Page 121 of Penny For Your Thoughts
We stayed close to the building, peering into each window. The ones on this side—the rear—were dark, the rooms beyond empty. Our suspicious activity was less apparent at the back of the property. Around front, in view of the street, it would be hard to pretend we weren’t up to no good, especially when the whole place was marked as a construction zone, and we were clearly not construction workers.
“Stay here a sec,” I said when we reached the corner.
“Why?”
“Because I said so. I want to peek in the first window before we expose ourselves too much.”
I expected an argument but didn’t get one. Darcy waited as I crossed the few feet to the first covered window on ground level. The crack around the edge of the curtain wasn’t huge, and getting an idea of what lay beyond was next to impossible. The seam on the other side of the window was wider. I moved to it instead.
Cupping a hand over my eyes, I peered inside, discovering semi-private rows of cubical workspaces with identical computers and rolling chairs at each. A few were occupied. I counted five heads. Guys and girls as young as Darcy were wearing headsets.
“What do you see?” Darcy called, breaking my concentration.
I held up a finger and moved to the next window. Same room. Same setup. Most workspaces on this side were empty, but I counted fourmore people. The next two windows were dark, so I moved along the wall to the last two windows by the main door.
Beyond the first was what appeared to be a group living space. Steel-framed single beds lined up in intervals. Basic blankets and pillows. All the same style and quality. Bare walls. Plain dressers sporadically placed between beds. No personal effects. I couldn’t tell how many people it accommodated with my limited view, but guessed about six to eight.
The last window revealed a standard kitchen. Two people sat at a round table, eating something indecipherable from plastic containers.
“What is this place?” Darcy asked over my shoulder, making me start. He stood a few feet away, gawking in the dormitory window.
“I told you to stay put.”
“Yeah, and you told me you were looking in the first window and coming back.”
I scanned the street, panic rising. “Come on. We can’t stay here.”
“But we haven’t learned anything. What happened to those boxes? What’s inside them?”
“I don’t know, but we’re trespassing in broad daylight, and I’m too cute for prison.” I snagged Darcy’s arm and tugged him toward the corner so we could return around back and leave the way we’d come in.
“Who are those people inside? Do you think those boxes were from the storage unit? Can we come back tonight?”
“Maybe. If Diem doesn’t kill us first.”
Safe in the car, I debated calling Diem to tell him what we’d discovered. Instead, I sent him a text.I’ll be home in an hour.We’re safe and well. Stop fretting.
His response came before I started the vehicle. I expected a reprimand. I expected a Diem-worthy “What the fuck?” but got neither.
Get lunch.
“Huh.”
“What?” Darcy asked.
“Well, he didn’t tear me a new asshole, so he must be in a good mood.”
***
Diem was not in a good mood, but he wasn’t in a bad mood. He was in a mood I couldn’t quite decipher.
We arrived an hour later with pizza—Darcy’s choice—to find Diem lying on the ground with Echo and Baby. Cuddling with the former while the latter roamed freely around the apartment.
I stalled in the doorway, hairs rising along my nape.
Darcy bumped into me until he saw why I’d stopped and barreled into the room, shouting, “Oh, cool. Can I hold Baby?” He didn’t wait for a response and scooped the snake off the ground, draping her around his neck like a freaking feather boa.
“Diem Krause. What have I said about that snake?”
