CHAPTER
twenty-nine 
SINCE I’D ALREADY taken the morning off for Nimbus’s appointment with Dr. Exi, I figured I could squeeze in a quick pit stop before the vet’s office. I entered Déjà Vu, and the antique store appeared as cluttered as it had the last time. The stained glass windows hanging from the ceiling seemed to have faded in color, maybe due to a new layer of accumulated dust.
Instead of Marina behind the register, I found a wizened old man, who could serve as Dumbledore’s twin—except he was shy of a full beard with his extended goatee. He stopped fussing with a large cardboard box of what appeared to be piles of receipts and invoices clumped together in a disorderly mass.
I approached the counter with my large Hello Kitty tote, careful not to bang it against the glass. After all, I had precious cargo inside.
He looked at me through his wire-rimmed glasses and said, “May I help you, miss? Although you’re helping me by being here. I’d rather be with a customer than deal with this mess of an accounting system.”
A snore came from my tote, where I’d hidden Marshmallow. My cat had insisted on coming along and leaving behind the “kitten cooties.” He’d already given me an earful after missing out on the juicy gossip during my Roscoe’s outing even though I’d managed to catch him up to speed.
I danced my fingertips along the side of the bag.
“You don’t have to poke my eye out to wake me up,” Marshmallow said.
I snorted.
“Not my fault I conked out,” he said. “This bag practically suffocated me.”
Dumbledore’s clone widened his blue eyes at me. “Go ahead and laugh. The finances are kind of a joke around here.”
I gestured to the cluttered aisles in the store. “Someone I know has an adorable mercury lamp. She said it was passed down to her. Do you carry those here?”
“Can’t say that I do, but let me check the inventory list.” He plunged his hand into the large cardboard box, shifted some crinkled papers, and finally gave up. “Maybe it’d be faster to walk through the aisles.”
He came out from behind the counter, shook my hand, and introduced himself as Merlin. I wondered if he’d gone the wizard route because of his name and thought he had to live up to it. Although he had the white hair and goatee going for him, he didn’t wear a magical robe. Actually, he looked more like a tourist with his loud Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts.
We moved down the aisles at a slow pace due to Merlin’s slight limp. He favored his right leg when walking.
Passing by various odds and ends, we managed to stumble upon a shelf of gorgeous Tiffany lamps. Their variegated colors shone brightly when plugged into a nearby outlet. No mercury lights or bulbs in them, though.
Sucking his breath in, Merlin hobbled down a different row. “You’re looking for a mercury lamp . . . I have some scientific instruments that have mercury in them. Here are some old barometers and thermometers. But I don’t see a lamp.”
I glanced at the instruments. “Do people still use measuring tools with mercury?”
“Not really. Everything is digital nowadays. In fact, I got some of these donated from a university cleaning out their storage.”
I wondered if Roosevelt Elementary had their own science lab. My sister ran experiments in her kindergarten class, but she didn’t do much more beyond making flowers drink colored water and showcasing stem absorption . . . But I thought she’d mentioned before that upper grades did more complex experiments in a separate classroom.
“Is there anything else I might help you with?” Merlin asked.
“I don’t th—”
Marshmallow’s head butted me from inside the bag.
“Oof,” I said.
“Can you speak up?” Merlin cupped a hand behind his ear.
“Marina has access to mercury here right under my whiskers,” said Marshmallow. “Get the lowdown on Merlin’s employee. Bosses love gossiping about their hires.”
Being an employer myself, I wouldn’t quite put it that way. Still, I turned to Merlin. “Actually, Marina referred me to your store.”
“Oh, she’s a great worker.”
“He’s being polite,” Marshmallow said. “Dig deeper.”
“How is she doing?” I asked. “I don’t know if you realized, but her roommate passed away recently. It was quite sudden. A shock to all of us who knew her.”
Merlin stroked his tapered goatee. “Marina did ask me to extend her hours at the shop a few weeks ago. Said she wanted to avoid the stress at home.”
“Maybe the extra work helped her cope with the loss.”
We’d looped back to the register area by then, so Merlin sat down once more behind the counter. “She recently reduced her hours helping out here, though.”
“I guess she’s processing the grief better now.”
“I’m still worried about her expensive rent. She used to complain about it all the time. I told her I could try increasing her hourly wages.”
“That’s very generous of you.”
He spread his wrinkled hands across the countertop, covering the antique coins beneath the glass surface. “Can’t take it with you to that great bank in the sky.”
Wise words. “So, did she take you up on your offer?”
He let out a deep sigh. “Refused to even consider it. She said she didn’t need it. Wasn’t worried at all about finances.”
Really? I thought the townhouse cost a pretty penny. “That’s a positive attitude,” I said.
“She’s got a fighting spirit.”
Indeed. I said goodbye to Merlin and thanked him for his time.
We exited the store, and I took Marshmallow out of the tote on the sidewalk.
“Freedom,” he said, stretching his limbs.
“Do you find it odd that Marina doesn’t seem worried about money? Alice and I had even suggested she get a new roommate to split the rental cost.”
“It is strange,” Marshmallow said, “but her general behavior is so weird. Who won’t take in a stray, even if said kitty gives you a headache now and again? I mean, humans give me migraines all the time.”
“Present company excluded, right?”
He didn’t answer for a moment, but then he stuck his tongue out at me.
“Very funny, Marshmallow. But speaking of cute kitties needing help . . .”
We rushed back home to get Nimbus, just in time to get seen by Dr. Exi.
In the sterile examination room, I twiddled my thumbs waiting for the vet to appear. Even Marshmallow paced back and forth in the small space. Only Nimbus looked devoid of energy, lying flat on the examination table.
Dr. Exi strode in with a worried expression on his pale face. “What’s wrong with the cute kitty?”
Marshmallow widened his blue eyes. “Why, I’m totally fine. Thanks for asking.”
I cleared my throat. “Nimbus is acting differently these days. She’s a lot less active than before.”
He quickly checked her body. “Nothing appears out of the ordinary. Anything happen recently to zap her energy?”
I tapped a staccato beat on the polished floor with my shoe. “She hasn’t been sleeping well, been shivering at night.”
He looked out of the window at the gloomy sky. “Could be the nippy weather. Keep her well covered at night.”
I made sure to tuck in Nimbus nice and tight in her cat bed every night. Marshmallow, on the other hand, hated being covered and would claw any blanket to shreds.
“And be sure to keep her hydrated,” Dr. Exi said. “Makes a real difference in energy level.”
Marshmallow piped up. “She’s been having some nightmares. Tossing and turning. Whining about Edgar being on the lookout for her.”
I turned to the vet. “Could it be psychological? She did have a scare a few days ago.”
Dr. Exi assessed Nimbus with piercing eyes. “Maybe. If so, the symptoms should pass over time. Keep maintaining a peaceful environment and a consistent schedule.”
My fingers twisted together. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought her to the facedown with their previous owner, but I’d needed Nimbus to provide a believable cover for the meeting.
I gave Dr. Exi a trembling smile.
“One more thing,” he said, “she hasn’t felt warm or anything, right?”
“Not that I noticed.”
“Let me do a quick check. Please hold on to her.” Using a rectal thermometer, Dr. Exi measured her temperature. After reading the display, he declared it normal.
At least she wasn’t running a fever.
Dr. Exi rubbed Nimbus’s back. “Give her a couple weeks to recover. If she still has really low energy, come back in. We can run some tests then.”
I thanked the vet for his time and left him cleaning his instruments. Seeing him with the thermometer reminded me to check on Roosevelt Elementary to see if their science equipment still used mercury.