Ms. Jacqueline Lombardi,
Zoning Commissioner
My hand falls limp to my side.
“Nomi?” Julian calls from around a mouthful of muffin, already noticing the shift in my mood, already concerned. The Eye of Sauron in human form. “What’s wrong?”
Eve’s staring at me, too, and Graham, who’s just emerged from his bedroom in yesterday’s swimsuit, pauses groggily in the doorway. “What did I just walk into?”
“The zoning commission granted Julian’s hearing request—”
“But I withdrew—” Julian cuts in, his eyes large and panicked.
“—sua sponte,” I finish. “Whatever that means.”
“Latin.” Graham takes a bar seat and reaches for the largest blondie. “Meansof its own accord. When a court takes an action unprompted by a party to the case.”
“This isn’t fair,” Julian insists. “LombardiknowsI withdrew it!”
Something’s not adding up. This letter, Lombardi’s attitude at the party, the weird things she said… My spinning thoughts catch, and I look up. “She said you’re the new Wilson Phillips.”
Eve frowns, full bulldog. “Like theband?”
“No, that weird guy at the city council meetings. Lombardi said Julian’s the new Wilson.” It was so weird, it stuck in my memory like a bur. “Did he give you the idea to file it?”
“No.” Julian scratches his head. “Tonuto did, actually.”
“What?!”
“After the city council meeting, he found me in the parking lot, and he said…” Julian pauses, remembering. “That I’d find more conservative minds on the zoning commission and to file a complaint there.”
“Do you feel like he put you up to it?” I ask.
Julian frowns harder. “Everything’s a sale to that guy, so… yeah. Kind of.”
“Huh.” Graham finishes off his blondie. “Maybe Tonuto puts people up to doing what he can’t as a sitting city council member.”
“And maybe Wilson’s Tonuto’s usual patsy,” Eve says.
Wilsondoescomplain a lot. The man singlehandedly keeps Sparrow Nook’s municipal government in perpetual investigative mode. I always wrote off his random attacks as a retirement boredom crisis, but what if he’s actually a mouthpiece for Tonuto, saying all the things Tonuto can’t?
“But why’s Tonuto after my dispensary?”
“He must stand to benefit by keeping you out of business,” Graham ponders. “Is he tight with Damon? Do you think Tonuto’s bringing you down to protect XYB?”
I press my knuckles to my mouth. “Damon was at the city council meeting that day. Maybe?”
“We’ve got to go to the press with this!” Eve starts scrolling through her contacts list. “Does anyone know a press?”
“Pressss-sah,” Graham hisses. “Pressssss-SUH?”
Well. The blondies have hit.
I glance at Julian, the only other straight-brained person in the room. He’s as flummoxed as I am. How do I figure out what Tonuto’s really up to? I could go to Min or SharifI had a shred of evidence. But I don’t.
All I have is a zoning hearing, two weeks to prepare for it, and an ill, clenching feeling in my gut that everything’s about to go very, very wrong.
JULIAN
