14

by Peter Clines

  The older man shook his head. “I think you would not be shocked to know many bad things haff happened here offer the years. I can think of two or three people it could be, and I’m sure there are more from before my time.” He shivered. “Again, you haff my apologies.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I am going to haff that hatch sealed and your apartment cleaned. The company will coffer the cost.”

  “Thanks.”

  When Nate got back upstairs he found everyone standing around his door. He’d left it open when he went down with Oskar and the group of medical examiners. Clive was there, but no Debbie.

  Mandy cleared her throat. “Are you okay, Nate?”

  “All things considered...yeah, I’m okay.”

  “So is it true,” asked Clive, “what Veek and Tim are saying?”

  Nate looked at Veek and she nodded. “I guess so,” he said. “It was Aleksander Koturovic.”

  “You found him?” said Andrew. His eyes were wide with awe. It made him look like an anime character.

  Nate nodded again.

  “Did they say what they’re going to do with him?” asked Veek. “With his body?”

  “No.” Nate shook his head. “They were polite but they didn’t give out a lot of answers, y’know?”

  “I didn’t think they would,” said Tim. “They smelled like contractors.”

  Xela raised a blue eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “They weren’t with the city or the state,” said Tim. “Not with the feds, either. Not officially, at least.”

  “And again,” said Veek, “you know this stuff how?”

  He didn’t take the bait. “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Look, guys,” said Nate, “I appreciate the concern, but right now I’m beat.”

  Mandy’s head turned to look at something in her apartment. “It’s almost midnight,” she said.

  “Man, you’re a wuss,” Xela said to Nate.

  “What if we all meet up Friday on the roof?” he suggested. “We can watch the sun go down, have a few beers, and talk about...about this and yesterday and all the stuff that’s happened these past couple days.”

  Andrew’s head bobbed from one shoulder to the other. “Intoxication goes against the Lord’s wishes,” he said.

  “Yes, we know,” said Tim. “I’ll bring a bottled water just for you.”

  “Thank you.” He turned to Nate and bowed his head. “You’ll be in my prayers.” He slipped down the hall and vanished into his room.

  “Roger’ll still be at work,” Xela said. “He doesn’t get off until pretty late on Fridays.”

  “Ask him if he’s okay with us doing it without him,” said Nate. “He knows pretty much everything already. We can get him caught up over the weekend.”

  Xela nodded. She gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she leaned in to whisper something in Veek’s ear. Veek batted her away with an annoyed growl. Xela smirked and headed down the hall to her apartment.

  “I’m going to go let Debbie know what happened,” said Clive. “She’ll probably bake you a banana bread or something.” He rested a hand on Nate’s shoulder and headed down the back stairwell.

  Mandy’s waved once before closing her door.

  Tim angled his head toward Nate’s apartment. “You going to be okay in there?”

  “No,” said Nate. “To be honest, I think I’m going to sleep in the lounge. Maybe forever.”

  “You’re not sleeping in the lounge,” said Veek.

  He shook his head. “I know this shouldn’t freak me out. I know he’s been there all along, but still...”

  “It’s normal,” said Tim. “Everybody freaks out when they see their first dead body. No matter how long it’s been dead.”

  Nate looked at him. “You’re not freaking out.”

  “It’s not my first dead body.” He walked back to his own apartment. “Get some sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

  Sixty Two

  Nate stared at the brass 28 for a moment and then pulled his door shut. The lock clicked. He felt stupid, patted his thigh, and was relieved to feel his keys in his pocket.

  “Come on,” said Veek.

  “What?”

  “I’m not going to let you sleep in the lounge. Those couches suck.”

  “They’re pretty comfy.”

  “You’ll regret it in the morning.”

  “Thanks,” he said, “but I don’t want to—”

  “Nate, just shut up and come to my place.”

  They walked down through the lounge and into her apartment. The cool air jolted him as he stepped through the door. The computer screens were all dark.

