Page 18

Sunday, April 26, 2167

The Sapphire Ward

Dragon Heights, Wyoming

Erik hadhis mother’s eyes, and I spent a shameful amount of time peeking around the corner to admire him. He still wore his uniform, and from the looks of it, he hadn’t been given any time to remove his holster. His firearm was nowhere in sight, though. Had it been, I would have stormed the kitchen and given him a piece of my mind immediately.

When we’d had a household together, we’d put our guns into the safe first thing upon arriving home.

From the looks of the activities in the kitchen, Erik’s mother intended on feeding Garnet at least ten different types of potatoes.

“Mom, I could understand the scalloped potatoes upon learning Chester is bringing a guest, but what are we even doing?”

I grinned, retrieved Tourmaline from Garnet’s back, and whispered, “Garnet, in your wisp form, go see what Mrs. Millson is making. Don’t transform unless she invites you to, okay?”

The carbunclo squeaked, jumped off my shoulder, and transformed, zipping across the kitchen to bob around, investigating the potatoes.

Erik’s mother giggled. “I see one of our guests has arrived. Hello, little baby. We’re just finishing up your supper.” The woman grabbed a teacloth, spread it out nearby, and patted the counter in invitation. “Sit here, and I’ll give you a little now. You must be hungry, you poor little dear.”

Garnet did as told, and she sat as I’d taught her, offering one of her greeting mews.

Erik sucked in a breath, staring at my kitten.

I slinked around the corner, waited for the tell-tale sounds of Erik coming my way, and tensed, debating on tripping him and getting the jump on him that way or tapping on his shoulder with my cuffed hands. While tripping him was rude, I remembered how swift he could be when he wanted. I might not have a chance to tap him at all before I had to chase after him.

If I wanted to waylay him, I’d have to go in for the kill, get him down, and hold him there.

“Chester?” Erik called, and he emerged from the kitchen.

I stuck my foot out, caught him across the feet, and hooked my toes around his ankle to tangle him up. He yelped and went down, his knees hitting the ground first before he unbalanced, sprawling on his stomach. Somehow, I kept my balance, freeing my foot. Then, because I could, I sat on his back. “I was put under arrest for having a criminally cute kitten.”

“Kinsley.”

Not a question, but a statement. While it had been years since I’d seen him, I recognized his tone.

I’d gotten him good, and he’d get me good in kind as soon as he had some time to think of how to get his revenge. After everything I’d put him through, I deserved a little payback.

I could handle his desire to hold his own and give it as good as he received.

Leaning forward, I rattled the handcuffs. “I’ll admit, having a criminally cute kitten is a good reason to be arrested. Imagine my surprise when your brother showed up at my door for legitimate business, especially as I had not known you had siblings.”

“Oh, I can imagine,” Erik replied in a wry tone. “Did he sit on your back?”

“No, he didn’t. It was a wellness check because of my parents showing up. Perhaps if he hadn’t been on official police business, I might have undergone some basic familial hazing. Apparently, my parents are demons. The local police were concerned for my safety. The photographs of my suffering had the cops coming over.”

Erik snorted in his effort to contain his laughter, failed, snorted a few more times, and finally gave in and snickered. “I was putting thought into doing a wellness check, but I wouldn’t have been in my uniform. I would have been in a suit, I would have been bringing flowers, and I would have found the greasiest junk food money can buy to bribe my way into your home. Once I’d gotten inside, you would have had difficulties getting rid of me.”

I bowed my head and joined him in laughing; the first time I’d been convinced to go on an outing with him, I’d missed the memo, insisting we go to a junk food place to indulge in burgers, not clueing in he’d wanted to go on a proper date. It had taken him four more attempts before he’d accepted if he wanted to do anything romantic, he would need to fully plan the date without letting me be involved with any of it.

Otherwise, I would go for greasy junk food, as I only got it when out with someone.

I hadn’t indulged in any form of junk food since moving to Dragon Heights. I’d gone for cheap staple foods I could stretch in a pinch.

“That would have stood a good chance of working. I’m ready to be yelled at.”

“How long were you skulking outside the kitchen waiting for me?” To make it clear he’d been working out, he rolled and dumped me onto the floor. I landed with a grunt, and Tourmaline left my shoulder to scold Erik in a series of chirps, whistles, and clicks.

“It’s okay, Tourmaline. Why don’t you go make sure Garnet is eating her potatoes rather than wearing them?”

