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"I agree" I turned on the flashlight The panel gave repair and the sprinkler syste was only made up of two-by-fours and Sheetrock I hefted myself up Kind of I mostly stacked boxes on the top shelf and e, puts stress on our bodies and ain?"

"Mr V is out sick" I scanned the entire length of the buildings with the flashlight and found what looked like a cutout in the dividing bricks about fifteen feet froe of his illness by breaking into his store"

"He’s the one"

"Which one??

"The one I told Bobert about The one being held hostage"

"Janey, really?" she asked in alar into his store because?"

"I need to see exactly what they’re doing" With only about two feet of clearance, navigating the claustrophobia-inducing space was proving tricky "Also, I need to figure out where his cabin is Do you know?"

"I have no idea what they’re doing, but I feel awful for Mr Vandenberg"

I placed a knee on one board, then a hand on another, crawling forward at a snail’s pace My break was going to end before I got halfway

"No, I mean do you knohere his cabin is?"

"Oh, no But Robert could check into it"

Oh, yeah I didn’t think of that ISadly, it was the size of a credit card I swiped at a few spiderwebs, then slid through It was touch-and-go where ling to get her through Mr V’s ceiling was exactly like the café’s His access panel was closer to the opening, thank goodness

The muffled tones of Cookie’s voice wafted up to me, but I didn’t respond Partly because I couldn’t understand her, but also, I didn’t want to have to shout loudly enough to be heard Fro was somewhere above Dixie’s office I doubted she’d appreciateabout her attic

I ar the pain in e where I lay across the boards Who knew the edges of a two-by-four could be so painful? Prying the panel up proved to be harder than planned, but I finally got ernails under it and lifted one corner slowly

It was still dark inside his store, so I lifted the panel and set it aside Then, with the stealth of a drunk ninja, I lowered h the hole Sadly, Mr V didn’t have any shelves conveniently placed under the panel for me to climb down, so I had to drop several feet to the floor The second oing to get back

I’d worry about that as soon as I figured out exactly what the captors had been up to Using Cookie’s flashlight, I wound my way around antiques of every size and nature There were sis I’d never be co in a store that carried so s

The plasma cutter sat on the side of Mr V’s desk It was connected to an extension cord, so either they’d already used it or they planned to soon

I finally found the door to the back room, held uard to watch over their handiwork, I was dead I could live with that Thankfully, it was justhole

The entire floor had been torn out The whole thing It was a sot a little carried away The dark hole lurking beyond the battered floor was ot onto ht into the tunnel when I heard a growl A low, deep gruht behind my left ear