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Chain Of Hearts

by J.T. Siemens

About the Author: J.T. Siemens lives and works in Vancouver, which most people find a very postcard-pretty place. He prefers the city’s dark and seedy underbelly, which is where he finds his solace and inspiration. His fiction has been published in Down in the Dirt, Heater, Front & Centre, and Vancouver Magazine. His novel, To Those Who Killed Me, was recently nominated for the Unhanged Arthur Ellis Award. He is currently working on his second novel, Devil’s Breath. Samples of his work can be found jtsiemens.com

Excerpt

The stolen bunny ornament fell from Kitt’s overcoat. Picking the trinket off the floor, I looked into her green eyes as I handed it back. They seemed to spark playfully under the red glow of the Christmas lights outside the window.

Oops. The bunny disappeared back inside her coat and she took a sip of her rum toddy.

I told her I recalled that particular critter from the tree at the Pan Pacific. Across the table, Rachel and Eddie laughed.

Rachel, our matchmaker, called Kitt a naughty little klepto, and Eddie, Rachel’s fiancé, asked her what else she had jacked that night.

After a quick deliberation, she shrugged, took another sip, and reached back inside her coat. Turned out the night’s haul consisted of tree ornaments: a scowling green Grinch, (Fairmont), a pink-and-blue plastic LED icicle (Hotel Georgia), a miniature snow globe (Four Seasons), a micro-menorah (Sutton Place), a Rasta-Jesus (Pac Rim), and a blue sheep wearing a Santa cap (unknown). Kitt’s booty sat in the middle of the table, an eclectic assemblage chronicling our jaunt through the holiday bedecked lobbies of the city’s upscale hotels. We marveled that none of us had witnessed any of the acquisitions.

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