Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation by Jen Haeger Read Free Book Online Page A

the ignition of the Explorer. It had several identical house keys hanging from it as well as the car keys.
    “Oh, do you want me to get these off here for you?”
    “What do you meeen?”
    “Do you want me to remove the house keys,” Evelyn said slowly, pausing between each word, “so I can give you back just the car keys?”
    Madeline gave Evelyn a long-suffering look. “I don’t zee why. Zee car eez also for you.”
    “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize.”
    Evelyn was still a bit confused because they should have dropped Kim and David off first if the car was for her to use. Evelyn was going to grill Madeline a bit more, but then the other woman pulled out her cell phone, texting as she walked away from Evelyn, so instead Evelyn just ambled up to the door of the condo and let herself in. David and Kim followed close behind. The entranceway of the condo opened into a comfortably large living room with hardwood floors and a gas fireplace. A cozy brown couch and matching chairs were arranged around the fireplace and a wooden coffee table on a brown, shaggy rug. Various little end tables and a book shelf occupied the nooks and crannies of the room. The opposite end of the living room opened up into another area that had a modest dining room table with four chairs and wrapped back around to the kitchen.
    As they progressed into the kitchen, they found the first signs that someone had come into the condo before them. Some of Evelyn’s kitchen appliances had been haphazardly placed on the counter; there was also dish soap and a sponge near the sink and other necessities like dishwashing liquid under the sink, and upon inspection, the refrigerator and pantry were partially filled with recognizable foodstuffs from Evelyn’s apartment. Additionally, the cupboards contained dishes from both her and David’s apartments. As soon as Evelyn recognized the dishes from David’s apartment, a light bulb went on in her head and then burned brighter and brighter until it exploded.
    “Wait a minute.”
    Evelyn tore back through the living room and out the door. Madeline was nowhere in sight. Evelyn muttered a few choice curse words and then used the key-fob to lock the car before heading back into the living room, where Kim and David had congregated and were staring at her.
    “Did anyone else think that we were all going to be living here together?”
    Kim’s eyes sharpened. “Oh!”
    David put a hand to his forehead. “No, but I should’ve.”
    Evelyn looked down at the three keys on the keychain. “I mean it makes sense, I just assumed…”
    Evelyn had another thought. This condo is big, but it isn’t that big . She explored further, this time up the stairs that were just off the main entry along with a small half-bathroom. Reaching the top of the stairs, she found three open doors and one closed door. Since she could see the bedrooms and bathroom through the open doors, she tried the closed door and discovered it was a large linen closet.
    “Oh no.”
    Evelyn dashed back down the stairs. David and Kim weren’t on the main floor, but a light shone from a carpeted stairway leading down near the back door. Kim and David’s discussion of the finished basement drifted up to Evelyn at the top of the stairs, and she descended to join them. The basement was carpeted and separated into two areas, one for entertainment and one for working. The first area, to the right of the stairs as one headed down, had another fireplace, a couch, and a large television cabinet with a sizable flat-screen television. The second area to the left of the stairs was set up as an office with a cheap wood desk and a second-hand desk chair, a tall, metal file cabinet, and two bookshelves. Several boxes containing books from Evelyn’s home library sat open on the floor and on the desk. Evelyn’s laptop was also waiting for her on the desk. An open doorway to the left of the desk led to the laundry room, and in between the two areas was another walled off,