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“Someone saw us there,” said Miller. “Someone who didn’t want us to speak with them.”
“I wonder where the lovely Dr. Marks is right now?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“That’s the apartment building,” said Nine. “Apartment C. If we’re lucky, one or more will be home.”
Knowing that the entrance to the stairs was around back, Gaspar and Ghost headed around to the back, while Ian waited out front, and Nine watched from the ground. Just as they were about to go up the stairs, someone came out of the apartment, tossing a chair into the grass.
“What the fuck?” growled Nine.
“Oh. Oh, I’m so sorry,” said the young man.
“Do you live here?” asked Gaspar.
“Me? Hell, no. My folks own this building and rented it to a few guys. They totally trashed the place. Mom asked me to just throw everything out. I’ve got the windows open and most of the trash picked up, but now I have to dump the furniture. Did you need something?”
“Do you know where they went?” asked Ghost.
“No, sir. They hadn’t paid their rent in two months, and Mama had enough of them. My dad does the books because he’s handicapped and has to have a desk job, but Mom usually handles everything else. Once I get all the furniture out, I’ll be ripping out the carpet and spraying this place down. It’s pretty bad.”
“I’m sorry you have to do that,” said Nine. “Do you mind if we come up and look around? We need to find these men.”
“I don’t mind,” he said. “I could use some fresh air before I continue.”
They waved Ian toward them and went up the steps and inside the apartment. The kid wasn’t wrong. The place reeked of cigarettes, marijuana, sweat, and something very foul.
“Jesus, I’ve been in barracks with a hundred men dirty, sweaty, and smelling like ball sacks, and it wasn’t this bad,” frowned Gaspar.
“Thanks for that picture,” smirked Nine. “Clearly, our friends weren’t into good housekeeping practices. Check the drawers, closets, everything. Hopefully, they didn’t have time to take everything.”
Ian went into the small kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and immediately regretted it. Multiple take-out containers were sitting on the shelves, doing their best to become science experiments. The smell was overwhelming, causing even him to gag. There was plenty of beer, but that was about it.
He searched the drawers in the kitchen, finding a few utensils and some menus. There was a receipt for rope, wire, duct tape, and two locks from a hardware store, but it was more than three months old.
Nine dug through the closet in the hallway. There were two jackets, both still with half-smoked packs of cigarettes and receipts for fast food. One pair of old work boots was at the bottom of the closet, covered in mud and what smelled like animal waste.
“I’m sorry,” said the young man coming in the door. “I have to get this done for my mom. Do you care if I keep working while you look around?”
“No. Please, go ahead,” said Gaspar. “We didn’t mean to interrupt your work.”
Gaspar opened a dresser, the one thing that seemed to have been emptied. Beside the smelly mattress was a bedside table. When he opened it, he couldn’t believe what he saw. Check stubs. Payment for work. All from Pemberly-Marks.
“Bingo,” he said, walking into the living room. “Check stubs from Pemberly-Marks. Hard to believe our Dr. Marks wasn’t smart enough to pay them in cash.”
“Did you say Dr. Marks?” asked the young man. They all stared at him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
“It’s alright. Do you know Dr. Marks?”
“No. I don’t know her at all. But she gave a reference for those men to rent this apartment. My mom refused, even with the reference, and she said she’d pay for three months in advance. My folks needed the place rented and agreed to it. I know they wish they hadn’t.”
“Did you ever meet her?” asked Gaspar.
“I didn’t really meet her. I was with my mom when she came here with the money. It was like a mob movie. She had a big envelope with cash in it. She handed it to my mom and said there was enough to cover first, last, and three months’ rent. It covers the two months they didn’t pay but not all this damage.”
“Did she ever come here again?” asked Nine.
“Not that I know of. We don’t have security cameras on the building, not yet anyway. But there’s a security camera on the convenience store across the street. They would have footage if she ever came here.”
