Clyde looked disappointed. “Fine man, let’s get out of here. You’re turning down a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here, though, you know that.”
“To explore an empty store? I don’t understand any of this but it scares the shit out of me, and if we tell anyone we are going to get our asses locked away. It’s enough, Clyde.”
Clyde considered and nodded. “You’re right. You’re always so logical, man. That’s why our business works so well. That and my sweet disposition. People love that.”
They walked out of the store and closed the door behind them. The opening shrank and then there was nothing but the alleyway.
The next day, Jim woke to his phone buzzing.
“Huh? What’s going on?” He fumbled and answered the call.
“Easy, cowboy,” Liz said through the speaker. “I’m guessing I was right to call. For once you didn’t look like you had any wild dreams last night and you slept straight through the alarm. I gave you an extra hour since the calendar said you didn’t have any meetings scheduled, but I figured you’d want to get up and go.”
He rolled over and stretched. “Man. Wow. Thanks, babe. I’ll get my lazy ass moving. Enjoy the rest of your day, okay?”
“Okay, baby. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
He wondered if he hadn’t needed some extra sleep for quite some time. That one bonus hour seemed to have done wonders for his mental state. He dressed quickly, grabbed some coffee and a Pop-Tart, and drove to work.
Jim walked into the lobby. Nia was sitting at her desk and she gave him a cheerful wave. “Hey there, boss.”
“Hey, Nia. Clyde in?”
“Nah, figured you guys must have been out late since neither of you were here when I showed up, and you didn’t have anything in the calendar that I knew about.”
“Nothing so exciting on my end,” he said. “Just overslept. I’ll give Clyde a call if he doesn’t come in soon. No worries.”
He went into his office and sat down. He had been thinking about the strange room when he fell asleep and the thoughts remained with him. Nobody would believe such a bizarre thing, other than maybe the kid from the collectibles store. From a strictly real estate perspective, he didn’t know if the strip of stores made all that much sense, especially when financing anything new was going to be a bit of a challenge with all their cash tied up.
Still, he had found something truly exceptional, and maybe it was worth buying just to know that it was theirs. Wasn’t it? He shook his head as if admonishing someone else for a bad idea. There wasn’t any logic behind making a multimillion-dollar purchase just so nobody could play with their invisible toy. And how could he keep anyone away from it anyway? The door had no lock, which was strange in and of itself. He guessed he could build something in the alley, but that might destroy the whole thing altogether. Who knew? It was so crazy that if he hadn’t seen it with Clyde, he’d never have come anywhere close to believing it could be real.
Speaking of Clyde… where was he? Jim pulled out his phone and fired off a text. “Wakey wakey,” he wrote. He sent it to Clyde and waited for the message to be marked “delivered.” After a minute it still hadn’t shown the proper status. He left the phone out on the desk and he turned to his computer. He started perusing the latest spreadsheets from the mysterious president of the New Jersey property. He laughed. The experience of the previous day had certainly redefined the notion of ‘mysterious’ for him, probably forever.
An hour later, he hadn’t heard any buzzing from his phone. He pulled it out and looked at it. No notifications. No messages. His brief words to Clyde were still undelivered. He went into his recent calls and tried Clyde’s cell. It went right to voicemail.
“Hey. This is Clyde. Wait for the beep and do your worst.”
The phone beeped, and Jim left a message.
“Hey buddy, getting a little late in the morning. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Hope you’re on your way in, but if you get this before I see you, just give me a call. Or a text. Whatever. Talk to you soon.”
By mid-afternoon, Clyde still hadn’t arrived at the office. Jim tried him several more times but his messages all went undelivered and his calls went straight to voicemail.
He hated bothering Nancy, Clyde’s girlfriend, but he was starting to get concerned. He called her number and she answered on the first ring.
“Jim!” she almost yelled into the phone. Her voice sounded frazzled and exhausted. “Please tell me you know where he is!”