The bird zipped off into the kitchen.

The handcuffs made me easy prey for Erik, and he pinned me to the floor, using his weight to keep me from wiggling away. He pressed his nose to mine. “Well? How long were you skulking outside the kitchen?”

“I was hiding around the corner long enough for it to be embarrassing. I have learned you have your mother’s eyes.” Our position forced me to stare into his or close mine to avoid him. I mustered my courage and met his gaze. “I also learned your father is the commissioner.”

“We yellows can’t help ourselves. Law enforcement calls, and we answer. It’s not a good deal being the commissioner’s son. Our father is a tyrant, and we’re expected to be the best of the best. Half of my siblings fled Dragon Heights to have a fair chance at working in the force. Otherwise, we’re long in the tooth before we escape the academy.”

“I heard that, punk,” Erik’s father said from the nearby living room. “Get off her, and if you feel a need to cuddle, you can do so on the couch until dinner is ready. Chester, go help your mother in the kitchen, and make sure your brother stops doing whatever it is he’s doing. I’m sure he’s doing something inappropriate. He’s still breathing, after all.”

“He’s pinning her to the floor so she doesn’t escape, Dad.” Chester made an appearance, gave Erik a soft kick to the ribs, and stepped around us. “Shouldn’t you call in the others?”

“They’re doing their best to be good brothers and sisters for a change. While I don’t care if Erik is embarrassed, I do care if Kinsley is, and extra witnesses amplify general embarrassment. She got the hard part done, though. She showed up.”

In some ways, I found the absurdity of the situation to be comforting.

Erik had a crazy family, too—one who loved him as much as mine loved me.

Erik chuckled, dropped a kiss on the tip of my nose, and got off me, hopping to his feet before offering his hands. As getting up with handcuffs would be a challenge and result in more embarrassment, I allowed him to help me upright. “Are you embarrassed?” he asked.

“A little,” I admitted. “I mean, I’m meeting your family while dressed like a brothel worker.”

He took his time looking me over. “Well, you definitely have my attention.”

If he was anything like me, and I had every reason to believe he was, we both had a great deal of frustration to work out. “It took longer than I appreciate to squeeze into these pants. They barely fit.”

Erik heaved a sigh. “I could help you out of them.”

“Are we going to posture, debate the situation, and otherwise discuss the circumstances before I’m helped out of these?”

“That seems mandatory.”

I could work with a conversation and a resolution of everything that had torn us apart. “All right. We can do that sometime after dinner. Also, we’re going to have a conversation about that beautiful car that’s sitting outside!”

Erik laughed. “I rescued her out of a junkyard.”

I gasped, lifting my hands and pressing them to my chest. That beautiful car had been condemned to be reduced to scrap metal and a memory? “No!”

“I did. I was checking to see if they had any parts for another project and spotted her in the lineup to be crushed. I bought her for three hundred dollars.”

I went to the front door, pressed my nose to the glass, and stared at the beauty of a car. “She was in a junkyard?” With a despondent wail, I threw myself onto the entry bench and allowed myself to have a tantrum over the abuse of such a beautiful, old car.

“What on Earth is going on in there?” Erik’s father asked.

“Kinsley is expressing herself regarding the blatant abuses my car suffered through before being welcomed home and adopted into the family. Give her a few minutes, and she’ll be fine. It’s a safe outlet. And really, Dad? I did the same damned thing the instant I got home from buying her. I even used the bench to express my opinions.”

“I am aware, as you begged your mother and me to transform and haul your mechanical child home so you could begin repairing her. Then you did pitch a fit in the entry, as your mother barred crying over the car in the house proper. The only reason she let you into the entry while you were doing that was because it was raining. You coerced me into being a flying pack mule.” Erik’s father came in and laughed. “You two are birds of a feather. And yes, Erik did the same thing, Kinsley. When we hauled it over, she was not in nearly as good of a condition as she is now. In fact, we called her Rusty for the first six months of her life with us. He had to recruit three iron dragons to restore her body and parts. The iron dragons also pitched a fit, but they did so outside.”

I allowed myself one more wail over the situation before getting to work restoring my composure. “You’ve treated her well, Erik, if she started her life with you as a rusty wreck.”

