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Blind Faith had just opened on Friday when Jake and Pinky arrived.
They were seated at a table in the middle of the room.
Pinky slurped the last drops of carrot nectar from his tumbler. Jake loved him like a brother, but he was often unpredictable, and sometimes downright embarrassing.
Jake surveyed the sparsely filled vegetarian café, and caught a salt and pepper haired woman in a booth along the wall giving them the stink eye.
“Who was in the photo this time?” Pinky asked.
“Not important,” Jake said, keeping most of his promise to Dr. Eisenstein. “The thing is, now we know it wasn’t Muttle.”
“Why d’ya say that?” Pinky asked.
“I think you need another shot of juice—he's dead, remember?” Jake responded.
“Ya, I know that mister smarty pants,” Pinky said. “But why assume Muttle didn’t take the first picture—the one of Dr. Eisenstein’s daughter?”
“That seems highly unlikely. What’re you thinking?” Jake asked.
“Simple,” Pinky said. “Actually, there’s two possibilities. Maybe Muttle took the first picture for his own pleasure, but someone else found it, sent it to the doctor, and took more pictures after Muttle died. Or, maybe Muttle had an accomplice.”
Pinky paused for a moment, then added, “Did they ask for money?”
Jake reconsidered his decision to tell Pinky anything about the secret he promised to keep. He should have known Pinky’s knack for considering angles he’d missed would eke out the whole secret. But he rationalized that by not revealing who was in the second picture he’d be keeping the essence of his promise.
“Yes,” Jake replied. “They’re threatening to post it on the Internet unless they get paid before next Monday.”
“Aha!” Pinky said, slamming his fist on the table so hard it made the flatware bounce.
Jake raised his hand-blinder to avoid catching another stink eye.
“So,” Pinky continued, “maybe Muttle’s accomplice got the idea to make money with the pictures, and Muttle refused. Maybe that’s what got him killed.”
“Wow,” Jake said.
“Wow what?” Pinky replied.
“Those last few drops musta been infused with extra brain cells,” Jake said.
Pinky nodded while morphing his lips into a huge grin, then said “That’s not all.”
Jake turned his palms up. “Let’s have it,” he said, “What else did I miss?”
“If this other person knows who these women are he’s probably a member of the community.”