They headed to the counter.
* * *
Four hours later, an explosion in the Harmony Healing Collective rent the air.
* * *
At one a.m., the six collective members drove into the collective parking lot, joining several police cars, parked at angles, with their lights on and their motors running. Halogen lamps had been set up to flood the space with light.
All six members exited their vehicles.
“If this isn’t a motley crew,” Oliver remarked when they gathered.
The practitioners were in various states of dress. Heath wore pajama bottoms and a long-sleeved red T-shirt; Finn had on jeans and a green sweatshirt, sneakers with no socks; Oliver himself wore a blue sweatsuit, Daisy a purple one; Juliet a pink yoga outfit, and Scarlet had what appeared to be a red nightgown under a light raincoat.
A plainclothes cop approached them where they’d stood together. “’Evening, everyone. I don’t know all of you but I have the list of the practices here and who runs them.” He held up a clipboard.
“Can we go inside to the lounge were we can sit and see each other?” Scarlet asked.
“I’m afraid not. This is a crime scene and it’s taped off. The bomb squad found incendiary devices in the common area. It went off.”
“Were any of the practice studios affected?” Finn asked.
“There’s a couple of scorched doors. Lightly, though so I don’t think they need to be replaced. Other than that, just some smoke.”
“What can we do?” Heath wanted to know.
“Nothing, now. I thought you’d want to see for yourselves what happened at your place of business. Also, you obviously have to cancel today’s sessions.”
Juliet said, “How long will our studios be off limits?”
“I don’t know. But you all need to be questioned.”
“Together?”
“No. Some of the questions will be personal.”
“Do we have to go down to the station tonight?” Oliver asked.
“No, first thing in the morning, though. You can leave now.”
When the officer walked away, Oliver said, “I live close by. Anybody want to come over and debrief?”
“Nothing to debrief.” Heath’s tone was frustrated. “We don’t know anything.”
“Then for company? I know I won’t sleep.”
The six of them agreed. Even Heath. This was a hell of a development. And ironic. They’d just agreed today to hire a guard for protection.
* * *
Ensconced on Oliver’s comfortable couch, Juliet asked, “Heath, did you get a chance to call Kirkland Security today?”
Heath nodded. “I did. I made an appointment with them for tomorrow. I told them we had an urgent need for a guard.”
“Little did we know how much.” Daisy scowled. “Damn it. We dilly-dallied on this from the day we first talked about it. If we’d hired someone sooner this wouldn’t have happened.”
Juliet said, “I don’t think we need to dwell on that. We should have acted sooner. We didn’t. We have to go forward.”
