His eyes brimmed, “I miss her so.”
“I understand. You know what she’s saying to you, don’t you?”
John and Randall looked at each other.
The old man gave Ariel a sad smile, “Enjoy every moment, because it is a gift.” A tear slid down his cheek.
“And?”
“She’ll be waiting, first star on the left.”
“Yes,” she patted his arm.
He wiped his eyes and faced the two detectives, “I’m sorry. You park here any time you want.” He turned and shuffled into the apartment door.
Randall said to Ariel, “You want to explain that?”
She looked at him a long moment, “You know of such things, too.”
Hunter and Andre pulled up and Ariel waved at them.
As they gathered together, Hunter said, “Any problem finding her?”
John said, “Nope.”
Ariel said, “They saved me from the others.”
“What others?”
Ariel didn’t know exactly how to explain who the men were. She said, “Men involved in black magic. I will explain it all to you when we are somewhere else. The men are still near, and I don’t want any more trouble.”
Hunter looked at Randall, “More trouble?”
Randall looked at the sky, avoiding eye contact. Hunter tugged at his sleeve. He said, “Oh, all right. John had to persuade them a little.”
“Uh-huh.” She looked at John.
Randall said, “Okay I’ll tell you.” John frowned at his partner. Randall said, “What it was, the big guy
, who was like two-sixty, slapped John’s arm, so John persuaded him not to do it again.”
Hunter looked at John, but said to Randall, “Like how?”
“He slammed the guy down on the ground like he weighed about as much as Verne Troyer.” That got quizzical looks from the others, so he added, “Mini-Me, in the Austin Powers movies.”
John shrugged, “Randall drew his pistol on the others, but didn’t shoot.” Randall gave him a pained look. John continued, “It was all worked out when we left. Those guys and us, we’re good.”
“I should know better than to ask,” Hunter said. “Thanks for protecting her. I owe you.”
Randall said, “Not that we keep track of that, but yes, you do.”
Andre’s phone rang and he answered, listened for a moment then said, “We need to go, Hunter.”
Ariel hugged John’s and Randall’s necks, lingering a second longer on Randall, then she hopped into the sedan with Hunter and Andre, and waved as they drove off.
John said, “Don’t think I didn’t notice the extra hugging you got.”
Randall said, “I enjoyed the heck out of it, let me tell you. We ready to go?”