Falling Awake

with Scargill to punish Lawson?” Ellis asked in a tone that suggested he wanted to be absolutely sure he had got it right.
    “Just a thought.”
    Ellis turned that over silently for a respectable period of time and then shook his head. “No. Leaving aside their personal relationship, which has always seemed screwy to me, they need each other professionally. They have to work together, even when they’re not sleeping together. It’s been like that for over thirty years. Can’t see it changing now. Besides, Beth definitely has a temper, but she’s not vindictive. I can’t see her going to such lengths to get even for Lawson’s stupid fling.”

    “You know them. I don’t.”
    He sat forward, fingers linked between his legs. “It’s an interesting scenario, though. One that probably should have occurred to me but didn’t. Good observation on your part.”
    She was pleased by the compliment. “Thanks. I know I’ve got a lot to learn about the investigative side of this business but I like to think I’ve picked up a few things working for you and Lawson this past year.”
    He smiled briefly. “Think you’ve got a talent for the profession?”
    “I sure hope so. It pays so much better than the Psychic Dreamer Hotline or my brother-in-law.” She huddled deeper into her robe. “Now it’s my turn. Want to hear about my dream?”
    He leaned back, hands gripping the arms of the chair. “Yes.”
    “I’ll admit I haven’t had any experience setting up clue-hunting dreams but I’ve walked through a lot of yours so I decided to give it a shot tonight. And there is one aspect of this case in which I probably have a lot more context than you do.”
    “Are you talking about Gavin Hardy?”
    “No,” she said. “Tonight I dreamed about Martin Belvedere.”
    Ellis waited.
    Her hand stilled on Sphinx’s head. “I think that he might have been murdered.”
    Ellis did not move for a few seconds. She could see him processing the information and wondered if he would dismiss the conclusion out of hand.
    “What makes you say that?” he asked simply.
    “Two reasons. One of them is Sphinx.”

    He glanced at the cat. “Go on.”
    “The door to Belvedere’s office was closed when I went to find him. But Sphinx was out in the hall.”
    Ellis looked thoughtful. “You said you found him at your door acting agitated.”
    “Right. Sphinx had free run of the place but he has a strong commitment to saving energy. His own.”
    “I did get the impression that he’s not a great believer in unnecessary exercise.”
    “No, although he often made the trip into my wing to see me. I think he liked my windowsill in the afternoon because of the sunlight. But other than that, he stayed in Dr. B.’s inner office most of the time.” She sighed. “I suspect that Belvedere cared more about Sphinx than he did about any human, including, apparently, his own son. The point is that I’m almost positive he would never have closed the door of his office if he knew that Sphinx was out of the room.”
    “Not even to have a private conversation with someone?”
    She hesitated. “He might have done that but as soon as the person left, the door would have been opened.”
    “Unless he collapsed from a heart attack before he could get to the door.”
    “True. But there’s another reason why I think he was killed. There was no yogurt carton in the trash can beside the desk.”
    “Why is that important?”
    “He had come to my office earlier, around midnight, to talk about the dream report I was analyzing. He was carrying a cartonof lemon yogurt. He had just started it. He loved lemon yogurt. But when I found him later, there was no empty carton in the trash can in his office. No spoon, either. It didn’t register with me at the time because I was so shocked by his death. I was frantic, dialing the emergency numbers and trying to give CPR. But tonight the image of the empty trash can came back to me in the form of a bottomless well.”
    “What do you think happened to the yogurt container?”
    She breathed deeply. “The message I took from my dream is that it’s very possible someone injected the yogurt with the poison that killed Dr. B. and then returned later to remove the evidence.”
    They sat in silence for a while.
    “Drugs,” Ellis finally said softly.
    “Yes.” She shivered. “Dr. B. died of a heart attack. But there was no autopsy. What if someone used a drug to stop his heart? There are a number of meds that