I felt Marduk sending me comforting feelings. I reached into my sleeve and petted his head.
“She could be dead,” Danzig said, looking around with a slight frown.
A thought suddenly hit me. “I need to get into Jim’s office. If he’s mixed up in this, then he might’ve left some notes in his office. Grab Marduk’s clothes so he can change in here. Then we're leaving.”
Danzig shot me a grin. “I like it when you're all commanding.”
I rolled my eyes and gave him a shove. “Move it.”
As he left to fetch the clothing, Marduk slithered out from my sleeve and up my arm. He wrapped around my neck, and I stroked a finger over him.
“Someday, when things aren’t so dire, I want to wear you all day like this,” I whispered.
I felt his approval as Danzig came back into the house.
“Stop flirting and get dressed,” he grumped.
Marduk's amusement was palpable as he slipped off my body.
It wasn't long before he was dressed, and we were on the road heading to Jim's office.
“I could’ve stayed wrapped around your arm while Danzig rode us to the office,” Marduk grumbled. He wasn't truly upset that we'd made him shift back to his human form. I think he wanted to make sure I knew he enjoyed being my jewelry.
“I’ll wear you again in the future,” I said for the fourth time and felt the same joy coming from him as when I'd said it the first time.
“But I wanted you to wear me now.” He was close to sounding whiny. “Not only am I no longer wrapped around your soft skin, but you’re riding behind Danzig. It’s not fair.”
“Sucks to be you,” Danzig sang, and twisted the throttle to jet over a lane and toward our off-ramp.
“Both of you stop,” I said. “Or none gets to ride with me ever again.”
“I’m sorry,” they chorused together.
Soon we were parking in a spot in front of Jim’s office. I hopped off Danzig’s bike and dug out my keys to open the door. Once inside, I typed in the code to the security system, then unlatched and pulled off my helmet.
I was getting better at that. I didn’t need the guys to do it for me any longer. I was halfway to being a motorcycle rider, right?
I grinned at my own humor as I set the helmet down on my desk. After a little searching through my pockets, I found the little tools I’d brought from home.
“What’s that?” Marduk asked, putting his helmet down next to mine.
I held up the open case. “Lock picks.”
He gave me an approving grin. “You’re a resourceful human.”
“Or one who liked to break into the library at school so I didn’t have to go home right away,” I said, kneeling at Jim’s door.
“I’m surprised you don’t have a spare key or a master key to this place,” Danzig said.
I shrugged. “This is the first time he’s locked this door since I came to work for him. I guess he figured I wouldn’t need it.”
It was a basic lock and didn’t take me long to open. The door swung in to reveal nothing amiss. There weren't any glowing crystals, tusks, or printed pictures of someone looking nefarious while holding a bag.
The guys followed me in, but they remained standing while I sat down at Jim’s desk and went through some of the file folders there. The spreadsheet I’d given him last week was still there and completely blank. When I lifted the spreadsheet, I found an unfamiliar client contract underneath
I flipped past the first page of boilerplate contract information to find the client’s name. “Justice for the Voiceless,” I murmured.
“That sounds familiar," Danzig said.
