We were quick to be seated. It only took a glance over the menu for me to decide on the eggs benedict. We all ordered and chatted about where to ride next.
When the food arrived, we all went silent as we devoured our meals. About halfway through, my phone dinged. I pulled it out to finally find a DM from a PixUs account I didn’t follow.
RealEstateGale
I can see you have the dog in your pictures. Meet me here in 1 hour to give the dog back.
That was followed by an address. I frowned and looked at the account. It had been created today and had one post of a house that looked like it had been taken from a real estate site.
TheNewMe888
I’ve been trying to call and text you. Why haven’t you answered me?
RealEstateGale
My phone account was hacked. It’s locked down right now. I haven't been able to get it back yet. I have a new number but I couldn’t get access to any of my old information. It didn’t take long to find you on this app when I found out you worked for Masel Investigations. You’ve posted about your job a few times.
Now I was sure this wasn’t Gale. She already knew I worked for them. She had met me at the office!
“You’re making annoyed sounds, what’s going on?” Marduk asked. He was sitting across from me and Danzig was next to me. I turned my phone so Marduk could see it, then showed it to Danzig.
“Gale is the woman who hired you to find Hugo, right?” Danzig asked. I nodded. “Then that makes no sense.”
I set my phone down and thought about it. “We know three things for sure. One is that this isn’t Gale. Two is that Gale’s phone has been off, at least since I found Hugo. Third is that Lief is dead. The question is; are all these things connected, and if so, how? And why does everyone want Hugo? I mean, he’s cute and all, but he’s an average dog. He doesn’t seem worth stealing, then hiring me to find him, then pretending to be someone else to get him.”
“It’s all a big mystery," Danzig said, then looked at his brother and grabbed his wrist across the table. They had one of their silent conversations and Marduk finally nodded.
“You’re right,” he said.
“Danzig is right about what?” I asked.
Marduk popped the last half of a spring roll in his mouth as Danzig talked.
“This is a mystery and we’re investigators,” he said.
Excitement made me sit up straight. “So we’re going to the address to find out who is pretending to be Gale?”
“We are not taking Hugo!” Marduk warned.
“No, of course not,” I said. “Until we figure this out, he’s not going anywhere. Not even if Gale finally contacts me.”
It only took me a few taps to map the address. I held up the phone again, displaying the route. “It’s not far from here. We could drive by first and see if there’s anything obviously wrong.”
“Like someone dragging a body wrapped in trash bags from the front door to a car trunk?” Danzig teased.
“Something like that,” I agreed. “Or maybe a bloody hammer on the front lawn or a trapdoor with a pit trap built into the front porch.”
As Danzig chuckled, Marduk frowned.
“One of us goes to the door first, and you stay with the other, on a bike, with the engine running,” he declared.
I didn’t care about the extra rules. The guys were far tougher than me and could always turn into almost indestructible serpents.
“Sure, you can knock first,” I agreed. As long as I got answers I didn’t mind them going in ahead of me. “Hurry and finish eating, we have clues to follow!”
Chapter 17
Danzig
