Page 77 of The Best Trick

A split second later, I was hoisted up and ferried through the air, screaming and laughing. Out the door we went. It didn’t take long before I found myself in the hot tub, Sarah Newsome wig and all, with my three fabulous husbands.

FIFTEEN

It was 4:45 a.m.—not yet dawn. We waited down the block from Alfred’s place, one of a series of boxlike homes set in a row; Alfred’s was painted a pale blue, and it had heavily manicured trees out front. In the darkness, they looked like blobs on sticks.

“There’s some mad gardening techniques right there,” Odin said.

The front door opened. We all slid down our seats and waited except Thor, who was watching him through binoculars, shielded from view by one of those reflective things that keeps the sun from heating up your car. My guys found those extra handy for staking out places.

Footsteps sounded on the pavement, soft patters as he ran by.

We waited until he was out of sight and then quietly got out of the car and melted through the darkened lawns toward his house, or at least my guys melted; I more crept in the style of a not-very-stealthy cartoon character. Odin let me in the back sliding door. The guys were already searching. We didn’t think Doris would actually be there, but hopefully a clue to her whereabouts would turn up.

Alfred's house was decorated in a Southwestern theme with lots of pastels, which didn’t exactly say dognapping employee of a murderous agency, but then, what does?

I searched one side of the living room and then the foyer.

“Anything?” Odin asked me, passing by.

“Just that, based on these decorations, he's definitely the one that picked the exterior paint color.”

Odin came to me. “Is that really the kind of detail we're looking for right now?”

“All information is important; don’t you always say that?”

“Nothing in the basement,” Thor said, coming upstairs with Zeus. A search of the bedrooms and bathroom yielded an equal amount of nothing.

“No computer, no phone,” Odin said, coming out of the kitchen. He was eyeing the walls and the ceiling, looking for false panels. I sensed that our search would soon be entering the demolition phase.

Thor spoke right then. “He’s back.”

It hadn’t been even twenty minutes! I ducked behind a salmon-colored couch, and Thor crouched behind a matching salmon-colored chair; Zeus and Odin took the closet.

Alfred walked in the front, panting. He toed off his shoes and set his phone on the counter. A few seconds later, the bathroom door opened and closed, and then the shower went on.

Odin popped out of his closet and crept over to nab Alfred’s phone. He made a hand motion that meant for us to stay in our places. I crouched back down.

He whipped an iPad and some cables out of his jacket and sat down in the corner. He hooked the stuff together and got busy tapping and swiping. I was glad I had a view of him; it really was a marvel to watch him work, the ultimate in competence porn.

A satisfied smile soon played across his handsome face—our techie was in, probably reviewing recent calls and text messages. His smile soon turned upside down, however. Finding nothing, I guessed.

He stood and pulled out his gun. “Hard way it is,” he said, not bothering to be quiet.

Thor stood and stretched his legs. Zeus strolled out of the closet with a huge sigh.

“You guys!” I whispered.

“He’ll know soon enough.” Zeus went into the kitchen and came back with a bag of Cheetos and settled himself onto the couch. Thor sat down on the chair and crossed his legs, posed like the ultimate man of leisure.

Odin was the one to actually go in and extract Alfred. Odin was the best at getting a person off-balance. It could be really sexy in certain scenarios, though I doubted Alfred would appreciate that.

“So it’s gonna be that kind of party,” I said.

“What’s that, goddess?” Zeus asked, popping a Cheeto into his mouth.

“Psychophysical,” I said.

Psychophysical was their fancy way of sayingact as if.They were especially into it when it came to bank robberies, always going in strong and wild no matter how worried they felt, behaving as if they were a mighty and unstoppable force.

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