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“Here—you might want this, sweetheart.”
Mrs. Jacoby hands me a paper face mask as she fishes a large ring of keys from her pocket. We’re standing in front of the door to the basement unit of the Alphabet City apartment building she owns, manages, and lives in.
“For?” I ask in a worried tone.
The older woman shrugs. “Dust, mostly. I mean no one’s been in here for probably ten years, and I’m no cleaning lady.”
She jangles the keyring in her hand, sorting through them one by one.
“Nobody’s wanted to rent it?”
She snorts out a laugh. “Oh, everyone and their damnmotherwants to rent this place. The city kicked out all the punks and junkies in the neighborhood, and suddenly it’s hip to live in the Lower East Side.” She shrugs. “But the lease was paid in full for forty damn years, so there you go.[BP1]”
I frown. “I’m sorry, it was paid in advance forforty years?”
“Yep. Up front, in cash, and taking into account rent increases and inflation,” she smirks, looking pretty pleased with herself. “Bought me a nice Caribbean cruise and a sweet little Corvette, before those goddamn punks stripped it for parts one night. Lowlife junkies,” she mutters darkly. “Ah, here we go.”
She slips a key into the lock and opens the door to the home Castle grew up in.
She was right. It’s not like the place stinks or anything. But when she opens the door, you can instantly tell nobody’s lived here for a decade. Dust and the smell of stale air hit me, and I slip the mask on to cover my nose and mouth, stifling a cough.
“Was it the James family who paid up in full?”
Mrs. Jacoby shoots me a sidelong look. I pull the mask down just enough to give her my best disarming smile. “Any detail helps, you know?”
Okay, confession time. I’m here under false pretenses. I’ve told Delores Jacoby that I’m a lawyer working to find the living relations of a billionaire who recently passed, trying to make sure the inheritance ends up with the right people, blah, blah, blah. I also greased her palm with two hundred bucks from a “discretionary fund” that I totally made up, telling her there was plenty more of it for anyone who could help with the investigation.
Delores frowns. “You’re pretty young to be a lawyer, aren’t you?”
I sigh. “Can I be honest with you?” I pull the mask down again and give her my best puppy dog face. “I’ve just been hired by the firm, and it’s my first big assignment for them, and I’msonervous about living up to their expectations. You know how it is. The legal world isstillsuch an old boys’ club.” I shake my head sadly.
I’m playing so dirty it almost makes me sick. I’m grabbing onto the fact that Delores has a “smash the patriarchy” sticker on the front door of her unit, and is wearing a t-shirt with the feminist flag and the words “rights are taken, not asked for”, and leveraging them both like there’s no tomorrow.
Sure enough, her mouth purses as she shakes her head right back. “Ain’t that the truth. Well, honey, you take all the time you need. Would you mind locking up and bringing the keys back up when you’re done?”
Game, set and match to me. “Absolutely,” I gush. “And thank youso much.”
She nods and turns to leave.
“Mrs. Jacoby?” I smile weakly when she turns back. “Was itthe James family who paid you in full for forty years of rent? Can I ask that?”
She looks worried for a second. Then she clears her throat.
“No, it wasn’t. It was Mr. James’ employer,” she says tersely. “Declan Kildare.”
I blink rapidly at her departing figure.
What?
When she’s gone and I’m alone, I step into Castle’s past. The mask does come in handy, because the place is covered in dust that hangs in the still air. The apartment itself may have been paid in full, but it’s clear by the non-functioning lights that the utility bills weren’t.
There’s some light slanting in through a few high windows in the front room, though. And as I walk down the hallway toward the back of the tiny apartment, there are two more barred windows in a kitchen and dining area that look out over a tiny, grubby backyard filled with trash and gravel. No grass.
Slowly, I look around the place. It’s all terribly depressing.
He grew up here.
A shiver runs over me unbidden.
