Page 160 of Nobody Told Me Thrift Shops Sell Stolen Dragon Heirlooms

Avery fell into step beside me, eyes bright. “That was the hottest legal thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m definitely sweating.”

“It was art.”

“It was mildly unhinged.”

She shrugged. “Isn’t all the best art?”

Max trotted between us, pleased with himself.

Once we reached Avery’s car, I leaned against the passenger door and let out the breath I had been holding.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Moira: DID YOU DO IT?

Alistair Fenwick was still standing there with the envelope in his hand, his race-day confidence gone flat.

Me: Served. Max requests hazard pay.

Then, because I could not help myself, I sent one more text to Rafe.

Me: Fenwick has been served. Your third-most intimidating team member did most of the work.

Three dots appeared almost immediately.

Then: Quinn.

Just my name.

Somehow, from Rafe, it contained an entire disciplinary hearing, a medical check, and one deeply inconvenient amount of concern.

I smiled down at my phone despite myself.

Avery saw it.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she said. “Again?”

I put the phone away. “No idea what you mean.”

Max sneezed.

Nobody believed me.

20

RAFE

A CHECKBOOK TREBUCHET

The fourth relic came home because, after three weeks of silence, the Arkley Museum finally learned the difference between ignoring a letter and ignoring a lawsuit.

Once Fenwick had been served in a charity race parking lot by Quinn, Max, and what Helena Wallace later described as “an alarming but technically valid plan,” Arkley’s owners returned from their expedition cruise with remarkable speed. Their private meeting with us lasted less than an hour. The comb had been promised to fucking Dimitris Burelian for an obscene sum after the exhibit closed. The museum was insolvent. Its owners had decided that a phoenix collector’s money was easier to accept than to acknowledge the provenance claim of the family it had been taken from.

Helena and Moira began building the legal pressure at once. Emergency injunction. Bad-faith refusal to investigate provenance. Donor representations. Public relations. Regulatory review.

I listened for a minute or two before asking how much Arkley needed to remain solvent.