“Pardon the interruption.” I looked up to see a security officer standing by our table. “Lord Fortuna requests your presence.”

  “Samson, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Is this an immediate request or can I finish this hand?”

  “I got the feeling that it is important but not urgent. Sooner would be better than later. I will wait until you are ready to leave.”

  “Eh, may as well give someone else a chance to win a hand or two. I can always catch another game later.”

  I got a few eye rolls at this, but a few of the other players looked grateful. I snagged my winnings, sliding a few pieces into the biggest loser’s pile as a treat. The smile on his face was worth it, though it did little to quell my unease. Something was wrong.

  I fell into step beside Samson through the twists and turns before I found myself once again standing before Lord Fortuna’s office. I relaxed slightly when I saw that once again, I was not being brought to what some of the staff referred to as the ‘principal's office’.

  “They are waiting for you just inside,” Samson says, holding the door open for me.

  “Thank you.” I entered the room and closed the door behind me. Maguire was already there, sitting in one of the seats across from Lord Fortuna. I took the other seat and waited for them to speak.

  “The person you designated as the hacker, who you sent elsewhere, is nowhere to be found,” they said simply. “We were able to find him exiting the place you released the others from, but he very quickly disappears off the security footage and never appears again.”

  “Any signs they erased their steps?”

  “Not that my security team has been able to ascertain, but you are free to look for yourself. Perhaps you will find something my team missed.”

  “What about the rest of the crew?” Maguire asked. “Were they able to share any useful information?”

  “Their stories were quite enlightening. The one you believed to be the mastermind confessed that he was only acting under the orders of a mysterious benefactor. They were told once they completed the job, they would get half the profits from the sale of the items they stole. Another interesting fact to consider is that most of them were brought on after the hacker.”

  “So the hacker most likely knows who it was that hired the crew,” I mused. “Or maybe they were the one who put it all together.”

  “How do we find out?” Maguire asked.

  “Start digging. See if he left any traces. Check in with any people who might have seen him. At this point, he is no doubt in the wind, but if we can start figuring out his pattern, we can find something to follow.”

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  “Whatever you need, you need only ask,” Lord Fortuna replied. “This is a question I would like to have answered sooner rather than later, because I get the feeling that something like this, if left unattended for too long, may start to tip the scales in a way I cannot correct.”

  “We may be few, but we will do whatever we can to get to the bottom of this. I promise you that.” I tried not to sag under the weight of the questions that were continuing to pile up. I knew there had to be at least one thread connecting them but I couldn't for the life of me find it.

  “This isn’t something we can solve in a day, Claudia,” Maguire said gently.

  “Indeed. Take today to gather what information you can, then take two days to enjoy yourselves. Too much work will wear you both into the ground, and the world needs you at your best. I think you can afford to let loose a little before you delve into your next mystery,” Lord Fortuna said.

  “At the very least, I want to make sure the casino is secure and that we’ve collected everything we can from here. Then, we take our break.” I looked at Maguire for confirmation and he nodded in agreement. A break sounded amazing but we did have work to do.

  So we got to work. I spent a few hours digging through the security system and the records, looking for any anomalies that the hacker might have left behind as well as hints as to how he went about his job. I found you can tell a lot about someone by the methods they use. The only thing I learned for sure was that the hacker took great care to not leave traces, yet that in and of itself told me a few things about where I could find more.

  Meanwhile, Maguire mingled with the crowd, gathering what information he could from the people working the casino floor to get a rough idea where the hacker had gone. Turns out, the hacker stole a few things on his way out, and one of them was enchanted.

  “If he knows what he's dealing with, he will know how to make it harder to track. That said, since we can get a better grasp of what the enchantment is, we can adapt your Finder potion to make it easier to at least narrow down where it is,” I said to Maguire.

  “I'm starting to think I should patent it. Or at least write a book about it. Make a record of how I figured it out and how it works, see if others can benefit from the knowledge.”

  “Both are good impulses, though there is an alchemist guild that you should consider registering with. They will help spread the information while honoring your contribution to the creation. Plus, if you want to continue down that path, they’ll have better pointers than I do. I am more of a hobbyist while they are professionals.”

  “Sounds fun. For now, though, I’d like to go catch a show and get dinner.”

  “Oh yeah, we were going to do that last night,” I said, immediately feeling guilty. The work had kind of taken over my entire focus to the point that I lost track of time and nearly a day had passed. We took breaks to eat and sleep, of course, but all thoughts of our evening out had disappeared from my mind.

  “It’s alright. I had a feeling something like this would happen, so I got the tickets for today instead.” He pulled the tickets from his pocket, flashing me a cheeky grin. I punched him in the shoulder, snatching the tickets from him before he could return them to his pocket.

  “Bet you think you’re so smart,” I snarked in mock outrage.

  “I know I am and, more importantly, I know you pretty well by now.”

  “Is that so?

  “I know you wont be letting this go anytime soon and I know the only way I can get you to take break tonight is by taking you to the circus.”

  I took a closer look at the tickets and smiled. He did know me well.

  “Alright then. Let’s go to the circus.”