Page 24 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume
My brain cannot deal with figuring out what she’s after. Instead, I roll towards Danny and burrow into his side.
“Is she gone?” Danny says, his voice rough.
“Nope, still here,” she says brightly behind me.
“No, she’s still here,” I reply.
“What the hell did you two drink last night?” she asks. I growl a little and turn back toward her since she seems intent on ignoring my self-inflicted misery and having a conversation.
“Whatever I could find in the kitchen,” I reply with a scowl in her direction, “and Danny had that craft beer Maddie and Sonia brought back from that bay they visited in Cornwall last month.”
Danny groans loudly beside me. “That wasn’t beer, it was brewed by Satan and laced with fucking moonshine or something.”
“Sssh, baby.” I reach behind me and pat him comfortingly as I continue to glare at Dusty. “Dusty, is there a reason you’re trying to hold a conversation with me instead of allowing me to wallow in the sad remnants of my own debauchery?”
She snorts loudly and laughs. “Yes. Because it’s fun.”
“Urgh.” I flop back down. “You’re a sadist.”
I feel Danny moving around next to me and look over to find him reaching down to pull his boxers and sweatpants back up.
“What are you doing?”
“Bathroom.” He winces. “I feel like my bladder is about to burst. Only I’m not sure if I should attempt to walk to the bathroom or abandon all pretence of dignity and crawl.”
I shift over and feel something digging into my balls. Reaching under the rug, I pull out what looks to be one of the playing pieces from Cluedo.
“Do I want to know where that was?”
“Probably not,” I tell Danny as I pick a plastic rib bone from Operation from his cheek, leaving an imprint behind. “But I’m pretty sure I’ll never look at Colonel Mustard the same way again.”
“So Danny hasn’t asked you anything important?” Dusty interrupts.
“What would he be asking me?” I sigh. “If you want to know something, just bloody ask, will you? My poor brain can’t deal with subtle right now.”
“Dusty,” Danny says and there’s a hint of warning in his voice. Dusty actually looks guilty.
“What’s going on?” I ask suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Dusty replies.
“Nothing,” Danny adds.
“You two are so weird.” I momentarily close my eyes against the painful throb in my head.
Groaning, Danny pushes himself gingerly to his feet, swaying a little until he gets his balance. “I need coffee,” he mutters.
As I watch him head toward the door, my gaze catches on the carpet and I frown. “Oh my god, please tell me that’s not cum on the carpet?”
“You didn’t want to get it on the new sofa,” Danny throws over his shoulder as he heads for the bathroom.
I groan and morosely stare at the ceiling. “I thought I’d aimed for my t-shirt. We are never going to get our damage deposit back at this rate.”
I vaguely hear the toilet flush in the other room, and the sound seems to remind my own bladder that it’s also full of copious amounts of alcohol. Knowing that I am not going to be able to ignore it, I climb to my feet. I drop the rug on the living room floor, and stumble out of the room naked except for the one sock.
“Um, Tris, honey, you appear to have a card stuck to your bum cheek,” Dusty says, and I reach around behind me to peel it from my warm skin. When I turn it over, I notice it’s a murder weapon card from Cluedo with a picture of a knife on it. Tossing it down on the coffee table, I head for the bathroom.
I almost stagger from the relief as I pee for what feels like forever. After I’ve washed my hands and left the bathroom, I don’t bother looking for some clothes. To be honest, my head is spinning a little and I’m still not a hundred percent sure I’m not going to puke.