“She was in dire shape. Had I known how much gas costs for her, I might have restored her body and never gotten her back in running condition. But the first time I drove her, I understood my fate: I would be dishing out to feed her. She only goes on drives on sunny days when the temperature is above sixty but under eighty. Otherwise, the seats may as well be pans in the oven. Let’s not talk about what happens on cold days.”

I snickered, well aware Erik would rather roast than freeze. “Is there something wrong with the air conditioning?”

“One day, I will get the gremlins out of the air conditioning in that car. For now, I drive when the weather is pleasant and I can drive with the windows down. I’ll order the fuel and take you on a spin. I’ll even let you drive.”

If he was trying to keep me around, he was doing an admirable job of it. “How often do you stall her?”

“More often than I care to admit, but I’m getting better at it. She’s far less forgiving than modern manuals.” Erik stared out the door’s window, smiling at his vehicle. “I was thinking about using her to lure you out. I figured if I parked nearby, you’d come out to look at the car, then I could lure you into the vehicle and make off with you.”

The realization his ploy had a high chance of working pained me. “I can guarantee you’d get me out of my apartment to come talk to you if you brought that beauty onto my street. I’m going to insist on staying at my apartment for a while. I am not quite ready for Diamond Ward standards. I currently have Gray Ward standards. But if you were to bring fast food to my home, you’d get an invitation inside. Just be aware that my kitten is a potato thief.”

“Now that I’ve learned my mother is trying to charm your kitten, the whole potato thing going on in the kitchen makes sense, but I was becoming a little concerned. We like potatoes, but we don’t like twenty pounds of potatoes prepared in at least ten different ways.”

While I doubted even Garnet could devour twenty pounds of potatoes in a single sitting, I could see her trying. I suspected Erik’s mother would be sending my kitten home with an obscene amount of leftovers. With luck, the carbunclo wouldn’t tire of potatoes, although my wallet would be all right if she tired of hot sauce.

I needed to get shampoo safe for the kitten as I foresaw numerous baths in the future.

For the moment, I needed to focus on more important matters. “You’re really not angry with me?”

“I’m not angry with you—and I would have been far more angry if you’d stayed and gotten persecuted for being a necromancer. Miami is the kind of place that wouldn’t mind asking questions of your corpse. We can mend fences and rebuild bridges if we’re both alive to do so. Hopefully, they learn from their mistakes. But purple dragons are facing persecution as well. Do I like what happened? No. Your safety is far more important than my general comfort. It didn’t take me long to figure out I have a lot to prove. Challenging for a second carbunclo kitten is a bit ruthless, I do have to admit. But now that I’ve seen her, I can’t blame you in the slightest.” Erik turned to me. “You will let me pet her, right?”

“You’ll have to bribe your way into her good graces, I’m sure, but if you show up with potatoes just for her or hot sauce, you’ll win that war quickly. She likes having under her chin scratched, but she’s really hesitant about strangers picking her up. If you go find her a gemstone, and you tell her a story about how you ventured into the wilds to get it just for her, I’m sure you’ll have her charmed in a hurry.”

“That’s good to know. I won’t pick her up unless she asks.”

“I’ll teach you what her sounds mean,” I promised. “Does it bother you that I’m planning on testing into the city’s system?”

“Not at all. You want to be here based on merit. Of course, I will campaign fiercely to change your last name to Millson, but that can wait for after you’ve earned your position, whatever that position might be.”

I had a rather exhaustive list of positions we could explore, but I couldn’t mention any of them while his father hovered. “I was looking into forensic accounting.”

Erik turned to his father. “How are we doing in terms of forensic accountants?”

“I’m not your ward’s hiring manager,” the commissioner replied. “Wage that war on your own after she’s passed her test. The only bit of help I’ll offer is an allowance to use her Miami record, names and general identity removed. I would also permit you to pair up, using Miami as evidence of general compatibility in the field. Testing in will allow for that. You’re going to have to be patient. She is testing in at her pace, and you won’t hurry her along. Kinsley, I’ve found that ‘no’ is a very useful word. Use it on him often. Frankly, I’m of a mind that he needs to do more demonstrations. Remember, Erik. She is anonymous. That means you can’t dote yet. You have to wait for her to go through her testing.”

Well, I had an idea that would allow us to do our own thing for a while until I tested and do a great deal of good. “Is issuing a challenge permissible?”

That caught the commissioner’s attention. “Finding your carbunclo a companion that likes Erik is already a challenge. What do you have in mind?”

