I chopped this chapter in two for the purpose of serialization. Juliette being missing is overhyped as a cliffhanger, I’m afraid. My apologies! But it’s an almost unavoidable artifact of cutting the story up into online-size bites. Reading the chapter in one organic chunk, the next paragraph would rush along and the reader would likely feel no more than a slight mounting tension. But I do have a payoff coming. The tension builds to a climax that I hope is both exciting and funny. And which allows us to segue gracefully into the next chapter and the beginning of Act III.