09/18/22 Snippet, BUZZ ON THE STREETS.

A little less than my target wordcount today (I don’t post everything I write), but that’s all right. It was what I wanted to get written down.

It turned out to be one of those complicated days.

That wasn’t even including trying to figure out how to let Lucas know Sofie paid me to babysit him. I figured I could find an angle that wouldn’t have him go right out and need a babysitter. I mean, worse case scenario? I’d cut him in on the expense account, and without a qualm of conscience. Sofia Hudson Redgrave had money the way fish have water. She wouldn’t notice us wasting some of her hard-inherited cash, and she absolutely wouldn’t care.

I would care, though. I mean, if I kept doing it for long. Mooching’s one thing, leeching’s another.

Nah, the first problem was going to be finding Lucas. He wasn’t at Garapenna’s, even though we had agreed on nine AM sharp.

“He wasn’t in earlier, either,” Garapenna not-told me as he handed me a coffee and a couple conchas. To go, I noted. “Haven’t seen him since yesterday, Shamus.”

“Anybody asking for him since then?”

“Yeah, one guy.” Garapenna drinks his own coffee with a straw, which is real weird to see the first time. “Real piece of work, too. Kept telling me to get the owner. Got sniffy when he found out I own this place.”