“Yes, yes,” Rutherford said. “It would be excellent. The Prince of Avarice is very big on treasure.”
I gave Rutherford a chocolate cupcake and ushered him out the door. “Let me know when you find the stone, and I’ll get in touch with Hatchet.”
“Thank you so much,” Rutherford said. “Thank you. Thank you.”
“Pretty slick,” Clara said when I closed the door on Rutherford.
“It’s not a given that he can find the stone,” I said.
Clara went back to bagging the fresh bread. “He’ll have every member of Ammon’s household staff out there digging up the garden.”
—
Diesel strolled in at noon.
“I got word on Ammon,” he said. “He’s still in the hospital. They were going to release him, but they found him drinking out of the toilet bowl and decided the concussion was more serious than they’d originally thought. So he’s there for another day.”
I told him about Rutherford, and Diesel grinned.
“Good work,” Diesel said.
“We’ll see,” I told him. “There’s no guarantee that Ammon buried the stone.”
“True, but it’ll give Rutherford something to do.” Diesel helped himself to a cookie. “I have a small job to do for the Exalted One, but I’ll be back for dinner.”
“Who’s the Exalted One?”
“My boss.”
“Does he have a name?”
“Sidney.”
“Last name?”
“I don’t know his last name.”
He gave me a kiss on the top of my head and walked out of the shop.
“I see what you mean about this being a good day,” Clara said when Diesel left. “If he kissed me I’d think it was a good day, too.”
I finished up a batch of cookies, cleaned my workstation, and headed for home. I stopped at the store and got steak and baking potatoes for dinner. I rolled into my house a little after three.
Rutherford knocked on my back door ten minutes later. “So sorry to bother you,” he said. “I thought you would want to know that we’re planning to bring Mr. Ammon home late tomorrow morning. He seems much improved.”
“Not drinking out of the toilet bowl anymore?”
“Ha-ha. No, no. None of that, I’m happy to report.” He looked over my shoulder at the food on the counter. “Steak and baked potatoes. Excellent choice for a meal. I see you’re expecting a guest.”
“Diesel.”
“Of course. I imagine he more or less lives here.”
“More or less.”
Rutherford clasped his hands together and went serious. “About the treasure. Have you located it? Is a trade actually possible?”
“Yes and yes.”