Page 43 of Blood and Bonbons

“I’m not nutty from lack of sleep, and I don’t mean the book. Look next to the book.”

There was a corner of a wooden desk, a little worn. Nothing about it looked particularly interesting.

“What exactly am I looking at?” I asked.

“That’s Grandpa Barnaby’s desk. The book was in this house, Ev. What if it’s still here? What if that’s why Miles came here?”

“That’s a lot of what-ifs that don’t explain why I owe you. Why are you looking under Miles’ bed if the picture was of your grandpa’s desk? Isn’t it in your dad’s research room now?”

“You owe me cuz I let you sleep longer. And yes, but I already looked there. I came here because this was where the bag of chips was. I was kinda hoping that Miles already found the book and hid it.”

“Okay. First, we eat; then I’ll help you tear this place apart. But we leave by eleven, no matter what, so we’re at Blur by noon. We told Shepard we’d be in early today.” Technically, we told him we’d be in this morning, But noon was only one minute past “morning,” right?

As if Shepard knew I was thinking of showing up late, my phone buzzed.

“It’s Shepard.”

Vena arched a brow at me. “Exactly how good is his hearing?”

I ignored her and answered.

“Sorry to call you so early, but I know you and Vena were planning on coming in this morning. Would it be a problem to postpone until your shift?”

“Are you having second thoughts?” I asked, and Vena crossed her fingers.

“Not at all. I have a uniform here waiting for her if she’s ready to start tonight.”

“I don’t mind coming in later,” I said. “And Vena’s evening is open, so that works.”

“Good. Come fifteen minutes before your shift. I’ll have someone waiting for you in the parking lot to escort you inside.”

I tended to arrive a lot earlier than that for my shifts, and he knew it.

With the recent murder excluded, Blur’s neighborhood wasn’t a bad place considering it was downtown D.C. And we were arriving when it was light out.

“What’s going on, Shepard?” I asked.

“There’s been another death nearby. Happened sometime before dawn. I want to give the enforcers some time to make sure the area is safe.”

“The police are still there?”

“Don’t come before four. Okay? Promise me that.”

“I promise.”

All playfulness missing, Vena watched me closely as I hung up.

“Another person died,” I said. “That’s two deaths in the last two nights.”

“Right about when our recently resurrected Mr. Cross left his cave.”

“Do you think he’s responsible?” I asked.

“Responsible for what?” Cross asked as he appeared suddenly at the bottom of the stairs. He stood in a pool of blue light from the stained-glass hallway window.

Startled, I dropped my phone and watched it bounce down the stairs and skid to a halt at his feet. He picked it up and inspected it.

“What is it?” he asked.

---