I tore the envelope open and read the letter. Rejection. Crap!
“It’s a great idea,” I said to Cat. “And the recipes are perfect. I’ve kitchen-tested them. I don’t know why no one wants to buy my book.”
I went into my small living room and turned the television on. I flipped through channels until I came to the Food Network. I watched a half hour of cooking and moved on to Property Brothers on HGTV. They cooked in an entirely different way.
Cat had followed me into the living room and was curled up on the couch next to me.
“This is what I need,” I said to Cat. “I need the Property Brothers. They work cheap, they always deliver on time, and they’re cute.”
I heard the front door open, and Cat gave a low growl. His ears rotated in the direction of the door, and he listened for a moment. He settled back with his nose tucked under a paw when Diesel and Carl walked into the room.
Carl jumped off Diesel’s shoulder, scuttled over to Cat, and sniffed him. Cat opened his one working eye, and Carl shrank back and wrapped his arms around Diesel’s leg. No one messes with Cat.
“Well?” I said to Diesel.
Diesel slouched onto the couch next to me, so that I was bookended between Cat and Diesel.
“I checked out the cage, and I went over the entire floor of the exhibit room,” Diesel said. “The coin wasn’t there.”
“And the dead guy?”
“I took a look at him, too. He was taken to the morgue and stored for an autopsy. No coin on the dead guy.”
“What about Wulf?”
“I talked to Wulf. He hasn’t got it.”
“There were two EMTs who handled the corpse. And probably someone checked him into the morgue.”
“And there was Dr. Death,” Diesel said.
“Nergal?”
“Yeah, my money’s on Nergal.”
“I thought you liked him. You told me I should date him.”
“He would have gone over the body and collected evidence before they closed the bag. He’s the logical person to have found the coin.”
“Did you go through his office?”
“Yeah, and the coin wasn’t there,” Diesel said. “It also wasn’t listed in the evidence log.”
The Property Brothers signed off, and I stood and stretched. “Bedtime,” I said. “I need to be at the bakery early tomorrow.”
“No problem,” Diesel said, taking charge of the remote. “I’ll be up later.”
“?‘Up’? No. There’s no ‘up.’ You need to go home.”
“I was thinking this was home.”
“This is my home. Don’t you have a home?”
“I have a beach house in the South Pacific, but it’s kind of a far commute.”
“Where did you live in Sri Lanka?”
“Monastery. Longest three weeks of my life.”
“You used to have your own apartment here. What happened to it?”
“The guy who owned it came back to town.”
CHAPTER THREE
I shut the alarm off at four-fifteen. There was no big guy next to me. The sheets were cool. Nothing smelled like gingerbread. Hard to tell if I was happy or disappointed.
I showered, dressed for work, and trucked down to the kitchen. No big guy there, either. I gave Cat a fresh bowl of water and some kitty crunchies. I got coffee brewing, popped a frozen waffle into the toaster, and shrieked when Wulf appeared without warning.
“Jeez Louise,” I said. “I hate when people just materialize. How did you get in here?”
“I have ways.” He glanced at the waffle in the toaster. “Not a healthy breakfast, but then maybe you’re not expecting to live that long.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re playing on the losing team, and the stakes are high.”
“Another warning?”
“An offer to come over to my side. There are dark forces who know about you, know about your special abilities. When they come for you, they won’t be easy to evade.”
“I’m just a baker. I don’t even have a Facebook page. How would anyone know about me?”
“You aren’t just a baker. You are an asset and a very rare and useful one. That kind of secret doesn’t stay secret very long from people who crave power. How do you think I found you? How do you think my cousin found you? And are you so sure he isn’t interested in the stone for himself?”
“I’ll take my chances with Diesel.”
“I could make your life very pleasant,” Wulf said. “Or very uncomfortable. Which will it be?”
“Neither. Just leave me alone, and let me do my job.”
“Finding the Avarice Stone for Diesel?”
“Making cupcakes.”
Wulf’s lips curved ever so slightly into a hint of a smile. His eyes were dilated totally black. There was a flash of light, and he was gone.
I looked over at Cat. His tail was bushed out like a bottlebrush. “It’s a whole-wheat waffle,” I said to Cat. “It’s sort of healthy.”