I entered the living room, which they’d decorated in a cozy and modern style, waiting in the entry until the two men joined me. “Your family of cops versus me. The team to identify the bastard attacking brothel workers is the victor. If Erik wins, I’ll either promise to be the one to propose to him or tolerate that fancy proposal?—”

“It’s a wager,” Erik announced. “I will be accepting your tolerance of my fancy proposal as my prize for identifying the attacker and making sure he, she, or they are brought to justice. What do you want if you win?”

While Erik had his moments and could be impulsive when he wanted to be, his lack of hesitation indicated he’d likely already wanted to get to the bottom of the attacks on the workers. While I’d still work both of my cases, if I could get Erik and his family also working on the case, it might get closed faster. And if the police did close the case, I’d be honest with Cecilia and indicate I’d corrupted an officer of the law to do my bidding. I’d even confess to the women I planned on keeping the officer I’d corrupted. “I want vouching for a better place until I test in. I can’t wager for your family sponsoring me; already have one.”

The commissioner narrowed his eyes. “Who sponsored you?”

“Mr. Enzo Acri. I met him while at Shrine Hill. He feels I haven’t been compensated properly for my bounty work. I’m honestly glad I could spend the money on Garnet; the amount I keep getting paid is over my current comfort level,” I confessed. “And since he proposed it as compensation for my bounty work, I don’t have a problem with accepting his clan’s help.”

“Enzo is a good sponsor. Nobody will believe he at all aided you through the testing process. If anything, the results will be considered more valid as he’ll monitor your honesty himself. He hates cheating on things like tests—and he’ll be keeping an eye on you for suitable behavior. I’ll allow it, and I’ll make sure your parents know to leave it be,” Erik’s father stated. “And while he’s cordial enough with us yellows, we don’t have a close relationship. And if he has noticed your lineage, he will keep that a secret and allow you to fly or fall based entirely on your merit. But yes, we’ll vouch for you so you can qualify for a better apartment. I make no promises that Erik won’t attempt to relocate you to his home, but you two can wage war over that as you see fit.”

“Where I’m at now is fine, especially as it puts me close to Cecilia’s brothel. I won’t consider moving until the brothel worker attacks are solved and they’re safe. And if I do move, it’ll only be after I help do renovations on her apartment units so others can have a chance at a good place to live. She’s short-handed, and she charges low. She still has problems with the tenants, though.”

The commissioner sighed, turned in the direction of the kitchen, and hollered, “Chester!”

Erik’s brother came into the sitting room, and he’d charmed Garnet into riding on his shoulder. The kitten had mashed potatoes on her face, which she worked at grooming off. “What is it?”

“Your brother needs to work with you on the brothel attacks. If you find the attacker first, Kinsley has agreed to endure the fancy proposal he wants to do. She’s gunning for vouching for a better apartment. We’ll do that anyway, but she’s stubborn.”

Chester considered me with interest. “There’s no requirement for a PI license here for basics, although you’ll need to acquire one if you want any of the legal exemptions for investigators. The license process does not require testing in, and it’s issued based on merit. Dad, if you verify her qualifications while maintaining her anonymity, we could process the license tomorrow. It requires a judge’s signature.”

I wondered how Chester knew about the details of acquiring the license. Curiosity nibbled away at me until I was forced to ask, “How do you even know all that?”

“A police officer has to serve as a guarantor for the private investigator in Dragon Heights. The guarantor is only on the hook at the time of approving the application, but there are penalties in place if it is discovered that the officer approved someone with a record. Your record probably squeaks when you rub it.” Chester shrugged. “I’ve done a few PI licenses since I joined the force. Apparently, I’m approachable. I’ve also refused to sign on a few of them. While I’m approachable, I’m thorough about character checks. Some people mistake approachable for easily manipulated.”

Garnet mewed, transformed to her wisp shape, and returned to my shoulder. Once back in her kitten form and balanced, I petted her. “Did you have a good snack of potatoes?”

The kitten squeaked and resumed attempting to clean her face, and she took her time licking the potatoes off her front paws. Tourmaline came over and landed on my other shoulder, and he settled his feathers.

I foresaw arranging every element of my life to accommodate the carbunclo and the hummingbird.

After giving Tourmaline his fair share of attention, I said, “But aren’t you biased?”

“Bias doesn’t matter for the license. I just have to verify you’re an upstanding individual, which is easy to do if Dad does his share of the work.”

