Flamethrower - Maggie Estep [22]
Ruby rode along the Belt Parkway bike path for a few miles then turned off to take the bridge leading to the Rockaways. The guardrail separating the bike path from nothingness was only about waist-high and the wind was strong. She pedaled faster, too nervous about getting knocked off the bridge to enjoy the view of the Rockaway peninsula ahead. When she finally reached the other side of the bridge, she had to get off the bike for a few seconds to recover from the minor terror. She gulped in ocean air until she felt better.
Ruby rode down Rockaway Beach Boulevard into the sketchier parts of the peninsula. Along the water, low buildings gave way to ugly high-rises that were either projects or condos—sometimes it was hard to tell. To the left were tightly packed frame houses and tenements. There wasn’t much life on the street and the area felt ominous. Ruby reached Beach Seventy-ninth Street, got off her bike, and walked it along the sidewalk, looking at the numbers on the squat, malnourished buildings. Two kids were sitting on a stoop just ahead. They didn’t look friendly but Ruby accosted them anyway.
“You guys know where sixteen-seventy is?”
“What?” a little girl snarled at Ruby.
“Sixteen-seventy Beach Seventy-ninth.”
“You’re on Beach Seventy-ninth,” a boy said. He was younger than the girl and a little less mean looking. Both the kids were chubby with pale skin and lank brown hair. The stoop they were sitting on was chipped like a prizefighter’s teeth.
Ruby walked on. There was a tire shop and a few crumbling houses leading up to where the street dead-ended at the water.
None of the buildings seemed to have numbers, but at the very end of the road was a one-story brown house with a sagging roof. An old wooden rowboat roosted on the patchy grass in front. The only other residential building on the block was completely boarded up. Ruby decided the brown house was the one. She knocked. Nothing. She tried the doorknob. It turned but the door didn’t open. There was a lock that didn’t look particularly secure. Ruby fished her bank card from her back pocket then paused and looked over her shoulder. There was nothing there but the empty street and, off to the left, the water lapping at the rocky shoreline. Ruby fussed at the lock with the bank card, got it open, and softly pushed the door open.
“Hello?” she called out. The only sound came from some gulls screaming over the nearby water.
Ruby wheeled her bike inside the house and pulled the door shut behind her.
The place was dark and smelled of mold and stale cigarette smoke. A few slivers of daylight fought their way through curtains drawn loosely over two windows at opposite ends of the place. To her right, Ruby could make out the shape of a sagging couch, near it a low table covered in newspapers. She held her breath, listening for tell-tale creaking sounds. The little house was silent. To her left was a tiny dining room, a six-person table taking up most of the space. Ahead was a kitchen. Ruby ran her hand along the wall, found a switch, and flipped it. A bare bulb dangled over a filthy electric stove. Dishes were piled in the sink, and she saw several cockroaches. To the left of a brown fridge was a padlocked door.
Ruby’s spine tingled.
She pressed her ear against the padlocked door but heard nothing. There was a key attached to a magnet on the fridge door. She stuck it in the padlock. It worked. She opened the door a few inches then stooped down to feel her way forward. There was nothing but darkness. Then she saw a blur of movement, and there was a whooshing sound as something came toward Ruby. She felt pain over her left eye. She felt herself falling.
9. SAWBONES
Ruby noticed a terrible smell.
“I’m sorry” she heard someone say. She couldn’t see and wasn’t even sure if her eyes were open. She put one hand on the side of her head. She felt a sticky warmth and knew it was blood.
“I thought you were someone else,” the voice said.
Ruby grunted.
“I’d get you some ice for that, but unfortunately I’m having trouble getting around.”
As Ruby’s eyes focused,