  The window above her bed had been replaced and the caulk around the glass still glistened. She saw him looking at it and shook her head. “It’s going to take forever to dry in here,” she said, “but you get used to the smell pretty quick.”

  “So,” he said, “how do you want to do this?”

  Veek dragged one of the blankets off the bed and handed him a pillow. “You can sleep on the floor. Or in the chair. But move it away from the computer.”

  “I’ll just sleep on the floor.”

  “Fine.”

  “I’m sure it’s a lot more comfortable than those big, puffy couches in the lounge.”

  “You can head back out there if you want. Just leave the blanket.”

  “No, no, I’m good.”

  She vanished into the bathroom. A moment later he heard running water and the hum of an electric toothbrush. He didn’t have a toothbrush. He also realized he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.

  He folded the blanket in half alongside the bed and stretched out. It wasn’t much on the hardwood floor, but he could remember sleeping on worse a few times.

  Veek reappeared and walked across the room. She set her glasses next to the computer keyboard and tossed her hoodie onto the chair. She pried off her sneakers by the heels, stepped past him, and climbed into bed.

  “You always sleep in your clothes?” he asked.

  “Only when there’s a strange man next to my bed.”

  “Now I’m a strange man?”

  She chuckled and turned out the light. The apartment went dark for a minute until his eyes adjusted. Her desk was a scattered collection of red and green lights. Each one marked a different piece of computer equipment.

  “Can I ask you something, Velma?”

  “No, you can’t get in the bed.”

  He chuckled. “No,” he said. “I was just wondering...what do you do?”

  He heard her shift on the mattress and saw the outline of her head peer over the edge at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He pointed at the desk. “What’re all these special projects you’re always working on? Are they really part of work?”

  “Sort of,” she said. Her head vanished and he heard her drop back onto the pillow. “It’s part of my work.”

  “Meaning...?”

  She sighed. “Meaning I’ve got another job besides data entry. One that pays the rent, unlike that shitty temp job.”

  “So what do you do?”

  She didn’t answer for almost a minute. “I find stuff online for people.”

  “Stuff?”

  “You know,” she said. “Stuff. God, Shaggy, are you going to make me spell it out for you?”

  “Shaggy’s pretty stupid,” he said. “You better spell it out.”

  “I get passwords to different systems and encrypted databases. Usually corporate stuff.”

  “So you’re a hacker?”

  “It’s the twenty-first century. I’m a black hat.” She rolled over and looked down at him again. “Does it bug you?”

  Nate shrugged and then wondered if she could see it in the dark. “I don’t care what you call yourself.”

  “I mean does it bug you what I do? That I’m helping people steal stuff?”

  “Are you getting anyone killed?”
r />   “No. I’m not good enough to get into most of those systems.”

  “Good. How much do you get?”

  “As much as they want.”

  “No, I mean how much do you get paid?”

  “How rude,” said Veek. “You want to ask my age and weight, too?”

  “I’d guess twenty-eight and a hundred and five, tops.”

  “Twenty-nine and one-oh-one, loser. I make five or six hundred bucks. Once I asked for a grand and got it.”

  “That’s pretty good money for a couple nights of work.”

  She flopped back on the bed. “Yeah, great. With that and the temp money I’m almost at the poverty line.”

  “Veek?”

  “What?”

  “Can I get another blanket?”

  “Why?”

  “Because your apartment’s fucking cold, remember? Especially the floor.”

  “No,” she said. “If I give you another blanket then I don’t have one.”

  “You’ve only got two blankets?”

  “I don’t usually need to divide them up.”

  He sighed. “Don’t worry about it, then. I’ll be okay.”

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake, you whiner. Just get in the bed. Bring the blanket and take your shoes off.”

  “I already took them off.”

  “Whatever.”

  He tossed the edge of the blanket into the air and guided it down over the bed. Veek lifted the covers and he slid in next to her. “Don’t get any ideas,” she said.