Jim felt a chill wash over him. “Shit, Nance, I’m sorry. I was hoping you’d know. He hasn’t been in all day and I can’t get a hold of him.”
“I’ve tried him too. So many times since last night. And I’ve called the hospitals all around the area but nobody has heard anything.”
“Did you go by his place?”
“Yes,” she said. “His car isn’t there. He’s out somewhere and I don’t know what’s happening!” She burst into tears. Jim thought those weren’t her first of the day.
“I’m going to go out and see if I can track him down,” he said. “Just stick by your phone, okay? I’ll be in touch if I have anything to report.” He almost ended the call there but said, “He’s going to be just fine, Nance. I’m sure of it.”
She thanked him and ended the call from her phone. Jim sat back in his chair. Did he really think Clyde was going to be just fine? Yes and no. His logical mind told him there was nothing wrong, and there must be a simple explanation for a sudden disappearance from a man who would never not show up for work or check in with his girlfriend. Under that, though, another voice spoke in worrisome tones. These things happen all the time, that voice said. All the time. And to good people, too. You’ve seen the news. Why should Clyde be any different?
Jim thought about the last time he’d seen Clyde. They had driven together back to the office and he’d seen Clyde get into his own car. He knew Clyde was disappointed about his unwillingness to mess around more with whatever the hell it was they’d found in the alleyway, but he’d otherwise seemed okay…
The more he thought, the more Jim wondered if it might be worth a drive down Butler Avenue. The two warring voices in his mind debated the idea back and forth. Finally, he decided there were viable work reasons to go back to the property. He could do a little more asking around and a little more surveillance of the traffic patterns in and around the shops.
With that justification in place, Jim said a quick goodbye to Nia and left the office. He drove to Butler and made a left. He had only gone a few blocks, not nearly enough to reach Galaxi’s, when he saw Clyde’s BMW parked on the side of the road. Jim pulled into the nearest spot he could find and got out.
There were no parking meters at this part of the road, so Clyde’s car hadn’t accrued any tickets for violations yet, but the car still looked frighteningly empty. Three years earlier, Clyde, who had never been a coffee drinker, had discovered a love for large iced lattes from Dunkin’ Donuts. He alternated between the caramel and vanilla flavors, but the latte had been there every morning since. Clyde was terrible about throwing out his trash and anytime they met for work somewhere before going into the office, the big plastic cup remained in the cupholder in the BMW, nasty watered-down blend at the bottom.
There was no cup in the cupholder. So that meant one of three things: Clyde had neglected his constant latte routine, Clyde had actually remembered to trash the cup in one of the trashcans along the storefronts, or Clyde had not come to Butler Avenue that morning.
Jim wondered if maybe he was thinking the wrong way by assuming Clyde had arrived the night before. Couldn’t he have shown up mid-day after finishing his coffee and disposed of it like a good citizen? But then he would have received the texts Jim had sent that morning, even if he chose not to respond to them. Plus, Nancy had tried to reach him at night.
No, as much as Jim wanted to think otherwise, Clyde had very likely come down there after they had said goodbye in the office parking l
ot.
Jim walked down the street in the direction of the stores and the mysterious alley. He had felt a terrible sense of danger in their time in the magical store, and now that sense was heightened to an extreme.
He made his way to Helen’s Discount Boutique and walked inside. The smell of mothballs assaulted his nose as he entered the long room. He wondered how such a place stayed in business. There were customers, browsing along the racks of clothing or examining the trinkets on the front table, but did anyone actually purchase anything from a place like this?
As if to answer his question, a woman who appeared to be in her mid to late sixties brought a dress to the counter. The salesclerk, at least ten years younger than the customer, greeted her with a smile.
“Found what you’re looking for, Barbara?” the woman behind the counter asked.
“Always do,” the customer said. “This is perfect for my Brady’s Bar Mitzvah.” She chuckled. “There was a time I’d wear something a little sexier for a fancy event, but it is the burden of the Grandma to be modest.”
