Page 169 of Demons Dig Donuts

“Excuse me?”

“Well, you guys don’t want to scare anyone with potential monster shenanigans, right? And there are a lot of humans here too. Why not just pull the alarm and get everyone out? Only bad guys would stay behind to see who pulled the alarm.”

“No. We wait.”

“And how long before they realize that we’re here snooping around? This place is big, but it’s not that big.”

“The fire alarm would alert the authorities. The family has police connections, but the last thing we need is to further complicate this. Even if I could stop them from coming to investigate, everyone here would still get on their cell phones to whore themselves out to social media since they can’t even take a shit without letting the world know. They’d post and teet or whatever the hell it is they do and create a panic so that the police would have to come anyway, and there are already enough humans here.”

“Aw! Good job.”

Mr. Heiss blinked. “What?”

“You said humans and not flesh bags or blood sacks or whatever. You’ve grown.”

Mr. Heiss sighed loudly.

“Hey!” Gammy’s voice returned, and she briefly appeared. “It’s me.”

“Who else would it be?”

“Shush, demon.” Gammy became visible enough to wag her finger at him. “Do not tick me off after what I went through to help you! That entire room reeks of salt and lots of other anti-ghost type things!”

“So! Find anything, Gammy?” Indy prompted.

“I just opened the door!” Gammy snorted. “I didn’t exactly stick around to snoop. But I can confirm the office is empty, so it should be safe for you two to go take a peek while I work on the other doors down here!”

“Great! Yay!” Indy hooked his arm with Mr. Heiss’s. “Shall we?”

Mr. Heiss tensed but slowly nodded. “Fine. Easier to keep an eye on you if you stay with me.” He squeezed Indy’s arm and then headed toward the stairs that led up to the second level.

As they ascended, Indy glanced around and spotted a glimmer of Gammy headed to a door across from the bar. It was guarded by a big bouncer, but of course he couldn’t see the ghost about to break in.

Which did make Indy wonder.

“Why aren’t there any guards up here?” Indy asked.

“Pardon?” Mr. Heiss followed Indy’s gaze. “Huh.”

The upstairs had a black-and-white checkered floor, and some of the hardware markings that had been painted over on the walls appeared to mimic the shape of booths. It was likely it had once been a dining area, though the bulk of it had been walled off to create a private space with a single door leading inside.

There was absolutely no one here.

“Perhaps they thought the wards would be enough to deter anyone from exploring,” Mr. Heiss suggested as they approached the door. “Or, more likely, they are busy guarding more important things.”

“Like scary drugs to turn monsters into humans?”

“It is possible.” Mr. Heiss opened the door and then let go of Indy’s arm so he could step through first. His human disguise flickered briefly, a hint of the fiery crown between his horns visible, though the immediate cause was unclear. He didn’t appear distressed at least. Once he seemed confident it was safe, he waved for Indy to join him.

It was a cramped waiting area with fake plants and vinyl chairs, and there was another door that led into an office with a big desk covered in thick stacks of paper and walls lined with filing cabinets. The door had been left wide open, perhaps from Gammy.

Mr. Heiss approached the desk to rifle through the papers.

Indy tried one of the filing cabinets, but it was locked. The next two were as well, so he gave up and leaned against the wall. “So.” He popped his tongue. “This is boring.”

“What were you expecting?” Mr. Heiss snorted. “More dead bodies?”

“I don’t know! But something other than watching you shuffle papers.”