I wrinkled my nose and shoved the comms into my ear. “Not Maccas, I hope.”
“And the inner coffee snob rises again.” She cast me an amused look. “There is nothing wrong with Maccas, but in this case, we’re visiting a small business with rave reviews.”
“Ah, perfect.” I waited until she’d pulled out of the parking area and into the morning traffic, then said, “How’d you go with the records?”
“I was up half the freaking night. I expect my reward sooner rather than later.”
I grinned. “Find someplace that does ribs, fries, and a shake, and I shall provide. Did you uncover anything useful?”
“As it happens, I think I did. They kept mentioning some guy called Luke?—”
“Luke Marlowe?” I cut in.
She glanced at me, surprised. “Yes—why?”
“Because Tane mentioned she’d been ringing him a lot over the last month or so. He’s a distant cousin, apparently.”
“Well, distant cousin or not, the two of them were fucking like rabbits, if the conversation between the four women is to be believed.”
“They were discussing her sex life with Luke?”
“Indeed. Apparently he has the world’s largest dong ever.” Ginny’s tone was dry. “Or at least, the largest Monica has ever had the privilege of sheathing.”
“That is way more information than I need to know.”
“How do you think I feel? I had to wade through hours of that shit.”
I reached across and patted her leg. “Two shakes for you, my friend.”
“I think we’ve reached a bottle of decent bubbles stage.”
“Chandon Brut it is.”
“Excellent.” She flicked on a blinker, waited for several cars to pass, then joined the queue into the cute coffee drive-through. “Anyways, the conversations got cagier the closer they got to the hens celebration, but if she has run off with someone, he has to be our first suspect.”
We placed our coffee order and collected it around the other side. I took several appreciative sips before saying, “He apparently works at the National Witch Library, so I’ll give them a call?—”
“No need, because he arrived up here a day after Monica. We’re heading to his hotel room now.”
“You ran a trace?”
“Well, Jack did rather than me, but yes.”
“And you checked that he’s still there?”
“I have indeed.”
“You are brilliant.”
“I do get the occasional flashes.”
“Which is always better than hot flushes, occasional or not.”
She snorted. “Good god, don’t start wishingthaton either of us. We’re too young for that shit yet.”
“Mom started menopause in her early forties.”
“Mine did not, so you can stop putting that thought out there in the world, thereby jinxing me.”
