She felt a pang of guilt at lying to this nice man, but lives were at stake. They had to find Jeremy. “Not a problem.”
Cal sighed in relief and gave them a key. “We always have spares around for the owners. Here you go.”
“Thanks Cal, you’re a real sweetheart.” She turned and grabbed Anthony by the elbow and steered him towards the elevator. She could tell that she was squeezing too hard when he reached up and pried her fingers from him. “Sorry,” she whispered.
They didn’t say a word to each other as they rode the elevator up. They had talked about the fact this building could have cameras all around. The only place they would be free to talk would be in the enemy’s lair.
*
Anthony shook his head as he watched Evie stride boldly into Jeremy’s condo and dance around. Casually he wiped the doorknob clean with the sleeve of his jacket and pulled a couple of gloves out of his pocket and put them on.
“Did you see that? Did you fucking see that? Easier than taking candy from a baby. Damn I’m good.” She smacked her ass and spun around.
“If you’re done, maybe we could search the place?”
“Party-pooper. Fine, have it your way. Why is it so cold in here? It’s like a morgue.” She stopped and stared at him her eyes going wide. “No.”
“It seems with Jeremy you never know. Maybe you should stay here while I look around.”
“No way, we stick together.”
“Think about it before you become the Queen of Stubborn. We don’t know what we will find. If you search out here, I’ll look around and make sure there aren’t any surprises hiding. We kill two birds with one stone and get out of here quicker.”
“Oh, no way. Haven’t you seen any horror movies? When you split up is when someone gets killed. Nope, we do this together.”
“Is that the only way I can get you to shut up?”
“Yep.”
“Fine. I think you’re worse than your grandmother.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Now, let’s move it.”
They walked down a short hallway opening up doors to a closet and bathroom. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He wanted to laugh at how she gripped his arm and held her breath with every door they opened. When they got to the last door, they looked at each other.
“You can always go back.”
“No, no I can’t.”
“Here goes.”
Slowly opening the door, his breath whooshed out of his lungs. He shook his head hoping that the image that he saw really wasn’t there. Vaguely he could hear Evie’s breathing beside him become rapid. There, spread out naked on the bed, was the body of a dead woman. Her torso had been cut open and her entrails were pulled out and forks jammed through them attaching them to other parts of her body. Some reached her eyes where forks were buried in each of them. Blood soaked into the white sheets and down the side leaving a dried puddle on the floor.
Her fingers were bent back at odd angles and her jaw was pried open and her mouth was stuffed with summer sausage. Above her, on the wall, was a message written in blood:
Who’s next?
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Anthony, we’ve got to get out of here.” Her voice raised in pitch with every word she said.
Anthony grabbed her and hauled her out of the room closing the door behind him. She kept saying the same thing over and over. He knew that he had to calm her down before she started screaming. He did the first thing that came to his mind and kissed her hard wrapping his arms around her. Feeling her that close to him was his undoing. He moved one hand up to grasp the back of her head and tangle his fingers in her hair. His fingers dug into her waist wanting more. He felt her melt against him for a moment before coming back to her senses and pushing him away.
“What in the hell are you doing? There’s a dead woman in the next room.”
“I had to do something to get you to calm down before you started screaming so loud the whole building would be breaking down the door.”
“So the only reason you kissed me was to calm me down? Thanks, buddy.”
“Now you’re pissed because I kissed you to calm you down? A second ago it was because I kissed you in the first place. Which one is it?”
“Fuck, I don’t know. I can’t think. What should we do?” She spun around in circles her eyes looking everywhere.
“Get out of here. This could be another set up; the cops could be on their way.”
“But we haven’t searched the rest of the place. There could be something important here.” She stopped and gripped his hands.
He was trying to block out the image that was in his mind, but he knew it would be there for a long time. He wanted to get as far away from the horror in the other room. Wanting to get both of them out of there, but knowing she had a point, he had to go back in that room. In his mind, if Jeremy had left anything it would have been in there, knowing that either Anthony would leave without finding it or if he did go back in there, it would torture him even more.
“Fine, but be quick. You search out here, I’ll go back in.”