Free Fire - C. J. Box [64]
“Me too.”
“Are you figuring anything out?” Nate asked.
Joe thought about it before answering. “Overall, I’d have to say . . . nope.”
Nate simply nodded. Joe filled Nate in on what had happenedso far, where he was headed. As Joe talked, he studied his friend. Nate appeared to be only half listening, as if there was something else on his mind.
When Joe was through, he asked, “Any questions? Any ideas?”
“Not yet.”
“Okay, then.”
Nate stood up, checked the front desk to confirm there was still no one there, then stepped over a metal barrier and approachedthe fireplace. “Watch this,” Nate said, and started climbing the chimney using the outcrops of volcanic stones for hand- and footholds.
“Nate . . .”
He scaled the fireplace until he vanished into the gloom. Above, in the shadows, Joe could hear Nate’s heavy breathing and the scuffle of his boots on rock. Ten minutes later, Nate rejoined him after scrambling from the chimney onto a cat-walkand taking a series of rickety, ancient stairs back to the lobby.
“I used to do that when I worked here,” Nate said in explanation.“Every night if I could.”
Joe shook his head. “When did you work here?”
“Many years ago.”
“I never knew that.”
“There are a lot of things about me you don’t know.”
“And I’m not sure I want to know them.”
“No,” Nate said, “you probably don’t.”
Joe sat back in his chair. “This is quite a place, isn’t it? I read that it was built in 1903 and 1904, in the middle of winter. Some days it was fifty below. The guy who built it had a sixth-gradeeducation, but he was a self-taught genius.”
Nate agreed. “He was a wizard too. If you noticed, the windowson the building don’t correspond with particular rooms or floors. They’re scattered against the outside like they were just thrown up there and stuck. That’s intentional. The architect wanted the look of the hotel to be random and asymmetrical, like nature itself. And it’s just as interesting inside. There are secret stairways, hidden rooms, and a crazy dead-end hallway called Bat’s Alley. They’re closed to the public, of course, and very few people know about them.”
Joe looked over. “But you know about them.”
Nate nodded Of course but didn’t meet Joe’s eye.
“Nate, what’s going on? There’s something wrong, I can tell. You didn’t climb that chimney to impress me, although it did. You climbed it because something’s eating at you and you need to think.”
Nate sighed but didn’t disagree.
“What is it?” Joe asked.
“I was over in the Zephyr housing area earlier,” Nate said. “I was wondering if there was anybody still here who I knew when I worked here.”
“Yes?”
Nate leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees, and cocked his head. “Joe, there’s somebody you probably ought to see.”
Joe was puzzled.
“Did you bring the Glock?” Nate asked.
“I left it in my room.”
“Good,” Nate said, rising. “You probably don’t want a weapon around afterwards.”
13
Joe followed nate through a back door and they crossed a meadow of dry, ankle-deep grass on a well-worn path. Because a curtain of clouds had shut out the stars and moon and there were no overhead lights, the darkness was palpable.It was still and cold. Joe tracked Nate ahead of him by the slight white whisps of Nate’s breath in the utter blackness. The lights of the inn receded behind them.
When the path stepped up onto blacktop, Joe knew where he was— crossing the highway toward employee housing, which was hidden away from tourists. There were no cars in either direction.They plunged into the trees on the other side and Joe stumbled into Nate, who had stopped.
“What?”
“There’s something in front of us,” Nate said. “Something big.”
Joe looked over Nate’s shoulder. Despite the lack of light, he could see a huge black triangle shape blocking the path. There was a strong odor of fur, dust, and manure. With a guttural snort, the buffalo spooked and crashed ahead through the timber.
“Are there more?” Joe asked.
“I don’t think so. He was a loner.”
“Like you.”
Nate didn’t respond. Behind them, far