ALL THAT GLITTERS, chapter 1

chapter 39

chapter 39

            One-thirty. Three hours left to the Bear Pond author event. Lucky messaged Roger to check on the twin bullet-proof vests, and while she waited for his response, she zipped through her action list, taking off the items already done. And adding a few more. Someone needed to meet the police officer at the door and make sure he had a good view. They couldn’t exactly say “We think the lieutenant governor is behind all this,” could they? After all, in a sense that was the boss for the police force. Sort of. Well, maybe not so much, for the city police.

            Stop overanalyzing, Lucky told herself. Roger’s “got them” came in and she sent back a smiley face and “thanks.”

            The overhead lights in the store flickered. “Don’t go out again,” Lucky whispered to them. She crossed her fingers just in case. Having the power out from midnight to almost noon had made everyone agitated except of course Michelle, whose inspiration kept Lucky’s mom busy all morning, calling dozens of bookstore clients to remind them to come to the event. “The personal touch.”

            From her post at the top of the bookstore stairs, Lucky nodded to Sandy. She called, “Can you make the aisle between the folding chairs a little wider? In case, you know.”

            Sandy nodded and pushed chairs, with Terry quickly catching on. In case there was action this afternoon. In case the police had to arrest someone. Oh please yes, let the whole thing work. Just no bullets.

            A text from Jon reminded her about her dad, who apparently wanted “in” on the action. “No way, too risky,” she texted back, then added, “tell him he can watch on Michelle’s mom’s computer. Web cam hookup.” She’d have to go get her laptop from the apartment to tie the cameras to a feed to Michelle’s mom. Jon should get the details at Michelle’s house, e-mail and so on, so Lucky could make the link.

            She scooted past her mother, who was now e-mailing her client list, with the computers all back online. A sideways glare from her mom reminded her she needed to change her sweatshirt. The torn neckline and cut-off sleeves bothered her mom, but the bright orange color, that was the real problem for this afternoon. Something in black would make her less of an obvious target.

            Coming out of the passageway, she saw something lying on the floor in front of the apartment door. She approached it cautiously. A book bag from her dad’s shop, Rivendell, with something large in it. Just to be safe, Lucky speed-dialed Roger and told him what was going on. His shout from behind her made her jump – “Wait, Lucky, I’m right here. Don’t get too close. It could be bomb.”

            “No way. Not even Grumpy Voice is going to put bombs inside people’s houses.” But she waited for Roger, and they moved slowly together, toward the bag, which suddenly fell over, with a scraping sound followed by a clawed foot poking out of it.

            “Omigod, it’s Veruca!” Lucky darted forward to pick up the tortoise. “Kidnapped from Dad’s store!” The animal struggled, with a red length of string binding one of her feet to her neck, and a weeping friction line on the tortoise’s neck skin showed she’d been trying to escape for a while. Over Lucky’s shoulder, Roger reached forward with a pocket knife and Lucky moved to help him get a good angle to cut the string. “Poor Veruca!”

            With the tortoise freed, Roger bent to inspect the book bag, and using his sleeve to cover his hand, he pulled out a sheet of paper, with some tortoise pee discoloring it. “‘Cancel the event or else.’ Jeez, talk about nasty. I’m sending a photo of all of this to your lawyer and the cop,” Roger added. “And who’s at your dad’s store? Lucky, you’d better call there right away and make sure everyone’s okay.”