Walter rolled up under the tree, scoped out the scene, and then made a beeline for one of the restaurants. He whipped out his phone and dialed the number stered on the restaurant''s window.


    When someone picked up, he said, "Hey, I wanna rent your shop. Can you swing by and show me around?"


    Freya, looking all confused, blurted out, "What the heck are you doing? Peanut''s missing, and you''re out here renting a shop?"


    "Zip it," Walter snapped, giving her a frosty re. He hung up and strolled over to the coffee shop next door.


    The coffee shop was still open, but it was pretty dead. He rapped on the counter and asked the barista, "I lost my wallet herest night. Had ten grand in it. Seen it?"


    The barista looked shocked and quickly shook their head. "Nope, haven''t seen it. When did you lose it?"


    Walter turned to Freya, "When did we lose it?"


    Freya, a bit slow on the uptake, finally caught on when she saw Walter''s look. "Uh, around ten-thirty."


    "Sorry, we haven''t seen it," the barista said politely.


    Leaning on the counter, Walter said coldly, "So I lose my wallet here, and you just say you haven''t seen it? That''s it?"


    "What do you want us to do?" the barista asked, a bit flustered.


    "Let me check the surveince footage, or cough up ten grand," Walter demanded.


    The barista was speechless, but knewpensation was a no-go. To avoid a scene, they called the manager, who agreed to let him check the surveince.


    They pulled up the footage from ten-thirty. The ce was packed, but the cameras didn''t show Freya or Peanut.


    "Sure you didn''t mix up the time? There are a bunch of coffee shops on this street. Maybe you left it at another one?" the barista suggested.


    Walter scanned the footage, and suddenly Freya shouted, "Peanut!"


    Before she could finish, Walter told the manager, "We must''ve got it wrong. I''ll check the other coffee shops."


    He grabbed Freya and headed out.


    Freya wiped her tears. She had just seen Peanut in the video, but the camera only caught a glimpse of him passing by the entrance.


    The footage showed Peanut heading towards the Mexican restaurant next door.


    Not long after, the restaurant owner rushed over, looking around. Spotting Walter and Freya, he walked over.


    "You the ones looking to rent the shop?" the owner asked.


    Walter nodded. "Yeah."


    "Great, I''ll show you around," the owner said. He was in his fifties and a bit balding. Running a restaurant had clearly taken its toll.


    He opened the door, and Walter followed him inside, listening to his spiel about the shop. The owner mentioned he was heading back to his hometown and that several people had already shown interest. If they wanted to rent it, they needed to decide fast.


    Walter nodded along, pretending to care.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    After about ten minutes, the owner asked, "Anything else you wanna know?"


    "The surveince, is it working?" Walter asked casually.


    "The surveince? Yeah, it''s working, inside and out," the owner said, opening theputer at the cashier''s desk and pulling up the footage.


    Walter walked over, took the mouse from the owner''s hand, and easily found the surveince files.


    "Why are you looking at these?" the owner asked, puzzled.


    Walter ignored him and flipped to the footage from ten-thirtyst night. The outside cameras captured most of the surroundings.


    In the footage, they saw Peanut.


    He had been right next to Freya, but she was lost in thought, head down, and Peanut had let go of her hand without her noticing.