“Tomorrow,” the commissioner stated. “I’ll fetch everyone else before helping your mom finish up dinner. Erik, you can take her home in my car tonight. You will not run your Bentley out of gas crossing the city, and I know your regular vehicle is in the Diamond Ward.”

“Well, that’s your fault for grabbing me when I got off shift today.”

“You can’t say I’m not a caring father, but you can say I’m manipulative and overbearing. Go make certain the table is set, boys.”

With amusing haste, Chester and Erik headed in the direction of the kitchen, leaving me to follow.

* * *

Sunday, April 26, 2167

The Sapphire Ward

Dragon Heights, Wyoming

The dining roomhad chairs for twenty-five, and twenty of the seats were filled, revealing a rather startling truth about Erik.

He’d come from a huge family.

To complicate things, he was the youngest, and he was the only boy in the clutch of twelve. That only two of Erik’s sisters sat at the table, sitting near me in a show of solidarity, warned me what my future held. It would take me months to learn everyone’s name.

The room couldn’t hold everybody, although I learned a lot of the absent members of Erik’s family worked the evening shift.

“You’re the baby of the family?” I blurted yet again.

Erik’s family got a good laugh out of my question, and he grinned at me. “I was the last of my clutch to make it into the world, too. With twelve of us, Mom was really happy she went the dragon route for our conception. She wasn’t a fan of having to break us out of our shells, but that’s a small price to pay.”

“Our first clutch had a dragon hatchling,” Erik’s father explained, and he pointed at one of Erik’s brothers. “Baby dragons have sharp claws and an egg horn for escaping from the shell. Upon seeing those sharp, tiny claws and that egg horn, the wife has gone the egg and clutch route ever since.”

I hadn’t known dragons could produce anything other than dragon-kin, and I stared at Erik’s older brother with wide eyes. “You’re Marshall, right?”

“I am. Good memory, especially since we threw twenty names at you all at once. Don’t look so alarmed. Most dragons produce dragon-kin, but every rare now and again, a dragon shows up out of the gate. Live-birthed dragons have dulled claws and no egg horn. Mom just likes to be dramatic. There are six of us in my clutch, and she realized she’s one of those dragons who produces entire flocks of babies at one time. You’re a singlet, right?”

“I am.”

“You’ll be grateful for that one day should you decide to have kids. Six to twelve children at a time is enough to murder the sanity of any pair of parents,” Marshall informed me in a solemn tone. “Are you aware that your kitten has fallen asleep in her potatoes?”

I checked on Garnet, who had a plump belly, hot sauce and mashed potatoes clumped in her fur, and used her plate—and some of her potatoes—as a pillow. Tourmaline, who’d gotten a feast of freshly picked flowers, slept in the tiny nest Erik’s mother had made for him of cloth and jewelry wire. “I’ll work on her table manners another day. She’s still settling, and she wasn’t eating well with her previous caretakers. I’ll have to monitor how much she eats soon, but I’d rather she be a little glutton. I’ll give her kitten milk when we get home, and with luck, she’ll go back to sleep for the rest of the night rather than run around the apartment like some speed demon.”

“Kittens are amazing.” Erik smiled at the sleeping beast. “I’m astonished she ate that much.”

“I’ll have to buy her new hot sauce.” Chester had grabbed all four bottles, and the little glutton had devoured every last drop. Fortunately, she’d passed out before realizing she’d run out. “I’ll work on her pacing a little better after she finishes adapting. I think she wasn’t willing to eat previously, and now she’s making up for lost meals.”

I would have to make a point of adding other things to her diet, possibly holding the potatoes hostage behind the meats and milks carbunclo kittens needed to thrive.

“I’ll make sure to keep a good stock of hot sauce here for when you visit,” Erik’s mother promised. “Erik, if you aren’t bringing her at least once a week, I will have your brothers and sisters apprehend you. Do not make me make your father bring her into appropriate custody.”

I grinned at Erik, who scowled at his mother. Rather than come between the two, who loved to squabble with each other, I decided I’d see how far I could push my luck with Marshall. “Chester mentioned a PI license for Dragon Heights. What are your thoughts?”

“The licensing fee is a hundred a year, and you can submit evidence to the police for verification, accompany law enforcement if you have a registered case that crosses over, and generally bypass most exterior trespassing laws within city limits. If you qualify for a firearm, it includes your conceal carry permit, once again only valid within city limits. The downside to the license is that the police can call in private investigators to assist with investigations. The ward you register your license for matters.”

