“Stop that,” I said. “No fooling around!”
“I’m not fooling,” Diesel said. “I’m deadly serious.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I dragged myself out of bed at five A.M. My day had barely started and already I was late. I dressed in the dark so I wouldn’t wake Diesel. Cat followed me down the stairs to the kitchen. I gave him fresh water and filled his bowl with kitty crunchies. I grabbed an apple and headed out. The street was quiet, but lights were blinking on in some of the houses. A car pulled into the parking lot for the shipyard at the bottom of my hill.
Clara was already at work when I got to the bakery. The big dough mixer was humming, and flour hung in the air like fairy dust.
“How’d it go yesterday?” Clara asked.
“First off, Josh and Devereaux broke into my house and stole the map and the coin,” I said. “We all raced to Penobscot Bay to see who could get there first and get the finder, which turned out to be the cursed Blue Diamond of Babur. We got the diamond but Devereaux blew our boat up with a rocket. Then Devereaux kidnapped me, and we went looking for the treasure. In the meantime, Rutherford kidnapped Glo, tracked us down, and followed us into the cave. Devereaux fell to his death, we found the treasure, which included the SALIGIA Stone, and Rutherford left Glo and me to die in the brig of a pirate ship. Diesel rescued us and here I am.”
“So same old, same old,” Clara said.
I buttoned myself into my white chef coat. “Pretty much.”
“It’s disappointing that Josh was working with Devereaux to steal the treasure,” Clara said. “I guess you never know about people.”
“It turned out that Devereaux was a really bad guy in disguise. Or maybe he changed when he took possession of the coin. At any rate, he was definitely insane at the time of death. I think Josh was just stupid. In the end Josh tried to help rescue Glo and me.”
“Was Glo impressed with that?”
“She punched him in the nose the first chance she got. When we dropped them off here last night she still wasn’t talking to him.”
“Good for her,” Clara said.
Glo arrived a little before nine. She parked Broom in a kitchen corner and set her Magic 8 Ball and tote bag on a workbench.
“I’ve been asking the Magic 8 Ball questions all morning,” Glo said, “but it always has the same message. I think it might be waterlogged.”
“What’s the message?” Clara asked.
“?‘Outlook not so good,’?” Glo said.
Lucky thing I don’t believe in the Magic 8 Ball or I might be depressed.
“Are you still seeing Josh?” Clara asked Glo.
Glo shook the 8 Ball and the message floated to the surface. “Outlook not so good.”
—
Diesel sauntered in at eleven o’clock. He helped himself to a blueberry muffin and perched on a stool by my workstation.
“What’s new?” Diesel asked.
“I need to finish glazing these cinnamon rolls, and then I’m done for the day.”
Diesel grinned. “Do you want me to help?”
“No!”
“You’ll never guess what I found this morning,” Diesel said. “You left your wet clothes on the floor in the bathroom, and when I kicked them aside the Blue Diamond fell out of your jeans pocket.”
“Omigosh. I stuffed it into my pocket and forgot about it.”
“I’m sure Rutherford had a dark moment when he realized he’d left it behind. It’s invaluable.”