Page 28 of Dark Endures

“Come on. They’re for Brie. She has been craving them. I’ve tried everywhere, but they aren’t close to as good as yours.”

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do.” Ace pulls out his phone. He has culinary contacts around the globe.

None of us can handle even the idea of a pregnant woman not getting what she needs to eat. “One of the jets will be on standby if you need it.”

“That’ll make things easier. I can probably find the squash down south this time of year.” Ace walks across the room to make the call without disturbing Enzo.

Onyx walks in. “The hacker just hit the dress shop and library. Whoever this guy is, he needs to pay. He stole the money from the kids’ donation jar.”

That’s low. The kids around here love the library so much that they’ll drop change into a little jar on the checkout desk. We add to it and throw a big party at the library every quarter where the kids get to each pick out a new book to add to the collection. Only scum steals from children.

“Mrs. Wright better not hear about this. She’ll flay them alive.”

Pit isn’t wrong. Even at her age, Louisella would do that without even blinking. She taught most of us how to wield a knife. “Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Dyce snorts.

“Maybe she’ll let us have the pleasure of discussing manners with our soon-to-be-dead friend.” Hopefully, Ochs took care of that. Though he’s more likely to side with her since he works for her husband.

“I won’t be finding anyone today,” Enzo chimes in without looking away from the screen. “This hacker is way beyond my capabilities.”

Not good. That means we’re dealing with a professional. “You couldn’t get anything?”

“Not much. The only thing they don’t seem to be protecting are the IP addresses, which are probably spoofed. You’re going to need to bring someone in.”

That means asking for a favor. Something I don’t do often. This hacker is a joker. They want to play a game with us. What if the IP is a clue? “Where are the IP addresses located?”

Enzo types furiously for a few seconds. “All around Willow Street.”

Here? “They were using our internet to steal from us?”

“Maybe. Possibly.”

“Pull up the security feeds on the bakery at the exact time of the transfer on one screen. Then pull up the pet store’s feeds.” Let’s see if this jokester left us any clues.

Enzo pops up the images on two of the screens.

Everyone clusters around looking.

Both images are filled with people. A few of them are both places. “Add in the gym and library.”

“That kid. I saw him at the bakery.” Fea points to a lanky teenage boy holding an ancient-looking cell phone.

“He was in the pet store.” Pit points to where the kid is standing next to one of the recent strays a kid found behind the bakery’s dumpster but looking at his phone.

“There he is, by the library.” Ace points out. “And he was in my restaurant for a few minutes, but changed his mind and left.”

A kid did all this? Why? “Is he still around?”

Enzo pulls up our facial recognition software and sets it to find the troublemaker.

An image pops up of the kid sitting on a bench right across from this building, seemingly resting without a care in the world on his smug little face. “Pit, go get him.”

“With pleasure.”

“I’m going to head back to the bakery.” Fea walks over to me and stops silently for a second. The reminder clear on her face that he’s just a kid.

Like I could ever forget that. It wasn’t too long ago that I was a punk kid with a gun and questionable morals. The questionable morals haven’t really changed even though I outgrew being a punk.

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