Page 62 of Scripted for Love and Poison
“I’m very persuasive.” Luke flashed a smile at her.
“Don’t get cocky. You’ve forgotten all about how to be persuasive since you landed in Los Angeles,” Divya admonished him. “I think both me and Sol are losing our patience with you.”
“Sol doesn’t have any patience,” Luke said. “Never has.”
“You made my point. Tread carefully with that newfound grumpiness of yours.”
“Told you I saw her talking with the second ex-husband yesterday?”
“You didn’t,” Divya said, and as she did, she turned to face him. Her interest was piqued.
“Not sure what they talked about. One thing got to another yesterday, and then she told me about that bloody riddle. And here we are,” Luke said. He felt relieved just by having shared his worries with Divya. “Never asked her about the ex. Not sure if it’s a good idea to do it ...”
“Considering what she’s told me about him, she’s as interested in him as she is in having someone sneak into her place and steal all her clothes. And we both know how attached she is to all the contents in her closet.”
“You’re telling me not to worry,” Luke said.
“Aye, that, and stop being so grouchy and go back to your usual charming self. You’re prettier when you smile.”
They went back to a reflective silence while they both munched on biscuits and chia seed crackers, which Luke had to admit were actually not bad and—according to the nutritional label—packed five grams of protein per serving.
“Does that look like Mystery Delivery Person to you?” Luke said after a few minutes pondering the surprising nutritiousness and taste of Californian snacks. He pointed to a pedestrian advancing in the direction of Lola’s house.
“Same height, same build. Wearing black trousers, black sweater, black cap, and the most hideous sunglasses. It could be them,” Divya said, her eyes traveling repeatedly from the street to the picture on her cell phone in front of her. “Unless you’re a celebrity, no one wears ultra-skinny early-2000s-style sunglasses anymore. And they hardly look like an It Girl.”
“Same glasses they were wearing yesterday and the day before,” Luke said. He was also checking the pictures Alex had sent.
“Should we have a chat with our Mystery Delivery Person, then?”
Divya and Luke got out of the car and crossed the residential street, heading in Mystery Delivery Person’s direction.
“Hey, mate, can we have a chat?” Luke asked when the cap-wearing, letter-delivery person was a mere couple of meters away. But that was exactly when they started running.
“Not bloody again,” Luke muttered under his breath as he bolted after Mystery Delivery Person. Divya was alreadyahead of him, always the most explosive runner of the two of them.
Fortunately, Mystery Delivery Person didn’t seem to be in as good shape as surfer chap Vinny Green had been. The letter writer started showing signs of tiredness two houses down the street. Divya and Luke crashed into him at the edge of Lola’s neighbor’s front yard, the three of them tumbling into a hedge. As Divya pinned Mystery Delivery Person down, Luke yanked off his cap—and exchanged a glance with Divya. They knew that face.
“We’ve been looking for you all over town.” Luke gave the sweaty runner a smug, knowing look. The detectives weren’t even panting. It had been a short, easy run, and Luke suddenly felt happy and decided he was in good shape after all.
···
“So, guess who’s not onlynot dead, but he didn’t even really disappear?” Luke told Sol. She was his first call after the conversation with Mystery Delivery Person and a brief pit stop at Lola’s house. Luke wanted to let Sol know there was nothing to worry about.
“Let me guess. Simon Smith?”
“Same. Divya and I just talked to him. He assured us he never meant any harm to you or Lola’s family. I already talked to them to let them know all is good and no more mysterious people would be delivering strange messages to their home. Alex sounded a bit disappointed, to be honest. I think he liked playing assistant to the investigation.”
“I’m sure he’ll find something else to do! And I’m so glad everyone is okay,” Sol said, and she sounded relieved. “Whatare you doing with that information now? Are you going to tell Officer Hunky Dory?”
“We’re going to talk to Marquee Media first, which basically means calling Claudia, as she is our intermediate. We’ll let her know that at least part of the case has been solved. And we’ll go from there. I’m glad she’s no longer a suspect now that we figured out she had nothing to do with Simon’s disappearance. Because it was weird to be feeding her updates while fishing for possible clues,” admitted Luke.
“She’s going to want to publish something juicy about this,” Sol said, and did she sound excited about the idea?
“What? No! That would be crazy. And why do you sound so thrilled about it?” Luke asked.
“It would be great publicity for the agency, obviously.”
“Your mind works in very bizarre ways when you’re in your journalist mode.” Luke chuckled. “But, sadly, I need to let you go. I just wanted you to know you’re safe.”
