Marduk only posted professional quality photos with all different themes and subjects. Some of them were so beautiful that they made me tear up. A black and white image of a mother cradling a child hit me hard. The mother's soft smile as she stared down at her sleeping child held me captive for several minutes.
I scrolled through to find that Marduk had a new post. At first, I thought it was an image of a jungle, but then I saw the jaguar hidden in the foliage. It was staring down Marduk's camera, but not to attack. It looked more like it was scared to move for fear that Marduk might turn aggressive.
It seemed that the jaguar knew who the real predator was.
After commenting on both Danzig's coffee picture and Marduk's jaguar, I closed PixUs and opened TrackIt. That was the app linked with the trackers I'd bought.
In an attempt to increase the odds, I’d sent three different envelopes, one from an insurance agency, another from the state government, and for the third I’d made up a company.
I tracked them from the post office to the stoner's apartment. Then they didn’t move for an entire day, but now they were on the move again
I’d hoped at least one of them would lead me to Hugo, but all three were traveling! Excitement made me clumsy as I shoved stuff in my purse and shut down the computer.
“I’m leaving for the day!” I called out to Jim. He came out of his office as I was grabbing my sweater.
“Are there invoices?” he asked, eyeing my desk.
“Not today,” I said.
He frowned. “I know this is only a part-time job, but I need you to be professional.”
I gave him an overly dramatic gasp. “Oh, I’m so very sorry Mr. Masel! I’ll sit right down and get those done.” I sat down and looked at the empty space on my desk. “Wait, I don’t seemto have the spreadsheet I gave you yesterday to fill out so I can create the invoices.”
Turning in my seat, I glared up at him. He flushed, and his demeanor immediately changed. “Sorry, I forgot.”
Despite my eagerness to follow the trackers, I stood up and faced Jim. “What’s going on? This isn’t like you.”
Jim let out a sigh, still not meeting my eyes. “I’m just a little distracted. Stay safe.”
With that, he turned, went back into his office, and shut the door. Part of me wanted to pursue him and demand he tell me what was really going on, but poor Hugo was waiting to be rescued!
I grabbed my purse and jacket before rushing out of the office. Despite being in a hurry, I took a moment to look around. I didn’t see Marduk or Danzig. I wasn’t supposed to be leaving for another hour so maybe whoever was watching me today had taken a quick break, assuming they’d be back before I left.
With a little giggle, I rushed to my car. They were going to be so surprised when they got back and saw that I was gone.
I plugged my phone into the car and mapped the spot where the tracker had stopped.
It was a typical sunny Southern California day, and it was early enough that the traffic wasn’t too bad. The tracker led me to a nice neighborhood full of well kept single-family homes.
He must be staying with a friend here. As far as I could tell, he hadn’t returned to the apartment he shared with stoner-dude since Gale had hired me. That made me curious if he was hiding from Gale or something more sinister? Maybe he was a drug dealer or robber.
I parked across the street and watched the house for a while. The cheap, beat-up Civic in the driveway was familiar. I’d seen it parked outside Leif’s apartment building. The damage patternwas too distinct for me to mistake it for another car. I bet that it was stoner-guy’s car.
I knew I needed to wait until he left, so I got comfy. For the first time in days, I didn’t open up PixUs. I was worried I’d find a notification from one of the brothers asking where I’d gone.
It wasn’t my job to make sure they could keep up with me.
Despite telling myself that, I still felt guilty. They might be following me, but they’d been keeping their distance. No interfering at work or when I didn’t go straight home. They hadn’t even come into the bar I’d visited with Em the other night.
They were giving me the space I’d asked for. Maybe I shouldn’t have deliberately evaded them. It seemed rude, like I wasn’t keeping up my end of our strange bargain. Not that we’d formally agreed to anything, but there was definitely an implied understanding.
“It’s only this once,” I muttered to the empty car. “After today I won’t deliberately ditch them again.”
Coming to that decision made me want to get this case over with. Hugo might not even be here, and then I’d need to start all over again anyway.
The thought that Leif and Hugo might be somewhere else made me feel less guilty for ditching whoever was guarding me today.
Might as well confirm and head home. I’d knock on the door and get a look inside when someone answered. Dogs didn’t tend to be quiet when a stranger showed up at the front door. It’d be a quick way to find out.
