Home Free - Fern Michaels [93]
“Jensen, come here and look at this!”
Jensen looked to where his colleague was pointing as he snapped picture after picture. “I’m betting this set of stairs leads into the third-floor apartment. This trapdoor beats building in a set of steps. If you’re trying to be sneaky, that is. Look, here’s the light switch. Watch, it turns on the light at the top of these steps as well as the light in this bedroom.”
“After you, Jensen,” Collier said as he snapped more pictures. “What’s up there?”
“It opens into a bedroom just like the one down below. Not much in here, from what I can see. Secondhand furniture, from the looks of it. No one lives here. There’s dust and spiderwebs everywhere. Hold on till I check the fridge. Nope, it’s not even plugged in.”
“What did you expect? A ghost? Snowden said the man whose name is on the mailbox is dead.”
“If you got all of your pictures, Collier, close it up and be sure to turn off the lights. Snowden said not to touch anything, just take pictures.”
“Just want to take one of the inside of the refrigerator and freezer. Who knows what might or might not lurk in there? You didn’t touch anything, did you, Jensen?”
“Well yeah, but like you, I’m wearing latex. Hurry up, Collier. I’m hearing noises coming from downstairs. Whoever lives there is probably getting ready to go to work. We are not supposed to be seen.”
“The guy likes frozen food. There are enough Hungry- Man dinners in this freezer to feed an army. Keeps his vodka in the refrigerator. He doesn’t eat healthy. There’s not one vegetable or piece of fruit anywhere. Everyone has bananas,” Collier grumbled. “And get this,” he said, opening one of the cabinet doors, “the guy must be addicted to Cocoa Puffs. There are eight boxes here.” He clicked his camera, the shot preserved forever. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s split.”
“Try not to make any noise going down the steps. We don’t want to have to answer any questions on the way out.”
The two men literally tiptoed down the stairs. Jensen was holding the door open for Collier when the door to the ground-floor apartment opened.
“You coming or going?” the tenant asked.
Before he could answer, a surly-looking woman bundled up like Nanook of the North followed her partner out the door.
“Just leaving. We came by to pick up Joel, but he said he isn’t going into work today. It’s a mess out there, buddy, so be careful. Oh, you’re going to need a shovel. We plowed all you people in.”
At the tenant’s stormy expression, Jensen said, “Look, we didn’t have a choice. The city says plow, we plow. Like I said, get your shovel. And you should think about shoveling and salting these steps. Someone could have a serious accident.”
“Hey, buddy, I don’t own this dump, so tell that to the owner. I just live here.”
While Jensen was carrying on his dialogue, Collier was uploading his pictures and texting Avery Snowden on what was going on.
“Good work, lads,” Avery said happily. “Meet us at O’Rileys, and I’m buying breakfast. Our bird just went into the Pentagon. Wait for us if you get there first.”
Collier sent off a text that read, Will do.
Chapter 25
It was ten o’clock, breakfast was over, the kitchen cleaned, the boys were outside with the snowblowers, and the girls headed to the war room with Charles. They took their assigned seats at the center table. Charles clicked on the remote, and Lady Justice welcomed them with a burst of sound. Seconds later, the pictures of the interior of the brownstone in Mt. Pleasant appeared on the screen. Charles did a running commentary as he used his pointer to indicate what he