with his arms wrapped around me.”
“You should have your leg checked out,” the paramedic said. “Let me stabilize it, and we’ll get you to the ER.”
I was waiting for the paramedic to return when Diesel crossed the street to me. “How are you doing?” he asked.
“I think my leg might be broken. They’re going to take me in for an X ray. Did you find Anarchy?”
“Wulf and I tracked her down and trapped her in a blind alley. I was glad I had Wulf with me. It was like trying to capture a wild animal.”
“What did you do with her?”
“We turned her over to the police.”
“Will they be able to hold her?”
“Probably not. Apparently she’s been losing the power she stole from Wulf, but she has her own arsenal of creepy, special abilities. One of which is being able to burn a handprint into flesh. She killed Reedy and threw him out the window when she discovered Wulf already had the book of sonnets.”
“She told you that?”
“Yeah. She has a real anger management problem. She was ranting and babbling and foaming at the mouth while we were trying to capture her.”
“Foaming at the mouth?”
“I made that up. I don’t know why there was no record of her on file. I have a feeling she’s been around for a while as Anarchy. And I think she’s probably been looking for the stones at least as long as we have.”
“And Wulf is regaining
“I don’t know. Wulf and I don’t spend a lot of time chatting.”
The EMT rolled a stretcher over to me, and Diesel loaded me onto it.
“I haven’t got my purse,” I said to Diesel. “I don’t have any of my medical insurance information.”
“Where’s your purse?”
“It was left in the building.” I felt my heart stop for a beat. The SALIGIA Stone was in my purse.
“Oh boy,” I said. “Bad news.”
“Let me guess,” Diesel said. “The stone was in your purse.”
We looked across the street at the Exotica Shoppe. Not a lot left. Blackened brick walls. Most of the fire was out. What was left was smoldering rubble.
Three days later, Diesel helped me out of the car and handed me my crutches. I had a simple fracture. Surgery wasn’t needed, but I’d be hobbling around for a while. Glo, Clara, and Nina were already on the sidewalk in front of what was left of the Exotica Shoppe. The yellow crime scene tape had been taken down, and the fire marshal had declared the area safe.
Everyone was wearing rubber boots and gloves, and I had a plastic garbage bag over my cast, held secure with electrician’s tape. We all had rakes and shovels. We were going to look for the SALIGIA Stone.
“I’m so sorry about your shop,” I said to Nina, “but I’m glad you weren’t badly burned.”
“Just some small burns on my hands from when I tore my gown off,” Nina said. “I went home and put salve on them.”
I looked at the gutted, blackened building. “There’s not much left.”
“Good riddance,” Nina said. “I was over-insured. I’m going to rebuild something better. The truth is, this was a creaky, moldy old building. I’m going to put central air and a real pretty restroom in my new shop.”
“Are you going to comb through this for salvageable items?” I asked her.
“Nope. Not worth it. It looks like mostly ashes to me. And I wouldn’t want to give someone something that had been damaged by the heat. I’ve already put in an order for most everything, and I have a temporary location lined up.” Nina waded into the debris. “You were over here in the corner, hiding behind the shelf. This must be where you dropped your purse.”
We followed Nina and began picking through the rubble. We pushed charred jars and timbers away, and swept away ashes.
“I think I found something,” Glo said. “I think this is the metal clasp on your shoulder bag.”
We crowded around Glo, carefully pushed more ashes aside, and I was the first to see the little brown rock. I picked it up, and it hummed in my hand and gave off a brilliant blue aura.
“This is it,” I said.
Everyone cheered.
“This is a happy ending,” Nina said. “I’m going to the costume store to look for a new gown.”
“I have an appointment at the hair salon,” Clara said. “I’m going to get the singed ends trimmed off.”
“And I have a date with the cute paramedic,” Glo said. “I think he might be the one.”
Diesel and I made our way back to his Aston Martin. He draped his arm across my shoulders and nuzzled my neck. “So what have we got here? Is this the True Love Stone or the Lust Stone?”
I slipped the stone into his jeans pocket. “There are some things a man should find out for himself.”
ABOUT THE TYPE
Minion is a 1990 Adobe Originals typeface by Robert Slimbach. Minion is inspired by classical, old style typefaces of the late Renaissance, a period of elegant, beautiful, and highly readable type designs. Created primarily for text setting, Minion combines the aesthetic and functional qualities that make text type highly readable with the versatility of digital technology.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JANET EVANOVICH is the #1
Visit Janet Evanovich’s website at www.evanovich.com
Facebook/JanetEvanovich
or
Write her at PO Box 2829 Naples, FL 34106
