“Does Headwaters know where the book is?”
“Are you accepting the contract?”
I squeezed her hand. She could accept it, get the information Headwaters might have, and simply not hand over the book. Because if we found it, as soon as we found it, we were delivering it to Cupid.
“If I can procure the book you’re looking for, I will contact Headwaters.”
That wasn’t exactly what the woman wanted to hear. I could tell by the intake of breath on the other end of the phone. “Perhaps we will find another picker.”
“Are you ending the contract, then? Releasing my first-find services to other buyers?”
The silence on the line dragged for several beats, the sounds of the shop filling the time. Laughter, chatter, and Neil Diamond telling us about Cherry and the ways she can move him.
“Bristow,” the woman said. “We have a lead that it may be in Bristow.”
Lu squeezed my fingers back. We had a lead. Bristow. The same town Cupid had wanted us to go to. The town with the Junk Hunt.
All signs were pointing at Bristow, and every one of those signs flashed red.
CHAPTERNINE
Bristow wasn’t far, but it was late and the Junk Hunt didn’t start until tomorrow. We cruised the town in our borrowed SUV hoping Abbi would hear the book, but she kept shaking her head, until frustrated, she pulled the healing blanket over her head and burrowed next to Hado, unwilling to say anything more.
She was tired. We were all tired. We hadn’t had time to recover from the accident, from the fire, or from the healing.
Add to that, a seer, a god, and whatever kind of power play Headwaters was trying to pull, and the overall feeling that something was wrong, that we were either falling into line with a fate out of our control or just plain falling into a trap, put us all on edge.
“Motel,” Lu said. “Soft beds, good sheets.”
“Field not too far out of town,” I countered. “Trees. Looks like a clear night.”
“Trying to stay off grid at this point won’t matter,” Lu said. “And I’d like a shower.”
“You just had a shower, what? Yesterday?”
She frowned, but when she threw me a look and saw my smile, her eyebrows rose. “Daily, Brogan. If circumstances allow, I like a shower daily.”
“Near the Junk Hunt?” I asked, stretching my leg and wincing. The earring was doing a hell of a job keeping the pain in my head from being unbearable, but my swollen ankle was pounding, the brace too tight hours ago.
“Not too close,” she said.
It didn’t take long for her to find a Best Western that had two adjoining rooms available.
The rooms were clean, colored a generic beige and maroon, and offered a continental breakfast that included make-your-own waffles.
Abbi leaned hard on Hado as he gathered her up from the SUV and led her into one of the rooms. She crawled up on the bed, and if Hado hadn’t pulled away the coverlet, she would have been sleeping with no blankets.
She curled up into a ball, head tipped down, and was asleep before Hado had finished tucking her in.
He sat beside her. Then, with a full body shudder, shifted into the big black panther form he preferred. He stretched, extending long claws, and yawned, revealing sharp teeth and a pink tongue. Then he curled around Abbi, eyes half open, watching the locked door.
I eased down onto the foot of the bed in the adjoining room and grunted. “No wonder Abbi fell asleep. Bed’s nice. Better than I expected.” I stared at my foot, trying to decide if it was worth taking off the brace to shower, or if sleeping with the brace and my pants on was the better idea.
“You can shower first.” Lu leaned against the dresser, unbraiding her hair. She had already made sure the locks were set on both doors, and had made it so the door between our rooms stayed open. The blood had gone a long way to heal her, but she was still moving a little more carefully than usual.
“No, you go ahead. It’s going to take me a minute to get out of this brace.”
She combed her fingers through her hair and scratched at her scalp, the fluid lines of her body arching, as if the braid had been bothering her all day. “I want to linger.”
