She Didn't Cry Wolf

Missing Pieces

She left, placed the DVD in the glove compartment and watched Ennio slap his nephew over the head as she left. She had a few stops, one of them the grocery store where she looked up at aisle 3. "Milk, yoghurt and creams." She made a stop to the closest barbershop. "I'm sorry ma'am, I think you're in the wrong place." "I might not be. Do you have anything peppermint, honey, spice type of shampoos or oils for men? I'm trying to get it for my partner." Henry wiped his hands with his towel and then draped it over the shoulder. He brought out a brown box and handed her a small vile. "Young lady you could have just said you want my blended spearmint spice."

She smiled and took it. "I didn't know what it was called but I always smell it." "Very few people use this, only two of my clients ever request it." She was beaming from ear to ear. "It wouldn't happen to be Harris would it?" "Oh no, Harris uses the dark oak blend." He walked over to the counter, wrapped up the contents awaiting payment. "My apologies, how much?" "It's a hundred and fifty." "Must be quite refreshing." "Kaur and Crow. Officer???" Curiously asking for a name "...Mason… Nia Mason. Thank you for this." "My pleasure, have a good day."

She took the very expensive oil and gave it a whiff "Gosh this is strong." Gagging on it almost. "Stuff of nightmares." She left the barber and went straight to Pippa's house. Her aunt and Dimitri were on the porch having sweet tea that they made. "Officer, she's inside, don't worry. We've made sure she didn't escape today." They were jovial and drinking and as a joke Nia asked "You sure that's just tea?" "Officer…" Alexandra dragged that out longer than necessary "I wouldn't tell you if it was." They were chuckling and playing a game whilst drinking. "GIN!"

Nia knocked on the door but it was open. She found Pippa resting her head on the chair, she placed the blue gift bag on the counter holding the lamp. She found Pippa asleep but that quickly changed when she looked as though she was fighting in her sleep. "Hey, hey… Calm down." Pippa was visibly afraid "This is going to sound so strange but that smell, I can smell it." She brought the blue gift bag "You mean this smell?" She almost slipped off the chair. "Where did you get that?" "A very expensive friend of mine. Can I ask you something?" Fixing what could be fixed, straightening a shirt, rubbing out creases. "Do you remember Patrick's last name?" "I don't remember if he ever told me." "Don't worry about it, I think you should get some rest." "Before you leave, I have something for you."

Footsteps fading into the distance, rustling and footsteps re-entering "This is everything I could think of." Nia looked at the contents of the box, neatly packed schedules, two cards, a picture, movie tickets, fair tickets, invoices everything she had, including the aspirin bottle. "Thank you, I'll have these logged and returned as soon as possible." For some reason she looked at the dove ornament on the floating shelf "Can I take this?" More than willingly responded "Sure. I won't be here later, I'm going to Rosso with Dimitri and my aunt for dinner tonight." Nia shook the dove and heard something inside. "Did you ever find your key?" "No, I wouldn't even start looking now." "I'm going to send a locksmith, know anyone in town?" "Try maybe Mister Beaumont, Donald Beaumont. The architect. He always knows how to get spares."

Officer Mason was just about to leave but asked Alexandra "Do you remember the name of the gentleman who came to clean here during your brief stay?" Alexandra thought about it for a moment and said "Peter, something or other. I'm not too good with names but I can tell you what he looked like." "What did he look like?" "He always had a cap on, eyes covered even in the house. About yay high." She walked to the stairs of the porch, the box on her knee. "Thank you." "Glad I could help. Stop by anytime." "GIN! You're really bad at this game Dimitri."

Officer Mason left and she had a checklist of places to go, one of them was the pharmacy. As soon as you open the door, the smell of medicine and cleaner is all around. "It's like walking into a hospital." A man popped up wearing a white lab coat. "I'll be with you in a moment. Please have your prescription ready." Nia pulled out her badge and left it on the desk along with a white page and a bottle filled with aspirin. Doctor Ashbourne looked at Officer Mason. "How may I help you Officer?"

She perused the items set in the front, looking for something "I have a few questions if you don't mind answering them." "As long as they don't go against ethical practices, certainly." "It shouldn't." She looked at him "What is this?" She handed him the bottle of aspirin and he took out the content. He left for a moment and she found a box of aspirin, opened the package. "... Mmm…" He came out "I don't know what you are playing at but I did not prescribe Miss Watts any sort of oxycodone." "I didn't say you did, I just wanted to know if those were aspirin." "These are very dangerous drugs. Lethal if consumed constantly. Has something happened to Pippa?" "No, she is fine." She handed him a paper. "This is a blood test run by an independent lab, could you in layman terms tell me what this is?" He looked through it and getting all flustered he said "In layman terms it means someone was drugged and it's still in their bloodstream." "I appreciate this information. You wouldn't happen to have a log of anyone who requires this sort of drug?" "Client, patient confidentiality prohibits me." "Would someone's murder change your mind?"

Doctor Ashbourne thought about it and took out his folder and said "I will be back in a few moments, do not look at this book." His mouth said one thing but his eyes said another. Officer Mason looked through the book and found two red underlines. "Kaur and Crow." She closed the book and left it on the counter along with some money for the aspirin. Her last stop was Donald Beaumont the architect.