"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Tom. You're telling me you met Thee Vivica from SuperPoweredKittyStudios!? And she gave you pro tips for Nightmare Chasers!? Have you told Vin yet? This is going to elevate our group to the highest ranks!" Autumn said, eyes wide, gripping the table.

  Once Syd and I arrived back at our apartment, I told her that I only had two days before I needed to hit the road again. We decided that on the day before she needed to go back to work, we'd spend the day as couch potatoes making fun of stupid movies and ordering takeout. Then on my last day in town, after she got off work, we'd go to a play and then get dessert after.

  I still needed to collect Karlo's things from Luana, but I pushed that off until right before the play started. Even though the mob was hunting me, I yearned for the calm moments from my old life. First order of business was to get that amazing cinnamon roll that was robbed from me. No one would steal this moment from me again. Sitting at one of the tables, I enjoyed each bite, letting out small giggles.

  When the moment was over, I looked up to see that everyone in the café was staring at me with mouths open. Some were staring in disgust, shaking their heads as they walked past. There was a group of girls that were pointing and laughing at me. I quickly gathered up my stuff and then quickly left the café.

  It's a good thing it'll be a while before I can return. Otherwise, I'd have to wear a disguise anytime I want to get my precious.

  After I finished eating my treat, I took a walk around the city to a few of my old favorite spots and visited a few friends I haven't seen in a while. The last person I needed to see was Autumn, who I'm currently having dinner with right now.

  "Hell yeah we are! I packed my gaming desktop and a monitor so we can game while I'm on the road." I laughed. "Hopefully I never have to solve another murder again."

  "Anymore? Hold on, you solved more murders besides the liver stealer?" Autumn said, eyes growing wide and leaning forward.

  "It was only one other one. It happened when Syd and I were on the cruise. There was a guy that told me the story of Mr. Hands…"

  "Crazy story, right! For such an intelligent guy, you'd think he would have been smarter about getting his rocks off."

  "You already know about him?"

  "Of course I know about him, Tom. Do you live under a rock? It was such a huge story back in the day."

  "No, I'm just not chronically online."

  "That's a compelling argument. Carry on."

  "So that guy ended up cheating on his girlfriend with two other women, and one of them pushed him off a balcony during a storm. I tried using the security footage and audio like the first case, but again the cameras were kind of useless. Using the footage, I could only make out a grainy image of a bracelet, so I needed to find each of them and figure out which bracelet looked similar enough to the crappy image."

  Autumn sat back with her hands on top of her head. "We used to play detective all the time, just for fun. I never would have thought you'd go out there and actually become one!"

  "Slow your roll. I'm not a detective. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and decided to help fix the situation." I paused, and images of our childhood detective games filled my head: searching for mysteries in every corner of our neighborhood. "It's funny. I forgot how we would go all over town to search for missing animals or solving murder mysteries using your stuffed animals as the characters."

  "Oh my gosh, right! Those days were so much fun! I was Detective Autumn, and you were Detective Tom!" Autumn started to chuckle. "I just remembered when we were dating back in middle school. For date night, we'd ask our parents to take us to the mall and we'd people watch while our moms shopped. The things we'd see were hilarious! I still do it every now and then!"

  "Same here!" I laughed.

  Our table went quiet. We both stared anywhere but at each other. I knew we were both remembering the good times when we dated. Before Autumn came out as a lesbian, I was her only boyfriend. Despite breaking up, we still kept in touch here and there.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Even though we may not spend as much time together as we did when we were dating, our connection still held strong. Every time we met, we'd get transported back in time to when we were just little kids figuring out love for the first time.

  I was the first to break the silence. "So how are things with Kelly?" I said, taking a sip of my water.

  Autumn cleared her throat and sat up a little bit straighter. "Things are great. We're still dating. In fact, things are starting to get pretty serious. We plan on moving in with each other. I told her that I want to meet her family in the countryside of Germany. So she's started teaching me German a while ago, and I've gotten so good I don't speak much English at home anymore. Reading is still a bit difficult though."

  "Oh, wow, that's some exciting news! How long have you guys been dating now? A year?"

  "Yeah, but it feels like we just started." Autumn started to blush, then continued. "Every day just feels so magical and new. I really do think I've found my soulmate. I'm confident that she'll be my wife."

