She started up the front path, studying the house for some sign of occupancy. There was none. The drapes were drawn at all but one of the windows, and there were two newspapers uncollected on the step.
She knocked. There was no response, but she wasn't that surprised. If Fletcher was indeed in residence, he was unlikely to be answering the door. She rapped again, just for good measure, then went to the one window without closed drapes and peered in. It was a dining room, furnished with anfique furniture. Whoever lived here when Fletcher wasn't visiting had taste.
Something's wrong with the sewers, Raul said.
"The sewers?"
Don't you smell it? She sniffed, and caught a whiff of something unpleasant.
"Is it from inside?" she asked Raul, but before he could reply she heard a footfall on the gravel path and somebody said, "Are you looking for Erwin?"
She turned. There was a woman standing a couple of yards from the front gate: large, pale, and overdressed.
"Erwin@' Tesla said, thinking fast, "yeah. I was just... is he around today?"
The woman studied Tesla with faint suspicion. "He should be," she said.
"He's not at his office."
"Huh. I knocked, but there was no reply." The woman looked distinctly disappointed. "I was going to try round the back," Tesla went on, "see if he's getting himself a tan."
"Did you try the bell?" the woman replied. "No, 1-11
The woman marched down the path and jabbed the bell. A saccharine jingle could be heard from inside. Tesia waited ten seconds. Then, when there was no sign of movement, she started round the side of the house, leaving the woman to try jabbing the bell again at the front.
"Ripe," she remarked to Raul as the smell of excrement tensified. She watched the ground as she went, half-expectg to find that a pipe had burst and the last flushings of Erwin's toilet were bubbling up from the ground. But there was nothing. No turds; and no Erwin either, sunning himself in the backyard. "Maybe this isn't the house," she said to Raul. "Maybe there's another street that sounds like Mitchell."
She turned on her heel, only to find that bell-jabber was coming down the side of the house herself, with a look of slight agitation on her face.
"There's somebody inside," she said. "I looked through the letterbox and I saw somebody at the end of the hall."
"was it Erwin?"
"I couldn't see. It was too dark."
"Huh." Tesla stared at the wall, as though she might pierce it with her sight if she looked hard enough.
"There was something weird about him-"
"What?"
"I don't know." She looked spooked. "You want to call the cops?"
"No. No, I don't think we have to bother Jed with this. Maybe I'll just... you know... try another day."
This is one nervous lady, Raul said.
"If there's some problem in here Tesia said. "Maybe I'll just look round the other side." She started back towards the yard. "I'm Tesla by the way," she called over her shoulder.
"I'm Phoebe."
Well, well... said Raul, the scarlet woman.
It was all Tesla could do not to say: Everybody's talking aboutyou. "Are you a relative of Erwin's?" Phoebe asked her.
"No, why?"
"It's none of my business, but I know you're not from Everville-"
"So you're wondering what I'm doing here," Tesla replied, as she tried the back door. It was locked. Cupping her hands around her eyes she peered through the glass. There were a few signs of life. A carton of orange juice overturned on the table; a small pile of dishes beside the sink.
"I'm not here to see Erwin," Tesla went on. "Truth is, I don't even know Erwin." She glanced round at Phoebe, who didn't seem overly concerned that she was talking to a potential house-breaker.
"I came to see a guy called Fletcher. Don't suppose the nam e means anything?"
Phoebe thought about this for a moment, then shook her head. "He's not a local man," she stated. "I'm sure I'd know him if he were."
"Small town, huh?"
"It's getting too small for me," Phoebe said, unable to disguise her sourness. "Everybody pretty much knows everybody else's business."
"I heard a few rumors myself."
"About me?" said Phoebe.
"You're the Phoebe Cobb, right?"
Phoebe pursed her lips. "I wish to God I wasn't right now," she said,
"but yes. I'm Phoebe Cobb." She sighed, her robust faqade cracking.
"Whatever you heard@'
"I couldn't give a shit," Tesla said. "I know it can't be much fun-"
"I've had better days," Phoebe said, seeming to suddenly catch the defeat in her voice and pulling herself together. "Look, obviously Mr. Toothaker doesn't want to answer the door to either of us."
Tesla smiled. "Toothaker? That's his name? Erwin Toothaker?"
"What's so funny about that?"
"Nothing. I think it's perfect," Tesla said. "Erwin Toothaker." She peered through the window again, squinting.
The door that led into the rest of the house was a couple of inches ajar, and as she stared, a sinuous shadow seemed to move through the gap.
She recoiled from the back door six inches, startled.
"What is it?" Phoebe said.
Tesla blinked, licked her lips, and looked again. "Does our Erwin keep snakes?" she said. "Snakes?"
"Yeah, snakes."
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"It's gone now, but I could swear I saw...
Tesla? Raul murmured.
"What?"
Snakes and the smell of shit. What does that combination remind you oP She didn't answer. Just backed away from the door, suddenly clammy. No, her mind said, no, no, no. Not Lix. Not here. Not in this little backwater.
Tesla, get hold ofyoursetf She was suddenly trembling from head to foot.
"Is it there again?" Phoebe said, taking a step towards the door.
"Don't, " Tesia said.
I'll in not scared of snakes."