Sure enough, the minute Audrey walked in and ordered a lunch to-go, Duke pounced.
"Take me with you!"
"What? Duke," Audrey tried to sound as bored as possible, "It's just normal police work—"
"Normal police work, my ass! If this was a normal day, you'd eat lunch in!"
Audrey fidgeted. "What if I told you we were going to take it back to the station?"
Duke brightened, "We? Nathan is here too? Where is he? And, um, I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but don't you send one of the junior cops for a lunch run when you eat at the station?"
Audrey winced; that was true. She needed to make sure that Duke couldn't follow them.
"Please, Audrey," he begged between customers, "I'm so bored! I've done nothing but work at the Grey Gull all week long, meanwhile you and Nathan get to go around and deal with the crazy stuff!"
"Let me call Nathan," Audrey said, "as a matter of fact, he should be on his way here." She dialed him on her cell phone.
"Nathan."
"Are you coming?"
"Coming where? I have the shovels; are you already at the field?"
"Good, so you're on your way to the Grey Gull for lunch?"
Nathan paused. Audrey heard him chuckle. "Duke isn't going down without a fight, is he?"
"Great, I'll wait for you here." Audrey closed her phone and picked up the sandwiches. "I'll just take these over here," she said, moving toward a table around the back of the restaurant, where she knew Duke wouldn't be able to see them. It drove him nuts, she could tell, but he was forced to remain at the bar serving patrons.
Duke was in the middle of ringing up three separate checks when he saw Nathan walk in. He seemed to know exactly where Audrey would be, for he did not hesitate as he walked toward the deck.
Duke finished the tabs and turned to the window just in time to see Nathan and Audrey darting off around the backside of the building.
"What?" he gasped to himself. Those two were definitely hiding something. Duke emerged from behind the bar and exited onto the deck, following the path he'd seen the two cops take. Coming around the corner, he saw that the door to his tool-shed was slightly ajar. Duke carefully pushed it open; were they chasing down someone they'd seen snooping around there?
He blinked in surprise; two shovels were missing, and he had no idea where to look for Nathan and Audrey.
Duke scratched his head, "What?" he repeated.
