If Wendell thought vacuuming and dusting the house was a chore, he would soon revise his thinking after seeing what Donnie did to his office.

"I don't see anything here to worry about," Fletcher said, kicking aside the file papers Donnie had dumped on the floor.

"We'll take the computer," Donnie said.

"Forget that." Fletcher turned it on and stood watching the slow revolution of the cursor and the welcome sign. "Goddamn thing weighs a ton, and it's still got CD ports. Did you see any disks anywhere?"

"No. Maybe he has them where he lives."

There was no password necessary and Fletcher opened the file explorer, reading the different names and clicking on a few, before straightening up in disgust.

"Nothing but crap. You could be right. He might have kept all his investigative stuff separate."

"So it's off to Wendell's house we go." Donnie kicked some debris out of the way and headed for the door.

"Wait, wait, wait. We'd better check with Hardy before we start doing any home invasions."

"You heard what he said on the phone."

Fletcher groaned softly and followed Hardy's enforcer out to their car.

******

Audrey brought fresh coffee for everyone, and they settled into chairs in the living room. Jerome was looking up fatuous on his phone, while Wendell practised flipping open his wallet, revealing his licence.

"Just exactly what have you learned so far in your intrepid investigations?" She asked.

Wendell put his wallet away and picked up his coffee. "I sense a bit of sarcasm there, Audrey, but I'll ignore it and fill you in." She smiled and waited. "Dad was looking into the custom trafficking of international criminals and political figures. These were all people who had to leave their countries for fear of assassination, arrest or extradition."

"So this isn't like truckloads of young girls being delivered wherever?"

"No. Nothing like it. This is custom extractions for individuals. Dad finally had a chance to catch both the trafficker and the traffickee--"

"Traffickee!"

"The person being trafficked," he said with annoyance. "But when they both crashed in the chase . . . well, all was lost. They couldn't identify the driver or the- the other guy."

"What about your dad's partner?"

Jerome coughed, and shook his head at Audrey. She pulled a face and sipped some coffee.

"Okay, go on."

"We traced some information to that Max Shine guy--"

"Oh, my undercover information."

He frowned. "Turns out his business is reality type masks, and we figured that this was how they were planning on spiriting these clients out of danger."

"With a mask?"

"You haven't seen them, Aud," Jerome sat forward. "Amazing. Really."

"So you know what happened next. We staked out--"

"I staked out," Jerome cut in.

"-- and we followed his customer to his apartment. That's when the gun incident occurred--"

"And you had your licence crushed."

"Thank you, Jerome." Wendell replied with exasperation.

Audrey kicked off her shoes and drew her legs up under her. "Now what? I mean, what do you really know?"

"I know we've hit a nerve."

"And?"

"Well . . . things have to play out . . . we uh- we see where it goes."

"Where what goes?"

"For Pete's sake, Audrey, they know we're onto them, they'll be making a move of some kind."

"That was in the third week," Jerome added, "cast your line and see if the bait draws a fish."

"Third week?"

"Our course, Aud. Jeez." He flapped his hands and gave her a look.

She covered her mouth and waited a beat. "Oh, right, the ex federal agent's chapter on baiting your suspect."

"Laugh all you want, Audrey, but you'll see. Jerome and I are hot on the trail."

"Tail."

"Huh- tail, trail, whatever. You'll be laughing out of the other side of your face when we crack this."

"Indeed I will. Meanwhile, tomorrow is wash day and I need some of the items for work, so do not let me down." She stood and carried the empty mugs to the kitchen.

Jerome immediately started shaking his head.

"C'mon, partner, I did all the vacuuming and dusting."

"You made the deal, not me."

"Fine. You get office duty then. Check through those police records and see if there is any reference to Fletcher we missed. Maybe dad found something."

******

After a quick reconnaissance of Wendell's house and its occupants, Fletcher managed to delay their visit until the woman had left for work, which meant they would be going the next day. Hardy was informed, and he agreed. Leave the broad out of it. Donnie would get what the two partners had, and remove them from the picture. He even told Fletcher to ask Max if he had any death masks.

"I'm not asking him that." Fletcher said to Donnie. "That's sick, and what good would it do?"

"They wouldn't be able to identify them," was Donnie's shrewd reply.

"Are you nuts? You think a mask would fool a medical examiner?"

"I think, Mister Wizard, I can go alone while you do as Hardy said."

Fletcher began to wonder just how secure his so-called second in command position was. Donnie seemed to have Hardy's ear without question. Recent oversight of certain aspects of the operation had cast him in a dimmer light, and he sensed that light might soon extinguish. Fletcher inventoried his mental, go bag, and reckoned it needed some updating - soon.

Donnie left and a moment later Fletcher's phone buzzed.

"Hardy. We're doing everything you ask- what? WHAT?"

******

Wendell cursed silently as he read the instructions on the box of detergent. Audrey had warned him about sorting the clothes, and he swore again, arranging the piles of laundry according to her rules.

"Sam Spade didn't sort laundry," he growled aloud, measuring soap into a small plastic scoop.

He dialled the temperature and the load type, and as he was about to put the soap in when the phone rang. He checked his watch, and went to answer, startled by an excited Jerome, babbling incoherently.

"Jerome! Jerome, shut up for Christ's sake. I can't understand a word."

"Ransacked! The office. Stuff everywhere and the computer is on."

"Someone broke in?"

"I'd have to consult my partner - he's the brains. YES, someone broke in."

Wendell nearly drew blood biting his lip. "Is anything missing that you can see?"

"You mean did I look to see if anything was missing? Yes. Nothing that I am aware of."

"Snarky isn't appreciated, Jerome. Is there any indication of what they might have been after?"

"No."

"Okay. Clean up the best you can, and when I've got this laundry done, I'll come over and help."

"Don't forget to turn my sweater inside out first."

Wendell lowered the phone calmly, thinking he would happily turn his partner inside out at the moment.

The knock at the door drew another annoyed sigh, and he clumped down the hall to answer. Wendell sailed backwards down the hall as the man shoved the door wide open, and barged right in.

"What the hell? Who do--?" Before he finished he recognized the man from the photo Jerome took outside Shine's place; this did not bode well.