Miss Fortune

Chapter Six

Terri chattered on as she flipped through the racks at Macy's, but Alex didn't hear a word she said. Instead, thoughts of Frerin cluttered her mind. What she'd promised him. Find his killer. Bring them to justice. Cripes. How on earth was she going to find the person (or persons) responsible for the fire, when trained experts couldn't? Just what did he expect her to do? How did he expect her to do it? She'd already screwed it up with Frerin's brother. Now what?

"Hey! Are you still on planet Earth?"

Alex snapped back into the present. "What?" she asked, peering at Terri. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah. I asked you if you dreamed about Mr. Tall-Dark-Dead-and-Handsome?"

She shook her head. "No. Not last night." She shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe since I can see him now, he won't bother my sleep. I'm actually kind of hoping that's how it'll work. I could use a solid night's sleep, you know."

"I don't know. Are you sure that's what you'd want? At least in your dreams you can get a little funky with him."

Alex fought the urge to groan. "Terr, I've already told you—I don't want to get funky with him. He's cute, but he's not my type."

"Damn, I wish I could see this guy. Too bad I can't just develop that Sight thing—poof!— just like you did."

It was a little weird to think that two days ago, she wouldn't have been able to see Frerin, either. But she wasn't so sure the Sight was really a gift for her. Too soon to tell, she thought, mentally shaking her head as Terri held up a gaudy brown-and-orange silk top.

"That is hideous."

"Why?" Terri held it at arm's length and squinted at it. "These colors would look great on Gram."

"She'll kill both of us if you bring her anything she considers old lady-ish, and that definitely looks old lady-ish. It's got old lady written all over it."

"You're crazy. Gram will love it."

"I think that is not how she'll feel about it." Alex frowned at the sheer, oversized top, fighting to keep her nose from wrinkling in distaste. It was the last thing she could ever see Gram wearing—no matter what. A nuclear bomb could go off in the center of town and melt everything else, and still Gram would refuse to wear that monstrosity. In fact, she'd probably forbid Terri from ever setting foot in her house ever again and she considered Terri an honorary Prescott. Or she would until Terri showed up with that top for her.

"Put it back, Terr. Trust me."

Terri sighed a heavy, weary sigh. "Well, I hope you have some ideas, Lex, because I got nothing."

"We'll find something. If nothing else, we'll head over to Spencer's."

Terri giggled. "Remember last year, when Syd got her that windup penis?"

Alex couldn't help her snort. "And she said she wished it'd come with a man attached?"

Both women burst out laughing rather loudly, which earned them a few strange looks from other shoppers. Alex ignored them, though, even as she grasped at a rack of blouses to keep from tipping over, and wiped her streaming eyes with her left hand. She didn't know which Gram thought was funnier—the wind-up penis or that a room full of senior women were horrified by it.

"God, I thought Teddy was going to wet her pants!" Terri blurted, clutching her left side with one hand and reaching to steady herself on a table of folded jeans with the other. "Remember how red she got?"

"Remember? She didn't talk to Syd for almost two weeks," Alex gasped, managing to right herself as she fought to control her giggles. It felt so good to laugh like that, better than she would have imagined. Especially since she'd found yet another threat on the blog that morning. It was tempting to call the police, but she didn't see what they could possibly do, since she didn't even have a name. Most likely, the police would ask her what she expected, given her family's business. Nut jobs came with the territory and this one wasn't the first, although he was the meanest so far.