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Page 24<br />
When he spoke again, he tried to sound as cheerful as he’d just been, but he felt<br />
deflated. “I’ve got this. Really.” He saw Felix’s skeptical look. “Felix, you’re being ridiculous.<br />
I can handle a quick peek at some con artist ex-boyfriend’s hotel room.”<br />
Felix couldn’t argue with that. “Fine. You do that. I’m going to do a little footwork of<br />
my own. I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.” Felix hurried down to the street to see if<br />
he could catch a glimpse of Anjelica Jean. She was long gone, though, and Felix headed out<br />
for the afternoon, still irritated by the encounter.<br />
* * *<br />
Rosewood and Kings wasn’t a great neighborhood, but David Gordon felt<br />
comfortable enough on foot. He went around the block a few times before he picked a<br />
vantage point, settling in on the sidewalk across the street from the boarding house where<br />
Maruf was supposedly staying. David was far enough back from the sidewalk that he should<br />
have been masked completely by shadows.<br />
Standing in his third floor window, Maruf watched David watch the building.<br />
It was several hours later when Maruf finally stepped out of the front door. Dressed<br />
for a night on the town, he stopped for a moment by the front door. He couldn’t have been<br />
any more perfectly illuminated, and David laughed quietly at his good luck. When Maruf set<br />
off down the block, David followed carefully.<br />
Maruf went slow just to make sure.<br />
* * *<br />
When Felix walked into the office the next morning, Miss Wunderlich was shocked<br />
to see him. Whatever his strengths were as an investigator, early mornings were not among<br />
them. He had spent the previous night enjoying good whiskey he paid for and a warm bed<br />
he did not, and he had forgotten his anxiety of the previous evening. When he saw Miss<br />
Wunderlich’s face, though, he paused on his way to his office.<br />
“How’d David do last night?”<br />
“He’s not in yet.”