#background jowd

“It’s all there, I’m sure of it,” she said waving a fork full of chicken to emphasize her point. “I checked all the entrances, but the perp may as well have been a ghost.”

“Aaall of them?”

He waited while Lynne swallowed another large bite of chicken. "Yep. No sign of a break-in and the security cam didn't pick up a thing. I even checked the vents. McCaw seemed to think that was pointless 'cause they're so small, but I fit and if I fit someone else could have!"

Cabanela grinned into his water. Ahh the vents; she wasn't the only one to break that supposed conundrum. How Jowd fit was still a mystery, but out he rolled, waving the key piece of evidence in Cabanela's face with an air only Cabanela recognized as smug, and as he lost that round his wallet suffered another defeat by roast chicken. He made certain Jowd was the one paying for their next meal. His wallet could suffer as much as Jowd’s appetite for roast chicken could take once they were able to share a meal again.

“And what did you find?” he prompted Lynne who appeared more than ready to match up to that appetite at any rate.

“Nothing. All empty; the whole place was clean… Even the vents…Wait.” She hurriedly took another bite like pausing was a crime in itself, and plunged her hand into her coat, pulling out a pink notebook. She leafed through it one-handed, her other hand still occupied with keeping up with the roast chicken demolition efforts. Then she looked up with gleaming eyes. “It was all legal… well up to a point. The first part was. Then it obviously wasn’t.” She muttered a few more things, gaze still fixed on her notebook while furiously chewing. “Yeah, it’s gotta be that.”

Chicken and notebooks. There seemed to be a power in the combination, if not one he ever fully understood—a good pasta maybe—but he vastly preferred to let his thoughts run loose with his feet. But each to their own styles, shared as they appeared to be. He watched Lynne polish off the rest of her chicken and jump up.

“Thanks Inspector! I gotta get back to the station and check a few things.”

“Go get ‘em baby!”