“How easy is it to break into the individual apartments?” Grant asks.
I look at him incredulously. “How would I know?”
“You should,” Grant says harshly, and I draw back. “The front is unguarded. All that’s left to stand between each occupant and a robber is a door lock. Is it strong enough to withstand a break-in? If you can answer that question, then you’re doing everything you can.”
I wince. My knee-jerk reaction to that question had been horror, though I know Grant well enough to know that he would never bring up my past without permission. It was bad enough that I used to be a delinquent, breaking into stores and homes, before Old Man Brooks caught me trying to steal one of his cars one night. If it hadn’t been for him, I have the feeling I would be in jail by now. I really owe that old man.
I sigh and stuff my hands in my pockets.
“It’s not the strongest,” I say reluctantly. I don’t like noticing this stuff, because it reminds me of how far I fell as a teenager. But it’s hard to stop my mind automatically cataloging the best ways to break into different places. “It’s a little hard to lock, sometimes, and you have to shake the door to get the lock to slide into place. The hinges are pretty fragile.”
“And the windows?” Grant presses.
I hunch my shoulders. Of course I’ve noticed them, too.
“She’s on the second floor,” I try.
“If you’re determined enough, you can get up there,” Grant reminds me.
Don’t I know it.
“No locks,” I say after a long moment. “Allison always closes them at night, and they squeak badly when we open them, so you wouldn’t be caught off-guard if someone tried to sneak in that way. On the other hand, a little oil would probably fix that if you knew what you were doing.”
“So, you have an apartment that’s really only protected by the awful sounds everything makes,” Grant says with a nod. “According to what you’ve told me, Jesse doesn’t sound like the brightest spark, so you might not have to worry too much about him finding the clever ways in.”
“That was my thought,” I say, nodding back. “I’ve been thinking about installing a camera outside Allison’s door – with her permission – while we wait for the landlord to get back to Allison. That way she can see who comes up to her front door.”
“They’re expensive,” Grant says.
Yes, and Allison came up with the same argument. But it doesn’t matter. I have some money saved up. I can buy it for her and, if I just turn up with it one day, she can’t exactly tell me to take it back, especially if I open the box and break the seal on it.
I just need to find the time, between work and guarding the apartment, to go and have a look at them.
“What are you planning?” Grant asks suspiciously.
“Nothing,” I say hurriedly.
Grant glances at me, suspicious. Then he sighs.
“Well, regardless, it doesn’t sound like you’re having much luck out here,” he says. “You’d be better off going searching for him and making him stay away.”
“If I go searching for him, he’ll probably just turn up here,” I point out.
Grant grunts, accepting that. “Why don’t we put the guys on it, then? We can sniff the bastard out and send him running for the hills.”
The idea is very tempting.
“Lots of guys will be willing to help you out with this,” Grant continues.
“You think?” I ask, grinning. “Fine. You know what, put the word out. And if they find him, I don’t care what they do to him. They can throw him off a cliff for all I care. Just make sure he never comes back here again.” I snort. “It would probably be better if he just goes ‘missing’.”
I hear a clatter as something is dropped. Grant and I look up. Allison is standi
ng at the mouth of the alley, staring at us in slowly dawning horror.
For a moment I don’t understand what’s wrong. Then I think about what she just overheard. I open and close my mouth. I want to tell her that I was only joking around, that I wasn’t serious. But I can’t make the words leave my mouth.
Because I was serious.