Page 112 of Now or Never

“Yes.”

“Let me know if you ever need a job. I could find a place for you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Or you could marry me,” Bruno said. “The divorce will go through any day now.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said, “but I’m engaged.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I woke up to a nice quiet apartment. No vampire stalking me. No dog to walk. Just me and Rex. The sun was shining and everything was right in my world. I went to the bathroom and found out I wasn’t pregnant. There was a pang of disappointment, but honestly, it was okay. I’d have plenty of chances to get pregnant after I was married. Or not. That would be okay, too. What mattered right now was that I was alive, and Julie was alive, and it was a brand-new day.

I took my time with a shower. Used the big round brush drying my hair. Made myself toast and eggs and coffee. And I didn’t even eat standing at the sink. I took everything into the dining room and sat like a real person.

It was close to ten o’clock when I finally strolled into the office.

“You’re looking like you got a big glow,” Lula said. “Is it because you’re preggers?”

“No,” I said. “It’s because I’m alive.”

“Yeah,” Lula said. “I can relate to that.”

“I did some research on the building where Julie Werly was being held captive,” Connie said. “Zoran was property manager of sorts, using the name Bill Smith. He wasn’t getting paid. He was just allowed to live in the building for doing maintenance, which was probably zero. The van belonged to the original owner of the building. Dobey Szajack. Died a year ago and left everything to his nephew in Romania. Not sure if the nephew even knows of his inheritance.”

I checked out the doughnut box on Connie’s desk. It was all Boston cream. My favorite.

“It’s in honor of your being alive,” Lula said. “Connie cleaned them out of Boston creams.”

I took one, got coffee, and came back to Connie’s desk. “I don’t have any FTAs, so I thought I would take some time off.”

“Sorry to bust that bubble,” Connie said. “We have to go downtown to write a bond for someone.”

Lula was practically vibrating. “Wait until you hear this!” she said. “This is crazy.”

“What?” I said.

“You don’t listen to the news, do you?” Connie said.

“Not usually. Did I miss something?”

“And you don’t go online to see what’s happening in Trenton, or in this case, the whole world.”

“No.”

“Tell her! Tell her!” Lula said to Connie.

Connie typed something into her computer. “Here,” she said. “Come around and look at this.”

I walked behind Connie and looked at her monitor screen. The headline readRobin Hoodie Caught in the Act.

“They caught Eugene in the act?” I asked Connie.

“Look at the photo,” Lula said.

“It looks like Eugene in his hoodie, being cuffed next to a truck selling fried dough.”

“Look closer,” Lula said. “Does that look like Eugene?”

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