I was comfortable hearing no. I had to be in my line of work. Often, there was only one magical scepter or enchanted amulet of a certain type in the whole world, and tracking it down took tenacity. The reason something remained hidden was usually a matter of not looking hard enough. Once, a rich twatwaffle paid me to find a piece he had forgotten was already in his collection.
As much as I liked brute force, you generally got more bees with honey and more money with smiles than you did with being a thorn in somebody’s side. I was great at my job because criminals were surly and suspicious of each other, and I made a lovely go-between. I was unceasingly patient when money was on the line. It was only when things went tits up that I relied on my other skills—which were equally impossible if I said so myself.
So, when Candy gave me a list of possible criminal masterminds who could have fenced Lily, I knew it would be a slog, but I was up for the challenge. Not a particularly long list, it was filled with people I didn’t know. It had to be. Nobody we knew would pay me that enormous of an insult. They’d know I would be after them with fire and brimstone.
I spent the day going through Candy’s list one at a time. Unfortunately, I kept striking out, and everybody I met was more and more punchable than the last one. Before I reached the end of the last nerve, Phil buzzed my beeper with good news, and I portaled to his house. He opened the garage, and Lily shimmered at me. The bullet holes and all of the dents Moloch and Balaam made in her were gone.
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“She looks perfect!” I yelled.
Phil threw me the keys. “Runs perfect, too. Better than perfect, after I was done with her.”
I slid into the driver’s side and massaged the newly polished steering wheel. Breathing in the smell of new leather and lemon, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. Lily purred for me like a lap cat when I turned on the engine.
“I’m afraid it doesn’t help you find the monsters who did this to her,” Phil said, leaning against the car. “But as a little thank you from me, I juiced it up a bit.”
“Juiced it up how?”
“Flip open the top of the gear shift.”
I did and saw a big red button on it.
“That injects nitrous oxide into the fuel line for an extra boost of speed. I also lined the engine and interior with shock-absorbing technology, so if you have to use your magic powers…well, now you won’t damage the tensile integrity of the car.”
“Thank you,” I said. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“Actually, I know exactly how much it means. I calculated it, and it exactly correlated to the guilt I felt for you risking my life to save me, so this is a win-win in my book.” He sighed. “I just wish I could do something to change the fact that demons drove your baby without you.”
My eyes lit up. “That’s it. Phil, you’re a genius!”
“I know that…but how, specifically, in this instance?”
I hopped out of the car. “They had to drive the car somewhere. If I use a mimic spell from the exact place that I lost the car—”
“It would lead you to where it was sold,” Phil finished the thought. “That is bloody brilliant, I must say. Kudos to me for thinking of it.”
I hopped back into the car. “Sorry to dash and ditch, but I have to—”
“I know. He kidnapped me, too. I want you to find him as much as you do. Every time I close my eye, I see his face in my dreams, and…find him. For both of us.”
“I will.”