  "Whoa there, slow it down, cowgirl." I laughed, taking a sip of water. "You're still in the honeymoon phase. Why don't you give it more time before you start thinking about marriage?"

  Autumn rolled her eyes. "Come on, you're being a hypocrite. If I remember right, you were saying the same thing about Syd when you guys started dating," she said, pointing at me and squinting her eyes.

  "That's different. You've met Syd. I've heard from multiple people that men and women alike are hoping we'll break up. Honestly, after recent events, I'm half convinced someone put a curse on me hoping I'd end up dead."

  "You're right, she's pretty incredible. So what's the holdup? When are you going to put a ring on that finger?" Autumn asked.

  "We've been dating for around two years now, but after just three months, I was certain I wanted to spend my life with her. I was ready to propose this year, but this whole mob thing kind of threw a wrench in my plans. But once this whole shit show is settled, I'm going to pop the question."

  "Oh, that's exciting! I can help with the planning! What kind of theme are you thinking? Traditional? Syd seems like she'd want something you'd see in one of those wedding catalogs. Maybe Gothic? The way you dress, and your last name, the bride and groom can be demons. Oh wait, what about Murder Mystery? We can even find a real dead body at a real crime scene!"

  I burst out laughing. "We are definitely not having it near a real crime scene, and besides, I think I need a break from murder mysteries for a while."

  Autumn's smile dropped, and her face twisted into a depressed frown. "You're probably right. We'd have to stage the murder. Not to mention it might traumatize the kids to see a real dead body. But it could build character for them, so don't completely rule it out."

  "Sure, but the victim will be a paid actor with some really good special effects. I don't want the ghost of the murdered to follow me and Syd on our honeymoon."

  We both laughed at the idea of kids running around screaming their heads off after witnessing blood pour out of the minister's eyes because the killer poisoned him during the champagne toast. Our fantasizing was cut short by a chime from Autumn's phone.

  Autumn's eyes grew wide as she looked down at the phone. "Oh shit, I'm going to be late! Jackie just messaged me that she's at the theatre already." Reaching into her wallet, Autumn started to pull out some bills. "I don't remember how much my food cost. I'm just going to give you a bunch of cash. Whatever is over, put it towards your food and the tip."

  I waved my hand in protest. "Don't worry about it. This is my treat."

  "Oh, you're the best as always, Tom! The next one is on me! See you later!" Autumn said, running out the door.

  "See ya," I said, waving as Autumn gathered her things and ran out of the restaurant. I couldn't help but laugh when she ran by, wildly waving at me as I spotted her in the restaurant's mirror.

  I'm glad she hasn't changed.

  After I paid the bill, I walked to my car in the parking lot.

  While I was on the road running from the mob, I tracked down the muffin man's son and told him everything that happened with his father. I gave him all my savings to help pay for everything: the funeral, fixing the shop, and any other problems that I may have caused.

  Since insurance paid for the shop repairs, the muffin man's son used my money to cover the funeral instead. He treated whatever was left over as payment for the car and gave it to me because his dying father had asked him to. After I got the title, I started driving the muffin man's Prius as my daily car. But even then, I still felt like I hadn't done enough to repay the enormous debt I owed the muffin man.

  Pressing the start engine button, I waited for my phone to connect to the screen and then called Syd. "Hey darling, how was dinner with Autumn?" Syd said. I could hear a blow dryer in the background.

  "It was a lot of fun. We just wrapped up since she needed to catch a movie with Jackie." Pulling out of the parking lot, I merged into the flow of cars. "I'm about to head over to Luana's now to get Karlo's stuff."

  "Ugh, I wish Karlo would send someone else! You need to be careful. I don't want her putting some kind of weird spell over you! I'm already terrified the mob is going to snatch you up and start ripping out your fingernails for fun before they torture you."

  I chuckled. "I'll be okay, honey. Karlo gave me strict instructions on what to do and how to avoid being charmed by her. But just in case, if I don't text you when I leave and I'm gone for more than an hour, call Karlo."

  "Ugh, this Monarch or whatever needs to start doing background checks on who he's giving powers to. She is clearly some narcissistic psychopath and should've never gotten them," Syd said, turning off the blow dryer. "I'm almost finished getting ready, so I'll head over to the theatre when you text me that you're okay."

  "Okay honey, I'll see you soon," I said, hanging up the phone.