Jill came into the lab, looking for Lindsay or anybody else. She felt bad about just showing up, but there was no doorbell outside and she thought she would break her knuckles trying to knock. She saw Lindsay in the conference room, but decided not to bother her, for she had a strange look on her face and she knew better than to bother her when she looked like that. She kept searching, asking 'hello?' as she went. She turned to go to the computer deck, but instead bumped into Peter and almost dropping her snowmobile helmet. Not expecting her to be there, he put his hands on her shoulders and held her at arm's length to see who she was. Instantly recognizing her, he let go of her shoulders and gave her a hug. Surprised, she hugged him back, then Matt interjected. He gave Jill a hug, said hello, and the three headed into the conference room, interrupting Lindsay's train of thought.
"Hey Lindsay, look who's here!" Matt said as he came in with his two followers. When she didn't look up from the bottom of her mug, Matt apologized for her. "She's had a rough day. We were just at a funeral."
"Yeah, I know," Jill told him. "I actually came to talk to you about that. Can I talk to Lindsay alone, please?"
"Sure." Peter and Matt left the room and slid the glass doors shut behind them.
"Listen, Lindsay, I know what it's like to lose a person like your aunt," Jill tried to console Lindsay. She sat across the table from Lindsay, and put her helmet on the table in front of the empty chair beside her.
"I doubt it. She was wonderful. She always used to bring me things when she came over and play with me when I was little," Lindsay replied, still staring at the bottom of her mug, as if it held the answer to the question nobody asked.
"Yes, I do know."
"How could you possibly know?!" Lindsay almost broke out in tears.
"Because she was my second cousin."
Lindsay looked at Jill for a moment, disbelieving. She knew what this meant. "You mean we're related?"
"Yeah, we're third-cousins to each other."
Lindsay sniffed and wiped her teary, red eyes. "I'm sorry, Jill, I didn't know."
"That's okay, you don't have to apologize. I know you loved her a lot."
"Yeah" Lindsay looked up from her mug. "Thanks, cousin."
"You too, cousin." Jill was still getting used to the idea of being related to Lindsay. It was like being related to Matt Praeger; not something she had expected.
"Are you staying here for awhile?" Lindsay asked when she could trust herself to speak again.
"I kind of have to. The weather's awful, and I think Matt would insist on me staying anyway. You know how he is." Jill didn't mind being 'stuck' staying with the team.
"Anton, too. He'd be worried about you getting in an accident. You know how he is."
Jill nodded slowly. Anton, as if on cue, knocked on the door, then slid them open partly. "I heard you were staying?" he asked Jill, coming into the room.
"Well hi to you to, Dr. Hendricks," she replied, then stood up and gave him a hug.
Anton took his seat next to Lindsay, and Jill returned to hers.
"So how did you get here, anyway?" Lindsay asked, trying to keep her mind off her and Jill's dead family member.
"Snowmobile," Jill replied while smiling. "Comes in handy in this weather, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," Lindsay agreed.
"You wouldn't happen to have any more hot chocolate, would you? Not that I'm ungrateful for you letting me in, but I'm frozen through." Jill rubbed her arms to emphasize her statement.
"Sure, I'll go make some." Lindsay rose to leave and almost ran into Matt and Peter, who came in with five steaming mugs. They set them down on the table and took their usual seats, sitting to chat, seeing there was nothing better to do when the weather was this bad. 
She looked around the room approvingly. This was just like her apartment at home, where she lived alone and practiced black magic. Thinking of the devious plan she had been concocting for the past three weeks, she walked slowly over to the phone and dialed her desired seven numbers.
A metallic-voiced woman spoke from the other side. "Office of Scientific Investigation and Research, how may I direct your call?"
"Matt Praeger, please," Jill asked with mock politeness.
"Who, may I ask, is this?"
"It's Jillian Derby. Tell him it's an emergency."
Approximately half an hour after Jill left the Mobile Lab, Matt's cell phone rang. He answered it immediately, excusing himself from the conference room where he, Anton, Lindsay and Peter had still been talking.
"Praeger," he said in his usual answer.
"Matt, it's Jill. My snowmobile broke down, do you think you could come pick me up?"
"Where are you? What happened?"
"I must have run out of gas. I'm in the phone booth down at the end of the street, where it crosses Main Road. You know where?"
"Yeah, I'll be there soon."
"Thanks a lot, Matt." Jill hung up. Only it wasn't Jill.
Derby hung up the phone. She grinned mischievously and put on her down-filled snowmobile jacket, gloves, hat and boots, took her helmet off the chair and left, locking the door behind her, but not needing a key. |