  “I won’t,” said Nate.

  She turned her head on the pillow to face him. He could just see the gleam of her eyes in the dark room. “Are you freaked out?” she asked.

  “I don’t know if freaked out’s the right term.” He folded the pillow and put his head down to hold it in place. There were a handful of inches between their faces. “Disturbed, maybe. There was a dead body in the walls of my apartment.”

  “Yeah.”

  “A dead body that wrote on my walls in blood. Someone’s dying message, written in their own blood.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I mean, I knew he had to be dead by now no matter what, but to find out he died like that. And he’s been right there for all these years... Okay, yeah, I’m kind of freaked out.”

  Veek leaned forward and their lips brushed. She gave him a gentle kiss and retreated. “You’ve had a bad night,” she said. “Don’t read too much into it.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Good.”

  He resettled his head on the pillow and looked at her face. “Are you nearsighted or farsighted?”

  “Why?”

  “I barely ever see you without your glasses on.”

  “Farsighted. If I was nearsighted working on the computer wouldn’t be that big a deal.”

  “Makes sense,” Nate said. He put his hand on her face and kissed her. He pulled back after a moment. “It’s just the stress. Sorry.”

  “I figured.” Her shiver made the mattress tremble. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Cold?”

  “You’re letting a draft in,” she muttered. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled herself tight against his body. “I’m just trying to keep warm.”

  “Right.”

  She leaned her head back and pressed her mouth against his. Their tongues darted against each other. He rolled her onto her back and her legs wrapped around him.

  “Kissing’s not a big deal,” she said when they pulled away to breathe. “It’s just a sign of affection. Lots of friends kiss.”

  “They do,” he agreed. He grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it over her head.

  “What are you doing?”

  He paused for a moment, then said, “Staying warm.” He pulled his own shirt off and threw it on the floor. “Best way is to get naked with someone in a sleeping bag.”

  “Right,” she said, tugging at his belt. “Yeah, I read that somewhere, too. We’re just staying warm.”

  “Right.” He kissed down her neck to the strap of her bra and pulled the elastic aside. His mouth closed over her and she took in a sharp breath.

  “Just staying warm and reacting to stress,” Veek said. She pushed his jeans over his hips, got her foot on them, and shoved them down his legs. She fumbled with his boxers.

  “Nothing but.” Nate grabbed the waist of her pants and underwear and yanked them both off at once. She shook them off her ankle and pulled him back down on top of her. Her thighs opened and he sank into her.

  “It’s just sex,” she said between kisses. She pushed up at him. “We both agree this is just meaningless sex, right?”

  “I think I’m in love with you.”

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake,” she gasped, grabbing his neck, “don’t ruin the moment.”

  Sixty Three

  Three people were already on the sun deck when Nate and Veek walked up the stairs on Friday. Tim poured ice into an open case of beer. Clive and Debbie arranged chairs into a loose semi-circle. “Hey,” Tim said. “How are you feeling today?”

  “Much better,” said Nate. “Relaxed.”

  “A few good nights’ sleep will do that,” he said with a sage nod.

  They dragged chairs around the wooden sun deck until they were all in a rough semi-circle facing toward the west. A few moments later Xela appeared with a half-case hanging on each arm. “Oh, for Christ’s sake,” she said. “If I’d known all the men folk were going to be up here I would’ve flashed a tit and had you lug all this stuff.”

  “I’ve passed sixty,” said Tim. “Tits don’t have quite the power over me they used to.”

  “They’ve still got power over me,” said Nate. “So if you’ve got anything else you need moved—” Veek cuffed him on the back of the head and Clive laughed.

  Tim took one of the cases from her and set it down by the cooler. “How’d the starving artist afford so much beer, anyway?”

  “The starving artist has a boyfriend who happens to think her tits are fantastic. He gave her money so all their friends can drink beer without him. He’s very classy that way.”

