The Moonlight Monsters Detective Agency Volume One by Maggie Harper Page B

look like he’s just a bozo on a break but he’s actually a watchman looking out for any suspicious activity on the outside. So whatever you do, don’t slow down or look out the window or anything as we pass.’
    ‘Ok,’ Tina said and pressed down on the accelerator.
    As the car filled with glaring light from the huge spotlights around the base she ignored the instinct to look until after they’d passed the docking compound.
    ‘Take a right down here and park up,’ Sam said, ‘I know a shortcut inside.’
     
    Tina parked the car along a quiet, dark little road and they quickly backtracked towards the docks. Crouched low they darted across the road and over to the compound that stood adjacent to the one with the gang in it.
    ‘Come on,’ Parker whispered, ‘we can get through the fence over here…’
    Tina took a quick glance towards the guard up the street to make sure they’d made their excursion unnoticed. The grim, mean-faced guard continued to breathe smoke into the night and stare out into the darkness. She followed Parker over to an opening in the wire mesh of the fence and crouched down to follow him through.
    ‘I hope you didn’t make that hole yourself,’ she said as she stood up again on the other side.
    ‘Course not,’ Parker said, avoiding her eye as she watched him closely.
    ‘Hah, well forgive me for thinking otherwise,’ Tina said.
    She looked around. They were in the yard of a large courier company, she could tell because the company name was written on the fleet of trucks parked nearby.
    ‘Are you sure we’re safe in here?’ she asked, ‘I mean won’t there be night security or something around?’
    ‘You tell me,’ Parker said, ‘you’re the one with the psychic abilities after all.’
    Ok, he had her there alright, maybe she should have checked first and spoken later. She placed her finger on her temple and closed her eyes as she concentrated. The bigger hum of voices was coming from the gang’s compound up ahead but it wouldn’t be safe for her to try to invade the minds there. If Parker was right when he said the gang were supernatural then they’d probably have some kind of defense set up against psychic intruders. Further south she picked up the lazy mutterings of a human mind. It was the security guard from the courier company. He was laid out in the office reading a dirty magazine.
    ‘All clear,’ Tina said, ‘lead the way, Sherlock.’
    Parker headed towards the dock and Tina quickly followed.
     
    They came up towards the fence to the next compound over. Right near the water’s edge, where the concrete veered down into the dark soup of Moonlight City’s small slice of the Atlantic ocean . Parker crouched down and, as Tina approached, she saw that there was another opening in the fence.
    ‘Let me guess, you just happened to find this one here too, right?’
    ‘Elementary my dear Tina,’ Parker smirked and then hurried on through.
    ‘That’s breaking some serious laws there Parker,’ Tina said as she slipped after him, ‘if you got caught out here, you know there’s nothing I could have done to help you.’
    ‘I’m pleading the fifth,’ Parker said.
    ‘Whatever,’ Tina shrugged, ‘so where to from here?’
    They’d emerged right beside a huge boathouse and by the noise and the strong light spilling onto the water around the corner, it sounded like the dockworkers were unloading a ship inside.
    ‘There’s another one of these on the other side,’ Parker answered, ‘but the real mother lode is in the warehouse between the two of them back towards the road. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen so many drugs in all my life. And bear in mind that I was a teenager while the sixties were going on…’
    ‘Ok,’ Tina nodded, ‘and what about the perps ? How many of these guys are we dealing with here?’
    Parker thought about it for a second. ‘More than I can count,’ he said. ‘You’re locked and loaded, right?’
    Tina opened her coat and