"Alright so we found out there's gonna be an office we didn't know about, right? That's because diviners, they're off the books. They don't publicly list their location so it's not in the City Directory and there's no record of it in City Hall. Now that we found this out, where do you think our next stop is?"

  "I assume from the obviousness of the question that the correct answer is not the office itself. Why don't you just skip ahead and tell me why?"

  "You're right," said Donnie. "But I was trying to see if you would know the answer first. It goes back to exactly what I told you. Every investigation begins and ends at the desk. You can't just walk blindly into a location. You gotta know the layout of the office before you walk through the door. You gotta know everything about the building that you can before you set foot inside the building.

  "We're going to make a quick stop over at City Hall. We’ll get the blueprints for that building, which are publicly available. Then we're going to take a look at the floor and the office so that way we know the shape of it and we can make a plan before we even get there. Begins and ends at the desk. You understand?"

  Sam thought back to all the times recently where she had blindly walked into a location and gotten abruptly kidnapped or didn't know the layout. It would have been useful to have any sort of bird's-eye view or game plan before going in. She appreciated learning from Donnie but she felt like it was blind luck that she had any success so far.

  Sam and Donnie got the blueprints for the downtown high-rise that David Wilson used as his office to meet with clients and consult with demons. They went back to Sam's office because it was only a little out of the way from downtown.

  "You work from here? This place is a shithole. It looks like it's infested with rats," Donnie said. He sneered at the peeling paint, worn stairs, and musty air.

  "They're not so bad once you get to know them," said Sam. Donnie laughed. He must have thought she was joking.

  "All right let's take a look at these plans. Now, the first thing that you got to understand is that we need an extra exit. Can you guess why?" asked Donnie.

  "Probably because if somebody comes looking we need to be able to skedaddle as quickly as possible," replied Sam.

  "That's exactly right. Now this office is on, looks like, the third floor, okay. It looks like there's an alley-facing window. That means that there's going to be a fire escape outside of that window. So we're going to leave that window open and if we hear keys we're going to go out that window. Okay, I think it's pretty unlikely that anybody is going to come back looking for this guy because they've already found what they wanted, or there's no mystery in the first place.

  "Alright let's get to the building now that you understand the process and then I'll explain what we'll do when we physically get there."

  Sam and Donnie took the long way downtown. Sam knew she could walk through the sewers and just deal with the smell, but she didn't think Donnie would take to any sewer-based shortcuts.

  It was starting to be evening. The sun set, a pink and yellow that only comes around in winter in a city when filtered through the smog. The air started to turn cold. Sam was thankful she had bundled up.

  Donnie looked every bit the private eye he was, wearing a long black trench coat, black suit, white shirt, black tie. His dark skin shone in the sunset and he wore a black fedora. His white and dark brown dreadlocks hung loose from the fedora. Sam wondered how she would look in a fedora. She worried she wouldn't look as cool but resolved to find out next time she was by a hat shop.

  "Alright, according to the public records," Donnie said, "this building is owned by a corporation. We weren't able to figure out who the site manager is so we don't know where they're at. First you case the joint."

  "Anything in particular we're looking for?" asked Sam.

  "Yeah, emergency exits, fire escapes, in particular the one we would use if somebody busts in on us, alarms, neighboring buildings, and anything that stands out as being unusual. Let's take a walk."

  The pair made their way around the perimeter of the building. It stood apart from other buildings on the block, with a broad alley going behind it. The building itself was large. To Sam's eyes it looked like it was only ever populated by rich folk. The foot traffic was all classy, well-dressed. It was all office workers and businessmen making their way home. Their expensive shoes trudged through the wet slush.

  "All right looks like we're all set. Now let me show you the most tried and true method for getting past a doorman."

  Donnie walked her back into the alley. There was a back entrance to the building. He pulled out a shim and popped the latch on the door.

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  "The easiest way past the doorman is past the doorman. This is one of the main reasons we scope out a location and we take a look at the floor plan before we get there. Now as far as the doorman is concerned, we are already in the building. He doesn't watch this entrance. Nobody does."

  "From here we just walk up to the front elevators. The doorman watches the front door and the foyer; that's his job. The rest of the building? He doesn't give a shit. I'll tell you for free though, it's one silver to bribe any doorman. They don't get paid well."

  Sam appreciated Donnie's approach to investigation. It seemed like at least some of her instincts were on point.

  They made their way up to the third-floor office where David Wilson worked. The door was the same as all the other doors in the hallway. A brass number 312 emblazoned above the peephole.

  Donnie pulled out a set of lock picks, offered them to Sam, and said, "You think you can do this before one of these other doors opens and somebody sees what we're doing?"

  "Yeah I got it," said Sam. She stood with her back facing the hallway they had come down. To a casual observer it would appear as though she had just forgotten which key to use or was having trouble with the lock.

