“Uh-huh,” I said, unconvinced. “What happened to the ice cream parlor costumes? There’s nothing like that in our inventory.”
“I don’t know. He took the lot and made a nice donation to the cause. They’re probably in storage.”
I hadn’t spent a lot of time thinking about how my dad had been stuck behind the counter of the store all these years. Sure, he had Kirby to keep him company, and he always enjoyed finding new and different ways to satisfy the clients who came into Disguise DeLimit, but he hadn’t taken an actual vacation since I was a kid. Moreover, he never told me that he’d wanted to. But after only a few days back in Proper, more than one person had mentioned how much he talked about getting away and exploring the country. Maybe this road trip with Don was the best medicine after all.
“If your dad’s in the desert, who helped you steam out the costumes?”
Heat climbed up my face. Bobbie clapped her hands and half sat on the corner of her desk. “There’s a guy. It’s a guy, right? You went totally red. It must be a guy.”
There was something about hanging out with Bobbie that turned us into giggling girls in no time, and even though we’d been in her office for only mere minutes, we’d already time-traveled back to our childhood selves. I leaned against the wall and told her about Tak showing up at the store while I was dressed in alien pj’s and slippers.
“Tak Hoshiyama?” She whistled. “That one’s a mystery. I thought he was dating Nancy Nichols. Did they break up?”
“Nancy Nichols—do I know her?”
“I don’t know why you would. She’s Proper City’s new police detective.”
Oh crap. Crappety crappety crap. “You mean Detective Nichols? The one who looks like a professional volleyball player?”
Bobbie studied me. “Mitty, you look like you just heard the stock market crashed. Are you okay?”
“The detective and Tak Hoshiyama are a couple?”
“That’s what I heard but I don’t keep up with these things. Why is it such a big deal to you?” she asked.
I buried my face in my hands. “Detective Nichols caught Tak and me at Hoshiyama Steak House after hours last night,” I said. “Oh gosh, Bobbie, this is bad.”
“How bad can it be? His parents own the place, so it’s not like you broke in, right? Besides, maybe they’re on a break. You’re consenting adults, and whatever she caught you doing is nobody’s business but your own.”
“She caught us eating fried rice.”
“Oh. Sounds innocent to me.”
“That’s not the problem. It’s Detective Nichols and Tak. I bet that’s why he keeps showing up and talking to me about what happened. He’s helping her. Oh man, I am so stupid. Do you know what I did? I trusted him. I don’t know what she’s going to do but it can’t be good.”
“Work with me, Mits. What’s going on?”
I looked up at Bobbie. The desire to confide in Tak last night had gone unfulfilled and I desperately needed to talk to somebody. “Do you think you can spare an hour for breakfast?”
*
MINUTES later we were seated at a booth in the back of Eggcetera, a breakfast restaurant in the corner of the strip mall. I faced down a Belgian waffle covered in quickly melting whipped butter—the stress of Ebony’s situation required something stronger than a smoothie—while Bobbie layered lox and cream cheese onto her bagel.
“You heard about Blitz Manners, right?” I asked.
She nodded. “What a horrible situation. Murdered at his own party.”
“I was there,” I said. At her surprised expression, I continued, “Not as a guest. Blitz hired Disguise DeLimit to provide costumes for the party and hired Shindig to coordinate everything.”
“I thought he was going to have his party at Roman Gardens.”
“A pipe burst in the kitchen a week before the party and flooded the place. The owner gave back the deposit and that’s when Blitz came to us.”
“Twenty-four hours to plan a Blitz-sized party? That couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t. We weren’t even going to take the job except—” I stopped midsentence. The twenty grand in cash that I’d found in Ebony’s parking lot was locked inside my scooter, now sitting in front of the offices of Money Changes Everything. Anxiety crept up my skin like an army of tiny spiders. I looked out the window to see if my scooter was still there. It was. I sipped water and remembered that nobody knew the money was in the scooter except for me.
“Except that Blitz threw enough money at you to make it worth your while,” Bobbie finished.
“How did you know?”
“You don’t live in Proper City and not know about Blitz and his money. The day his inheritance came through was the first day of the rest of his life. And it wasn’t the fantasy people might think.” She took a big bite of her bagel and held her hand up over her mouth while she chewed.
I studied Bobbie. “You sound like maybe you know more about Blitz than you’re saying.”
She held up her index finger until she swallowed and followed with a gulp of her green tea. “This stays between us, okay?”