The Hero Next Time: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 4)

Chapter Eight: Sunny, Saturday

Jordan proved what he said when he showed them pictures of Naira and him together, selfies, mostly, at work, at his house, out at dinner. The woman in those photos was also very pretty, but very different from the woman in the drone footage.

"So, this is what leads you to believe Naira is in trouble," Tej said. "Another woman walks out of the Sandhu family home wearing your girlfriend's GPS tracker up her vagina?"

Sunny usually loved when Tej talked unabashedly about her lady parts; usually it got him wanting to see them and pull out his own gentleman parts. Right now, though, in the context of this very disturbing turn of events, it sounded almost vulgar, even though it was the scientifically correct term.

"She could just be carrying it in her coat pocket, or in her purse," Lauren said. "It was only Naira who had to stuff it up her--"

"Jesus, Lauren," Sunny said, pulling at his collar. "Could we be a little more sensitive in our choice of words?"

Lauren pouted at him. "I'm sorry, am I disturbing your male sensibilities? Are you getting the vapours?"

"It's not that, it's... well, glib. This is a serious matter."

"Is it?" Lauren looked to Jordan and said, "Did you try calling her since you saw this? I'm guessing this was early this morning?"

He shook his head. "Early yesterday morning. She isn't picking up. Not responding to texts, either."

"Does she have another phone she uses for you, or is your number attached to an unrelated name?"

"The latter. A separate phone, if discovered, would give the game away."

"Okay. How far does this woman go?"

"The woman goes to the nearest bus stop, gets on a bus and travels outside the range of the drone."

This was indeed what they saw. In fact, much of the footage seemed unnecessary to watch. As soon as the wrong woman left that house, that became the focus of the investigation.

Was it, though? Or had it been orchestrated that way?

"I want to let the others see it, now," Sunny said. "Don't tell them this woman isn't Naira until they finish watching the video. Don't tell them about the GPS tracker. As soon as I knew about it I wasn't paying attention to anything else."

Lauren looked at him and smiled. "You're thinking what I'm thinking, aren't you."

"What am I thinking?" Sunny asked, giving her a smile of his own, feeling a kind of giddy excitement that wasn't at all appropriate for the crisis Jordan was having.

"What?" Jordan asked. "What are you two thinking?"

"Let's discuss it when the others see it." He stood. Tej looked up at him in surprise and question. "I need to get back before Tori releases the hounds. You stay here with the kids, I'll be back soon."

Tej tried but failed to hide her relief. She considered herself an ambivert; she liked meeting people and socializing, but only for so long, and then she just wanted to relax among her friends and family. The duration of an Open House was the perfect amount of time for her to be switched on. His campaign, with all of its exposure, was going to be a challenge for her. "Maybe I'll stay with the kids while the rest of them watch the footage," she said.

"Sounds like a plan."

He hurried back downstairs, where the party was beginning to empty. A great deal of his fellow members of the Khalsa Diwan Society were still there, but others, he noticed, had left. Rodney Maxwell and his family were gone, as was Maurice Delacroix. Regan was still there, and when she saw him, she brightened. "I was wondering where you went," she said. "Are you still talking to that guy?"