“Brazil, Australia, Dubai, the Netherlands… all dead ends,” Devil said. “All that matters is that the location of the gold and those flash drives are hidden in this madness somewhere.”
“We just gotta open our eyes,” Milk said.
We all went quiet, looking at the map.
“I feel like we’re missing something,” Upper finally said. “Maybe it’s like the painting? He distributed it around the world, meanwhile the original was in his manor all along. It’s just like the map taking us to Brazil, Australia, Dubai, the Netherlands, Croatia, Cabo Verde… and it’s all dead ends, fake locations.”
“Hiding the gold somewhere in Mexico would be too obvious,” I said.
“Maybe it’s not in Mexico,” Milk pointed out. “Maybe it’s here, in Milan, the place where he stocked all the fake paintings? Maybe it’s like a reverse kind of thing?”
Upper nodded. “That does make sense. He chose Milan to hide all the fakes. Milan is where his great-grandfather went to school for a few weeks before moving away. So obviously Milan means something to him in a way?”
“Okay, I think we should focus on Milan this week, map out every coordinate with ties here,” Devil said.
“Yes, also, we’ll need a list of all the properties he once owned in Milan. They’re all liquified assets now, but there might be something worth checking out there.”
Milk and Upper got to work.
“Where is the wine?” I looked up toward the kitchen just in time to find Dog dropping the opened wine bottle and crouching down. “Dog? The wineglasses are literally behind you; what are you doing?”
“There’s a locked cupboard here,” he said, and the sound of him trying to pick the lock reached our ears.
“If it’s locked, then leave it,” Devil responded. “It literally means the person who locked it didn’t want anyone to open it.”
“Why would someone have more than five unlocked cupboards in a kitchen and lock the sixth one? Doesn’t that make you guys curious?” Dog asked.
“Nope,” Upper answered him.
“Just leave the damn cupboard, and come here, we have shit to do,” I said, looking back down at the map with a frown.
“I’m curious,” Milk spoke up.
“Thank you, pinky brain. Devil, Zahra, and Upper have become so”—the sound of the cupboard coming open reached us—“boring these days… What do we have here?”
I looked up with a frown as Dog rose to his feet, holding a big yellow gift box in his hands.
“A locked-away birthday present,” Dog said, looking at both sides of the box as he walked out from behind the counter and straight toward us.
“We shouldn’t be snooping,” I said, eyeing the box.
Dog dropped the box on the table, looking at me like I had lost my mind. “Your boyfriend has an unwrapped birthday gift covered in yellow sparkly shit, locked in a cupboard in his kitchen, and you still think we shouldn’t be snooping?”
“I didn’t see this amongst the gifts he received, and I was in charge of the presents,” Milk said with a frown.
“We need to learn to leave shit alone,” Devil said, eyes on the box. “But… even if we open it, it’s not like he’s gonna know, right?”
We all looked at him. Surprised.
“Upper,” I called, straightening. “Security cams.”
“Way ahead of you,” he said, his fingers jamming on the keyboard of his laptop before he connected a USB cord from his phone to the laptop, typed some more, and then nodded. “We’re on loop, but not for long.”
Dog opened the box, and I frowned. Yellow petals were everywhere, but amidst them was an average-sized yellow teddy bear with a huge heart-shaped design between its hands, the wordsHappy Birthday, Elio!sewn onto it.
“Wow, someone went to great lengths to make a customized teddy bear…” Milk said.
There were other things inside: several chocolate bars, all with yellow packaging, a wine bottle, beautifully painted sea shells—all colorful and handmade, a beautiful glass casing that housed a set of silver rings, a cute yellow mug with his name on it, a yellow tie, and a card, which Dog picked up.
