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I peer toward the hall. “What’s the rest of the building being used for?”
“Come see.” Pen beckons me forward.
We walk past a freight elevator and a door labeled Stairs and come to a frosted glass door that reads: The Hub.
Pen presses her hand against a black panel next to the door, and it slides open. “It’s keyed to all of our handprints.”
The door leads into a large room, with an enormous circular desk at the center covered in boxes. A free standing wall separates the office from another space on the left, with several doors mounted side-by-side.
My stomach tightens with trepidation. This reminds me too much of the Cleaners’ old office. “What will this place be used for?”
“At Hopper’s the other night, Trent whined about not having anyone to organize all the jobs coming in for his teams.” Pen’s smoky voice comes from behind me. “Meredith jumped at the offer, so Marc put his people to work getting this space completed.”
I actually remember Trent moaning and groaning between rounds of liquor but didn’t take him seriously. So this isn’t a new office space for the Cleaners. Some of my anxiety eases.
“It wasn’t that hard. I already had it gutted and dry-walled in.” Marc pats the wall beside him. “So I only needed to build the divider and set up the back office.”
I walk to one door and open it to reveal a stylish waiting room on the other side. Closing the door, I peer around the wall to find the same couch and chairs, with an office enclosed in glass walls at the back.
Confused, I return to the wall of doors and open another, with the same result.
I turn to Marc and Pen. “What’s with these doors?”
“We’re still setting that part up.” Marc strides over and closes the door, then points to a small plaque on the front. “This one will be a go-between for Trent’s business. The one next to it will go to the Conservatory.”
He steps farther down. “This one will lead to the Demon Clerks’ Office once we get the final approval. They’re taking their sweet ass time, but Lord Marius will get it pushed through.”
Amazement fills me. This is so much bigger than their office under the psychic shop.
I glance at the remaining doors. There are still several without designations. “What about the rest?”
“We thought one could link to the Bone Guard office.” Pen points to the one near the end. “To make it easier to coordinate.”
Brow furrowed, I turn to her. “Coordinate what?”
“I ran into Walker two weeks ago.” Mayn beckons us back out into the hall. “She was hunting for a space to rent where she and Young could set up an independent lab. Marc had available offices here, so I directed her to speak to him about renting part of the building.”
Marc presses the button for the freight elevator. The doors slide open right away, and we all step on.
He selects the second story as he takes up the explanation. “Their business plan was solid, but to be competitive, they needed some expensive equipment. That got me thinking about how convenient it would have been, when we had our company, to have a local lab.”
The elevator comes to a stop, and Marc leads us down a short hallway to a set of sliding, double glass-doors. “So I offered to finance their startup in exchange for priority work if we need it.”
I peer through the glass to see a table of high-end equipment and computers. It’s not quite what we had at the JTFPI, but it looks damn close. Walker would have been my first choice of people to bring in for an investigation.
Excitement builds in me. “So, there’s a team trained in crime scene analysis, stationed out of the Yard?”
This changes everything.
Pen presses her shoulder against mine. “The contract with Nickodemus allocates funds to hire freelancers.”
“We can hire Walker’s company to help solve Lethoba’s death.” I spin toward the other end of the hallway, where a second set of glass doors stand. “What will that space be used for?”
Pen rocks on her heels. “We thought the Bone Guard could use it as a planning room when a case inside the Yard crosses paths with one in Clearhelm. Our private investigator licenses may have been revoked, but Trent’s team are all licensed and can do the footwork outside the wall. You trained most of them, so we know they’re the best at their job.”
Marc walks to the doors and presses his hand against the palm scanner. The two halves slide open, and we walk into a space divided into multiple conference rooms.
At the closest one on the right, he flips on the light.
