Page 109 of Tony

He shrugs. “I have no clue. But if I had to take a guess, I would say… it was Gramps.”

“Your grandpa?” I ask.

Vann nods. “You know he won our mansion in a poker game? Who wins a mansion in a poker game?”

We all kinda agree with this point. It’s a one-in-a-billion kind of win.

“No one fucks with us,” Vann continues. “The whole town might hate us, but no one fucks with us. We don’t even pay property taxes.”

“Shut up,” Tony says.

“Seriously. I know for a fact we don’t pay property taxes. It’s like ten grand a year. We can barely afford the rent on the Sick Boyz storefront.”

“You guys have dirt on someone,” I say.

Vann looks at me and shrugs. “Probably?”

“Someone in charge, then,” Tony adds.

“Someone at least in charge of property taxes,” Soshee says.

“OK, hold on a second,” I say, putting up a hand. “What about the bookstore?”

“What bookstore?” Tony says.

But Soshee is already pointing to it down below. “That one. Right?”

“Yeah. The blue-haired girl. She’s not right.”

We all crowd up against the glass to look down at the bookstore. And who comes walking out of it? Blue-haired girl herself. Her back is to us. She’s locking the door, maybe?

“Not right how?” Tony asks.

But just as he says that she turns and, without hesitation, she looks straight up at our window.

“Shit!” I say. And we all duck back out of view.

“Did she just look at us?” Soshee asks.

“No,” Tony says. “She was looking up at the sun.”

“The sun is on the other side of the street,” Vann says.

I peek back out. “Hmm. She’s gone.”

“I’m not convinced she matters,” Tony says. “I think everyone who matters is right here in this room. And I think the people we need to concentrate on next are in the Crappy Coffee Shop.”

“Agreed,” I say. “It’s them. I just feel it.”

“Our only proof is a dog,” Vann says.

“That’s not the only proof,” Soshee says. “It was weird from the beginning. I mean, who opens a crappy coffee shop across the street from a cool coffee shop? No one goes in there. And if the rent for an Old Town storefront is as high as you say it is, Vann, then who is paying that rent?”

“She’s got a good point,” I say. “And I’m convinced blue-haired girl is in on it. She’s weird. I went in there to try and like... make friends with her. I was missing Tara and needed a new BFF. So I was considering all my options. But she’s not real. She told me she’s not into tattoos because they’re too permanent. What kind of counter-culture chick says something like that?”

“Maybe she’s not counter?” Soshee says.

“That’s my point. Why look the part if you’re not into the culture? Plus, her name is Midnight. What the fuck is that? Only people whose parents are witches have names like Midnight.”