Leif looked at his cousins, then shrugged. “We’re more pranksters than anything else,” Leif said. “The, um, streetlamp incident? That was us.”
Uriel groaned.
Joe gasped “And you complained about me waking you up when you were the reason I had to get up? Uriel Lad!” Joe poked him in the chest, then petted his sweater for good measure. “You owe me another sweater.”
“I’ll get you as many sweaters as you want.”
“Smart man. Now, where was I? Oh right. The streetlamps. So, who came up with that one, because Uriel doesn’t watch movies.”
Edgar let out a groan almost equal to Uriel’s.
“I should have known,” Joe said, shaking his head. “Although, it was funny.”
Leif snickered. “Did you see the mayor’s face when he saw the garters?”
Joe turned to Leif and glared. “I didn’t. And I also didn’t see you out there helping take everything down.”
“Uh….”
“Naughty, got it. Which reminds me, there were some super weird guys at the tree farm the other day. I didn’t like the looks of them. They looked…well, worse than naughty.”
“Guys?” Leif asked.
“Business suits,” Uriel added. “It looked serious. I meant to tell you, but things have been a little intense here.”
“Iknewsomething was going on,” Leif said.
For the first time, Leif didn’t look like the sweet, innocent cousin.
“Ohhhhh,” Joe said. “West is your mate. I didn’t know.”
Leif sucked in a breath so loud it made Joe worry.
“Leif? Buddy? You okay?”
“We don’t throw the word mate around lightly,” Uriel muttered. “Probably best not to use it unless you’re talking about me.”
“That makes no sense.”
“West isn’t my mate,” Leif said, his face bright red.
“Not your mate. Got it. Where were we? I swear, I can’t keep up with you three.”
“Four,” Uriel grunted.
“I can keep up with you just fine. It’s these guys who are throwing me off. So, we have to figure out who the guys were. Edgar, get on it. You have resources.”
“I…what? Why me?”
“Re-source-s.” Joe enunciated the word more clearly so maybe Edgar would understand the second time.
“We need to focus on tomorrow night,” Edgar said.
“I’m with Joe,” Leif said. “We need to find out who those guys were. I’ve been saying something’s wrong with West. We need to help him.”
“Agreed,” Uriel said.
Joe leaned back and kissed Uriel on the cheek. “So we’re pranking the town on the first night of the street parade? Is that nice?”
