Page 86 of Hanging and Burning

“Jiggs got to move his feet,” Twyla repeated. “Are we in trouble?”

“Not if you do what my friend tells you.”

On the ride back to the city I put my cell phone in its cradle and called out names to the electronic assistant.

“Call Aja.”

She answered on the fourth ring, “Hello, Daddy?”

“Where are you?”

After a moment’s hesitation, she said, “At this guy’s house.”

“What guy?”

“I don’t have to tell you that.”

“I made a mistake, honey. These maybe-dangerous people know my name and they might come after me. These are serious people. In a while Oliya’s gonna call you. Do whatever she says. Okay?”

“Okay.”

The next call was to Oliya.

“Hey, Mr. O.”

I explained in brief about Rouche, Melton, Mara Macintosh, and Aurilia Fox. She was to contact Melquarth, and then they were to protect Mara and Twyla—Aja, too.

“Got it,” Oliya said, and then she hung up.

I was on the road another ten minutes before I remembered something else.

Call Leaf.

The phone rang six times. The first two rings were normal, the second two were within reasonability, but the last two were not the norm for the woman I planned to be with for the rest of my life.

“Hello?” she said somewhere between rings six and seven.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you?”

“Are you gonna say hi?”

“There might be someone coming to kill me, or worse.”

“What’s worse?”

“Where are you?”

“In your bed.”

“I need you to climb down the rope ladder and then throw the bolts on the trapdoor. Then stay there until I get there.”

“Okay. Now what’s worse?”

“I’ll tell you when I see you.”