Jim pulled up a picture of Clyde on his phone. “Excuse me,” he said, “have you seen this man?”
Barbara and the salesclerk, whose name tag identified her as Donna, both examined the photo. “No,” Barbara said. “I’m sorry. Is he missing?”
“I hope not,” Jim said. “May I ask, have you been coming to this store long? You two seem to know each other.”
“Put it this way,” the salesclerk said. “I’ve been here since the store opened in…what was it… 1985. And Barbara was here right from the start.”
“Oh, honey, I’ve been coming here since before that.” She turned to Jim. “I grew up in Ambler. So I’ve seen these stores come and go. Helen’s has survived much longer than most. You know, Donna is Helen’s daughter! She’s the spitting image of her mom, may she rest in peace.”
“That’s very interesting,” Jim said. He found he was curious, despite his urgent sense that something was very wrong with Clyde. On some level he felt that maybe learning more about the street could help in some way. “You said that you’ve been here a long time. Do you know what used to be in that alleyway? I was told there was a store there at one point.”
Barbara frowned. “There was. A pharmacy, but it sold a bunch of odds and ends and junk that kids liked too. I took my own children there plenty of times. My David always found a way to leave with some kind of present. I admit, he deserved it. What a wonderful boy. Always kind and always did his homework. Went to Harvard you know, and now he’s a doctor at a prestigious hospital in New York.”
“You must be very proud,” Jim said. “So this pharmacy, what happened to it?”
Barbara’s face, which had lit up when praising her son, fell again. “There was an incident. This was back not long after Helen opened up this store. Maybe two, three years later.”
“What kind of an incident?” Jim asked.
“Nobody knows,” Donna said. She looked as serious as Barbara.
“I’m sorry,” said Jim, “nobody knows?”
“That’s right,” Donna said. “Something happened. The police cordoned off the whole block. We weren’t even allowed to get in to get anything out of the store. It cost us several days of business, but the cops assured us everything was fine with the boutique. And it was. The pharmacy though, it was gone.”
“Gone?” Jim asked. “You mean it burned down?”
“Maybe,” Donna said. “It was hard to say. There was nothing there. The owners of the block at that time had some sway with the Gazette and kept reporters at a distance. When we finally got in, there was nothing to see. Just an empty alley, filled with dirt. The buildings never shared party walls. They were all separate, so our structure wasn’t affected. But if there had been a fire, you’d never know it from the side of our building, or the one on the other side of the alley, where Hugo Callahan eventually set up shop. Anyhow, within a month, the owner paved the alley and installed side doors in our building. And that’s the way it’s been ever since.”
“And the people who owned the pharmacy?” Jim questioned. “What happened to them?”
“Vanished,” Barbara said in a low voice barely above a whisper. “Like they’d never existed. My oldest went to high school with one of Dr. Mike’s employee’s kids, but the kid never came back to school after the incident. The whole family was gone without a trace. Nobody knows if they were in the building or if they moved away or what.”
“Rumors swirled, of course,” Donna said. “People suspected foul play. Or possibly that the families had gone into the witness protection program and had been relocated somewhere else in the country. Nobody knew.”
“This is going to sound kind of odd,” Jim started, “but have either of you heard stories about the place being, I don’t know, haunted?”
The women both nodded. “Of course,” Donna said. “The talk about the store that only appears on the full moon. Sure. It spread around town decades ago, and I certainly heard it over the years just from working so close to the place.”
“Do you believe there’s any truth to it?” Jim asked. He tried to convey through his tone how serious he was taking the subject.
Donna shook her head. “No, of course not.” She managed a small smile. “Of course, years ago, when the rumors were really flying, I bought into it just a little bit. Lots of people did. But it only took one drunken night in the alley with my friends under the light of the full moon to realize it was all nonsense. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of something supernatural. I’m sure you heard about it because people get to talking every time there’s a full moon.”
