Boner closed the distance between them until their chests were almost touching.
"What the hell are you saying?" he snarled. "That she drugged us and snuck out the door with Detective Getzoff?"
Jules opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again. The exhale he let out was ragged with barely contained frustration. Not at Boner for once. He cared about her as much as we did. I saw that on his face. This might be the first time he let himself admit it, even a little bit.
"She wouldn't do that," Cass said.
His faith in her was as unwavering as mine. Not to mention, if she wanted to poison us and walk out, she had plenty of opportunities to do it in the privacy of my apartment. She wouldn't taint Angel's Rest by doing it here. This was far too public.
And yet private enough for whoever actually put us out.
Assholes.
"They must have gone out the back," I concluded.
I rolled over and forced myself to my feet like a baby deer, even though my head was still groggy and aching.
I staggered a couple of steps before regaining my balance and walking to the back door. To the surprise of absolutely no one, it was unlocked.
Mindful there might be an ambush straight outside, I eased the door open.
"What are you doing?" Boner reached past me and shoved it the rest of the way.
"It's called being stealthy," I told him. "I thought you knew how to do that."
"I do know," he agreed. "But if they were going to kill us, they would have done it while we were having a nap on the fucking floor, wouldn't they?"
"Only if they're thinking logically," I said. "This might come as a surprise to you, but not everyone does."
He looked like he was ready to argue, but his shoulders slumped.
"Yeah, I guess so." He perked up again a moment later. "After you then." He gestured toward the alley.
"Thanks. I think." I gave him the side eye before stepping past him and looking one way down the alley then the other.
As I expected, there was no sign of anyone.
I have to admit, I'd half-expected to find Harlow lying dead in the alley, her throat sliced. Or strangled, her eyes staring up at us. Lifeless. Her body already starting to cool. Possibly missing her heart.
If that happened, I'd be missing mine.
"Nothing here," I said over my shoulder.
I walked a few steps, my gaze scanning the ground. Nothing caught my eye. No cigarettes still cooling in the gutter. No accidentally abandoned identification that would lead us to whoever took her.
She was just…gone.
"So we know the culprit is one of four people," Boner said slowly. "We've already ruled out Harlow walking out and leaving. That narrows it down to three: Getzoff, Hypnos, and Zeus."
"We don't know Getzoff isn't one of them," Cass pointed out.
"Yes, we do," I said. "He was drugged too. He lost consciousness before the rest of us."
"Have you ever heard of a red herring?" Boner asked.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. "This isn't a mystery novel. Miss Marple isn't going to jump out and help us to solve this."
"I always preferred Sherlock Holmes," Boner said.
