Lyudmila Beckoned To Me
girlfriend and your sister- more involved than he was willing to admit
- only has one birthday a year
- casting frightened glances back over their shoulders
- took them to a nearby orange grove
Tune In Next Time Part 46 Click Here for Earlier Installments
Lyudmila beckoned to me with her crooked index finger. While my uncle Jinx Damocles continued unpacking the nesting boxes, she and I quietly moved from the sofa and into the shadowy corner of the basement room.
I felt her warm breath on my ear as she whispered, “I always wanted to be your girlfriend, and your ‘sister‘ over there,” she indicated Jason with a roll of her eyes, “was always in the way. Not to mention Tessa of course.”
“Jason is bad news,” I whispered back. “Where trouble’s concerned, he’s always more involved than he was willing to admit. We need to watch our backs.”
I tried to imagine how we looked to Jason from his seat beside Uncle Jinx. Probably like two fools casting frightened glances back over their shoulders.
Jinx Damocles’s voice rang through the basement, “Here is the message we must decode: What do you call a man who only has one birthday a year?”
“That’s easy,” I said, moving back to rejoin him, hoping Lyudmila remembered enough of our pillow talk to catch my hidden meaning. “That means that Jorgensen has the coordinates and the jewels. He took them to a nearby orange grove, the one the coordinates referenced, and buried them.”
Lyudmila looked at me with wide, wide eyes. There were no orange groves in Rhode Island where we currently were, of course. I nodded almost imperceptibly, directing her to make her move.
She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a look that said, “if you insist.” I waited for her to use her contortionist skills to befuddle Jason enough that I could overpower him, but instead she moved closer to Jinx Damocles. Before I could say anything to stop her, she reached down his pants and took hold of the Sword of Damocles.
The rest of us froze, stunned.