Page 21 of Dark Endures

“See? I told you.” Canyon gives me a pointed look.

“I’m working on it.”

“Let me know if you need help. I’ll keep a closer eye on her in surveillance,” Canyon offers.

“There’s no need for that.”

Canyon stops and stares at me. “You’re already watching her.”

I nod.

“Louisella and I need to have a little chat. See you later.” Canyon sets down Petunia and walks out as fast as he walked in.

And the drama has already started. I need to figure out Mindy soon before more chaos happens with my men.

That means I need to attack this in a different way.

***

Nothing. I toss my pen down on my desk. We’ve found not a single new clue to lead us to Marlie or our rat.

She has to be somewhere, and he’ll be the clue to finding her.

But I’m not going to find either of them tonight. My stomach rumbles. When was the last time I ate?

Breakfast this morning. It’s after eleven now. Mindy’s been working for a few hours now. I look over at the security cameras in the snake room. There she is cleaning out Doodles’ cage with Candy wound around her neck.

Mindy looks tired.

Who isn’t at this time of night? Has she lost weight?

There’s no way the stubborn woman would answer if I asked. But she needs to eat and take a break. This might be a good time to put my new plan into action.

Time to pull out the big guns. I call Ace down at the restaurant and order three meals sent up.

She’s alone right now. The cute girl next door smile she’s giving Candy could bring a man down.

Mindy is your employee. Don’t look at her like she’s a woman.

A pretty one at that.

I need to dive deeper than a standard background check. Social media isn’t something I worry about when I hire. Does it really matter if your employee got drunk and did something stupid? But what it is good for is to find out if she’s dating someone and who it is.

Only there isn’t a single sign that she has a boyfriend all the way back to her high school days. That’s simply not possible. Maybe she keeps her private life private.

But a woman who posts pictures of her apartment can’t be that concerned about privacy.

Still, there has to be someone. I send a quick email to Enzo, asking him to do a deeper dive in the morning.

Ace walks in carrying four covered trays. His restaurant does a lot of local deliveries, and we all know to bring them back to be cleaned. “Are you really this hungry?”

The smell alone makes my stomach growl. “Not quite, but close.”

Ace raises an eyebrow but knows better than to pry. “In that case, I’m glad I brought you some dessert.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime. You got right in before we shut the kitchen down for the night. Enjoy.” Ace walks away.

---