Prodigal Son

Chapter 9

Five minutes later, Thea pulled into Verdant's front lot. As typical of a Monday, there were still a few cars scattered about, left no doubt from the weekend, waiting to be claimed by their owners. Felicity got a nervous pang in her stomach; empty clubs in the harsh light of day always looked desolate.

Or maybe she was just hungry.

Thea swung around back to the rear entrance off the alley. She parked in front of the back door next to the loading dock and excitedly produced a new set of keys.

"Tommy doesn't know it yet, but he's never getting his spares back."

"You still have to know the alarm code to get inside."

"I have the code, too. I can come and go anytime I want."

"He could just change the code."

"Details!" Thea said and dismissed logic.

Because of the neighborhood, they closed up the top on Thea's blue Beemer before they got out and headed to the grey, back door. She used her key and once inside, immediately went to punch the code on the alarm pad.

"Huh. That's funny."

"What is it?"

"Tommy said punch in the code, hit enter, and the light would go from flashing to steady. But it's not flashing or asking for the code."

"Let me look."

Thea stepped back. Given the location of Verdant, Felicity had taken upon herself to make sure Tommy's club had the best security system for the money he'd had available, so she was very familiar with how it was supposed to work. She still thought he should have gone for the pricier option, but the one he had was usually very reliable. She studied the key pad. Thea was right, no light or code prompt. But for a good reason.

"The alarm's already off."

Thea crossed her arms, annoyed.

"I swore to him I had the code memorized. He must have assumed I'd flake."

Felicity supposed it was barely possible Tommy had not activated the alarm, but that nervous feeling returned.

"Or maybe his day guy showed up after all," Thea suggested more optimistically.

"No," she shook her head. "His car would be here."

"Maybe he parked out front?"

"That far away from the door? In this neighborhood?"

"Maybe he wanted to rack up steps on his Fitbit?"

Felicity had met Tommy's day guy. He seemed more the type to park in a handicap spot and fake a limp than wear a pedometer, but what did she know? If she got in 10 sit ups, it was a banner workout. She was not looking forward to the personal torture Diggle was devising just for her.

She flipped on all the light switches on the long strip by the back door even though only the loading dock and back corridor really needed the extra light during the day. The main club area of the converted warehouse had windows high up by the ceiling. Felicity followed Thea onto the club floor. She walked past the long L shaped bar and glanced up at the second level.

"Hello! Anybody here? Hello!" No slightly sketchy, day manager called back to them.

The club was large but open. Aside from Tommy's office on the second floor which he always kept locked and the few bathrooms, everything was in plain sight. Even the storage room was really just a back hallway off the loading dock that dead ended in a sealed door to the permanently flooded basement.