“No word, I have to get back to the hospital. I see you confiscated the Crossfire.”

“Do you mind?”

“Nope.”

I turned into him and put my hand on his stomach.

“Your man, he wasn’t doing… something… for me?”

Lee’s hand around my neck twisted and he tugged softly at my hair.

“A different assignment, nothin’ to do with you or the diamonds.”

I felt a tremendous relief. I already had Tex’s injury, Ally’s totaled car and everyone else’s worry resting on my shoulders, I didn’t need something else. Then I looked at Lee and realized all that, plus whatever this new thing was, still rested firmly on his.

“You need to go,” I said.

“Yeah.”

I started to pull away but his hand dropped, his arm curled around my shoulders and turned me into him, full-frontal.

“With Rick out of the way, you should be safe but you need to be careful. Coxy isn’t a threat but he’s a wildcard.”

I nodded.

“I want to come home to you,” he said.

My breath disappeared. I didn’t suck it in and I didn’t let it out, it just vanished.

I did a mental shake and got myself together.

“Sorry?”

“Tonight. I’ll phone you when I’m on my way. All you need to get you into the parking garage and condo is on the Crossfire’s key ring. Even after Luke gets out of surgery, I’ve got things to do but when I come home tonight, I want you to be there.”

I only hesitated a second. “Okay.”

He looked at me for awhile, his eyes got soft and he said, “I’m sorry about this morning.”

“It couldn’t be helped.”

“We’ll finish tonight.”

Finally, something to look forward to.

* * * * *

Duke made six big posters, taping them in all the big windows, announcing Fortnum’s was closed. Hard to open with police tape stretched across your front door.

Thank God I didn’t have a mortgage.

I had the day yawning ahead of me and no bodyguard following my every step.

It felt weird.

I went to Tex’s to give him an update and help him with the cats. He’d been re-stitched and let go last night. I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be Pepper Rick’s demise, I guessed jubilation, but was wrong.

“We live, we die,” he said.

Philosophical.

Cats fed, litter boxes cleaned, laser lights jiggled on the walls, I headed to Kumar’s to stock up on stuff for the condo and have a gossip. He wasn’t there but I had a chat with Mrs. Kumar who was behind the counter with Mrs. Salim motionless on a stool behind her. I thought, but did not say, that they might do better business if it didn’t look like a mummy was propped up behind the cash register. Then I worried if God would strike me with lightening for such a thought.

I got my bits and pieces from Mrs. Kumar and headed to Ally’s.

She made me coffee and gave me more ibuprofen.

“I know about the dead guy. Dad called Mom, Mom called me. You okay?” she asked.

“I’m getting tired of this.”

“I bet.”

“What are you doing today?” I asked.

“Laying low, I got a shift tonight.”

Ally now worked at My Brother’s Bar down by Platte River. They’d been around long enough for the wooden tables and walls to look weathered and worn, they had the best bar food in Denver, members of the symphony hung out there after performances and they pulled an excellent pint of Guinness.

“I was beginning to think you’d quit,” I told her.

“No, had a shift the night you got kidnapped but apparently it’s cool to call off when your best friend is being held hostage.”

“Good to know.”

She offered a manicure and pedicure and I took her up on it. I returned the favor by washing and styling her hair. I would have gone to beauty school if I hadn’t inherited Fortnum’s. Since I’d hit teenage status, I always gave good hair. With Ally, it wasn’t hard to give good hair, her hair was soft and thick with just enough wave, it never looked bad.

“How’re things with Lee?” she shouted over the hairdryer as I was roller brushing her hair.

“I’m totally freaking out,” I shouted back.

“I sensed that.” She was still shouting.

I turned off the hairdryer and looked at her. “He’s good at this stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Relationship stuff. He’s a natural. It’s weird, we’re new and we’re old. I can’t get my head around it.”

“He’s shit at relationship stuff. He’s only good at it because it’s you.”

“Sorry?”

“You’re shit at it too, but only because it was never him.”

Uh-oh, Ally was on her you-two-were-meant-for-each-other kick.

I turned the hairdryer back on, subject closed.

After visiting Ally, I went home, cleaned my house, went through my mail and watered my yard and flowers. Then I watered Tod and Stevie’s. Then I went to their front door and knocked.

Stevie answered then looked beyond me in case he could see a sniper.

“I watered your flowers,” I told him.

“That’s nice.”

“I’m sorry about last night.”

“I’m not sure I forgive you, though Tod says you threw yourself on top of him to protect him from bullets so I guess I’m not so mad. Tod thought it was a blast. Says it reminded him of home.”

“The way Tod tells it, I don’t think I want to go to Texas.”

Stevie didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, it’s easy for Tod to say it was a blast, he was protected a foot deep by foam rubber.”

We both knew bullets would tear through Tod’s rubber.

I kept talking, I knew Stevie was mad and somehow couldn’t help myself.

“The dead body of the guy who started it was set in the front door of Fortnum’s this morning.”

Stevie’s eyes widened.

Okay, so now I was beginning to let the shock of it all wear through me. Not to mention, Stevie was mad at me and I didn’t like people I cared about being mad at me. It wasn’t my fault even though it felt like it was. Tears sprang into my eyes.

“Talk to you later,” I said.

“Girlie, you’re a mess, get in here.”

He yanked me inside, gave me a drink and sat me on the sofa. I let it all hang out, including the fact that even though we’d get closer each time, Lee and I hadn’t done it yet.