After a full two hours of sleep, I woke up at 6 A.M. Through half-open eyes I saw Babe fully dressed and holding a cup of coffee.
“You didn’t make that in the room, did you?” I’d heard horror stories that they used the same brush to clean the coffeepot as they used to clean the toilet.
“Not a chance. Got it downstairs. There’s a very chatty waitress named Laurie in the coffee shop. She thinks both brothers were in on it and were trying to use Lucy as their alibi.” We looked at Lucy, curled up, still asleep on the love seat. “The bellboy disagrees. I haven’t had a chance to poll the rest of the staff.”
“¿Quién sabe?” I said.
Now that Claude was in jail, I knew Lucy would want to see him, at least to say goodbye, so I suggested Babe take the Jeep back to Springfield. Lucy and I would drive back later in the day and I’d pick up my car at the diner.
“You sure?”
“Are you kidding? You saved our asses last night.”
I got up, found my bag, and fished around for my car keys. Babe rooted around in her bag, too.
“What are you looking for, a cell?”
“I’ll give you a cell phone, too. Here, take mine. I have Neil’s cell at home-if you need to reach me just speed-dial number 1.” She gave me her phone and I shoved it in my pocket.
“This may come in handier.” She handed me something in a leopard-print case. It was Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle, better known as a Taser, model number C2.
“Take it. You never know.”