Page 89 of Wicked Little Secret
Dad owns an apartment in this building. At the time of purchase, he claimed it would make the perfect man cave getaway from Mom. This was before they’d given up on pretending their marriage was healthy and intact.
I’d gone with him the afternoon he previewed the property. He’d boasted about the other men in his circle who owned offices and apartments in the same building, telling me about how the likes of Rothenberg and Cummings brought their mistresses here in their spare time.
It didn’t take long before Dad was joining in on that tradition…
As the car Nyssa’s in turns down the tunneled path that leads to an underground garage, I’m typing quickly on my phone. I’m researching just who else owns property in this building and if my hunch is correct.
“Stop here,” I say halfway down the street. “I’ll make it the rest of the way on foot.”
I start to slide out from the backseat, then pause to unlatch the stainless steel Rolex from my wrist. “Take this,” I say, “as extra payment for getting me here. It’s used, but it should still be worth about ten grand.”
Casimir nods gratefully and wishes me luck on my mysterious endeavor.
By the time he’s driving away, I’ve wrenched off the tweed jacket I’m wearing. My fingers furiously unbutton my crisp button-up shirt. I toss both in the nearest receptacle but not before pocketing my eyeglasses.
Now for my face…
I head toward the corner store half a block down that’s lit up on an otherwise wet, shadowy street. In hopes of finding some kind of disposable face mask to don, I find something even more useful inside the tiny store.
Toward the back is the Halloween clearance section, where several masks dangle from the hooks of the rotating display stand. My fingers curl around the skeleton one that resembles a ski mask in design, and I snatch it off the hook.
The cashier checks me out up front, the transaction totaling four dollars and twenty-seven cents.
I return to the scene outside the Castlebury Tower in full disguise.
I’m in nothing more than a plain dark shirt and the skeletal mask. Perhaps not totally foolproof, but the best I can do on such short notice. It’s damn sure better than Clark Kent when he changes into Superman.
I cross the rain-slick side street and come up on the back of the tall building. If memory serves me correct, there was a massive courtyard on the ground floor whichoffered an alternate entrance. On a wet, frigid night like tonight, something tells me few people will be lounging outdoors.
I’m proven right as I gently open the glass door and slip inside the far end of the lobby. A bellboy happens to be fifteen feet off, standing by the elevators as he converses with a miffed-looking older woman in pearls.
Ducking out of sight, I take refuge behind a collection of leafy bamboo plants.
The moment becomes surreal in the way all seemingly impossible scenarios do.
Suddenly, my life has become a video game, where I’m to evade detection and make it upstairs.
The top floor penthouseifmy instincts are correct.
Nyssa and her older companion haven’t passed through the lobby yet. I block out the disturbing mental imagery that they could be sitting in the backseat of his car talking… or doing other things.
Just when I’m pondering if I’m trapped forever behind these bamboo plants, a man in a maintenance uniform strolls by, pushing a cart. He whistles as he stops at the elevator, scanning his access card against the panel that grants him use of it.
My adrenaline drums inside me. My gaze swings from the bellboy still engaged with the woman in pearls to the maintenance man waiting for the elevator.
It’s now or never.
As the elevator doors roll open and the maintenance man steps inside with his cart, I rush toward the entrance to join him. I’ve ripped off my skeletal mask, clutching it nondescriptly in my hands.
Ironically, the situation works in my favor without the mask—the man nods at me as if he recognizes me.
And won’t question what I’m doing on this elevator.
We ride up several floors in silence, and then I take yet another risk.
“I believe I’ve seen you before. But we haven’t been properly introduced.”
“You have? Well, been working here for a decade. Guess that makes sense. Thought I recognized you too.”