Page 350 of Devil’s Disciples

I peered over his shoulder. A two-foot by three-foot dry erase board was hanging on the wall beside the pass-thru window.

I leaped from my seat. “Can I write on it?”

“That’s what it’s for.” His brows knitted together. “No curse words or dirty pictures.”

It was like Christmas in January. I rushed to the board, picked up the pen, and scribbled my message on the board. After admiring my work, I turned around.

George was standing right behind me. “Looks like gibberish.”

“It’ll make sense to him. It better, anyway.”

“I sure hope so.” He chuckled. “Because it makes none to me.”

I glanced at the message. If it didn’t get results, maybe things just weren’t meant to be.

126

Goose

I sat down at the same booth Ally and I were seated in the day we officially met. As I studied the menu, the waiter approached.

“Did you see the board?” he asked.

I looked up. “Specials?”

“No.” He gestured behind me, toward the back of the restaurant. “There’s a note for you.”

I glanced over my shoulder.

A white board with elegant blue handwriting on it was mounted on the wall.

We’re done with our fish %^$#!&$ tacos…

It’s time to reevaluate the situation.

Scared?

I’m not.

Meet me at 6:00 pm

Reading it brought a smile to my face. “When did she write that?”

“This morning. Well, around noon, actually.”

It was just past five thirty. “Could you bring me one of those burgers she eats all the time? The one with the jalapenos and bacon? That’ll hold me over until she gets here.”

“Sure? Anything to drink?”

“Coffee, please. A pot of it if you’ve got it.”

“I’ll bring a carafe.”

Twenty minutes later I was done with the burger and had consumed half the carafe of coffee. I gazed out the window, trying to decide what I was going to do about the nosy detective. Ally’s ratty rust-colored Volkswagen came to a stop across the street.

She slung a backpack over her shoulder and sprinted across the street. Wearing a sleeveless button-up dress and weathered white Converse, I saw her resemblance to Ghost’s fiancé, Abby, for the first time. An odd warmth filled me upon making the connection.

She pushed the door open and made a beeline for where I was seated. She tossed her backpack into the booth and sat down. “I’m famished.”