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We actually made it through the entire meal without any crazy disasters or magical attacks, then headed out into the crisp autumn evening. “There’s a bakery not too far from here. I thought we could walk off dinner and head up there for dessert,” he said.

“Sounds good to me. Lead on.”Advertisement

We walked uptown, got some cupcakes and cocoa at the bakery, and continued strolling. When we crossed Fourteenth, he pulled a small sheaf of folded papers out of his jacket pocket and studied the top page, which was a map. He shoved it back into his pocket and steered us around the next corner.

“Owen, what is this about?” I asked when we’d walked up and down several remarkably non-scenic blocks.

He looked sheepish and said, “I think that photo from Earl came from somewhere around here.”

“Oh, you do know the way to a girl’s heart,” I said, standing on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. “I didn’t think you’d be willing to just sit by.”

He smiled and blushed as he said, “The cell tower that handled that call is in this area. That may or may not mean anything. Any tower within range may have picked up the call. But I did some online photo searches, and the kind of building in the photo is really common in this neighborhood. So, I figured there was no harm in wandering the neighborhood and seeing if anything looks familiar.”

“Excellent idea,” I said. “Let’s try the next street over.”

We walked up and down the neighborhood, frequently comparing the nearby buildings to the printout of Earl’s photo. “So many of them are so close, but not quite,” I said after we’d been searching at least an hour. “Maybe we’re looking at them from the wrong angle.”

“We should be able to see it from the angle where Earl took the photo, and wherever he was then, he must have seen something he wanted me to know about.”

“Unless, of course, he pocket dialed the photo.”

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“I don’t think that’s possible. But even if it was, he couldn’t have taken that photo from inside his pocket. He was investigating, and the building isn’t particularly attractive or interesting, I’m pretty sure he photographed it for a reason.”

“Maybe we should do this in daylight,” I suggested after another half hour of searching. “He took the photo in daylight. Things look different in the dark.”

“But when it’s dark, we may be able to see inside if the interior’s lit.”

“I wonder what your followers think of all this wandering around.”

“I hope their feet are tired.” He usually just sounded resigned about the people who watched him for signs of evil, but there was a hint of relish behind his wish. I didn’t think I’d ever get him to tell me outright what he felt about it, but I was getting the idea.

Then we rounded a corner, and there it was. “Owen, that’s it!” I said, grabbing his arm.

We stopped and he took the photo out of his pocket to compare. “Yeah, that’s definitely it.”

“So you’re going to call Sam, right?”

He didn’t answer, but I glared at him until he got out his phone and called the gargoyle. He gave the address, and after a pause he said, “Of course I won’t do anything stupid. I just happened to run across it while I was out with Katie and thought you’d want to know.” When he’d put away the phone he turned to me and said, “Want to check it out?”

“Wouldn’t that fall into the category of stupid things you just told Sam you wouldn’t do?”

“I just want a peek. And besides, how much trouble can I get into when I have two of the Council’s best enforcers watching my every move? They won’t let me get away with anything evil, but I don’t think they’ll let me come to harm, either.”

To be perfectly honest, I also wanted to check things out. “What do you think the building is?” I asked. Strange lights showed through the upper windows. “It’s not just some elf rave or underground nightclub, is it? Maybe that’s why Earl took a picture, since the cool places don’t have signs.”

“Can you imagine Earl going to a cool place? Or anyone inviting me to one?”

“Good point.” We walked around the block so we could examine the building from all sides. At one point, we flattened ourselves into a doorway when we saw someone approach the building’s entry, but they just walked on by. After that false alarm, we almost didn’t react in time when someone did go up to the door. There were three in the group, and if I wasn’t mistaken, one of them didn’t want to be there. pqdm.com