I guess they didn’t know what to
Annie started to scratch her arm and stopped in mid-scratch and rammed her hands into her pockets. "He came really close to getting the necklace back, but for some rea-son the pawnshop owner decided to fake the robbery. So of course, Delvina came looking for me."
"It was bad timing that I happened along," Bernie said. "They didn’t find the necklace in Annie’s house, but since I broke in they figured I had to have some connection to An-nie. And then they were fooling around and found her number in my cell phone. So one of Delvina’s men called her and said he was me."
"He sort of sounded like you," Annie said. "He said he had something important to say to me. I was hoping you’d calmed down and wanted to talk. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity."
"Annie didn’t want to go far, so they set a meeting for a coffee house half a block away. When she got there, they snatched her," Bernie said.
"Why didn’t you take your purse?" I asked Annie.
"I was just walking down the street for a couple min-utes," Annie said. "I had some money and my key in my pocket, and I thought I had my phone, but it must have fallen out of my pocket somewhere. I didn’t think I needed anything more than that."
"They brought us to Delvina’s summer house on the river," Bernie said. "That was Saturday night. They chained us up, and I went sort of gonzo, and everyone broke out in hives, including me. Then Delvina and his two goons packed up and left. I guess they didn’t know what to make of the hives. And then the next morning, Delvina and some other guy showed up and started asking about the neck-lace, but every time they’d come near us the hives would get worse and pretty soon they couldn’t stand it anymore and went away. Good thing we were chained to the bath-room, and the chain was long enough to reach to the re-frigerator in the kitchen. They came back this morning and next thing, you rescued us."
"How are my last five cases?" Annie asked. "Are they all going to have a good Valentine’s Day? Are they on their way to love everlasting?"
"I don’t know about the love everlasting," I said. "But I’m pretty sure they’ll all have a good Valentine’s Day. Except for Albert Kloughn. Kloughn is last up."
"Oh dear," Annie said, "it’s getting late."
"Not to worry. I have a plan." I looked over at Bernie. "You’ve stopped scratching," I said to him.
"I’m too tired to scratch."
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