"Where do you figure he got the snake venom?"
"A snake farm, apparently. He worked on a documentary at one, according to Pablo Fuentes."
"And the gun? How did he get that into the country?"
"Fuentes says it was probably in with all the film equipment."
"I guess Jasper was too self-absorbed to realize that the tablet he found in Chile was the one the group had found thirty years ago on Rapa Nui," she said. "Did Mike have the tablet all those years?"
"There is no record of it in any collection, so I suspect that when Flora died, the Pedersens packed up and left the island in disarray, for obvious reasons. The tablet would have gone with them, and with both parents dead, it ended up with Mike."
"But Seth and Dave recognized it?"
"Eventually," I said. "Dave brought it to Rapa Nui at Jasper's request, and he was clearly suspicious. He called Seth and asked him to bring a photo of the group taken when the tablet was found, I assume to make the comparison. The photograph went missing when Dave died, as did his paper. I don't think Dave would have let Jasper get away with presenting the tablet as coming from Chile, once he realized it didn't. Dave talked to Kent Clarke about his concerns, and Kent told Jasper, but by then it was too late for both Jasper and Dave, too late for all of them, in fact."
"Mike must have realized when he grabbed Edith that he'd be caught eventually. There was no way he was going to get off the island," she said.
"I don't think he cared at that point," I said. "It seems to me that Flora's death had become a symbol for him of all that was wrong in his life, and all he cared about was revenge."
"It is so sad," Moira said. "All of it, really."
Rob came to meet me at the airport. I've tried to train him not to do that, but every now and then he just does. He looked very nice in a chocolate-brown suede jacket I'd given him for Christmas. Clive was there to meet Moira as well.
He looked kind of tired and pale, but I could see from the set of his mouth that he was going to get himself and Moira through whatever the next few months held.
"Moira isn't…" I started to say when we'd waved goodbye to them, but I wasn't sure how to finish the sentence.
"I know," Rob said. "Clive told me."
"I've suggested Clive take lots of time off to be with her. I can manage the store okay, and I'm going to keep an eye on the spa, starting tomorrow." I was happy to have a job to do, something I knew I was good at, something I knew would really help.
"I had a feeling you'd say that. I've talked to Alex Stewart," Rob said. "He says to tell you that he'll be at the shop when it opens tomorrow, and he'll come in as long as you and Clive want him to."
"Isn't he wonderful? He should just be enjoying his retirement, but no, he keeps helping me out when I need him. Did you retire, by the way?"
"No. I'm going to open a restaurant instead," he said.
"You aren't a bad cook," I said. "Since when did you know anything about how to run a restaurant though?"
"Since I started taking a course."
"This has something to do with catching bad guys, doesn't it?" I said, after a moment's contemplation.
"Money laundering," he agreed.
"And you complain about the way I get into trouble," I sighed.
"Think of the bright side. Tomorrow night I'm coming to your place to cook you dinner. We'll eat at the dining room table, beautifully set. I'll be chef and waiter. Duck a l'orange, I'm thinking."
"Bacon and eggs in the kitchen would be fine," I said. "If I had a kitchen, that is."
"I am the bearer of good news on that score," he said. "I am here to tell you that due to my tenacity, courage, and all the negotiating techniques I learned at the police academy, your kitchen is finished!"
"Promise me you aren't just toying with me!"
"It's true. It looks really nice, I have to admit, so much so that I'm thinking of moving in with you."
"Rob, I own the smallest house on the planet. You know we can barely manage a weekend together at my place."
"Which is why, when it came on the market a few days ago, I made an offer on the equally small townhouse right next to yours. It's similar, if not absolutely identical to yours. I have until midnight to up my offer." We both looked at our watches. It was eight pm.
"I'm thinking that the only big part of your house and the one next to it, is the backyard. If we took down the fence between them, we'd have a huge yard. Maybe we could even get a dog. It's up to you, but it could work out well. We'd both have our own space, which I know means a lot to you, and best of all, when we have a fight I wouldn't have so far to walk home."
I had to laugh. "Okay," I said.
"Okay? You aren't toying with me now, are you?"
"No. I think it would work out well."
"All right! Let's get going. I have an offer to sign back."
"I got a tattoo," I said in as close to a conversational tone as I could muster.
"A tattoo!" he said. "That sounds interesting."
"It's small and discreet and only you will get to see it."
"Is it a heart with the word Rob across the middle?"
"No, it isn't," I said.
"Hedging your bets, I see," he said, but he was smiling.
"It's just that I had this little tattoo phobia to get over."
"Most of us could just ignore a tattoo phobia," Rob said.
"Not me."
"I know," he sighed. "I hear you apprehended the bad guy-"
"I didn't so much apprehend him as squash him." I tried to laugh, but I couldn't. It must have showed, because Rob stopped right there in the parking lot and gave me a hug.
"I brought you a present," I said into the brown jacket.
"That's nice."
"Not really. It's a flowered shirt."
"Flowers," he said.
"You'll never wear it."
He smiled. "You never know."
"I know."
"I got you a present, too," he said.
"A present?" I said.
"I know you don't want to get married, but I wanted to mark our relationship in some way. It's a ring."
"A ring."
"With your birthstone, and maybe a couple of very small and discreet diamonds," he added. "Only you will be able to see them."
"Diamonds," I said.
"You'll never wear it."
Carpe diem. I thought. "You never know," I said.