  “Boyfriend,” echoed Debbie. Her voice had more of an edge on it than they were used to. “Doesn’t sound like your kind of thing.”

  “I’m a very traditional girl at heart. He won me over.”

  Mandy appeared on the roof at six. She asked about Nate’s mental state and then joined Debbie and Xela by the firepit.

  Nate and Clive dragged one of the last deck chairs into the semi-circle. “So,” said Clive, “have you been getting any sleep?”

  Nate looked him in the eyes. The other man feigned innocence for a moment, then winked. “How?” Nate asked. “The walls are two feet thick. With soundproofing.”

  Clive nodded. “They are,” he said, “but everyone leaves their windows open in the summer. Including Veek.”

  “Jeeez. Is there anyone who doesn’t know?”

  Clive shook his head. “Not on our side of the building, no.”

  Andrew stepped out onto the roof. He had a Tupperware box filled with more celery sticks and a box of Value saltines. “I brought snacks again,” he announced to Veek. “Crunchy ones.”

  “That’s awesome,” she said. “Thank you, Andrew.”

  He stopped and his head bobbed side to side for a moment. “You’re welcome,” he said.

  Veek dragged a chair out of the cabana and over next to the cooler to serve as a small table. Tim finished loading the cooler and cracked open the first bottle. Its hiss reached across the rooftop. Everyone started to settle in around the arc of chairs and get drinks. Clive twisted the cap off a big ginger ale. Debbie and Veek both made a point of taking some of Andrew’s dry crackers, and he beamed with pleasure.

  “Okay,” said Nate. He took a sip of his beer. “Monday night. Short form, I had a moment of inspiration, searched my apartment, and found a body walled up in my closet. There was nothing left of it but bones.” He let them all mutter for a few moments. “We’re pretty
sure it was Aleksander Koturovic.”

  “You had a skeleton in your closet?” grinned Xela.

  Andrew raised his hand. “Pardon me for asking, but why are you so sure it’s him?”

  Nate shrugged. “We don’t know for sure, but everything fits,” he said. “We know Koturovic was stabbed and got away. We know he’d want to warn everyone else working here about the Family of the Red Death. We know he was never found. I’m no expert, but that body’d been in the wall for at least seventy or eighty years. And the clothes looked old, style-wise. It had a bow tie.”

  “Hey,” Clive said, “bow ties are cool.”

  “So there’s a dead body in your wall,” said Xela, “and control panels in Debbie and Clive’s. I’d hate to think what’s in mine.”

  Mandy scratched the side of her head and ended up twirling her blonde curls. “Control panels?”

  Nate nodded and Debbie cleared her throat. “Our apartment’s the control room for the whole building,” she said. “The walls fold away and there’s switches and levers and gauges and all that kind of stuff.”

  Clive nodded. “It’s very steampunk,” he said.

  “I’m sorry.” Andrew had his hand up again, like a confused schoolboy. “Pardon me. I don’t understand.”

  Nate looked at him. “Don’t understand what?”

  Andrew’s mouth opened three or four times without making any noise. It made him look like a fish drowning in the air. “You’re saying the building itself is the machine?” he got out. “There’s not something hidden inside the building?”

  “Right,” said Veek. She tapped her foot on the wooden deck. “If you peeled off all the paint and plaster you’d see cables and frameworks and electrical stuff.”

  “Again,” said Clive, “all very steampunk. Built by Tesla from Koturovic’s theories.”

  “I also found out that Whippy’s grandson was H. P. Lovecraft, the horror writer,” said Veek.

  “No way,” said Clive and Xela at the same time.

  Veek swallowed a mouthful of beer and nodded.

  “So,” said Nate, “we’ve got a years-ahead-of-his-time scientist who discovered a great interdimensional threat to Earth. He tells his theories to Whipple and convinces him to give them a ton of money to build this place, with help from Tesla. Whipple then goes and tells all these theories and stories to little Lovecraft, who writes it all up as his Cthulhu stories.”