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“Makes me leery to take my sleeping pills. Once I take one, I’m out for hours. What if someone breaks in and I don’t hear them? Great a new random fear to worry about.”
Why the hell did she say that to me? Dark thoughts dance around my brain with this new information.
“Do you always take them?”
Emily sighs. “Yes, or I just toss and turn all night.” She looks at me. “Do you ever have trouble sleeping?”
“I don’t sleep much.”
I don’t elaborate and try to change the subject instead.
“You live above your shop, correct?”
“Yes, you can just drop me out front,” Emily says as we get close to her building. “Unless you want to come in for a coffee or tea?”
“Do you have anything stronger?”
“Maple whiskey creamer?”
“Well…that’s an interesting choice, but it sounds like the perfect coffee addition.”
I ease off the gas as we near the front of her store. Emily points to an alleyway between her building and the one beside it.
“If you turn here, it will take you to the parking around back.”
Her Mini Cooper is in the small lot, and I pull into the vacant space beside it. I get out, grab her overnight bag, and take a minute to look around. No lights and no cameras. Very unsafe.
“This way,” Emily says, leading me to a metal door that looks like it’s been beaten with a baseball bat on several occasions.
I clock everything, including how long it takes her to get the door unlocked, and how it sticks. I don’t like this location, at least this alley. The main street is quaint and cute, but anyone can be lurking in the shadows back here.
The interior is no better. A dimly lit hallway with flickering lights, scuffed floors, and beige walls browned with grime. Emily presses the elevator button without blinking, while I want a sanitary bath just for walking in here.
The lift groans and clunks as it arrives, smelling like old food and cat piss. I’m not a germaphobe, but the state of this building would make anyone squeamish.
“How many tenants live here?”
Emily hits the button for the second floor.
“Only ten of us. One tenant for each store, but not everyone works and lives here,” Emily says, as the elevator jerks to a halt.
“I think it would be best to take the stairs from now on,” I say as we step out.
This hallway is even worse, though I’m not sure how that is possible. I’m immediately on high alert for anyone hiding in the shadows of the recessed doorways. Whoever owns this building should be taken out and shot. Making sure the storefronts look great, while letting the rest rot and become this dangerous for tenants, is criminal.
“I rarely use the back entrance. My shop has stairs that go directly to my apartment. This is the only way in from the back lot,” Emily says, nonchalantly, like she doesn’t see all the possible dangers.
That worries me more. I have no idea who is after me, or who they may target next.
Emily pulls out her keys, and it takes a minute of fighting before the old lock gives, just like downstairs. Anger for her begins to burn in my gut. I’m tempted to tell her to forget it. There is no way she can possibly stay here. I’ll rent her a room at a nearby five-star hotel. But, I doubt she’d accept it.
As soon as we step inside, it’s like a whole new world. Emily flicks on the lights, and everything is bathed in a soft glow. The apartment is small and nothing fancy by any means, but it’s as neat as a pin, extremely clean, and perfectly balanced. From furniture to colors and decorations, nothing throws off the overall aesthetic.
“Sorry, it’s not very fancy. But I do love living above my store. It makes my commute easy,” Emily says quietly. “Here, I’ll take that.” She holds out her hand for the overnight bag, and I reluctantly hand it over. “Make yourself comfortable.”
She wanders down a hallway and disappears into what I presume is her bedroom.
Inspecting everything as I walk around, I try to learn more about the woman who has been dating my brother. No family photos and nothing that gives me any insight into her past. From what I know of Emily, it seems as if she has left it all behind.
