Free Heat by Francine Pascal

who calls me on the phone. Clear enough?"
    "That's great, Ed," said the voice over the phone. "Now, are you ready to listen?"
    Ed fumbled the phone, dropped it, caught it, and shoved it back against his ear. "Gaia?"
    "I need a favor," said Gaia. There was a burst of music and background noise.
    "What kind of favor?" asked Ed. "Where are you, anyway?"
    "I'm at Eddie's."
    "Who's Eddie?"
    "Eddie's the restaurant," Gaia said. The music started up again, and Ed had to strain to hear her over the driving beat. "I'm here with Mary."
    "Yeah?" In his mind's eye Ed had no trouble picturing Gaia and Mary. Gaia's hair was long and pale,
buttery blond
. Mary's was shorter, wavy, and copper red. Both of them were beautiful. Together the two girls were the hottest pair Ed had ever seen. Just a couple of days before, Gaia had kissed him. True, it had been an exceptional situation, but it had been a kiss. A real kiss. Right on the mouth.
He wondered what Gaia was wearing. He wondered what Mary was wearing
. Maybe Mary would--
    "Ed? Ed, are you there?"
    "Uh, yeah." Ed tried to shake off the daydreams and listen. "I'm here."
    "There's something I want you to do for me."
    "Sure. What is it?"
    Gaia made a reply, but Ed couldn't hear her over a sudden increase in noise from the restaurant.
    "What was that?"
    "Skizz!" Gaia shouted into the phone.
    "What?"
    "Skizz. Mary's old dealer. I want you to find out where he is."
    Ed stared at the receiver. "How am I supposed to do that?"
    "Check the hospitals."
    "Why would he be in a hospital?"
    "Because," said Gaia, "I put him there."
    "Oh," said Ed. Then, "Oh!" as he realized the meaning of what she had said. "You sure I shouldn't be checking with undertakers?"
    "No. Or at least, I don't think so. If you can't find him, check and see what you can learn from the police."
    Ed grabbed a pad from the kitchen counter and made a couple of quick notes. "Okay," he said. "I'll see what I can find. But remember what happened last time we tried to play detectives?"
    "We're not talking about going up against a serial killer," said Gaia. "I just want to be sure this particular scuzzy drug dealer is still out of the picture."
    "Gotcha. I'll see what I can find out." Ed cleared his throat. "So, Gaia. If I find some information, maybe we can get together and--"
    "Thanks, Ed," said Gaia. "I'll check in soon." The phone clicked and went dead.
    Ed hung the receiver back on the hook and scowled. "Great," he said to the empty kitchen. "One kiss and she thinks I'll do anything for her."
    Then he pulled a phone book out of the cabinet and started to look up hospitals.
    MARY HELD THE PHONE CLOSE TO
her mouth. "Aunt Jen? Can you hear me?"
    With a K
    She waited for the reply from the other end and frowned at the receiver. Clearly the tales of Mary's terrible drug addiction were still affecting the opinions of her favorite aunt. "Aunt Jen . . . Aunt Jen . . . Aunt Jen! Look, I'm okay. I'm not at a party. I'm at a restaurant."
    Mary shifted around on one foot to see if Gaia was watching her. "Eddie's.
E-d-d-i-e-s.
It's near the campus. NYU, okay?"
    She nodded as she listened to her aunt's reply. "No
    party. No drugs. Just a greasy restaurant. I'm having a cheeseburger."
    Even this information generated a lengthy response. Mary began to wonder how many people went back on drugs just because so many people
pestered them about staying off
. "Look, Aunt Jen, I only wanted to see if you found out anything about that stuff I brought you."
    Mary listened for a moment, gritted her teeth, and squeezed her eyes shut. "Yes, I promise it has nothing to do with drugs. Can we please forget the drugs?"
    Mary took another glance toward the table and saw that Gaia was looking at her. She cupped her hand over the mouthpiece and tried to speak as softly as she could in the noisy diner. "Yes, I know what the name Gaia means. Uh-huh."
    Mary dragged a small pad of paper from her pocket.
Thomas Chaos,
she wrote on the pad.
    LOKI DIRECTED THE LASER