Wicked Appetite

There were fire trucks and cop cars angled to the curb in front of Mark's apartment building when we drove up. The downstairs door was open and hoses snaked out from the fire trucks, but the hoses didn't look like they were in use. Firemen and cops milled around, and after a couple beats, I realized what I was seeing. They were chasing ferrets. Diesel parked halfway down the block, we locked Carl in the car, and we made our way to a fireman holding an extinguisher. "What's going on?" Diesel asked. "There was a small fire on the second floor. We put it out, and then we realized there were about forty ferrets running loose in the apartment. It took them two minutes to figure out we left the door open. We're trying to catch them, but I think it's hopeless. Those suckers are off on the great adventure. " A ferret ran up the fireman's leg, jumped from him to Diesel, catapulted itself off Diesel to the ground, and disappeared into the night. "Tricky little devils, " the fireman said. "Were any people in the apartment?" I asked him. "No. Just the ferrets. " We got back into the SUV and drove to More Is Better. No lights shining from the office. No cars in the lot. "Stay here with Carl, " Diesel said to me. "I'm going to do a fast walk-through. " Five minutes later, Diesel jogged to the SUV and slid behind the wheel. "Nobody home. " "Where do we go from here?" "We go to Lenny. " "It's after work hours. Do you know where Lenny is living?" "I had Gwen find him. He's living with his cousin Melody. "