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Raven was warm, though, and since he was close, I was using him as support. My head felt light, and I was starting to get dizzy every so often. I needed coffee and food; more than the few bites of sandwich I’d grabbed back at Blake’s. I needed to sleep. I couldn’t stop, though. Not yet.
We walked quietly toward the house. In the length of time it took us to get to the corner of the Murdock property, I had a thousand scenarios going through my head. An army of Germans. Alice on the lawn with a bazooka. Aliens hovering over the house to collect it and move into outer space.
The yard and house were oddly quiet. The doors were shut. Windows shuttered. There was no hint there had been a party there earlier. No cars in the driveway.
“I expected World War III by now,” I said as we peeked around. I hoped no one could see us standing on the neighbor’s lawn, but really, there didn’t seem to be any activity. It was the middle of the night, and the neighboring homes were still.
Raven studied the house and then pointed up. “What’s that? That’s the roof with all the glass?”
“It’s an observatory,” I said. “I thought that core was in there. I guess it is. I don’t know how it works though.”
“You said the church steeples were used as antennae?” Corey asked.
“Yeah.”
Raven laughed. “So couldn’t the obituary be used as an antennae?”
I was going to correct his term, but then I looked up at the observatory, with the metal beams that held up the glass between each pane. “Raven,” I said. “You’re smarter than the average bear.”
“What? What bear? Like my tattoo bear?”
“Never mind,” I said. It was brilliant. There wasn’t an antennae here, because the entire third floor was the antennae. Looking up at it now, with the metal beams, it was obvious. He did have it under security. Ethan just didn’t realize anyone cared about his project. “It’s too quiet, though. We don’t know if anyone is inside. What should we do?”
“I should get inside,” Corey said. “I need to look at his work, at the core. We’ll need time to prepare for this trade.”
Raven slunk along the edge of the property, and to the outside wall that was the garage. He went to the window and checked inside. “One car,” he said. “It’s covered in a sheet.”
“Is no one home?” I asked. “Not even Alice?”
Raven shrugged. “Let’s go in,” he said, and then started around the wall. “I hate waiting.”
Ditto.
I caught up with Raven. He darted across the lawn, around the pool, and toward the back door. Corey stayed behind us, watching our backs.
Raven tried the handle to the door. Locked.
He inspected the door, and then pulled a wallet from his pocket. From it, he pulled out what looked like a credit card.
“That won’t work on this door,” I whispered. “There’s a deadbolt.”
“It’s not the deadbolt that’s locked,” he said. Then he showed me the card, which had tools buried into the plastic. “And we’ve got a bump key.”
I remembered Axel once telling me about bump keys. “What about the security panel? The alarm is probably on.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Corey said.
“I know the code,” I said.
Corey smirked. “Well then what were you worried about? The box should be near the door. Find it and enter the code.”
Was that how security panels worked? The one upstairs for the observatory was on the outside. I wondered if the codes were different for the bottom floor.
Raven unfolded the plastic card to reveal a long metal piece. He inserted one end of the key into the door, and then used his knee to pound against it while twisting the handle at the same time.
The door opened with a shudder and then quieted.
I cringed at the noise and then checked over Raven’s shoulder. If someone was downstairs, they would have certainly heard that.
Raven walked in slowly ahead of me. He put his bump key away, but then his fists clenched, unclenched, clenched. He was ready to throw a punch if someone got in our way. I spotted his gun in the holster at his back. Did he have any bullets left?
Corey found the panel on the wall in an alcove. I pressed in the security code, and held my breath.
It beeped, and then quieted. We all exhaled in relief.
We walked through a small rear entertainment room and then an adjoining kitchen. I’m not a quiet person, and Raven is a bear on hard floors. Everything seemed to creak underfoot. Someone should have heard us.
“Is anyone even home?” I asked.
“Let’s check this obituary,” Raven said.
“Observatory,” I said.
“What’s observatory?”
I looked at Corey for help. I wasn’t even sure. As far as I knew, it was a fancy room. I found it amusing, though, to be teaching Raven English. Corey shrugged and I continued. “The third floor,” I said. “It’s called an observatory. I guess you observe things from it. Like it has telescopes you can check out from up there.”
“Oh,” Raven said. He angled his head into the hallway, checking it out, and then eased into it, inspecting around the corners. “Like stars and shit?”
“Like things on the ground, too. Like spy on your neighbors.” I followed him out, and tensed, anxious about the quiet around us. Wouldn’t Alice be protective of something she wanted access to?
“Oh,” he said. He did the Russian version of tiptoeing, sliding his feet across the floor. “We have an observe-rotary.”
Corey laughed. “Who does?”
“You mean the top of the Sergeant Jasper?” I asked. I started to mimic him, but then picked my feet up and walked on my toes. And when no one came around the corner or jumped us, I simply walked.
“Shhh,” Raven said. “No I meant Corey. He’s got one in his computer.”
Did he consider Corey’s ability to spy on those around him the observatory? Teaching English was harder than I thought. I shared a glance with Corey.
Corey sighed. “No one is here.”
Raven nodded. “Doesn’t mean no one is on the way. They could be here any minute.”
“Let’s go upstairs,” I said.
Raven followed me as I led him up to the second floor. Corey took up the rear again. We stopped on the second story landing, listening.
When no one rushed at us or shot at us, and the floor seemed quiet, we took our time, checking out what was behind every door.
When Raven opened up the second floor office, he started to go inside.
“Someone in there?” I asked.
“No, but it has a computer.”
“It’s nothing,” I said. “I already checked it.”
Corey came out from checking the master bedroom.
“Corey,” Raven said. He inspected the office again. There wasn’t a closet door inside, so no one was hiding anywhere. He pointed inside and then went in. “Come in here.”
Corey went in after him. “There was nothing,” I said, following. “Just a regular computer.”
“Let’s get some info on Ethan,” Corey said. “And who exactly his friends are. And maybe there’s info on Alice…or Anja.”
That seemed like a good idea. “There wasn’t a computer upstairs, either,” I said. “I was up there the other night. Could he run it from this computer?”
“Maybe,” Corey said. He turned the computer on, checking history, opening up email screens, and searching through files.
I felt another wave of dizziness and entered the room to sit on a chair to stabilize myself.
Raven was watching Corey work and then came over to me. He nudged me with his boot. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Sick?”
I shook my head. “Tired.”
“Sleep,” he said.
I sat up, frowning and shaking my head to wake myself more. “No,” I said. “We’ll need to get this done first.”
“You should probably head back to the hospital,” Corey said, focused o
n his computer. “If you’re that tired, it’s not going to get better. You won’t be able to run.”
“I don’t want her driving alone,” Raven said. “And I can’t leave you here alone. No one does things alone right now. I’m in charge now.”