“I’d be registering her in the Diamond Ward, that way Erik can lay claim on her whenever he wants,” Chester confessed. “Erik qualifies; he can have a PI on call, and it would help with the investigation into the brothel attacks. If Erik calls her, he can give her our records on the case.”

That would help, and I turned my attention to Erik. “Well?”

“It’s a fairer competition if we’re both working with the same deck. And if we solve the case through joint efforts, we can both win.”

A joint win wouldn’t bother me, so I nodded my agreement. “All right. What sort of forms do I need to fill out for this license?”

“I’ll take care of it,” Erik’s father said. “I’ll send a cop over for you to sign the paperwork tomorrow afternoon. And no, you will not be the one I send over, Erik. You can start putting together an information packet for her, and once her license is confirmed, you can call her into your turf to give her a taste of law enforcement in the Diamond Ward. When you want to lure a woman into your domain, the wise use honey.”

“I have several cases that could use someone who actually likes numbers going over it,” Erik said, and he engaged me in a staring contest. “I could win our bet while you make my life a great deal less frustrating.”

“How about I give you an hour a night on your math work while we investigate the brothel situation?”

“It’s a good deal,” Chester stated.

It really was—and it would do a good job of motivating me to test into the system. “Law enforcement here really hires accountants?”

“We do. We’ve found it’s a great deal more efficient than expecting a bunch of cops to understand how fiscal crimes work,” the commissioner confirmed. “And when we do find fiscal crimes in our records, we can hand them over to the federal government for evaluation. That frees up our staff. Each ward has at least one, and I think the Diamond Ward keeps three or four on staff at all times. I would have to check. It’s hard to keep them because corporations pay better—or they use us as a stepping stone to get into federal investigations.”

In Miami, we had inevitably lost a cop or two every year to higher investigations. The FBI preferred getting recruits out of law enforcement; it took a great deal less work to get a cop trained to be an FBI agent than it was to work with someone fresh out of school. I’d been approached several times about moving to the federal level, but I’d refused the offers every time.

I’d wanted to be a cop. When honest with myself, I still wanted to be a cop. “Can the accountants also be cops?” I asked, eyeballing the commissioner.

“You can ride both horses if you want,” Erik’s father confirmed. “You would have to do other work, especially depending on staffing, but you would be able to work on the financials more often than your counterparts. I can also put in a recommendation that your rank be frozen at the top tier detective level, that way you aren’t coerced into working with Erik as a captain.”

“Ew, people,” I replied, wrinkling my nose at the thought of having to help manage cops rather than solve crimes.

Erik snickered. “It took me months of trying to improve my firearm skills enough she’d consider me something other than yet another person trying to bother her because she’s pretty and at a gun range.”

“Had anyone told me being single and pretty at a gun range would result in an endless stream of amorous men, I may have reconsidered my choice to become a cop.” I heaved a patience-worn sigh. “You were pretty bad when you first came calling, though.”

“I qualified!”

“Barely,” I muttered.

He huffed.

“Basic qualifications are never good enough for anyone who might have to actually use their firearm.” I reminded myself of that often, and as I no longer had a gun, I would remind myself of it when I headed to the nearest public range, rented one, and brushed up on my skills. However, as I thought it would be hard to pick up where we left off but it might be easier to start back at square one, I said, “Surely this city has a range with stalls beside each other we might happen to use at the same time.”

“Are you going to make me suffer through four trips to terrible fast food places this go around?”

I took my time thinking about it. “How about upper end fast food places? Garnet might want to try some good junk food potatoes. We can’t exclude Garnet—and you’ll have to bring Tourmaline some flowers.”

“How does Tuesday sound to you? That’ll give Chester some time to wrangle your paperwork, and I’m off work on Tuesday.”

As access to firearms mattered, I said, “I’m going to need whatever paperwork gets me into the range, Chester.”

“No problem. I’ll take care of it,” Erik’s brother replied. “Try not to bankrupt yourself at the range. The gun store is next door, and once you have your PI license in hand, you’ll want to pick your piece and get some practice time in with it.”

Once I bought a gun safe and the accessories I needed, I’d be a few steps closer to back in the poor house but nearer to my goal of being able to make a life for myself in Dragon Heights.

Maybe by Tuesday, I would have time to come to terms with having been my worst enemy all along.