Bo Ray Tompkins was a young man they’d hired to help out at the shop on the first case Quinn had worked with Danni. A good guy at heart, Bo Ray had fallen in with some bad people and taken up their bad ways. Thanks to the help of Father John Ryan—a priest who was prepared to go to war in their strange fight against evil—Bo Ray had come back to the straight and narrow. They’d taken a leap of faith when they brought him in, and their faith had proved to be the right choice.
“I’m sending him back up with his knockout pills as soon as I’ve gotten a breakfast smoothie into him,” Billie said.
Bo Ray said something Quinn didn’t understand. He shot Billie a questioning look.
“He said he’s been watching the news. Larue gave a press conference at the crack of dawn, warning all musicians to be hypervigilant—even among friends,” Billie said. “I brought him up to speed on what’s been going on.”
Quinn nodded and turned back to Bo Ray. “After you finish whatever Billie’s cooking up for you, head back on upstairs so you can get some rest and get better.” He looked at Billie. “Did the oral surgeon say how long he was going to be like this?”
Bo Ray said something. Once again, Quinn had no idea what.
“I’ll send him up some ice packs. He should be well on the mend by tomorrow. I think he’s not too happy that sax is here,” Billie said.
“Well, that’s what here is for, remember?” Quinn said softly. “Not to mention it’s not the sax.”
“What do you mean, it’s not the sax?” Billie asked. “It has to be! I was playing like a pro.”
“It’s amazing what the human mind will do,” Quinn told him. “You sounded great because you expected to sound great. But we saw Arnie Watson’s mom and dad last night. They never had Arnie’s special sax. It disappeared the night he died. And if we’re right—and I’d lay you odds we are—that the killer wants it, then obviously he doesn’t have it, either, which means it’s still out there somewhere. Anyway, after breakfast I’m going to head for the station. Larue is interviewing the three musicians who were attacked on the street. I want to be there for that. He’s going to call me with the time, but I’m up, so there’s no point in my waiting around here if the call doesn’t come.”
Wolf padded over as if he’d understood what Quinn had said.
“You’ll all be fine without me,” Quinn said. “Wolf will be here. No one gets past Wolf, right, boy?”
He hunkered down and patted his dog. His dog. He’d rescued Wolf from the K-9 unit after he’d been so badly injured that they were going to put him down. But Quinn knew Wolf considered himself to be Danni’s dog now, and that was more than all right with Quinn. The hardest thing he’d been forced to learn was that while it was his instinct to protect Danni at all times, she was his partner. Didn’t mean he didn’t still want to protect her with his life, but it did mean he had to let her follow her own hunches and intuitions. But he was glad Wolf would also protect her with his life, because she had a way of plunging in on a hunch that meant she sometimes walked into dangerous situations.
And sometimes dangerous situations found them.
It was good to have a protector like Wolf.
Bo Ray started to say something again, but Quinn lifted a hand and said, “We’ll talk tomorrow. Get some rest.” He grabbed a waffle off the plate where they were cooling, chewing a mouthful as he poured his coffee into a to-go cup. “Let Danni know where I am,” he said.
“Will do. And I’ll man the shop today,” Billie said.
“Be careful,” Quinn said.
“Not to worry. Wolf knows a bad guy when he sees one,” Billie said.
Quinn waved and left. Larue’s call came through just as he reached the sidewalk. Larue was on his way to the station in the Quarter, and he told Quinn to head over whenever he was ready. They were set up to talk to the three musicians at 10:00 a.m.
*
Danni first woke with a sense of well-being. She stretched her arm out across the bed and then realized that Quinn was gone.
Her sense of well-being vanished.
She hurriedly showered and dressed then ran down to the kitchen. Billie was there, alone with Wolf, who was chowing down on a waffle. The dog wasn’t really supposed to have so much human food, but Billie swore that he never gave Wolf anything that would hurt him. And if she was being honest, she had to admit that she could never resist the giant hybrid herself. Wolf was ready to die for them at any time. How could you refuse to indulge a friend like that?
“Quinn’s gone to the station to see Larue,” Billie said, taking a forkful of the eggs on his plate. “And Bo Ray is back up in bed. No worries, though. I figure I can keep an eye on the shop today.”
“Thanks, Billie,” Danni said, grabbing a plate and helping herself to waffles and scrambled eggs. “Nice breakfast.”
She tried not to grin as he grunted something about it not being Italian and chose not to rise to the bait.