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suppose
that’s why no law enforcement personnel have been called to the lodge.
    Her eyes slowly adjusted
to the dimness in the room that had been Milt’s. She agreed with what Jack had
told her. Nothing looked particularly suspicious. She didn’t see anything in
the room that looked unusual. The bed appeared to have been slept in normally.
Evidently Milt had planned on unpacking later, because the only thing that
appeared to have been taken out of his suitcase was his dopp kit which was on
the bathroom counter. An eye drop bottle was next to it along with a washcloth,
a toothbrush, and toothpaste. His clothes were still neatly folded in his
suitcase and nothing had been put in the room’s chest of drawers or the closet. 
    Liz put the dopp kit in
his suitcase and noticed an attaché case next to it. She looked inside and saw
a phone and an iPad. She turned them on and quickly scanned them to see if
there had been any recent activity on either one. Evidently Milt had called his
wife the evening before as the outgoing telephone number matched the one Roger
had given her. There was nothing of interest on the iPad. She put them back in
the attaché case.
    Sam had been watching her
while he was lying on a rug that partially covered the highly polished hardwood
floor.  She walked over to the nightstand and saw the bottle of beet juice
which Milt had evidently put next to his bed along with a glass. The big dog
suddenly got up and took a position between Liz and the nightstand, a low growl
coming from deep in his throat. He gently pushed her away from the nightstand.
She looked down at him. “What is this about, Sam? I just want to look at that
bottle.” Again, he pushed against her, his nose flaring, and the guard hairs on
his back raised.
    “Sam, let me look at that
bottle. I won't drink from it. Move. I need to get closer.”
    It was as if the big dog
understood every word she said. He slowly moved to one side, and she picked up
the bottle. As she did she noticed a strong smell coming from it. She
remembered that although Milt had said he added ground almonds to his drink to
make it healthier, she didn’t remember the contents of the bottle having such
an overpowering pungent smell like the one that was now emanating from the
bottle. When she’d taken a sip of the beet juice the evening before, the smell
was entirely different from what she now smelled. She screwed the cap back on
the bottle, having no idea what to do next.
     

CHAPTER 10
     
    Liz quietly closed the door to room
eight and walked down the hall to her suite, the bottle in her hand. For some
reason, blame it on her niggle, she’d felt compelled to take the beet juice
bottle with her when she left Milt’s room. She had no idea what she was going
to do with it, but something told her it was important that she have it. She
sat down at the table in front of the large window that overlooked the
well-groomed grounds at the lodge. Sam sat down next to her and looked up, a
questioning look in his eyes.
    It's almost as if he’s
asking, “Okay, Liz, now that you have the bottle what are you going to do with
it?” She
unscrewed the cap and smelled it again. The odor coming from it disgusted her.
Once again Sam let out a low growl. The red liquid definitely had a strong
smell, but she couldn’t identify it.
    I don’t know anyone in
Texas that can help me find out what’s in this bottle. I wonder what it is. It
sure doesn’t smell like beets, and if I’m smelling ground almonds, he must have
put an awful lot of them in there.
    Liz sat for several more
minutes trying to figure out what to do with it. She reached for her cell phone
which was on the table and punched in the telephone number for Gordon Mortuary.
An almost ghoulish sounding voice on the other end answered and said, “Gordon
Mortuary. This is Selene. May I help you?”
    The voice sounded like it
was waiting for the caller to give directions to where the next dead body was
to be picked up , Liz