Tiny Glitches: A Magical Contemporary Romance by Rebecca Chastain Page A

barely make out the hulking shape of Kyoko. Good. She shouldn’t attract attention.
    Hudson paid the men. Hector looked wild-eyed, and he rubbed surreptitiously at his crack. When Xavier tried to razz him, Hector punched the younger man hard on the arm.
    “Redheads and trouble go hand in hand,” Mark said, walking over to me after he pocketed Hudson’s money. “That’s what my father always said. But always worth it.” He winked and pressed a business card into my palm. I’d guessed correctly: He was the owner of the tattoo parlor. “Anytime you want, I’ll ink you wherever you want. On me.”
    The group sauntered back to the strip mall. Mark limped, and he unabashedly massaged himself through his pants.
    “What was that about?” Hudson asked.
    “Apparently I have perfect skin,” I said. “And I can get free tattoos.”
    “See. What’d I tell you? You didn’t see them offering me anything free. In fact, that cost me everything I had.”
    I winced. “I’ll pay you back.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” He went to the driver’s side and opened the passenger door. He pulled a bowl and a water bottle out of the plastic bag behind the seat, then crawled in and placed the bowl down on Kyoko’s side. I climbed into the front seat while he filled the bowl. I was more than ready to leave this parking lot.
    The Suburban purred when Hudson turned over the engine. A trickle of cool air fed through the vents, circulating the smell of musty elephant. I adjusted the vents to angle back toward Kyoko.
    “What about the truck?” I asked as we rolled past it. Even compared to the truck, the Suburban felt big—wide, long, and heavy. It fit a freaking elephant; that should say it all.
    “The moment we find Jenny, we’ll tell her where it is,” Hudson said.
    “And if it was stolen, what about evidence?” I’d read plenty of thrillers; I knew how forensics worked these days.
    “I called work while I was driving back earlier. I had the same thought. They ran the plates for me. It’s registered to Edmond Zambo. I’m hoping he was the driver of the car Jenny got away in.”
    “She had a getaway driver? How long has she been planning this?”
    “You sure she doesn’t hold a grudge against you for something stupid in high school?”
    I shook my head. “If so, I’m clueless. Wait, how does a security installation company run a plate?”
    “EliteGuard is on good terms with the police. Wade, my boss, freelances for them sometimes.”
    I filed that information away. “What about finding information on Jenny? Can they do that, too?” In a careful, controlled way that wouldn’t spook Jenny.
    “Wade’s already on it.”
    “What?” My heart jumped to my throat. If Hudson had told his boss about Kyoko, my life could already be over.
    “I asked him to run a background check on her. I thought I’d better hold off on mentioning the elephant until we know what we’re dealing with.”
    I eased out a breath and loosened my grip on the door handle. “Ah. Good thinking.”
    Hudson merged back onto the 10. I twisted in my seat to watch Kyoko. The stop-and-go traffic had cleared while we’d been sitting in the parking lot, and Kyoko appeared as unfazed by the traffic ebbing around us as she was by going seventy miles an hour. I faced forward and straightened my skirt.
    “Do you ever do that?” I asked. A van full of teenagers whipped around us and passed in the slow lane. No one took a second look at the Suburban.
    “What?”
    “Freelance for the police.”
    “Not often. It’s not really my specialty.”
    Water sloshed behind us. I twisted in time to see Kyoko lift a dripping trunk toward her mouth.
    “Looks like she was thirsty. Good thinking on the bowl,” I said.
    “Thanks.”
    She reversed her trunk and curled it over her head. Water sprayed across the ceiling of the Suburban.
    “Holy crap!”
    Hudson yanked the rearview mirror into a new position. “Did she just . . . ?”
    “Turn into a fountain?