“Two days, tops, Harry. Maybe three. I’ll cover the cost.”
The mayor sighed. “Two days, then the Starlight is coming down. End of story.”
HARLOW
When Tuesday closed up the rink for the last time in her life, it was all Harlow could do not to break down. She waited with Matt and Dupree outside, under the glow of the neon sign, letting Tuesday have her final moments alone.
Then with a loud ca-chunk, the Starlight went dark. In fact, the whole world went dark. No Beachwalk lights. No downtown glimmer. No moon. No stars. Just darkness.
To think, when she first came here, she wanted to block the neon sign from glowing into her living room.
Harlow fell against Matt, her ear listening to his thudding heart.
While he had extracted a stay of execution from Harry, Harlow didn’t hold out much hope.
Xander laughed when she called in her favor. A detail she didn’t pass on to the others.
“Could you ask KingRein’s equerry about the Starlight?”
“You can’t beserious? Call the royal family of Blue about a skating rink?”
Fine. She played her final trump card. “Xander, whenyou were on the cover of People with Davina, did my eyes deceive me or was she wearing the VanCleef and Arpels Pont des Amoureux diamond watch you gave me on our first anniversary? You told me it waslost.”
“I’ll give him a call.”
Dupree offered to drive Tuesday down to see Harriet Nickle in the morning, before the cranes and bulldozers fired up, but she refused.
“I can’t leave the Starlight in its darkest hour.”
There was a minuscule possibility of a Xander call. Even less for Rachel Kirby and her connections. Unless Matt discovered something unbelievable in the safe-deposit box, Harry would execute his plan. Tuesday reassured them Leroy never had the deed.“I don’t know what you’ll find inthe safe-deposit box, Matt, but it won’t bethe deed.”
Matt walked her home and kissed her good night on the porch. “Are you as sad as I am?”
“I’m sad, but you grew up here. I can’t image how I’d feel if I were you.”
“Do you want to join me and Booker at the diner?”
“No, you two have some catching up to do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll stop by on our way to New Orleans.” Matt held her close for a final kiss. “I love you.”
She watched him go, then sat in her window seat that faced the rink. “Immanuel, can’t you help?”
She showered and slipped into her nightshirt, the one that was too big, and her sweatpants, and just before she shut off the closet light, she glanced toward the corner.
Wasn’t there a loose floorboard in here? Wasn’t this once the home of Morris and Harriet Nickle? Wasn’t their son Abel Uncle LJ’s best friend?
Harlow dropped to her knees and crawled across the floor, tapping every board until one gave way.Eureka!
Plunging her arm below the deck, she felt around until her fingers grazed something hard and cold. It wasn’t a floor joist. It was a box. A metal box.
She ran to the kitchen for her newly purchased hammer and tore up floorboards until the box was free. Setting it under the light, she popped the latch and peered inside to find a rolled-up parchment-like paper.
Prince Rein Titus Alexander Blue, of the House of Blue, to Miss Tuesday Morrow, on this day, theTwelfth of June, 1916 AD.
The prince’s titled signature along with a royal seal anchored the bottom right corner.
This was no ordinary county deed. This was a deed from the House of Blue and nation of Lauchtenland. “Oh my gosh. I found it. It was here all along.”