“The whole thing seems supernatural to me,” Barbara said. She muttered something under her breath and clutched at a charm on her necklace. “I would not suggest you go wandering out there in the moonlight, young man.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Jim said with a warm smile. “Thank you both for your time. I really should move on and try to track down my friend.”
“Good luck with that,” Donna said. “And feel free to stop in anytime for chitchat or, you know, to get something nice for your wife.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks again.”
He walked outside. He was more and more convinced that Clyde had gone back into the pharmacy, but what had Clyde done in there? Camped out for the night? To what end? And why wouldn’t he have come back out once daylight arrived? Maybe it was like in casinos, where the people keep gambling because they can’t tell the time. Maybe it was just so dark in the room Clyde had decided to catch up on several years of lost sleep.
Jim stood at the foot of the alley. What the hell was he going to do about any of it? Pop in and grab Clyde? Tell the dumb son of a bitch he’d missed a whole day of work and scared his girlfriend half to death?
He guessed that was as good a plan as any. He held up his cell phone and flicked open the camera app. As before, the mysterious store appeared with its walled-up windows and inappropriately designed door. Jim looked all around, letting a few cars pass by and making sure nobody was peeking from Helen’s Discount Boutique. Then he grabbed the door handle and opened up a slice of darkness in the air.
He stepped inside, fumbled a bit and found the light switch. The overhead bulbs brightened and revealed a completely empty room. Jim shut the door almost all the way, making sure not to latch it completely closed, but positioning it so only somebody truly examining the alley would notice the opening. “Clyde?” he called. “You hiding somewhere, bud?” He knew how unlikely that would be. Most of the racks were pushed along the wall and there was no back room, not after whatever kind of modifications had cut it off and removed the windows for good measure. There was only the counter, but why would Clyde be behind that?
Jim walked over and examined the counter. He could see almost all of the floor behind it from his vantage point, and there was nobody back there. He turned away and saw something out of the corner of his eye.
He walked around the counter and s
aw what it was. It was a Costco membership card. In addition to his bad habit of leaving Dunkin’ Donuts cups in his car, Clyde also often forgot to put credit cards and cash back in his wallet. Because of this, he was prone to dropping things out of his pockets, and had been forced to replace more than a handful of cards.
Jim knelt down and turned the card over. He saw Clyde’s face and name. Goddamn it, Clyde! Where the hell are you?
Jim exited the store with the Costco card safely stashed in his wallet, and shut the door behind him. His suspicions had been correct, and Clyde had most definitely come back to the pharmacy. That still didn’t explain where he had gone after leaving the store.
Jim pulled up his recent calls and tried Clyde again. He was startled by an unusual ring pattern and heard a recording. “Your call cannot be completed at this time in the country you are calling. Please try your call again later.”
It had to be some kind of mistake. He called again and got the same message. He tried two more times and then brought up Liz’s number.
“Hey baby,” his wife said. “I was just thinking about you! I’m just finishing up some paperwork before I head home. What’s up?”
“Hey,” he said, his voice shaking despite his best efforts to stabilize it, “have you heard from Clyde?”
“Who?”
“Clyde, babe. He’s been gone all night and he didn’t come into the office.”
“I don’t understand. Is that one of those guys who tries to sell you stuff all the time?”
Jim felt his heart race. “Liz, I’m talking about Clyde. My best friend? My business partner?”
“Jimmy, if this is your attempt at playing with the pregnant lady’s mind, it’s not your best work.”
“What are you talking about? Baby, I’m getting really worried here.”
“Well now you’ve got me worried,” she said. “Why don’t you come home? The whole reason you brought an assistant onboard was so that you could take a step back with the baby coming and all. What you’ve been able to accomplish on your own is impressive as hell, but you’ve got so many responsibilities now and you deserve a little break now and again.”
Vacancy Page 5