A/N: Hey Guys! I'm here!

WITH THE SEQUEL TO LOVE IN MIDST OF MURDER!

Yay! It's finally here! I know, I know,I took forever, so sorry! But school's out so hopefully I can update more! :)

Also, for those who haven't read the first one, you can check it out on my profile :) but know that you dont really have to read that to understand this. It's a completly new case!

Anyway without further ado:

Previously:

"Hey Malcolm," Annabeth called. He turned to us.

"Hey guys," he greeted.

"What's up?" Annabeth asked as he turned back to his phone. Malcolm looked up,

"I think we might have another case on our hands."

Annabeth's POV:

We looked at him expectantly and he grinned.

"So I'm guessing you want it." I smacked him,

"Just tell us already!" He motioned us to the car and explained on the way.

"There has just been a break in at the bookstore on fifth street, Haster's Corner."

"Okay, and..."Percy prodded further. I was curious too, Malcolm would not just bring us in on a case like this unless there was something more to it.

"Well, something seems...off. I don't know how to place it, but why would a bookstore be ransacked and a person be put in a coma because of it. There has to be something there that means something more," Malcolm explained.

"Wait, a person is in a coma?" I asked surprised. He nodded,

"Yeah, she was hurt while she was entering the store, she worked there."

I thought over this, and glancing at Percy I could tell that he was also mulling over the information.

"The 911 call was made by another worker who showed up minutes later to find the store broken into and messed up. He found her lying on the ground by the cash register. She was conscious when he got there but by the time ambulance arrived she had passed out." Malcolm continued the description of the case.

By that time we had arrived at the bookstore. It was pretty normal, nothing too fancy but not too shabby either. At the moment though, it was a mess, books thrown off shelves and a window was broken. There were already cops at the scene and as we stepped past the crime scene tape I saw a man being questioned. He had midnight black hair, dark eyes and pale skin. He was wearing a nametag that said Nico. We walked over to him.

"Hi, Detective Annabeth Chase," I shook his hand. Percy introduced himself as well.

"Nico," he replied. He had a calm demeanor on the outside but his eyes told a different story they were troubled and filled with worry.

"So you are the one that found the place like this?" Percy asked, trying to get the story.

"Yes. When I got here the place was like this. I didn't move anything or touch anything so it's pretty much undisturbed. I heard someone crying out so I went and saw her lying there by the counter, she was bleeding, barely conscious," he stopped for a second and in that moment his face showed his true emotions, that of worry and pain.

"Anyway I called the police and stuff and stayed by her side trying to keep her conscious but," he broke off again, "it didn't work." He composed himself again. I looked at Percy, this had impacted Nico a lot more than he cared to show. Percy returned the quick glance.

"Where you close to her?" I asked kindly. His gaze hardened for a bit before he responded, "I worked with her." He left it at that.

"Thank you. Now we just have a few generic questions. Who owns this place?" Percy asked.

Nico shrugged, "I don't know." I was surprised. Percy also looked surprised, his eyebrows rose and he looked so cute. Focus, I told myself.

Nico noticing our looks of surprise said, "I don't know, I was employed by a manager but he doesn't own the place. He just takes orders from the boss."

"Who is the manager?" I asked.

"His name is Caleb Bruce, he isn't here at the moment. On a one week vacation or something," Nico explained further.

"Okay. Do you see anything missing?" I asked, scanning the messed up store.

"I don't think so, but there are a lot of books in here so I wouldn't know for sure. The money and everything else is still here though..." Nico said trailing off thoughtfully. We nodded at him and moved to inspect the scene.

"There was no money taken, this was not a robbery. Someone was looking for something." I told Percy when we were out of earshot.

"The question is what. And didn't it seem to you that Nico was hiding something. He was really shaken up, despite how he wanted to cover it up. He might know more than he's letting on..." Percy trailed off in thought. He was right though there was something weird. I put the thought aside and turned my attention to the scene. I walked around carefully, trying not to mess things up.

"What's behind here?" I asked Nico as we approached a door in the back corner.

"Staff area, we can put our stuff there, small break room type thing," Nico stepped around and pushed open the door for me to walk through. I entered a small room that held a counter on one side with a sink and cabinets. There was a couch facing a TV. It might have been small but it was something, most stores this size didn't have things like this. We heard a yell from across the store, I rushed out immediately thinking Percy was in trouble.

"Ow!" Percy yelled and swore a bit. I rushed to him,

"Percy! Are you okay?" I yelled. He moved to where I could see him, he had blood on his hand.

"I'm fine, I just cut myself on glass," he said as I rushed to inspect his hand. I got out a wipe from my bag and wiped off the blood and put a band-aid on the cut.

"Quit hurting yourself you stupid Seaweed Brain!" I frowned at him when I was done. He just had to scare me like that. He gave me a sideways grin and I couldn't stop my heart from lurching. He still did that to me.

"Sorry Wise Girl," he pecked my forehead and I smiled at the touch. Then led him away from the window and towards the back.

"Did you get anything from the window?" I asked.

"Other than a cut, no. It was broken down by a baseball bat or a club of some sort, if that helps," He added.

I nodded and showed him the back room which I had been looking at earlier.

"You think there is something off about this?" he asked, his eyes scanning the room.

I shrugged, "I don't know I feel like there is something off about the whole thing..." I didn't understand the feeling.

Percy frowned, "I agree, there is something out of place here." He walked to the counter and pressed his hands against it, then started checking the cabinets. I sat on the couch, glanced at the TV, and just thought for a moment.

"Do you think that..." Perct started cutting into the silence.

"What?" I asked.

"Does this room seem wayward to you?" he asked instead.

My eyes widened as I caught his drift. "Maybe!" I breathed excitedly. I took off one on my earrings, they were smooth round balls with a design inside. I gave it to Percy and he set it on the floor. It started rolling towards the right wall and we followed it to the corner of the room, where it hit the wall and stopped.

I looked at Percy and motioned for him to take one side, and then we started the tapping. We were knocking around to see if we got a hollow sound. We froze when Percy hit the sweet spot. I ran my hand along the wall and followed it to the counter. I struggled to find a crevice. My nail caught one just under the counter. I pulled at it and the small lever clicked.

Part of the wall started to shift and revealing a secret hidden door.

Percy turned to me with a grin, "Jackpot!"

A/N: So what did you think? Good, bad? Thoughts? Please review!

Also thanks to MischievousChaos for help on the title along with my friend fishy! :)

See ya! :)