The phone rang. I looked up from my novel. Beast raised her head from her spot on the rug by my legs. Gertrude Hunt wasn't listed in any of the normal hotel directories. We had no website and no listed number in the yellow pages. Normally a ringing phone would be unusual, except somehow my number had gotten on to a political polls company's hit list and no amount of telling them that I was on a Do Not Call list could convince them to stop.
Another ring. I'd spent most of the day reading and drinking tea, trying to recuperate with mixed results and I didn't feel like getting up.
Another ring. Fine.
I crawled out of my chair and walked to the phone. If they asked me one more time if I approved of my congressman, I would use my powers for evil.
"Gertrude Hunt," I said into the phone.
"Dina," Mr. Rodriguez said. "How are you?"
"I'm well, thank you."
"Congratulations on taking care of your problem."
"How did you know?"
Mr. Rodriguez chuckled. "Check your mailbox."
I listened to the disconnect signal. Hmm.
I glanced at Beast. "Should we?"
She jumped up and made a circle around my feet.
I walked outside, through the heat of the afternoon, and opened my mailbox. Junk mail, pizza flyer... and a small padded envelope from Mr. Rodriguez. I pried it open and slid out a small brochure. The cover, printed in black on plain white paper said "Directory."
I knew exactly what it was. It was the listing of all of the inns issued by the Innkeeper Assembly. I opened the front page and turned to News and Changes. A single item was circled in ballpoint pen.
House Krahr of Holy Cosmic Anocracy has made it known that all inquiries regarding its members in North America are to be addressed to Gertrude Hunt Inn. This announcement comes on the heels of Wilmos Gerwar of Baha-char's endorsement of the same inn.
The words Gertrude Hunt had two and a half stars next to them.
I leaned against the oak. I had earned a half star. I could barely believe it.
In the margin of the page Mr. Rodriguez had written, "Your parents would be so proud."
I looked at the sky. They were out there somewhere.
"I'm on my way," I whispered. "Wait for me. I will find you, I promise."
The End
Acknowledgments
We started CLEAN SWEEP as a fun, for-the-love project. Every week we'd write a little bit and post the first draft online at http://demo.ilona-andrews.com/ and readers would get to comment on it. It was almost like writing in front of an audience. The hardest challenge was the story itself. In a normal novel, you can go back and rewrite the scenes. The format of CLEAN SWEEP meant there would be no second chances. Once something was posted, it was there to stay.
It is very rare when an author gets to interact with their audience to that extent. Writing Clean Sweep was a very educational experience for us. We were fortunate enough to get your input on the story as it unfolded and we feel privileged that so many of you chose to read it and comment. Your contributions and comments made the story so much better and we're are deeply grateful to all of you. There are a few people to whom we would like to extend especial thanks.
Doris Mantair for her incredible art. You can find out more about Doris at disanthus.com/.
Anne Victory for her copyedit. You can find more about Anne at her website: victoryediting.com/.
Beta Readers for their efforts to make this manuscript the best it could be: Julie Heckert, Shannon Daigle, William Stonier, Erin Oleski, Bethany Geleskie, Neal Bravin, Christian, Mary Roark, Denise Gray, Sarah Gibson, Katelin Campbell, Areerat Dallimore, Ruth Hardaway, Victoria, Milly Ward, and others.
As always, all errors of fact and grammar are our fault entirely. We hope you will join us again for the sequel to Clean Sweep starting early in 2014.
About the Authors
Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.) Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Texas with their two children, and many dogs and cats. They have co-authored two series, the bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels and romantic urban fantasy of The Edge.