Read Mere Mortal Page 26


  ~*~*~

  We stayed awake trying to figure what we should be doing next. Bridget ordered Chinese takeout. She had a scrying mirror out, waiting for the sun to come up. The mirror was pewter handled with vines and roses crafted on the handle. I couldn't see Bridget buying something like this. It must have been an heirloom.

  “I figure they'll be moving around until sunrise.” she tapped the glass nervously.

  I felt terrible. I wouldn't have handed over Sasha, but she had given up Fernando without hesitation. Bridget looked miserable. She lit up a cigarette, taking care to blow the smoke away from our food and my face.

  I leaned forward to grab an eggroll. I caught my reflection in her little hand mirror. My face was all red where Angie had hit me. This was just a new addition to my ever growing collection of bruises. One nasty purple one on my chest, one forming on my back, and now a shiner on my eye. I sighed and put the mirror face down.

  “I'm sorry about Fernando.”

  Bridget turned her head and blew out a smoke ring. It floated over the table behind her. It dissipated slowly. “Don't worry about it.” She looked at the back of the mirror. “I've haven’t scried much, so you know.” She snuffed her cigarette into the lid of the now empty sweet and sour container. She smiled. The mischievous glimmer in her eyes was gone. “Can we get into the BSB office on a Sunday to get Angie's file?”

  “Not without a key.”

  “Um...could we like, break a window?”

  “If you want the BSB and the police to swarm all over us.” I chewed the eggroll.

  “Would your general manager let us in if we fed him a convincing lie?”

  I thought about Carl. He thought I was an incompetent boob. Calling him would be a bad idea. There was someone else I knew with a key. Though, I didn't think I'd be getting that key anytime soon. I wasn't the best liar in the world either.

  “Sean has a key.”

  “He's sweet on you. Can we use your feminine wiles to get the keys?”

  Letting him in on the plan of breaking into the BSB would put his job in jeopardy. I doubted my wiles would get us very far. Still, if we were going to destroy Angie's file we needed to get in there today when no one was around. If I tried to hide it with auditors everywhere I'd fall under more scrutiny.

  “I don't think he's going to let us in.”

  “Do you think he'd give us a ride to find Fernando?”

  “Yeah, that he might do.”

  Bridget nodded. She picked up a plastic fork and speared a piece of General Tso's chicken. “We'll take the bus to my house and give him a call after I scry for Fernando.”

  It seemed like a solid plan. I didn't look forward to having Sean see my newest bruise. His white knight complex would probably go into overdrive. However, he was the only person with a car I knew well enough to ask for a ride so we could leave the Rav at the bar.

  Chris would drive us, but I didn't want to drag him into this. It was bad enough my mess had trashed half our place. I didn't know Jenna or David well enough to want to ask them. Since Bridget put them forward I didn't think she wanted to involve them. That left Sean. He'd already fought off Jessica for me. Why not ask him once more for help?