Egg the Halls

Chapter 3-3

He considered bringing Kiko soup, but he figured he’d just spill it on the way over, so instead Dom made up a couple of sandwiches and grabbed some fruit before heading over to Yolks on You after work. He was in a bad mood and didn’t care to stay in the house any longer. Even if Kiko made him hang decorations again he figured it was worth it.

“Brought you dinner,” he said when he approached the counter. Katie was on her way out and waved at him; he raised a hand back. There were two families in the aisles at a quarter to seven, but otherwise it was late enough for Kiko’s shop to be mostly empty.

“Thanks,” said Kiko when Dom passed the food to him. “What happened?”

“The bastard said yes,” said Dom, not even annoyed that Kiko could read him that well.

“Language,” said Kiko, glancing worriedly at where a family was leaving without buying anything. The last few customers were lingering by Mother now. “Your brother?”

“Yes,” said Dom. “He went for it. Said he’ll come up and visit for Christmas.”

Kiko blinked, processing that. Before he could respond his store phone rang and he moved to answer it. Dom scowled and bit angrily into his sandwich.

“Yolks on You. Kiko speaking, how may I—yes, hello, Cat. What?” asked Kiko, and Dom noticed Kiko glancing over at him. He shoved an extra-large bite of sandwich into his mouth so he wouldn’t have to say anything. He was not in a good mood.

He glared at the backs of the second family who, apparently having gotten their Mother fix, also left without buying anything.

“Sure. I’ll be over when I can—half an hour, forty minutes at most? Okay, yes. Bye.”

Kiko hung up and glanced around the store before making his way back to where Dom was eating at the counter. He didn’t look pleased that Dom hadn’t bothered to take a seat at one of the little café-style tables he had in one corner of the store, but Dom didn’t care. He was annoyed and there was no one else in Yolks on You. He’d probably end up sweeping all the crumbs himself anyway.

“That was Cat,” said Kiko, and Dom grunted. He was running out of sandwich to shove in his mouth. Kiko toyed with his, then turned and moved to shut the computer off. “I’m closing up early.”

“What did she offer you?” asked Dom, swallowing hard to get down a large quantity of sandwich. “I can’t get you to leave this place even for sex.”

“She wants us to go over to Cats N Canvas and have a look,” said Kiko, shaking his head. He swatted Dom’s crumbs off the counter.

“Do you really care what art she sends over?” asked Dom. “We have more important things to think about. How’re we going to handle Devin?”

Kiko shrugged.

“I don’t know, Dom. Put him in the second spare bedroom.” Before Dom could object to that Kiko went on. “Someone vandalized her place and she wants us to have a look.”

“Why? Just call the cops,” said Dom, collecting up Kiko’s uneaten sandwich and the fruit. Kiko glanced over at him from where he was removing Mother from his cage.

“I didn’t realize you were that upset about your brother.”

“I’m not—”

“You’re passing up a chance at a mystery?” asked Kiko. “She doesn’t know who did it. Why else would she call us?”

Dom considered. He’d come to love Kiko while solving mysteries with him, had loved the mysteries, too. It had been just the right amount of excitement and intrigue in his life over the past year, trying to beat the cops to tracking down the odd murderer. But after Halloween turned deadlier than he was used to, he’d had the longing a lot less. It was easier for Dom to get over one murder. But he’d been staring down the barrel of his own death over Halloween, and that had changed him.

He and Kiko hadn’t talked much about it since, though they both occasionally had the nightmares. And yet it was difficult to get past that slight flutter that happened when Kiko mentioned a mystery.

“A vandalism?” asked Dom, thinking that wasn’t much. And something like that would make it easy to get back in the swing of things, really keep his mind sharp when it came to solving a puzzle.

“I know it’s probably not as intense as you’re hoping,” said Kiko. Dom grinned.

“We have to keep sharp,” he said.

“Meet you at home? I want to drop Mother off.” Kiko paused. “You did close the breadbox after making dinner, right?”

Dom grumbled. After they had dropped Mother off at home and Kiko got the goose situated for the night, Dom climbed in Kiko’s truck and watched the cold stars out the window on the way to Catsville. The winter night seemed crisp, like a shiny photo. He figured there was a fifty-fifty chance he and Kiko would have the thing solved tonight if it was a simple vandalism.

“So where’s this place?” asked Dom. The only place he really knew out in Catsville was B and B’s, a restaurant and bar with two mascot donkeys named Bob and Bab. Kiko turned them down the main road through Catsville and into the lot of an old church. Instead of a sign with Bible verse and worship times outside the place, there was one sporting the names of both of Cat’s businesses: Cats N Canvas, and Cat’s Ceramics with an arrow pointing to the back.

“It’s an old church,” said Kiko. “Art for display and sale is in the main area where the pews used to be. Cat said she’d meet us there.”

“Right,” said Dom, and shoved his hands into his pockets against the cold as they trudged through the muddy snow up to the door. Cat pulled it open for them, appearing in the doorway with a gust of warm air.

“Thanks for stopping over,” she said, then sighed. “Here, have a look.”

Dom stomped the snow off his boots and turned to peer around the brightly lit place. It was indeed an old church, stripped of pews, and refilled with displays of all sorts of art from paintings to sculptures to jewelry to pottery. But it was easy enough to tell what had been vandalized: nearly everything. Dom turned to take in the golden and white goop, the shells crumbled over the floor or stuck to frames. The entire place was trashed.

“Somebody egged everything,” said Cat, voice small in the large space.