Without Mercy - Lisa Jackson [126]
“You must have late duty tonight.”
The furrows in Keesha’s forehead deepened. “Yeah,” she said with a roll of her expressive eyes. “Lucky me.”
“Every night, right?”
The girl nodded as she unlooped the vac’s cord. “That’s the way Dr. Lynch wants it.”
Jules thought about the note that had been slipped under her door on the first night at the school. She didn’t know if it was a prank or a sincere plea for help, but she intended to find out. “Have you been doing this all week?” Jules asked, walking into the living area.
“No, thank you, God. We rotate,” Keesha said, snapping the rag from her pocket to swipe at a cobweb hanging from the shade of a floor lamp.
“Were you working here the night I moved in? Last Friday?”
“Nuh-uh.” Keesha shook her head, cornrows rubbing the back of her neck.
“Do you know who was?”
“Uh…Nell. Maybe.” Puzzled, she walked to the janitorial closet again and opened the door to expose a duty list posted on the back panels. “Let’s see.” Squinting, Keesha ran a long finger down the list. “Yeah. I thought so. Nell was scheduled over the weekend. What happened? She miss your room?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Jules said, glad for a name. If Nell hadn’t slid the note under her door, she might have seen someone else loitering on the floor. She tucked the ends of her scarf into the lapel of her coat. “I was just wondering how the rotation went.”
Keesha closed the closet door and walked back to the vacuum cleaner again just as the song from above changed tempo. “Well, things have changed a little this past week. Used to be one person was in charge of cleaning each of the buildings, but with what’s happened around here…you know, Nona and Drew being killed and all…” She rubbed her arms as if suddenly chilled. “Now we work in teams of two.”
Jules surveyed the first floor. “You’ve got a partner?”
“If ya can call it that. Banjo’s up on the third floor.” Keesha jabbed a finger toward the ceiling. “Listen. Can’t you hear her?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You think she’s gettin’ much cleaning done?” Keesha asked, then snorted her own reply. “No way. I bet I have to go up there and scrub the damned toilets myself.” She let out another disgusted huff of air. “Don’t know why I was teamed up with her. I asked if BD and I could work together, but oh, no, Mr. Trent wasn’t about to have that. No, sir! No ‘coupling up’ I think he said.” Obviously agitated, she smacked the rag over the back of the sofa, as if snuffing out insects. “But we’re only here for a couple of nights, then, oh, joy, our entire pod gets cafeteria duty.”
“I take it you’re not big on working in the kitchen.”
“You got that right.” Keesha nodded emphatically. “It really sucks. Makes cleaning this place look like the damned garden of Eden.” She winced as she heard herself. “Sorry about that. It’s just that thinking about the cafeteria…yeck! All that gross food and dirty plates and spilled stuff on the floors? Dishes and trays piled to the ceiling? Who needs it?” As if suddenly realizing she was ranting to a staff member, she shut up, tossing her dusty rag into the empty pail. “Well, as my grandma always says, ‘there just ain’t no rest for the wicked.’” Keesha forced a smile, caught somewhere between amusement and deceit. “I say a big amen to that.” She reached for the handle of the vacuum. “I still think it would have been safer for me to be hangin’ out with BD, you know, rather than with Senorita Jewel up there.” She swept her gaze toward the stairs, where the plaintive notes echoed in the stairwell.
“Just be careful.”
“Oh, I will!”
“Good.” Jules pushed open the doors against a blast of icy, arctic air. In fierce gusts, the wind screamed through the night, rushing through the campus and rattling the chains on the flagpole.
Jules’s already ragged nerves tightened. Mentally she chastised herself for being an idiot. She’d be fired if she was found