Raven waited for the foot steps upstairs to fall silent then he opened a drawer – well, he tried. It was a tight one. Even worse than his lunch box. For the world it might be better not to see if his gut feeling about that Pelican Cottage being a fake was true whereas there was too much at stake for him.

The agreement with Cole Bone and Rusty Rooster has been a rotten compromise: Instead of buying the painting, Raven would hold it in pledge until the completion of their recent projects. Something involving dogs and water.

He frowned. Why on Earth did Rusty bring an art student along? When he himself studied... Touché. Nature has been his teacher, Albert Bierstadt his idol. But to find someone who didn't mind being watched, he would have had to travel to Europe. He shuddered.

It wasn't the light touch that sent a wave of pain through his ear. His Shen-men point was destroyed anyway so he clearly couldn't be blamed for always being too stressed and his inability to relax for a few minutes, and a piercing wouldn't hurt. And neither would a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Slowly, he let his hand sink and focused on the drawer's handle. Leaving the gallery now was as harmless as eating a pufferfish.

Right on cue, there was a noise coming from the upper floor – a sound of metal meeting stone, followed by "No!" and whimpering.

Raven jumped to his feet. Obviously, dog – sitting a Chihuahua was a big deal, a greenhorn in art couldn't be trusted with. No panic! Raven was prepared. Okay, where was that lunch box? Please, don't let it be pancakes!

Still no lunch box in sight, in exchange a very wet dog baring its teeth when entering. "N- N- No!" Raven shouted, saving himself on the desk. "G-g-good dog! Good dog!"

"Tiger!" Crooked Smile barked.

Note to self: Painting a "Dogs must stay outside" – sign. Murals and fences in the neighborhood were... so much adorned with graffities that running out of imagination would be Raven's smallest concern.

The Chihuahua ran to the now free chair, hopped on and curled up, rolling so fast from one side to the other that telling whether he was drying himself or simply in look for a comfortable position was very hard.

"Good boy!"

While Crooked Smile was being occupied with toweling Tiger, whispering, Raven climbed down again, eyes on the Chihuahua like a lion on a... lion, knowing that they would be rivals forever. This was Raven's domain!

Clic. A flashy flash. A thick cloud of smoke. Raven coughed. How deep should he bury that camera?

Cole Bone grinned. "Dear colleagues, I hereby proudly present... he paused, his grin turning into a smirk, My newest project: The photo series 'Bites'."

Dang! "T-t-too bad! I'm no model. You can put that camera right were you got it from," Raven ground out. Yes, and too bad that the P.I. was already gone.

And Rusty? He was better gone too. No! He mustn't! Leaving that greenhorn alone at his gallery... Raven stormed off.