But there was something else. Right in the center was Allen Gordon. His profile picture was his grinning face from the bearskin rug picture. And he was floating somewhere along Main Street.
“I know where Allen Gordon is,” I exclaimed, showing Jude the map.
“Wait. You’re on Sparkwhileyou’re eating my breakfast?”
“It’s for the investigation.”
“Uh-huh.” Jude shook his head. “You are something, Ophelia Ella Takeda.”
“That’s what all my Spark hookups say,” I teased.
“Hookups likeAllen Gordon? Whatdoyou have your age parameters set to on there?”
“To be clear, I’m never hooking up with Allen Gordon in this universe or any other. And also, Spark never respects my age parameters.”
“Is that why you ended up with baby Spider-Man? Wait. I don’t want to know.”
I shoveled the last of my omelet into my mouth and then stood.
“Where are you going?” Jude asked, alarmed.
“To talk to Allen Gordon. See if he’s okay.” I went for the Converse I’d kicked off in Jude’s foyer the night before.
“We should call Oscar.”
“So he can yell at us and tell us to stay at home?” I ducked down to tie a shoelace.
“Oscar has a point.” Jude raised both eyebrows.
“Fine. I’ll call him.” I stood and pulled out my phone from my Kenough sweatshirt and called Oscar. I got sent straight to voicemail. Again. This was becoming a bad habit. I didn’t leave a message. Instead, I texted him a picture of the dating map and Allen Gordon’s location. “I tried,” I said, and shrugged.
“Oh, so your plan is just to run out there, unprotected, and be murdered?”
I groaned. “No,” I said. “My plan isnotto be murdered. Besides, I just want to go check this out.”
“Wait,” Jude said. “I’m coming with you.”
“I thought you had a work meeting.”
“I’ve got time.”
We grabbed our coats from the hooks near Jude’s front door. Jude grabbed his keys and wallet from the front foyer table.
“One second,” he said as he checked his security cameras—all four of them—around the house. “Okay, all clear.”
“Let’s go.” I grabbed my sling bag and headed outside, peering at my phone. It looked like Allen Gordon was at Gordon’s Frozen Custard, which was weird, since the health department had closed that location. I remembered the chains I’d seen on the door. While I watched Gordon’s dot, a new dot popped up. Right next to me. It had a microscope as an avatar, and his moniker was Dr. Jude.
“Oh. My. God.” I showed Jude the map. “How long have you been on Spark?”
Jude’s cheeks flushed pink. “Only since I found out you were on there.” He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and glared ahead, not making eye contact with me.
“Oh my God. I’ve got to see this.” I clicked on the Spark app and pulled up Dr. Jude.
“Aw, you put a picture of you in yourlab coat? Really?” I showedJude the picture of him wearing his white lab coat and black-framed glasses, a selfie that I was pretty sure was taken in his lab.
“Womenlikesmart men,” Jude said, his tone defensive.
“Do they? I thought they liked six-pack abs,” I joked as I stopped on a picture of him shirtless kayaking, shirtless, showing off all his ripped muscles on the sparkling waters of Lake Sanguis. My underwear? Instantly drenched.
