"Take my car," I said. She glared at the keys in my outstretched hand. "I've had too much to drink and I don't want to leave it here." She shrugged and grabbed them without comment, disappearing back into Wizards of Ink.
"This meeting–" Mum said.
"Not now, everyone's too upset," Dad said.
"But–"
"Mum, I'm not saying you're wrong, but you have to wait until you're asked for help. Don't send us anymore invites, we'll let you know when we want a meeting." Dad's arm went around Mum's shoulders as she crossed her arms as if to physically hold back the torrent of advice she wanted to unleash on me right now. I watched her consider what I said and then finally, nod her head.
"Good girl," Dad said. "See you next weekend?" he asked me.
"Sure."
"Be good to see you as well, Gabe. Bring the Indian," Dad said with a grin, shushing Mum's splutters of protest and steering her out the door.
"Better call a cab," I said, "I'm ready to bail as well."
"I haven't had that much and have two helmets. You want to go on the bike?"
I admit I was a bit apprehensive about it, but once I slipped on the back and wound my arms around him, I felt a lot more comfortable. The bike roared to life once he'd kicked it over and we took off. It is a lot like flying, I thought as we swooped down the streets, the speed so much more obvious outside of the insulation of a car. The roads were damp and empty, the breeze cold enough to make me shiver, but when we pulled up, I burst out laughing. Gabe grinned back at me, taking my helmet, seeming to know automatically what I was feeling. We walked up the stairs hand in hand.
23
"Ash, Ash."
"Wha . . .?" I grumbled. The bed was warm and it was dark still, there was no reason to be awake now. I pulled the blankets around me tighter.
"Security for the shop is on the phone. They think there's been an intruder," Gabe said.
"Ergh, are they sure?"
"Talk to them. I'll get dressed. I can go down if you like."
"Hello?" I said into my phone.
“Sorry to call you so early in the morning, Ms McKinnon, but we received a report that sensors picked up movement inside your shop. We did a drive-by, checked the front and back doors, but everything's locked up tight. We did a sweep, the only thing we noticed is one of the cupboard doors in the storeroom had been left open.”
“Someone’s been in the shop!” My eyes flicked open finally. Thoughts of our meagre stash of cash and gold all gone had my heart racing from a dead start.
“Not that we can see. As I said, only one cupboard door was open, but with no signs of entry, it could we be a rat or a cat.”
“I’ll be right down.”
“OK, one of our guys will meet you at the front door.”
“Babe, what’re you doing?” Gabe asked as I vaulted out of bed and started yanking on knickers and some jeans. “Babe?”
“Someone broke into the shop, maybe. I don’t know. I need to get down there. Somethings happened and I need–”
“Hey, hey,” his arms swept around me and he stopped me mid-wrestle with my bra. His large hands ran down along my arms like you’d stroke a startled horse. “Your car is with Tess. We’ll take the bike, but you need to rug up. It’s going to be bloody cold.”
“OK. Yep, I can do that.” I bundled myself into a heavy jumper, a thick jacket and a scarf as if on automatic. We clumped downstairs and then rode over to the shop. I was off the back and over to the front door as soon as Gabe killed the engine.
“The front door is still locked,” I said to the guy in the blue security uniform.
“Yeah, as I said, I think it’s just a false alarm, but we let clients know, just in case. I looked around the back, front and at the doors in the tattoo shop and saw no sign of tampering. The safe still seems to be secure, nothings been smashed or touched except one of the cupboard doors. When I had a look inside it, it was empty, so unlikely to be anything other than just an old latch or something. I can take you through, if you like?”
Empty cupboard? Three guesses which one that was. I was willing to bet what was left of our meagre fortune, it was the large one at the back of the shop, which became a portal when activated. I needed to get rid of the guard and Gabe, stat, and get hold of my bloody sister.