Page 6 of X-Ray in the Xanth (Lovely Lethal Gardens Rewind #3)

?

W hen Doreen woke up the next morning, she felt a weird sense of excitement. She hopped out of bed, grabbed her laptop, tucked it back into bed with her, and pulled up the covers. Since it was so cold outside, it made it chillier inside too. So she didn’t really want to get up yet.

Nothing new was in her emails.

She stared at that in surprise, certain that something would be shared, one way or another. When Mack phoned a little later, he asked if she got some sleep.

“I did, but then I woke up, thinking there would be progress in some form or another, and instead,” she complained, “nothing new at all is in my email.”

He chuckled. “It does happen that way. We can’t get everything solved overnight, and I doubt that Elizabeth has even done her full report on it yet.”

“Maybe not,” she admitted, with a groan. “I was hoping though.”

“Of course you are. We all are, but that’s the state of investigations. Remember that, just because you want results, doesn’t mean you’re getting results. Even when you do get the results,… it doesn’t mean it’s the results that you thought you would get.”

“And that’s just depressing,” she muttered. “On the other hand, I did get some sleep, and I’m all raring to go.”

“That’s good, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get anywhere quickly.”

“You’re always such a downer.”

After a moment of silence, he asked, “Am I?”

“No, of course not,” she stated. “I’m just not happy.”

He laughed. “I get it. And I understand. You want results. We all want results,” he added. “However, sometimes—most of the time—the results take longer than we want them to.”

“But why?” she cried out. “You would think it would be a top priority.”

“It is, but then so are all the other cases. Remember that Elizabeth needs to be thorough. She’ll run a lot of tests and will do a bit of work and study before she can come up with answers.

We don’t want her to jump into this and do such a quick job that it doesn’t give us the definitive answers we need. We need as much as she can give us.”

“I know,” she conceded, but still, frustration filled her tone.

“It’s frustrating, and believe me that I know. However, just because you want it, and sometimes really need it, that doesn’t mean we get it,” he explained patiently. “Anyway, I’m heading back up to the park today, if you want to come with me.”

“Really?” she cried out.

“Yes, really.”

“And the captain is okay with that?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yes, the captain is okay with that.”

“ Woo-hoo ,” she cried out.

He chuckled. “If that’s a yes, I’ll be there in… maybe thirty. Or do you need longer?”

“No, thirty is fine.” She stopped and asked, “Can the animals come?”

“I figured it was probably the easiest way to keep you out of trouble,” he admitted. “And they do appear to do a rather decent job at that.”

She snorted. “I’m sure they think I need a whole lot more looking after than I really do.”

“Oh, but I agree with them,” Mack added. “So I won’t argue against that. I’ll be there soon.”

And, with that, he ended the call.