They heard the official statement in the paper three days later. Since then, Sophie, Fitz, Dex, Biana, Keefe, Linh and himself had been going out and looking for the Periculos hideout. They hadn't found anything clue like but, they had identified the speaker in the mask, probably. Quinlin. Surprisingly Fitz had gotten a voice matcher app on his phone. All they had to do was collect some voices and run them through the matcher with the recording from the radio. Quinlin had been over at their house, some legal stuff that Alden still hadn't settled. Fitz had left his phone recording in the living room while him and Della were talking.
"You do realise that you could go to jail for recording someone without their permission!" Sophie half whisper yelled at Fitz in his bedroom when they found out what he had done.
"Eh, details," he replied.
"You are getting way to into this, just last week you were telling us that this wasn't a good idea. Now, you've renamed the group chat "Sherlock Holmes and friends"." Alongside the group chat renaming, Fitz had been taking some very thorough notes at every place they'd been too. His phone wa crammed full of pictures.
"Changing the subject, I was thinking that we should check out downtown today. It's one of the places on my list that we haven't checked out," Fitz said.
"You'll have to do without Dex, and Keefe. They're going down to the lake to work on a bio project."
"I think we should split up," suggested Fitz, "We can cover more ground that way."
"Like, spilt up into teams of what, there are five of us," said Biana.
"Sophie and I will take the florist, the bakery and the cake shop. You, Wylie and Linh will take the the general store, the dentist and the candy store."
"That sounds good,"
Wylie and Linh set out towards the dentist's office, Biana on their heels. The office was closed so they couldn't look inside but form the looks of the front window it was normal. The general store had similar results. They at least were open. They had to tell the store manager that they were doing a piece for the school newspaper, so that they could get into the back room. But there was nothing of interest there.
Finally they went to the candy store. Fitz and Sophie were still at the florist. They came up to the window and cleared away some of the dust. It looked like a candy store. Ready for business. There was even candy on the shelves. It did look pretty old. Like something out of a old photograph in a museum. On the counter near the back there was duffel bag. It was the only thing that looked new in the store. Wylie sent off a quick text to Fitz and Sophie.
Wylie: Hey we found something at the candy store.
Fitz: We'll be right over.
They jogged over to them and Wylie stepped back to allow them to look into the store.
"On the back shelf there is a duffel bag," he said.
"I think we should go in," Biana said. She pulled out a lock pick from her purse.
"Why do you have a lock pick in your purse?" asked Sophie.
"For situations when I have to break into places," she replied.
"Do you know how to use one?" Fiz asked.
"Of course, dear brother. You still think that It was a magical elf that broke into your desk drawer." She started picking the lock. It was obvious that she had done this before. Wylie moved to open the door when Linh stopped him with her hand.
"I think that there is probably one of those bell on the door. We should move quietly in case there is one." They moved very slowly and very quietly through the doorway. Linh was right, there was a bell by the door. It only rang softly before Biana grabbed at it with a handkerchief.
They spread out throughout the store. All of the candies were so old. It looked like this place had once been open, judging from the "most valued customer: Jensi Jones" picture hanging up on the wall. It looked like Jensi, but that was impossible. Jensi was their age. Right?
"Hey guys I think I found something," Fitz said from behind the old ice cream counter. They all heard a creak and then they saw a trap door come up from the floor.
Wylie looked at the others. They all nodded in silent agreement and followed Fitz down the trapdoor. It wasn't a long way down but it felt long all the same.
"Hey Biana you got a flashlight in you purse." Fitz asked.
"You bet I do," she replied and tossed him the flashlight. Fitz shone the beam of light around the room. Or at least Wylie thought it had been a room. It was more of a tunnel, stretching out before them.
"Well, I guess we're going on a walk," said Sophie. And walk they did. For only around two minutes before they came across a door. It was kinda like a door in the hospital for the insane. Only able to lock form the outside. The door at least looked pretty new. And there were grooves in the door so it was probably used quite regularly.
Fitz reached up and started to turn the lock. It creaked and groaned. Before he could fully turn the lock Sophie stopped him.
"What if what's behind that door is dangerous?" she whispered.
"What if it's not," he whispered back.
"We should try to find something to fight with, just in case," Linh whispered. They all looked at Biana. She silently pulled a can of pepper spray from her purse. Wylie took it and nodded to Fitz. He turned the lock the rest of the way and pulled open the door.
The room was small and at first it looked like nothing was there. Fitz shone the flashlight around and it landed on a figure. It was a person. They were huddled in the corner. Linh stepped closer she looked into the person's eyes with confusion.
"He looks like what Linh would look like if she was a guy," Fitz whispered into Wylie's ear.
"I can't believe it," Linh whispered, "Tam?"