Feta Attraction by Susannah Hardy Page B

did I want to. I was bent over, examining one particularly baffling item through the glass, when someone came through a set of swinging saloon-style doors.
    â€œCan I help you?” a voice said.
    I stood up and just missed banging my head on the counter. The air was thick with the scent of some kind of heady incense, or possibly something less legal. It was making me a bit dizzy. “Hi,” I said. “I’m Georgie, from the Bonaparte House.” I held out my hand.
    He took my hand with his own exceptionally colorful one and looked at me, his big brown eyes wary. “I know who you are.”
    â€œYou’re Inky, right?”
    â€œYes.” He was covered from the neck down in tattoos, thankfully none on his face, although some sort of tentacle did reach up behind one ear, winding its way into the black stubble of his shaved head. It was fascinating, and I found myself wondering what sort of creature was on the other end.
    â€œInky, have you heard from Spiro in the last couple of days? He hasn’t come home and I’m worried about him.”
    He tensed up, causing the little silver rings in his eyebrows to clink together. “Spiro who? Why should I know?”
    â€œInky, I know that you two are seeing each other. I don’t mind, honestly. It’s fine.”
Mostly fine
.
    He visibly relaxed, letting out a sigh. “I’ve been so worried too! I haven’t heard from him in days!” he said animatedly, the words coming so quickly there was a time delay while my brain caught up to my ears. “He calls me every day at least twice whether we see each other or not!”
    â€œHow long have you been seeing him?”
    â€œOh, a couple of months.”
    A couple of months? The gossip machine in this town works overtime and I was just hearing about this now? I needed to start paying more attention to what was going on around me.
    â€œHe came in for a tat in June and it was just lust at first sight.”
    Good Lord. Spiro had gotten himself inked? Last I knew, he had a debilitating fear of needles. I couldn’t help myself. “What kind of tattoo did he get?”
    â€œWe decided on a small tiger’s head for his first tat, since he was kind of nervous about the whole needle-slash-permanency thing, and he’s such a passionate pussycat, you know? I did a nice job, if I do say so myself. You haven’t seen it?”
    â€œErrr, no.”
    â€œOh, right. Well, I guess maybe you wouldn’t since it’s on his—”
    â€œStop!” I wanted to cover my ears and sing “La-la-la” till he had finished speaking. This was too, too much information.
    I framed my next words carefully. “You two are so close, I bet you talk about everything?”
    â€œOh, yes, everything.”
    â€œSo, what’s going on with him?”
    â€œWell, he’s been very excited lately, and I don’t mean just by me!” He winked and I nodded, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. Inky seemed like a nice guy and I could feel myself warming up to him. He was quite good-looking, with tanned skin—at least, the part that wasn’t inked looked tan—and a buff physique. He wasn’t the intense type I would have expected Spiro to take up with. But really. What did I know?
    â€œWhat had him so excited?”
    â€œHe’d found it. I mean, I never saw it but he said he knew where it was, and it was going to make him super rich. I’ve heard stories since I was a kid about some kind of treasure in that house, and now it’s true!”
    Here was this story again. If there was something valuable in that house, it would have been found by now. It was just a legend. Still, I had to ask. “What did he find, Inky?”
    â€œThat’s just it—I don’t know and it’s killing me! Spiro promised to tell me what it was as soon as he cleared up some business. We were planning to go away in October for a long weekend