“I don’t know,” I admitted.
She giggled. “You know you’re turning into me, right? A week ago, I would have been the one chasing down a suspect.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” I placed a hand on the wall by her head, unapologetically gazing down at her. The way her bright eyes shone back at me made my chest tighten.
I was about to bend down and steal another kiss when Mrs. Edenbury’s door caught my eye. It didn’t look quite right. Off center somehow.
Straightening, I took a step toward it. Was that a crack? Before thinking too much about it, I closed the distance and pushed it.
It opened.
Hazel gasped and her head went on a swivel looking up and down the hall.
“Reid!” she hissed.
“What?” I asked innocently. “I just want to make sure she’s okay. She left her door unlocked.”
Hazel’s lips parted and her eyes went wide. “Who even are you right now?” she whispered. “Iwouldn’t even suggest breaking and entering.”
I gave her a sheepish shrug, then waved her over with the kind of urgency that saidplease don’t make me explain this right now.
“It was open,” I whispered. But she was right. Who had I become? Just waltzing into a stranger’s apartment like it was nothing, no hesitation, no thought about how bad an idea it could be?
“Hello?” I called into the apartment, keeping up thefaçade. “The door was open, and we just wanted to make sure everything is alright.”
“Oh, that sounds natural.”
I narrowed my eyes at Hazel before taking another step into the apartment, keeping her behind me.
The apartment was a different layout than Hazel’s; hers had a small entryway that was walled off. The entrance to the rest of Mrs. Edenbury’s apartment was to our right instead. Thesmellof cat hit me first. Cat and perfume.
“Reid, look.” Hazel pointed down.
I saw it immediately. The floorboards. They were old, worn, and rich. Not exactly one of a kind, but unlike the floors at Paul’s, they definitely reminded me of the picture we’d received of Vermont.
We exchanged a look before I signaled for us to continue.
We crept around the corner, stepping into the living area. After a quick survey of the room, my first surprise was that Hazel’s unit was actually theupdatedversion of an apartment in this complex; this one was much older. The original wood flooring ended in the entryway, and the rest of this unit was covered in shag carpeting and linoleum tile. Asbestos was one hundred percent lingering in these walls.
“This place kind of gives me the creeps,” Hazel whispered, letting the door shut behind her. “I think she’s lived here for, like, twenty-five years.”
“I believe it,” I said taking in the dated light fixtures.
We cautiously stepped further into the apartment. The living room had trinkets everywhere; mostly dolls and figurines. There were even a few life-sized ones sitting on the couch. A gray cat lay sprawled next to one, staring at us but making no move other than to stretch. Another cat slunk into the room, this one black. I crossed my fingers, really hoping that wholeblack cat means bad luckthing was just superstition, and not the universe messing with me.
“Let’s hurry and get out of here,” Hazel said glancingaround nervously. “I can’t believe you went from refusing a stakeout to breaking and entering.”
“Justentering. There was no breaking involved,” I said again.
“Glad you’ve got your story straight for when we’re arrested.”
I rolled my eyes and kept scanning the room, not leaving a single corner unchecked. Dropping to my hands and knees, I peered under the couch. Another cat, this one with soft brown fur and huge green eyes, stared back at me like the intruder I was. “Shit, how many cats does this woman have?” I stood up and brushed my pants. Sure enough, cat fur already clung to them.
“I have no idea. I’ve only been over for tea twice. I think I counted four.”
The bedroom door stood open at the end of the hallway. I peeked my head in and looked around. It was mostly more dolls.
“How does anyone live like this?” Hazel asked. “There’s stuff everywhere.”
