Wicked Charms (Lizzy and Diesel 3)

Diesel slouched onto the couch next to me, so that I was bookended between Cat and Diesel.

> “I checked out the cage, and I went over the entire floor of the exhibit room,” Diesel said. “The coin wasn’t there.”

“And the dead guy?”

“I took a look at him, too. He was taken to the morgue and stored for an autopsy. No coin on the dead guy.”

“What about Wulf?”

“I talked to Wulf. He hasn’t got it.”

“There were two EMTs who handled the corpse. And probably someone checked him into the morgue.”

“And there was Dr. Death,” Diesel said.

“Nergal?”

“Yeah, my money’s on Nergal.”

“I thought you liked him. You told me I should date him.”

“He would have gone over the body and collected evidence before they closed the bag. He’s the logical person to have found the coin.”

“Did you go through his office?”

“Yeah, and the coin wasn’t there,” Diesel said. “It also wasn’t listed in the evidence log.”

The Property Brothers signed off, and I stood and stretched. “Bedtime,” I said. “I need to be at the bakery early tomorrow.”

“No problem,” Diesel said, taking charge of the remote. “I’ll be up later.”

“?‘Up’? No. There’s no ‘up.’ You need to go home.”

“I was thinking this was home.”

“This is my home. Don’t you have a home?”

“I have a beach house in the South Pacific, but it’s kind of a far commute.”

“Where did you live in Sri Lanka?”

“Monastery. Longest three weeks of my life.”

“You used to have your own apartment here. What happened to it?”

“The guy who owned it came back to town.”

CHAPTER THREE

I shut the alarm off at four-fifteen. There was no big guy next to me. The sheets were cool. Nothing smelled like gingerbread. Hard to tell if I was happy or disappointed.

I showered, dressed for work, and trucked down to the kitchen. No big guy there, either. I gave Cat a fresh bowl of water and some kitty crunchies. I got coffee brewing, popped a frozen waffle into the toaster, and shrieked when Wulf appeared without warning.

“Jeez Louise,” I said. “I hate when people just materialize. How did you get in here?”

“I have ways.” He glanced at the waffle in the toaster. “Not a healthy breakfast, but then maybe you’re not expecting to live that long.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”