Page 37 of Buck Baxter and the Mysteries of Love

With every turn I caught a glimpse of him in the pale moonlight up ahead—the back of his head, an untucked shirt tail, the heel of his boot—before he vanished around another corner.

I followed…

Turned one last corner…

Then suddenly the boy was gone…

And before me stood the exit to the maze.

In the distance I heard car engines start up and the sound of tires peeling down the drive.

I knew Harry was in one of those cars.

I had to fight the urge to make a mad dash across the grounds and cut them off at the gates to the estate, but I knew I had to get the papers to safety first.

I also knew I had to rescue my Harry.

But exactly how I was going to do that, I had no idea.

Until I whispered to myself—

“I need a family meeting.”

CHAPTER 16

“Did you say ‘Boom-Boom’?”Mamma asked, alarmed.

“As inthe‘Boom-Boom’?” Bugsy said, face contorted with disbelief.

I screwed up my nose in confusion. “I have no idea what either of you are talking about.”

“I could take a stab in the dark,” said Stella. “But I think my definition of a ‘boom-boom’ is very different to what your folks are talking about.”

The four of us were sitting on crates in Mamma’s warehouse, the documents from Howard Hart’s desk strewn across the floor before us.

Mamma had picked up the telegram from Herr Bockenheimer telling Hart that the project he was working on was complete.

“This explains why my damn ears are still ringin’ from the blast,” said Bugsy.

“That was no tin-can boobytrap of a bomb that took out Ginger’s,” added Mamma. “That was the work of the maestro.”

I held up my hands to make a T-shape. “Whoa, whoa. Mamma, Bugsy… time out. I got no idea what you’re talking about, so would you mind letting me and Stella in on the conversation?”

“Sorry, son,” said Bugsy. “One day all of this will be second nature to you, once you become the kingpin of Wilde City.”

“Oh, slow down! Whoever said I wanna be the kingpin of Wilde City? I don’t want that job at all.”

“Sure you do. And I’ve decided I’d like you to start calling me Pops. That’s what you called me before and I kinda liked it.”

“If I’m honest, it just kinda slipped out in the moment. I wasn’t expecting it to become a habit.”

Bugsy sounded offended. “What’s wrong with calling me Pops? You call her Mamma.”

“That’s because it’s her name.”

“Not when I first met her it wasn’t. Not until she decided to try to beat me at my own game.”

Mamma gave Bugsy a clip behind the ears. “Maybe if you hadn’t bought that necklace for Minnie the Smoocher I wouldn’t have got so angry.”

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