I made a mental note to have Kara get an exterminator in as soon as possible the next day. Last thing we needed was for the damned thing to poke its head out while she was talking to a customer. Or worse yet, have it chew through a couple of delivery packages.
The apartment was dark and quiet, leading me to assume Ted was sleeping at his place. I would have heard his snoring otherwise. And the walls tended to vibrate.
I grabbed the home phone on my way into the kitchen, pulled a caffeine free pop and a hunk of cheddar from the fridge, and worked my way over to the sofa.
The phone was sounding a fast busy tone — must have a message. I dialed in, and punched out my password.
“You have seven voice-mail messages.”
I glared down at my cellphone, and kicked it off the coffee table with a bare foot. What the hell was the point in even carrying the thing?
“To listen to your voice-mail, press-.” I punched one, and listened to the first message.
“Hey, it’s me. Just settling in, thought I’d give you an update. Pretty quiet so far, maybe forty guys, mostly lonely old men. See what you mean about the ladies, though. Whooo. Some nice racks in this place. And the girls are friendly. Thanks for the referral.”
Ted. I had forgotten all about it. This was Ted’s night on the door at Hidden Pleasures. I was glad to hear it was going well. Maybe he could help clean up my mess with the love potion.
I punched seven to delete, then one to go to the next message.
“Hey, it’s me again. Well, it’s picked up big-time. Must be a hundred and fifty guys in there. Ivan, he’s the other guy on door — nice guy — we’ve been taking turns on door and in the club. A little rowdy, but so far no major issues. Did have to drag one guy into the can. Lucky thing, too. He launched just as we made it in. Still, so far so good. Talk to you later. Where are ya?”
For some reason he felt it was necessary to provide me with a running commentary. I hoped he wasn’t spending the whole night on his damned cellphone, but I appreciated the update.
Seven. One.
“It’s your Mother. Call me.”
Great. Typical friendly message from Mom. I would have to call her in the morning.
Seven. One.
“Uh, yeah. Me. Little crazy over here. Buncha idiots from the sales convention started grabbing at April. She’s one of the girls, unbelievable. Uh, well, they were grabbing at her, and Ivan tried to step in but one of the guys took a swing at him. They called me in, and I dragged three of these idiots out into the lot. Nothing major, lot of shoving, couple of punches thrown, but no major blood or anything. One of the other tables was starting to act up too, but, uh, hang on… let me call you…”
Huh. I punched one. Time of the call was eleven forty-eight. Nearly three hours ago. Great.
Seven. One. Time of next call — twelve seventeen.
“Christ, place has gone nuts, man.” I lay down on the sofa and closed my eyes. “If you’re not up to anything, we could use some help here. Some guy took a swing at me with a bottle. Didn’t break the skin, but I’m going to have a nasty bump in the morning. He’s a bit messed up, I took him out back, never mind that. We had to call the cops. Nice guys. They took three of the sales idiots in. Can you believe it? Morons are in from Des Moines, see a couple chicks take their thongs off and they completely lose their goddamned… Hey. Hey! Get your hand off her ass! Yeah, you! Don’t you f-!”
Seven. One. Time of next call — twelve fifty-three.
“Good news. Everything’s under control. Total fluke, man. Pete and the boys showed up. You remember the Riverview Ramblers? I mentioned at the game the other night that I would be working door, and they decided to check the place out. Things started running out of control, Melodi was about to call the cops again, and here come the boys. It was like the arrival of the goddamned cavalry. We cleared house, must have thrown out nearly twenty guys. Couple big fights in the parking lot, until Pudge — you remember Pudge, man — he pulls a crowbar out of his trunk, and they suddenly decide it’s time to hightail it out of there. Man, this place is wild. Most fun I’ve had in a long time.”
I sighed and punched seven. One. Time of last call — one thirty eight. I just missed him.
“Hey, where are you, man? You out with some girl or something? Just calling to say we’re closed for the night. Melodi seems happy. Sounds like they had a good night at the bar. Couple of broken chairs, but one of the guys says he can get them replaced. There’s a wholesale place off the Danforth that handles restaurant furniture — anyways, never mind. Listen, I’m going to crash at my place tonight. Or sometime tomorrow, anyway. Heh. I’m heading over to an afterhours place with Pete, a couple of guys from the team, and four of the girls. Man, these chicks are… Yeah? Sure, I’m coming. Just letting my brother know what’s up. Okay, man. See ya.”
“You have no more voice-mail messages.”
I smiled, lay my head down, and fell asleep.
CHAPTER 12
I was being mocked.
“Is big Donnie scared of a little rat?”
No question, they were mocking me.
Kara and Maggie had seemed very chipper that morning, with Kara’s bright smile wider than ever.
“You two seem awfully chipper this morning.”
“Don’t try to change the topic.”
“I’m not. You just seem very happy for this time of day.”
“Why wouldn’t we? The birds are out, it’s a sunny day.” They laughed. “And Donnie is a chicken. Donnie is a chicken. Donnie is a-.” Maggie sang it as she wandered about the office checking that everything was in order. Quite a nice voice, truth be told.
“Alright, alright.” I admit it, I can’t take taunting. Taunt me, and you can get me to do almost anything.
I pulled the keys from my pocket as I strode to the back. Maggie followed close behind, humming her annoying little song.
“Hey, does that camera work?”
I had just remembered. A security camera mounted high on the wall in the loading bay, but turned to face the corner. Could it have caught the damned rat on tape? Maybe it swiveled.
“No. Clay just had them installed two weeks ago. We haven’t set them up yet.”
“Where else do we have cameras?”
“Reception, outside at the back, and in here. There are cameras in the front parking lot, but those are provided by the landlord. We can access them online, if you ever need to.”
Huh. Well, we would have to get the system up and running once things settled down a bit. But that wasn’t going to solve today’s problem. Mr. Rat.
Key in lock, deep breath. Open door, flick on light and enter.
Nothing.
“Where the hell are you?” I nudged the stack of carpets with a toe, then the coat rack. “For God’s sake. Must’ve gotten out somehow.”
“Or maybe your rat was just a little mouse, and he’s hiding.” Here came Kara, blonde hair bouncing with her every step.
I snorted and stepped aside. She moved toward the clothes rack, and as she was reaching out to shift a coat aside, a bright light filled the room.
When I was in grade eight, my science partner was Mike Cooke. Mike was all dork. Dungeons and Dragons club, chess on weekends, and threw a baseball like a girl. But when it came to science, no one could have a better partner. He was the mad scientist, never afraid of anything. When it came time to dissect frogs, he was in there with wires and a battery, making muscles twitch and grossing out the girls. And when our teacher introduced us to magnesium strips, well let’s just say that it was the only time in school where I experienced a fire alarm that was not a prank.
You remember that brilliant, almost painful light magnesium emits when it burns? For just a brief moment, that’s what we experienced in the Lost and Found Room.