She knocks on the door and we wait, feeling the tension growing in the air as the seconds pass by. Maybe we shouldn’t have done this in the middle of the day. The guy might be at work.
After a couple of agonizing minutes, interspersed by Echo knocking louder and pressing her ear up against the door, a muffled voice sounds from inside.
“Hold your horses, I’m coming.”
Another minute passes and there’s the telltale sound of the door unlocking and opening, then a face creased with wrinkles peers through the tiny gap.
“Do we know what this Andrew guy looks like?” Echo whispers to Brogan.
He snorts and slings his arm around her shoulders again. “I don’t think he was in his eighties, babe, that’s for sure.”
“What do you want?” the guy asks, scowling at all three of us.
“Does, er, a guy called Andrew live here?” Echo asks.
“Nope.” The guy opens the door a couple of inches wider, crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring her down.
“And you’re not Andrew, are you?” she asks.
“The name’s Bert.”
Echo nods slowly. “Right, right, right. And how long have you lived in this apartment building, Bert?”
“The past two months. Moved in with my daughter since she doesn’t think I can take care of myself anymore.”
“You don’t know if a guy named Andrew lived here previously, do you? Or have his address for redirecting mail?”
“No.”
Well, fuck. A dead end before we’ve even started. That’s not a good sign.
“Okay then. Thank you, Bert.” Echo beams at him like he was super helpful and not at all a grumpy ass.
We’re all a little deflated as we head back down to the building entrance hall. Echo snoops through the mail slots, glancing over at me with her mass of hair tucked over one shoulder.
“Do we know this Andrew guy’s last name?”
“Bremmer,” Brogan tells her, and I shoot him an inquisitive look. Maybe he and Wren talked more about her human boy-toy than I ever did.
Echo riffles through the mail but comes away empty-handed. “Well, this didn’t go as well as we’d hoped. Any ideas for where to try next?”
Before she’s even finished the sentence, a man’s voice sounds from the front door of the apartment building. “You guys looking for Andrew Bremmer?”
A short guy with a terrible mustache stands just a couple of feet away, clutching a handful of mail. I wonder how long he’s been standing there eavesdropping. I glare at Brogan, who shrugs and looks a little uncomfortable. Since his entire role is to be constantly alert, ready to defend us at all times, it’s not good that he didn’t notice someone stepping so close to our space.
Nudging him with my elbow, I mutter, “Keep it together. Don’t let yourself get distracted.”
We both know exactly what he’s distracted by. He shoots Echo a longing look which she’s too focused on the newcomer to notice.
“She smells so good, though, man,” he whispers back.
I’m half tempted to smack him around the head to see if that brings his focus back, but turn my attention to Echo and the stranger, catching the end of their conversation.
“Oh yeah, he moved out with his little girlfriend a few months back. Real fancy place they’ve got over in Pine Ridge.”
“Have you seen his new place?” Echo asks brightly.
“Sure have, honey, I went over with a welcome gift, you know, all friendly since we used to hang out before he decided he was too good for old Scotty. Anyway, the bastard turned me away, wouldn’t even let me past the doorman. I guess since he’s in the penthouse now, he’s way too fancy for the likes of me.”
