Page 13 of Sapphire's Gem
“Twilight free?” I asked.
“In about five minutes, she’s just finishing a reading,” Fume replied.
“Great. Did you have any unwelcome visitors today?” Vengeance inquired, and Fume frowned.
“None. We had a pissed off customer when Twilight wouldn’t confirm she was going to be rich and famous, but nothing else.”
“Nobody demanding money for protection?” I pressed.
Fume snorted. “Yeah, like that’s going to happen in a Royal Harlot business.”
I kept my face impassive, and Fume’s eyes went wide. “No way! What brainless idiot did that?”
“A Gerrit,” Vengeance stated.
Fume chuckled. “Well, I did say a brainless idiot.”
“Thank you so much, Twilight. I’ll see you again in three months,” a woman said as she and Twilight came into view.
“Good to see you, Abigail, and I’m glad the cards were kind to you,” Twilight replied. “Fume, can you ring Abigail up, please?” Then she looked at me. “Hey, Prez, come on back.”
We followed Twilight to the room at the back, where she did her readings.
“Happy customer?” I asked, referring to Abigail.
“She’s been battling cancer. In the next three months, she’s going to get some good news,” Twilight said.
“Good for her,” I replied as I sat. Twilight frowned as she looked over at me. “Don’t even try reading me.”
“Sorry, Prez, but you’re screaming at me. Some big changes coming,” Twilight drawled before shutting up. It was agreed that unless we came to her for a reading, she wouldn’t tell us what she saw coming, not even if it was dire news.
“Candle had a visitor, a Gerrit who tried to blackmail her into paying protection money,” I said.
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Idiot. He still got all his fingers?”
“For now. Earl claims he didn’t send the little prick. Says the kid joined a gang in town,” I replied.
“There have been a few around lately and wearing different gang colours. They’ve checked us out but not come in.”
“You didn’t think to tell us?” I demanded, slightly annoyed.
“What? Hey, a gang member looked us over but chickened out on coming in when he saw the Royal Harlot patch on our business.” Twilight added extra sarcasm.
“Candle might not have been caught unaware if we’d known gang members were casing the joints down here,” I retorted.
Twilight opened her mouth and then closed it. “Huh,” she said a few seconds later. “Candle okay?”
“Yeah, she’d taken care of him before we arrived,” Vengeance stated.
“Sorry, Prez, I just simply didn’t consider him important,” Twilight admitted.
“Anyone else approaches or watches, I want to know. If you can’t get me, call Sparrow,” I ordered.
Twilight nodded. “Okay. Are you going to check on Lantern?”
“Yup, anything else we need to know?” I asked, and Twilight shook her head.
“Sorry, Prez, I just didn’t think!”
