“Good luck, Sassafras!” Nate watched her go for a moment. He followed behind her, his pace slightly slower than Maggie’s and the strong beam of his flashlight shifting from one side of the corridor to the other.
	“If we’re [i]really[/i] on the same side here,” he called as she bumped into a small table, his gaze moving with his flashlight, “meet back in the front room in, say, half-an-hour to compare notes. Shout if you need anything.” He cast her another suspicious glance, still not entirely sure if he should trust her pretty face. She seemed trustworthy enough at first glance, but first impressions were deceiving things. Even serial killers looked normal at first.
	[i]What’ve I got to lose?[/i] he thought with an inward shrug as they reached a stairway leading to the rooms on the upper floor. When he reached the landing above, Nate turned, gave Maggie a quick two-fingered salute should she still be nearby, then moseyed down one end of the hall beyond, trying to remember which of the doors led to Fred’s room.
	Unsure, he started cracking each door open, peered inside, then moved on to the next.