Page 10 of Gem Warfare

I wiggled my fingers and toes, then my limbs. Nothing seemed to be broken so I sat up, wincing. My pants were soaked with sticky substances and foam clung to my face. I brushed it off, saying, “That’s sexist. How do you know she’s not the boss and he’s not the sidekick?” I pointed between them.

“The crying is a clue,” said Jord. He reached for his radio and requested an ambulance before stooping to check the woman. She wriggled upright, holding her wrist, and crying louder.

I looked around for Solomon, finding him poised at the door, ready to run inside the moment Jord gave the okay. I caught his eye and grinned. He raised a single hand in return and turned his gaze to the ceiling. I followed his gaze, grimacing at the large holes we’d crashed through. Yet as we watched, all kinds of goods began to tumble down, giving us a few seconds of a very weird game of dodge.

Climbing gingerly to my feet, I rolled my shoulders, made a few more checks that I really was miraculously uninjured, and skidded through the leaking gels and foam to Solomon. “I think I solved my case and I need a shower,” I said.

“You smell like the salon,” he said, picking up a thickly coated clump of hair languishing over my shoulder. “And slightly tomatoey. You look like you’ve gone through a car wash.” He wrapped an arm around me, pulled me against him and hugged me hard. I rested my head against his chest, only mildly sorry that I was probably ruining his cotton sweater.

“I’m okay,” said Maddox, getting to his feet, one fist pumping the air like he’d won something.

Superman was wriggling and kicking, simultaneously trying to pull up his pants and escape the police. After a couple of minutes of skidding around, they dived on him, wrestling him into handcuffs before sitting him upright. He looked around, scowling.

“Meet the thieves of the block,” I said. “There’s more contraband up there and if you check his pockets, I’m pretty sure you’ll find drugs from the dental surgery.”

Jord passed off the sobbing woman to an officer and searched Superman. He held up several small vials, counting them into an evidence baggie that was handed to him. “Well, you two, it looks like we’re going downtown,” he said, grinning.

“I’d rather go home,” I said.

“And I’d rather not do any paperwork on this,” added Maddox.

“Not you two,” said Jord, shaking his head. “Just as soon as we get these two checked over, they’re getting booked. As for you two, stick around. I want you to get checked out too. That was quite a fall you took, especially you,” he added, giving me a pointed look.

“I’m fine. Just sticky.”

Maddox looked at me and laughed, then he plucked a sliver of plaster from his hair and brushed out a plume of dust.

“Do I want to know?” asked Solomon.

I looked around at the oozing mess on the floor, the sobbing woman, and the handcuffed man whose pants were currently being pulled into a more gentlemanly position, and shrugged. “I think you can get the gist,” I said.

An ambulance pulled up, cutting out its wailing siren but leaving the lights flashing. As we stepped outside, the usually sparse evening crowd growing, a man holding up a phone gaveus the thumbs up. “I got all that on camera,” he exclaimed. “That was awesome! It’s going to go viral for sure!”

I deflated and Solomon guided me to the ambulance. A few minutes later, our vitals checked and with a confirmation of no broken bones, both Maddox and I were cleared to go. We hung around to give statements to Jord, then Maddox took off with a cheerful wave, announcing his intent to pick up his takeout at last.

“He’s remarkably happy,” said Solomon, glancing from Maddox’s retreating back to the disastrous salon.

“I don’t know if it’s his superpower or a fatal flaw,” I said, seeing a white Mercedes sail past Maddox and park. “My client just arrived.”

She pushed her way through the crowd, gaped at the destruction inside the salon and gaped again as the two perpetrators were loaded into police cars. Then she saw me and made a beeline in our direction.

“Hi, Marie,” I said.

“What happened?” she asked. “I thought you were going to conduct surveillance?”

“I did, and your thieves have been arrested.”

“What happened to my salon? Why are there cans and jars and things all over? What happened to the ceiling?” Her voice rose with every question.

“You weren’t the only one being robbed. It looks like they were stealing from the whole strip. Did you know there’s a crawl space above the salon? It spans all the shops. They found hatches to drop into the shops and set up a winch to lower and raise them and everything they stole, out again.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” she said, turning to gape again.

“We fell through the ceiling,” I added. “Sorry about that.”

“I can see that. I’ve never been more thankful for my businessinsurance.”

“You should see if your repairers can open up the ceiling. The rafters look in good condition and you’ll get a lot of extra ceiling height,” said Solomon.

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