"Gee, thanks," I said dryly.
"Anyway, let me know. I need to get Beauty home for her dinner."
"I will. It may not be until after the holidays, though," I warned him. "It's hard to reach experts this time of year."
"No worries." He shrugged. "I've got eleven more, just like that one, by the way. Merry Christmas, Tess."
He let himself out, leaving me staring after him in shock. Twelve Spanish gold coins! If they were authentic, they might be worth a small fortune.
Enough to buy all the meatballs he and Beauty could ever eat.
I packed up and headed out, looking forward to getting off my feet. I was halfway home in my new Mustang when my phone rang.
"Hey, Jack. What's up?"
"I'm finishing up painting the porch swing. I'll stop by and get the pizza, and I should be over in half an hour."
"That's fine. I'm looking forward to a long shower and a giant glass of iced tea. Maybe a nap."
There was a pause.
"Jack?"
His low, raspy chuckle gave me the shivers.
In a good way.
"Tigersloveshowers, Tess. Maybe wait for me?"
I almost ran my car off the road.
10
Tess
I dropped off the stolen gifts at the Piersons' house and at Mrs. Q's. Both Mrs. Pierson and Mrs. Q invited me in for cookies and tea. I thanked them, but I was just too tired to be sociable. In fact, I was even glad everybody had backed out of pizza tonight. I still had to work tomorrow, after all.
Driving up the little road to my house, I honked as I passed Carlos's place to let him know it was me. Having a vampire for a neighbor meant I never saw him during the day, but it was oddly reassuring that he was just down the street during the nights. He and Jack had even become friends after some early wariness. Carlos was on the vampire high council, and Jack had certainly had some run-ins with that group during the rebellion. But Carlos had assured us he and others had purged the council of its rotten apples.
It had led to a silly discussion about vampire apples, but I blamed my extra glass of Shiraz for that.
My little house was more of a cottage. One story painted white with deep blue storm shutters and a flower bed out front. Plus, of course, a swing on the front porch. That had been one of my first improvements to the house when I'd bought it.
I loved every inch, and every bit looked and felt and smelled like home.
I parked in the driveway and bounded up the stairs to the front door. Lou, who'd been napping on the back of the couch, stretched and purred when she saw me. I kicked off my shoes, dropped my keys in the bowl, put my bag on the old wooden chest that served as my coffee table, and sank down on the couch to cuddle my cat.
After she sniffed me and made known—loudly—her displeasure at the scent of the dog on my clothes, she let me rub her furry belly to make it up to her. I told her about my day, and everything obviously fascinated her. At least until she meowed loudly, informing me it was dinnertime for cats in this household.
I grabbed my phone, and we moved into the kitchen, where I gave her a can of chicken deliciousness and poured myself a glass of iced tea. Then I sat down at the table to wait for Jack and the pizza and decided I ought to check the Dead End town text loop, just in case.
Bad idea.
Bad.
The texts were flying fast and furious, and few people were even attempting to be civil. Some were pro UltraShopMart, but most were against the shopping center. One thing I hadn't known was that they'd already broken ground. Bulldozers had moved in and started excavating already. Somebody'd posted that UltraShopMart had hired a wizard to cast a look-away spell, which was evidently common practice in this kind of thing, to keep protestors away. It had worked, and on sound, too; I'd never heard the heavy machinery. They owned the property, but, wow, they must be pretty confident they'd get permission to build in Dead End, which surprised me.
Unless they knew something I didn't. But I was pretty sure Aunt Ruby would have told me if she and the town council had agreed to allow it. From the sounds of the texts, it was still very much an open question.
