“Okay. So you want me to revise the pitch and come back to you.”
He shrugged.
“Isn’t that what I just said? Honestly, Stace, your energy is admirable. It’s just easy to get lost in the clouds, you know?”
I nodded. Eddie had for sure risen me into the exosphere and clogged my vision with cumulonimbus.
“I’ll come back after lunch,” I said.
“Please do not do that.”
“I’m going to, and you’re going to thank me for it because when I discover whatever it is I’m going to discover, it’s going to blow your mind.”
“You realize that a news story has to be about a subject, and you’re lacking that? You’re lucky I did a video on edibles this morning, and I’m still in a good mood.”
Andy’s voice echoed down the hallway after me, but all I could do was grin.
* * *
An internet search was not exactly unproductive, but there was only so much I could find when I googled Chicago Night Market. I kept getting restaurant reviews and Yelp pages. The prospect seemed grim.
“Gabe, are you busy? Are you capable of being human for a minute?”
Gabriel turned to me. Gabriel was quiet, awkward, and self-aware—so much so that it was a little bit like looking at a fetus that was still getting used to air after being in a womb for thirty years. This morning, for instance, Gabe wore shades into the building and then wrapped himself in a security blanket before he logged in for the day, where he spent some time composing reports and a website template for me to review.
“I’m at a great stopping point here. I can try to mimic civilized behavior for about ten minutes,” he said. He let go of the mouse and swiveled toward me in his chair.
“Have you ever heard of a place in town called the Night Market?”
“Ew, Night Market,” Gabriel said, face twisting. “That place, ew, no. Gives me the creeps.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Mmmm, you ever walk into a convenience store in a sketch side of town—I mean anywhere, not just Chicago—and you go in and there’s people without shoes or who look like they just woke up from a week-long bender and everyone’s just kinda staring at you. And you’re not sure if they think you’re shoplifting or considering whether or not they have room for your body in the back freezer?”
“Passingly familiar with that feeling, yes.” I was thinking about the lounge.
“Imagine that feeling stretched out over an entire city block,” Gabriel said. “There are women wearing black in veils that wander the roads. There are like, five tattoo shops in a circle. There’s an old Cathedral run by some weirdos. And all the shops are weird. I don’t know. There’s an occult store, a new age store, a smoke shop, a dental hygienist, and a local run diner with tables way too sticky for anyone to be comfortable with. Little odds and ends shop, too—lots of nice knickknacks and antiques, though. The lady that ran the place, she swore up and down she had the most haunted doll collection that ever existed.”
“Okay, there we go. You know that’s the kind of stuff we need, Gabe, for this department to run well.”
“There’s literally a bridge supposedly haunted by a serial killer one county over, but sure, let’s check out the Grandma with the haunted doll collection.”
“What’s that place called again?”
“Mel’s Antiques,” he said.
I googled this, found the address for the place, and saved the directions on my phone.
“Now, I just have to get it approved by Andy,” I muttered.
Gabriel stretched over, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“Honey, no. You know how long I’ve been here?”
“I literally just started yesterday, why would I know that?”
“Four years. I’m the only one that’s stuck around that long. You know why? I don’t bother Andy with the details. I don’t request his permission for anything. I just get out there, and I get results, and I bring them back. And that’s how he rolls. You get him involved in the process, it’s just a bunch of back and forth and hemming and hawing. Andy rose to the top because he’s been here for a while, but I’d be lying to your face if I said he was great to work for, or in any way competent other than churning out content. Just leave him alone, speak when spoken to, and investigate some shit he’s gonna love. I’ve seen your work history. Just get out there and do what you love doing!”
