Page 6 of Gem Warfare

“I’ll help.”

We crept across the salon, careful not to knock over any chairs or equipment carts, or the boxes in the stockroom, as we lifted the ladder and moved it into position under the tilted panel. Maddox withdrew his weapon, holding it ready at the ceiling. “Hand me the flashlight and I’ll go up,” he said.

“You can’t! It’s not your case.”

“I can. I have the gun. Did you bring a gun?”

“No. It would have looked out of place in the salon and I didn’t have time to go home and get mine. I figured I’d be okay since it’s a non-violent crime.”

“We don’t know who’s up there. Hand me the flashlight and I’ll go up. I’ll make sure it’s clear and then you come up, okay?”

“What about using me as a human shield?”

“As if I actually would!” Then very softly, I thought I heard him say ‘today.’

I weighed the options. As much as I wanted to argue, Maddoxhad a point. I had no idea what we could be getting into. Plus, hoisting myself the rest of the gap between the ladder and the ceiling while holding a gun, a flashlight, and attempting to aim, would be no small feat. The simple fact was Maddox had more experience. And the gun.

“Okay,” I agreed, handing him the flashlight.

“This is definitely more fun than watching TV with my takeout,” he whispered. “We should hang out more often.”

Since he was potentially facing danger, I decided not to point out we hadn’t planned on hanging out. Instead, he’d simply appeared but it would be churlish not to admit his backup was coming in handy.

“Hang tight,” he said before climbing the ladder quickly and quietly. Pausing at the ceiling, he rested the gun and flashlight on the ladder’s top flat shelf and tested the panel. It moved easily.

Maddox gave me a thumbs up, scooped up the gun and flashlight and carefully pushed on the panel. He slid it to one side and poked his head and hands inside, the beam from the flashlight barely visible from my position below. “Seems empty,” he whispered, his voice almost too soft to catch, then he pushed himself up and disappeared into the void. Gentle creaks echoed down to me and I waited, ready to rush the ladder if needed. Then Maddox’s face appeared in the opening and he beckoned me up. I climbed quickly and he helped me through the opening.

“Is that a winch?” I whispered, pointing to a piece of machinery no bigger than an electric cake mixer. We knelt by the side of the opening, almost enveloped in darkness.

“Yep.”

“So the perp hooks themself onto it and lowers and raises it as they please.”

Maddox nodded. “They don’t have to break a single lock.”

I frowned, remembering something. “I think there’re twopeople. Remember how the bag seemed to float and disappear? Someone had to operate the winch and unhook it from above.”

“Makes sense.” Maddox passed me the flashlight and I used it to look around, terrified I was going to illuminate an unknown face close to me even though I had that same feeling of aloneness as before. “Be careful. These makeshift floorboards are all loose.”

“Where are we? The apartment above?”

“I’m not sure. The floorspace is just about big enough to be a studio apartment but it’s not high enough. It doesn’t look like anyone lives here legally. No furniture or anything to suggest someone even camps here.”

I tried to stand, then bumped against something. I sank again, rubbing the top of my head where I’d knocked it against the ceiling. “I think we must be in some kind of crawl space. Or attic space? Maybe for storing things? But it looks like the salon doesn’t have access to it or doesn’t need it since there’s a small storage room below.”

“It goes further than the footprint of the salon,” Maddox said pointing. “There’s an opening in the wall over there.”

“And there,” I said, pointing to the other side. “I bet it goes the whole way across all the businesses in this strip. Hey, I overheard the waitress in the café a few doors down saying things were going missing there too. Do you think there could be access to all the businesses?”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Maddox took off in a bear crawl to the nearest hole in the wall, squeezing through, only the small beam from his phone’s flashlight illuminating the way. I followed him, scanning the room with the big flashlight.

Goods lined the walls. Products from the salon were stacked haphazardly. Shampoos, conditioners, mousses, hairsprays and more. Beyond that was a stack of cans and jars. I crawled closer, picking up a jar to check the label, recognizing it as thefancy Italian deli next to the salon. Artichokes in oil, sundried tomatoes, capers, olives, packets of lemon risotto and several panettones. There were enough luxury foodstuffs to stuff several hampers.

“There has to be hundreds of dollars of goods here from the deli,” I whispered after I squeezed into the next room and found Maddox crouched nearby.

“Same here.” Maddox held up a leather dog leash and a laser cut collar, illuminated by his cellphone light.

“There’s a luxury pet store at the end of the block,” I said softly.