I hadn’t expected Nikki to be in the
office when I got there, but she sat on the edge of Jessie’s desk in a brand
new business suit identical to the one before. She had also fixed up her hair.
Jen was there, too, and the four women had been laughing at something on
Jessie’s computer screen, but conspiratorially went quiet when I came in.
“Okay, so what’s the gag?”
“No gag,” Jen said. “We just want to
make you sweat.”
I shut the door behind me. “Heck,
that’s not hard.”
“Oh?” Nikki arched an eyebrow.
I didn’t reply, just set the pizza
and doughnuts out.
“Anything happen while I was gone?”
“While you two were duking it out
with lawyers in Midtown, I picked up some chatter on Twitter,” Jen grinned.
“I don’t even know what that means.”
A collective groan went up from all
the women.
I shrugged, tearing into a slice of
sausage pizza.
“Something happened in Shadow
Valley. Listen to this.” Jen read out, “ ‘Gunfire in #ShadowValley
#LittleRussia #BPD.’ ”
I flicked eyes at Nikki, but she
gave no reaction.
“ ‘OMG, are those gunshots?
#ShadowValleyTours #ShadowValley’”
“Oh, Emm, Gee. Don’t people use
words, anymore?” I asked.
Cassie showed me her phone. A
message was typed out. “LOL, whatevs, UM, like ur totes lame.”
“That’s it, you’re grounded.”
“Y?”
“For crimes against the English
language.”
“This,” Jen came back, “from the man
who can hold an entire conversation in 40s slang.”
“Listen, Dollface, you gotta know
how to keep the buzzers off when the heat is on, otherwise you’re in the clink
looking at going stoolie.”
“Ugh, that’s horrible,” Cassie said.
“You’re grounded, too.”