9. Mina

Morrie, Oscar, and I walked back to Nevermore Bookshop. Morrie tapped away on his phone. "The pattern on that boot was rather distinctive. I'm hunting for a match. So far, I can confirm that our duck-napper was definitely not wearing a pair of this season's Versace loafers."

"That's useful, thank you. Did you go directly to the Versace website because you're looking for a match, or because you want new shoes?"

"Your lack of faith in my sleuthing skills astounds me." Morrie went to insert the key into the door of the shop. "Odd. The door is unlocked."

"Heathcliff and Quoth must be back from Lachlan Hall."

Morrie shoved the door all the way. "Heathcliff wouldn't leave the front door open. Customers might come in."

"True. Maybe it's—Argh!"

A shadow reached out and grabbed me, yanking me inside.

"There you are, darling! I've been trying to find you everywhere."

I squinted into the gloomy hallway. None of my lamps were turned on, which meant I could barely even see her outline. I gripped Oscar's harness. "Mum, what are you doing here?"

"I needed to speak to Heathcliff about the wedding, but he's not here, so I suppose you'll do. I'm having some problems with the favors. My monogramming machine doesn't like doing four initials."

Inwardly, I groaned. When Mum offered to craft our wedding favors as her gift to us, I thought that sounded like a nice, safe way to involve her in the wedding plans without having our special day hijacked by her latest scheme. I should have known better. It turned out that Mum had purchased an industrial embroidery machine that she could program to do all kinds of designs, and she was trying to set herself up as a personalised monogramming business.

Of all her business ideas, monogramming was at least one of the most legitimate. She made actual handkerchiefs and towels instead of the NFTs of Grimalkin that she was trying to sell before. But I knew it was only a matter of time before ‘Helen's Monograms' became susceptible to Mum's…Mumness.

"That machine takes up your entire living room," I pointed out. "Surely it can manage to embroider four initials instead of two."

"I'm sure it can, too, but the instructions are all in German. Andy's taking a class online, but he's not proficient enough to decipher the manual. He can, however, tell me that my hamster smells. Dein hamster riecht. Isn't he clever?"

Behind me, the door swung open, and I caught a whiff of Heathcliff's wild, peaty scent and the fresh lightness of Quoth's presence. Quoth's arm slid around my waist, pulling me against him. He knew I often needed a steady presence when dealing with my mother.

I prepared myself for battle. "Mum, you don't have a hamster."

"I know that, but you never know when it might come in handy. Anyway, since I can't get all of your initials onto the cloth napkins, I thought, maybe we'd just put an M on them."

Morrie perked up. "M for Morrie? I approve."

"M for Mina," Mum corrected. "And maybe an H for Helen, since I did go to all the trouble of making the favors. It would be a huge boost to my business to get in front of all those people."

"You want the wedding favors at our wedding to be monogrammed with MH? Morrie and Heathcliff?" Morrie asked lightly. "People will just think we forgot to add the other two."

"You're right, that is a little confusing. What about just an H? H for Helen. Since it is my machine we're using." Mum beamed. "That's perfect. There will be so many people there who might want their own monogrammed items. It would be good for them to know who I was. Maybe I can add a little business card, too…"

"What about if you did a little picture instead?" Quoth suggested. He grabbed a sketch pad from his satchel and started drawing. "Like this?"

"I really do think that the letter H is our best bet…oh." Mum peered over Quoth's shoulder. "That's really quite good. Maybe you and I could work something out. I don't suppose you happen to read German?"

"What is it?" I tapped the corner of the sketch. Quoth would usually explain what he was drawing to me as he worked.

"It's a surprise," Quoth kissed me lightly on the cheek.

I threw up my hands. "Argh. You lot! This surprise wedding thing is going to your heads. Fine, stay down here and plot things. I'm going upstairs to make a duck-napping board."