  The lock gave way under Sam's persistence and popped open with a click. Donnie nodded in appreciation at her handiwork. The pair stepped inside.

  They knew from the blueprints and layout of the office that there were five rooms, including a bathroom. Sam knew at least one of the rooms would be reserved for performing rituals of binding and creating contracts. The room they entered was a small foyer that led to an office. Sam started to take a step towards the office. Donnie held his hand up to stop her.

  "Look there, coat closet, open it up," he said.

  Sam opened the closet door. A black wool hat hung inside. A heavy wool overcoat hung from a thick wooden hanger.

  "Wool jacket and hat. Interesting. Interesting. That means... well, we'll figure out what it means later. Just for now let's make a note about that. You brought your notebook, right?"

  Sam nodded.

  "Good job," said Donnie. "In your notebook we're going to document any findings, where it was found, what condition it was in, and what it suggests. This is to be transferred into your dossier when you return.

  "Let's figure out our approach," he continued. "There are a couple of different methods with which you can investigate a physical location. We're not going to just walk in there and start thumbing around. That's not the process. We need to be methodical. We need to document any findings in your notebook.

  "When we enter the next room, you first notice anything that seems out of place or unusual. If nothing immediately stands out, we go methodically and systematically. We're going to start clockwise from the entry door; we know the longest wall is adjacent to the doorway, so we'll start there and work from ceiling to floor. We'll look through any books that are on bookcases, any work surfaces, and finally any waste bins. You would be surprised at what you can learn from looking at people's trash. Ready?"

  "Yeah," said Sam. "Let's go."

  "After you," said Donnie.

  Sam opened the door. She stood in the doorway while her eyes adjusted to the dark, making sure she saw no movement before stepping out of Donnie's way and flipping the electric light switch on the wall.

  They knew the structure of the office. Sam took a moment to note the layout.

  The long office room was lined with bookcases. To the right of the doorway was a small shelf of personal effects and items of decoration. Opposite the door were two red leather chairs and a carved heavy wood desk. Behind the desk an ornate red leather chair. Behind that two windows looked out into the alley behind the building. Heavy curtains hung in front of the windows, pulled back.

  Sam first walked to the windows and opened one wide enough for her and Donnie to exit in case anyone came into the room while they performed their investigation. Donnie closed the door behind them and said they would have a moment of cover if anyone came into the foyer. They started going through every item in the bookshelves, pulling books down and opening them, looking for anything stuck between pages, personal inscriptions, or any new information. They made their way around the room without discovering anything.

  Next, they went one level down. Donnie reviewed the items on the shelf by the entry door while Sam opened desk drawers and investigated the contents. The desk was sparsely filled with pens and paper, a bottle of whiskey, and a cabinet with two snifters. Nothing was out of the ordinary for a diviner's office.

  "All right, check the trash," said Donnie.

  Sam looked in the waste bin by the desk. There was an old crumpled newspaper, the moldy core of an apple, and a paper coffee cup. Paper coffee cups were a new addition to urban life. Diners and restaurants would offer businessmen and take-away customers the ability to take their drink with them.

  Under the desiccated apple core, Sam found a letter of correspondence dated eight days prior. It was a message asking to meet and collaborate and was sent from one Philip Hoffman, the other missing diviner.

  "Hey, take a look here," said Sam.

  Donnie walked over and reviewed what she had found.

  "See what I mean about the trash? Alright we'll take this with us. But document where you found it."

  "Well it's not a clear connection," said Sam, "but it does seem like these men were connected in some way. At least they knew of each other, or Mr. Hoffman knew of Mr. Wilson."

  "Yeah, great find, actually." Donnie looked troubled.

  He walked over to the desk, pulled out the long skinny drawer in the center. He ran his hand along the back on the underside of the drawer.

  "Looking for secret drawers?" said Sam.

  "Yeah, doesn't look like anything's here," he replied. "Okay next room, which we believe to be the ritual room. This is where Mr. Wilson would perform his day-to-day work aside from meeting with clients, which this room appears to be used for."

  Sam once again led the way. She opened the door and let her eyes adjust, watching for any movement or anyone hidden inside. Then she flicked on the electric light. On the floor was a sigil marked in white chalk. She didn't recognize the demon it was meant to invoke but she copied it down into her notebook to ask Emil about later. Sam could tell that the sigil was incomplete because the central circle had yet to be filled with any of the binding script. Beyond the incomplete sigil sat a pedestal podium.

  The podium sat empty, which caught Sam's attention. If this room was anything like Emil's ritual room, the podium was meant to hold the diviner's grimoire, their book full of all the bindings, invocations, and contracts they knew.

  David Wilson's was missing.