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A little , and civics behind and headed again for the cafeteria

"Grab a bag," Scout said e arrived at the buffet line, and pointed at a tray of paper lunch bags "We’ll eat outside"

I’d been a vegetarian since the day I’d hand-fed a la zoo, only to be served la labeled VEGGIE WRAP and a bottle of water and followed her

Scout took a winding route fro open the double doors and heading down the sidewalk I followed her, the city street full of scurrying people--wo sandwiches on their way back to the office, tourists with Starbucks cups and glossy shopping bags

Scout pulled an apple froht "We can’t go far without an escort, but I’ll give you the five-dollar block tour while we eat"

"I’ you five dollars"

"You can owe me," she said "It’ll be worth it Like I said, I’ve been here since I elve So if you want to know the real deal, the real scoop, you talk to me"

I didn’t doubt she knew the real scoop; she’d clearly been here long enough to understand the St Sophia’s procedures But given her ht disappearance, I wasn’t sure she’d pass on "the real scoop" to me

Of course, theThe nuns who built the convent had done a bang-up job of picking real estate--the convent was right in the o Scout said they’d o Fire of 1871, so the city grew up around theothic oasis surrounded by glass, steel, and concrete

One of those glass, steel, and concrete structures stood directly next door

"This boxy thing is Burnha, which looked like a stack of glass boxes placed unevenly atop one another

"Verysprouts and hummus It wasn’t bad, actually, as wraps went

"The architecture isa bite of her apple, "but the bank is very old-school Chicago Old-o"

I definitely wasn’t old school or old money (unless ht), so I guessed I wasn’t going to be visiting the BNB Building any time soon Still, "Good to know," I said

We walked to the next building, which was a complete contrast to the bank This one was a s, the kind of old-fashioned brick building that looked like it had been built by hand in the 1940s PORTMAN ELECTRIC CO was chiseled in stone just above the door The building was pretty in an antique kind of way, but it looked coh-rises and coffee shops and boutique stores

"The Portaze on the facade "It was built during the New Deal when they were trying to keep people employed It’s kind of an antique by Loop standards, but I like it" She was quiet for akind ofhonest about it So real"

A s read SRF I nodded toward the sign "What’s ‘SRF’?"

"Sterling Research Foundation," she said "They do soard for the e Research Foundation, Scout made a bee-line for the narrow alley that separated the SRF from the bank I stuffed the renaled the coast was clear, glanced left and right, then speed-walked into the alley

"Where are we going?" I asked when I reached her

"A secret spot," she said, bobbing her head toward the end of the passageway I glanced up, but saw only dirty brick and a set of Dulanced down at th skirt " ’Cause I’m really not dressed for it"

"Did you ever read Nancy Drew?" Scout suddenly asked

I blinked as I tried to catch up with the segue "Of course?"

"Pretend you’re Nancy," she said "We’re investigating, kind of" She started into the alley, stepping over a wad of newspaper and avoiding a puddle of liquid of unidentifiable origin

I pointed at it "Are we investigating that?"

"Just keep h the narrow space until it dead-ended at the stone wall that bounded St Sophia’s

I frowned at the wall and the grass and gothic buildings that lay beyond it "We walked around two buildings just to come back to St Sophia’s?"

"Check your left, Einstein"

I did as ordered, and had to blink back surprise I’d expected to see more alley or bricks, or Duave way to a square of lush, green lawn filled with pillars--narrow pyraarden of thorns They varied in height froauntlet of stone