What will the inspector find amongst the ruins? Will he find evidence that he can’t explain as normal arson patterns? Will he find whiplash marks on the burnt and twisted metal? What will he say about that? What will he think about it? Will I have to tell him about our XQs?
A car door opened and closed quietly. But it wasn’t quiet enough.
Carthage shot a sharp look back at his car.
There was no one inside of it, much less anywhere near it.
He glanced at the inspector’s car, just in case.
But he didn’t see anything amiss there either.
Carthage shrugged and resumed watching Inspector Jerunge at work.
****
The fairy cat reclined the back of the driver’s seat as low as it could go. She lay there, still and silent. Waiting and listening. Counting the minutes to thirty, because thirty was the safest number she knew.
Twenty-eight.
Twenty-nine.
Thirty.
She leaned forward and peeked over the edge of the steering wheel. Hm. I don’t see the driver of this car anywhere. And that stingy human over there isn’t paying any attention.
I could go over there and drain his car, but I’m already here and the driver isn’t. Why pass up an unsupervised meal like this for one that will undoubtedly be supervised AND interrupted?
She lowered her goggles and double checked the power levels. “Anyway, this one more than adequately meets my needs.”
The fairy cat pressed three different buttons on her goggles. A delightful electric pulse traveled through the goggles’ frame, down the sides of her face and neck, down her arms and wrists, all the way down to her fingertips.
She touched the ignition with her index finger, while keeping an eye on that stingy human.
The car started and she could feel the raw power at her fingertip. It was waiting for her, waiting to be taken and used.
So, she took it.
The power raced in sharp heat throughout her nervous system, filling her bone marrow, flooding her throat. She swallowed hard. It sparked and sparkled down her esophagus all the way to her stomach.
But that was only one mouthful.
She wanted more.
So, she took more.
She kept taking more.
And the stingy human remained blissfully unobservant.
*****
Sarah looked at her reflection in the changing room’s mirror. She grinned and clapped her hands. The hot pink clamdiggers fit just right—neither too loose nor too tight. And the coordinating tank top was just too cute. It was palest pink with a tiger cub sitting in a field of embroidered flowers. A small speech bubble with the word “RAWR” came from the cub’s mouth. The words “She may be small, but she has a mighty roar” were embroidered on the top half of the shirt.
She turned left and right to admire it from both angles. It looked super cute no matter which way she looked at it. Best of all, the embroidered flowers went all the way around the back of the shirt. It wasn’t just a front side image only.
Sarah put her hands on her hips and gave the outfit an assessing look. She wanted it. Either John or Clarice would buy it for her. No doubts about it. Just 100% solid facts.
Someone knocked on the door. “Are you okay in there?” Clarice asked.
Sarah eye-rolled in exasperation. How did Clarice really expect her to answer a question like that when she couldn’t even talk? Honestly! She took the outfit off and changed back into her bridesmaid dress. She scooped up her assortment of acceptable clothes and opened the door.
Clarice smiled. “Looks like you have enough clothes there to last you all summer.”
Sarah nodded a strong affirmative. After all, that had been her plan all along. More or less.
“Was there anything else you needed while we’re here? Like underwear, for instance?”
Sarah shrugged. She wasn’t in dire need of new underwear at the moment. Besides, she was fairly sure that Raven had bought her some last time they’d gone shopping. He was the fussy type who would insist on buying something like that. She amended her shrug with a very decided head shake.
“Okay! Let me put my thinking cap on for a moment. Hmmmmmmmmm…Nope! I can’t think of anything else you might need at this point.” Clarice took the heaping mound from Sarah and put it in her shopping cart. “Come on! Let’s find my super handsome beau.”
Sarah frowned. Clarice’s hair wasn’t long enough for hair ribbons. So, why was she talking about bows?
Maybe it was a fancy style of hat.
That was a reasonable possibility.
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