.

“Sorry he dragged you away from your family this morning, Alec,” Opal said.

“Didn’t drag me anywhere, Opal,” Alec replied. “You haven’t been to Sunday lunch in a while.”

“Ahh, no,” she said guiltily. She was always invited yet she hadn’t really made the effort to get out there. Usually she used the excuse that she didn’t have a car, which was pretty weak when Raid and Hannah always offered to pick her up.

“Maybe the two of you would like to come soon.” With that, he gave a nod and left.

Did he . . . had he . . . just invited Renard to Sunday lunch? Which was for family?

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