“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Stenway unfolded from the chair and stood up. I flicked the light on. His eyes had dark circles under them, and his tie was loosened and a little crooked. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sydney’s hands jerk up automatically, then lower slowly.

  “You could have at least turned the light on.”

  “You might not have come in. I’m sorry, I truly didn’t mean to frighten you.” He pointed at the other chairs around the table. “Are you busy?”

  I looked at Sydney. This felt like her call. She looked at me, wordless.

  “No, we aren’t busy.” I pulled out one of the chairs and looked at Stenway. “As long as we all just admit this is awkward.” Sydney flopped into one of the other chairs and stared at the table.

  “Yes. It is. I’m sorry.” Stenway sat back down. “I feel like all I’ve done the past few weeks is apologize to different people. The lab, our grocer, the reporters, the men from…” He broke off. “And I haven’t even spoken to you ladies yet. I’m sorry.”

  I frowned. “Well you owe my sister a bigger apology than me but don’t do it now. You can make it up to me by telling me what happened after that night. I haven’t seen you at all.”

  “I know. It’s been so busy. I don’t even know what all I’m allowed to tell you or where to begin.”

  “Ok, start with Ms. H. What happened to her?”

  Stenway grinned a little bit. “She was admitted to the hospital to monitor her condition. Two days later, she vanished from the hospital, and completely. They don’t even have records that she was there.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I know a few people that are trying to find her, and even with the information I gave them, she has completely vanished. Mr. Left wouldn’t have left her out to dry, anyways. I guarantee they aren’t anywhere together now, he’s too smart for that. But they are still trying to track her down to see if she’ll lead them to him.”

  “Who is they?” I glanced from Stenway back to Sydney. She had her hands folded on the table, crossing and uncrossing them, not looking up.

  “Shall we say, special men with special skills.”

  “Like Super police?” I sat up in my chair. “Here? In the house?”

  “These men,” Stenway continued, as if I hadn’t interrupted, “Have gone over the entire house looking for signs. And I mean the entire house. That’s what I’ve been doing the past few weeks. Going over it with them. Found out a lot, nothing helpful.” He ran his hands through his normally tidy hair and stood it straight up on end.

  I laughed. Sydney looked up from her hands long enough to take it in, and frowned. Quickly Stenway smoothed it back down. “He was a very secretive man, and she was secretive as well.” He looked at me. “Thanks to your sister, I was able to give them the information about her incorrect address and they are following that up.”

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  I felt my face burning. “Well, ok, I’m glad she could help you some. Why don’t you thank her yourself.” I stood up, shoved my chair in, and slammed the door on the way out of the kitchen.

  I tried not to think about what was going on in the kitchen as I hurried back home. Instead, I thought about Chris Blue and the fellows. I wondered if Peach knew anything about Super police or law enforcement. It was a Saturday, so there was a good chance they were at the drugstore, but I was worried about Sydney.

  Finally I decided to catch a bus and find the fellows. Sydney would not be in any mood to talk when she got home, regardless of what happened in that kitchen. She would be mad at me for leaving her in that kitchen all alone. Which was fair. I just couldn’t believe she’d taken credit for the whole address thing.

  I walked to the bus stop, just daydreaming. I was kind of shaken up by Stenway’s attitude. And very annoyed. I had been there for every step of the way of that whole thing and now he wouldn’t tell me what was going on. I stewed on the ride down to the drugstore. It wasn’t fair for him to cut me off now.

  “Hey.” Donny flapped a comic book at me in greeting.

  “Hey. Did you see the news?”

  “Yeah, the interview that guy did?” He snorted. “So weird. A good lie though. If I didn’t know any better, I probably would have bought it.” He slipped the book back on the shelf. “Come on. We’re meeting today to wrap up loose ends.”

  I dug around in my coat pocket for bus fare and groaned. “I only have enough to get me home.”

  Donny blinked. “That’s ok, I guess. We can walk. It’s not too far.” He brightened. “I know a shortcut! Clive taught it to me.”

  “So prepare for danger.”

  He grinned. We wandered out of the shop and cut around into the alley behind it. It led for a few blocks behind shops slimy with condensation, lined with bins. Every now and then, Donny checked in between buildings to confirm where we were. Finally, we popped out between a dirty cafe and a laundromat. “Ta-dah!” Donny pointed to a tall line of trees across the street. “This is the back of the park. There’s a little fence to hop over but there’s usually no one around.”

  Sure enough, we made it over the limp wire fence without any trouble and began hurrying across the park towards the gazebo.

  The giant statue of Mr. Left finally rose into view and I stopped. “Donny, did we ever figure anything out about that statue?”

  “What?”

  “The statue? Remember, we thought it might be hollow?”

  But Donny wasn’t paying me any attention. He broke into a slow jog in the general direction of the gazebo, but broke off to the left. I followed, realizing what he was moving towards. The fellows stood clustered in a little knot by one of the benches. They looked up as we got closer.

  “What’s up?” Donny gasped out at them. Chris Blue lifted a hand in my direction, and Peach nodded at me. Clive said nothing, which was nice for a change. I finally made it to them as Donny regained his breath and straightened up. “What’s up?” He repeated, a little louder.

  Peach frowned. “We can’t get in.”

  “To the gazebo?”

  Clive rolled his eyes. “No, to the idiot store.”

  I glared at him. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

  “Alright, enough already.” Chris glared at both of us. “Yes, the gazebo. Everything has been boarded up, for real. See?” He pointed. Where the white lattice siding had been, now there were white slats, running from the bottom of the gazebo floor all the way to the ground. “Clive checked it, it’s all solid. Very annoying.” He looked around at us. “Any suggestions?”

  “There aren’t a ton of people here today, we can just sit on this bench.”

  Clive snorted. “That’s the problem with girls.” He sneered. “A group of boys sitting on a bench usually means we’re up to something. That’s why we look for a meeting place.”

  I grumbled something under my breath, but I didn’t really want to irritate Chris Blue. He was right, we did have a problem.