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back across the office to his desk.
    And me? I returned to Coyotl’s place as I’d planned, but thanks to Izel I went there with a purpose in mind.
     
    On my way to Coyotl’s apartment, I arranged for a tech expert to meet me in the lobby. She got there at the same time I did.
    To say she was eager to inspect Coyotl’s Mirror system was an understatement. Apparently, she was a fan too. Unfortunately, she found that Coyotl’s system didn’t have the log feature Izel had described.
    So much for that , I thought.
    I thanked the expert and sent her on her way. I was wandering around Coyotl’s apartment, trying to reconstruct the abduction in my mind, when I finally got a call from my pal Nagual.
    “I’m looking for the worst attacker in the history of the Sun League,” he said. “I was told this was his buzzer code.”
    He sounded like he had a cold. Still it was good to hear his voice.
    “No one was worse than you,” I told him. “All those shots to the head must have screwed up your memory.”
    Laughter. “I thought you were dead, Colhua!”
    “Soon enough,” I said, “if I’m not careful. But you’re doing well for yourself. I see you on the Mirror all the time pushing dental cream.” I imagined him smiling his million-bean smile on the other end of the connection.
    “That’s what happens when you go your whole career without getting a tooth knocked out.”
    Nagual had played for fourteen cycles. I had only played for three and a half, and I’d lost four teeth in the process. The ones in my mouth now were replacements.
    “But you didn’t call just to reminisce, right? So what can I do for my old teammate?”
    “I need some help on a case,” I said.
    “Anything, brother.”
    It was what he used to say to me when I was new on the Eagles and he had already established himself as a top defender. Anything, brother.
    Including pulling me out of an illegal gambling den late one night after I’d gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. Or talking Malinalco’s defenders out of removing my head after something I’d said something about them on the Mirror. Or sending my Aunt Xoco on a vacation to the Western Markets that a young guy like me couldn’t afford.
    Nagual had shared the fruits of his success with me until I had some of my own. I would never forget him for that.
    Unfortunately, we hadn’t spoken much since I left the tlachtli . But then, we’d no longer had so much in common. Nagual had gone on to make a hill of beans endorsing products like dental cream and I’d become an Investigator like my father.
    Still, Nagual was my brother. Which was why I felt comfortable buzzing him about Coyotl.
    And why I wished I could bring him better news. “You played with Coyotl. It’s about him. He’s gone missing.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Gone. Kidnapped, it looks like.”
    “Gods of Life,” he breathed. “Since when?”
    “Since sometime before the start of last night’s game. That’s why he didn’t play.”
    “I wondered about that. I figured he was just sick. Or maybe hung over.”
    “No such luck,” I said. “Of course, that’s privileged information. I need you to keep it to yourself.”
    “I will. So what can I do?”
    “Tell me something about him. Anything at all.”
    “That the public wouldn’t already know?”
    “Exactly.”
    “Let me think.” Nagual took a moment. “Well, he likes slaves.”
    I hadn’t heard that before. “You mean he finds them . . . appealing?”
    “I mean he owns them.”
    Only nobles were permitted to own slaves. “Are you sure?”
    “Would I have said so if I wasn’t?”
    “Sorry. It’s just hard to believe.”
    “We’re talking about Coyotl,” he reminded me. “People look the other way for him.”
    “So . . . did he have one slave? Two ?”
    “Only one that I know of.”
    “For sex.”
    “I don’t know. Maybe not.”
    “Why else?”
    “Companionship. Sounds funny, I know. But it was a thing for him. You see, his mother was a