“Ten minutes,” she said to herself, pulling out her phone and setting a timer.
Timer set, she walked into the apartment and looked around. It was surprisingly tidy. Amie wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but considering the neatness came as a surprise to her, she supposed she’d been expecting Benny to have the same amount of care for his apartment as he seemed to have for those of his tenants (very little).
She thought back to David’s advice: Look for anything out of place. Drawers, closets.
Running to Benny’s bedroom, she slid open the door and made a beeline for his dresser.
“Sorry, sorry,” she whispered as she searched for any non-clothing items. She didn’t know why searching through someone’s underwear felt so much more wrong than breaking into their apartment, but she felt a lot better once she was able to conclude that particular search.
Finding nothing of note in the dresser, she moved on to Benny’s closet. Hoodie, hoodie, hoodie, hoodie, nice suit in a dry cleaning bag … the floor was carpeted with a variety of sneakers and sandals (and one familiar pair of Crocs). No intriguing boxes or other mysterious items stuffed into the back.
Amie ran to the kitchen. She began pulling open drawers and cabinets, searching for anything strange hidden among silverware or bowls or … six boxes of “Luke Legend’s Alpha King Organic Protein Powder.”
She closed the door to the protein powder cabinet, slumping against the counter in defeat.
What am I even looking for?she thought.Maybe he didn’t find anything in Savannah’s apartment after all.
Amie scanned the space, looking for anything out of place, anywhere Benny might’ve hidden something.
“Garbage cans. Definitely check the garbage cans.”David’s voice came back to her in a flash as her gaze alighted on the garbage can in the kitchen.
She ran over and stomped on the pedal of the can, peering in. There was barely anything inside: just a banana peel, coffee grounds, and a few other food remains.
Amie let the lid of the can fall with a dullclunkand sprinted back into the bedroom. A small wastebasket sat by the bed, and Amie steeled herself before looking inside.
The majority of the contents were tissues, plus a light blue sock that looked too small for Benny. The sock almost took the prize for most intriguing item, if there hadn’t been several torn pieces of paper stuffed among the tissues. They were all seemingly parts of a whole, having been ripped up and shoved into the basket.
Delicately, she used her thumb and pointer finger to pick out the pieces. The paper was soft and wrinkled, as if it had been crumpled up at least once. There was printed text on one side and a photograph on the other. Amie began laying the pieces on the floor, text side up, trying to match the jagged edges to each other.
A loud, muffled voice in the distance caught her attention. Amie froze, two pieces in her hands, as she listened.
“—still think there might be a couple spots that would benefit from traps,” David was saying. “Oh! Did I mention the weird sound my refrigerator’s been making? Shoot, forgot to mention that. We might as well go look now while I have you. No?”
There was an unintelligible response from Benny.
“Ah of course, dinner.” David’s voice grew markedly louder. “MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY, I SAY. YOU HAVE DINNER WAITING FOR YOU, OF COURSE, I DON’T WANT TO HOLD YOU UP ANY LONGER.”
Amie collected the pieces of paper and shoved them into the front pocket of her shorts. She hurried out of the room, wondering if she could pull off the “hide behind the door then slip out” trick a second time. The sound of a doorknob rattling sent herscrambling back into the bedroom, sliding the door partially closed as she hid behind it.
“Can I ask you something?” David’s voice came from the other side of the apartment as the door opened. “Landlording. That must be a stressful gig. All the people in this building, only one you. How do you keep the pressure from getting on top of you?”
“Uh …” The door shut. “I dunno. I just do it, I guess.”
“Just do it,” David said. “Wow. What a motto. Someone should use that for something.”
Amie heard a quietthump, which she assumed was Benny sitting on his couch. Hoping she was right and that Benny’s back was now to her, she risked a peek around the corner of the sliding door.
Benny was indeed sitting on the couch, digging through the takeout bag that sat on the coffee table in front of him. Off to the side, David was anxiously shifting his weight back and forth, eyes darting around the apartment.
“Want a beer?” Benny asked, seemingly trying to make the best of his uninvited guest.
“Oh, I should probably get—” David’s sentence was cut off by a yelp as his eyes met Amie’s.
“Whoa, what?” Benny asked, sitting up as Amie ducked back behind the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” David said hurriedly. “Twinge in my back. When you get to be my age it’ll happen all the time. Just gotta stretch it out.”
“Did you see something?” Benny pressed. “Like a … like a ghost?”
