Free Unlucky Charms by Linda O. Johnston

been the case with other Destiny shops that have been looted?” And restaurants that have been vandalized, I mentally added, but I didn’t mention that.
    â€œYou’ve heard?” Bevin’s tone sounded scandalized. “How did you find out? Which stores do you think … ” His voice tapered off, then he demanded, “Are you just guessing the Lucky Dog isn’t the first, Ms. Chasen?”
    â€œIf I were, your response would have answered my question,” I said. “We’re not the first. And to keep us the last, we really need to let everyone know—at least all the business owners in town.” That, at least, hinted that I knew shops weren’t the only victims.
    â€œNo.” Bevin crossed his arms over his hefty round chest. “You know what happened when the edict not to discuss what happened … next door … was nearly made public by the Destiny Star .” He was hinting about the newspaper’s initial investigation into the superstition-related deaths of the owners of the Broken Mirror Bookstore—and the resulting fire in the Star ’s offices.
    â€œI’m not sure of the origin of that command to keep silent, or of this one,” I said. “But this situation is different, in any case, since we’ve got a crime wave going on that might not end until the perpetrator is caught, or at least outed enough for the store owners to protect their premises better.” I hesitated for only an instant, then said, “If only I’d known, we might not have suffered last night’s break-in.” I glared at Bevin, as if he were part of the problem. And maybe he was, with his insistence on people keeping quiet.
    â€œNow don’t you start blaming everyone trying to protect you for—”
    â€œWe understand,” Martha interrupted calmly. “We know you have our best interests at heart.” Nice of her to say so, although what I figured was that Bevin had his own best interests at heart. “We’ll not spread the word around town about what happened, Mayor. You can count on that.” She shot me a look that warned me not to contradict her.
    I didn’t. Not now. And besides, I sort of understood what she was doing. She wasn’t promising we wouldn’t talk about it, even if we agreed not to make a public pronouncement about it.
    Not yet, at least.
    â€œAll right, then. Thank you, Martha.” With his arms still crossed and resting on his middle, the mayor turned to glare me into submission, too.
    â€œThat’s fine with me,” I said. “At least for now, during the investigation.” I didn’t mean to dump all the responsibility on Justin and his department, but they were involved. And if they quickly figured out who’d been committing these acts, then the whole thing could go away.
    On the other hand, since we weren’t the first victims and the situation had begun days, if not weeks, earlier, then relying on an official investigation wasn’t particularly wise—not for us, and not for our town.
    For, yes, I considered Destiny my town, at least for now—even if I didn’t want to jump right in and check out available residences that Flora found for Gemma and me.
    â€œVery well, then,” Bevin said formally. “We will stay in touch.”
    And talk about what, I wondered as Martha and I followed him back to the door and into the shop.
    Jeri was just ringing up a sale at the register—a good luck doggy shirt with a four-leaf clover on it. A line had formed behind the customer, so I hurried over to help. The mayor started schmoozing with some of the other customers. Flora was still there, but she must have noticed how busy I was, since she began working her way toward the other side of the shop.
    As she walked in that direction, Martha’s nephew, Arlen Jallopia, entered the store. He was a guide for Destiny’s Luckiest Tours, and I had in fact taken