Everleigh

  One note, three notes, five notes, fail.

  One note, four notes, seven notes, fail.

  “You’re not getting in until you do it.”

  Would he?

  Wouldn’t he?

  Silence behind the door.

  One note, two, five, seven, nine.

  Click, click, click.

  Twelfth time’s the charm.

  The fox was wet when he entered my office.

  He returned my violin. “Any chance you’re less busy?”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Any chance you’ve found my father.”

  The fox dripped and dripped,

  and I watched each drop when they hit the stone,

  small at first,

  then bigger and bigger.

  “No, but that’s why I need your help,” he said. “I can’t find Sebastian and watch out for Adeline at the same time. She’s working at the Gander.”

  “I can’t believe you lost him.”

  “I can’t be everywhere all at once, Everleigh. Besides, I really think you’ll like her. She’s not like anybody I’ve ever met, actually.”

  The Bed Lass was important to the fox who was important to me.

  The burden, the bother,

  the banality of it all.

  “What do you need me to do.”

  “Make sure she doesn’t die, and keep track of her process while she’s investigating the belt murders for Tanis. Have you heard about the belt murders?”

  V for Vera,

  V for vengeance,

  V for vigilante.

  Like me, like me.

  But which one of us would be caught first?

  “Fine,” I said.

  I’d watch the friend for the fox,

  but not at the cost of the cook—

  the one who made the cellar smell like living again.