A Fine Cast of Characters - J. Dane Tyler [27]
Flanagan sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m bushed, it’s getting dark. Well … it should be anyway. And I’ve got other stuff on my mind right now. I wasn’t trying to be a jerk. Sorry, Kelly.” His face softened and she smiled, gave him a nod.
“I guess you’re worried about lawsuits and stuff,” Kelly said, nodding to herself. “I understand that.”
“Lawsuits? Well. I wasn’t ‘til just now, when you brought it up. Thanks, Kelly. One more thing I need to be worried about.” Flanagan shook his head with a smile.
Sam chuckled. “So are we going down there or not?”
“Yeah. I just wish we had some lights.” Flanagan stepped through the threshold as if a lion lurked in the shadows.
Kelly hugged Sam soft. “Thanks for sticking up for me, Sam.”
“Don’t worry about it. You did it for me with Edward.”
“You … you didn’t need my help. You’d have told him off yourself. I just opened my mouth first.”
“You know, I don’t know if that’s true,” Sam said, and stared off in thoughtful introspection. “I mean, I’m not shy and I’m not weak, but for some reason, where Edward’s concerned, I’ve never … well, I’ve never told him off, whatever the reasons. I can’t tell you why, but for a couple years now, I’ve let him hang around, and hang around. I guess I was … hoping.”
“Hoping for what?”
“That … well, never mind that. Watch your step.”
Kelly turned, and saw Flanagan vanish into the inky stairwell. She followed, looked back, and saw Sam framed in the door jamb, staring off the port side of the vessel, wiping a tear from her cheek.
She sniffed and stepped into the gloomy stairwell behind Kelly, and took a firm hold on the handrail. “Damn! Dark in here.”
“Yeah, watch your step,” Flanagan said. “I can’t see my hand ‘fore my face in here. But I think there’s a door at the bottom.”
“Hopefully it won’t be even darker in the main area,” Kelly muttered.
“You’re just full of happy thoughts, ain’tcha?” Flanagan said, and the wink he gave her was backlit from the open door to the deck.
“I think he likes you,” Sam whispered in Kelly’s ear.
Kelly turned back to Sam. “I hope not.” Sam giggled.
“Yep. Door.” Flanagan’s hand rasped along the surface. “Louvered door. Huh. Weird.”
“Why?” Kelly tried to see beyond him but only blackness reached back.
“Well, I’da thought you’d want a bit more weatherproofing, in case your outer hatch failed for some reason. But I ain’t ever been on a boat like this before.”
The door opened and a rectangle of diffused and dim amber light spilled through it.
“I’ll be damned. I’ll be damned.”
“What the hell is it, Flanagan?” Sam craned around Kelly to get a look. “Get the hell outta the way so we can see, too!”
“Oh, sorry.” He scooted in and held the door open for them to enter.
Kelly gasped softly when she stepped off the final riser onto the floor below.
Rich, blood-red carpet enveloped her shoe soles and cushioned her steps. The walls were the color of fine, aged walnut. Rows of sconces gave off the soft glow and ran down a hallway that stretched perpendicular to the staircase into more dimness. Doors lined both sides of the corridor. Kelly noted cross-halls intersecting the corridor about thirty feet away, to both the left and right of the staircase.
“How big is this boat?” Kelly scratched her head, and eyed Flanagan. His looked confused and a touch pale.
“I … I don’t know. Not this big, that’s for damned sure. This is like cruise ship big.”
Sam pivoted her head. “Holy crap. How … how? It didn’t look this big before.”
Flanagan shook his head. “No. And this ain’t right. There should be walls dividing the fo’c’sle from the main cargo hold, and the aft area too. Three main sections. I think.”
“But you don’t know for sure, right?” Kelly stared down the hall to her right, toward the aft. It ran out of sight, the weak lamps on the walls fading down the hall until they weren’t visible anymore. “Could it be a mirrored wall?”
Flanagan’s eyes flashed and he gave a large nod, the light bulb going on in his head. “Ah, yeah!