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"Looks like the last occupants of this dump did a moonlight flit, and took everything with them that wasn't actually nailed down."
I just nodded. I didn't trust myself to say anything sane and sensible, for the moment. I was feeling increasingly jumpy. There was an overwhelming sense of being watched, by unseen, unfriendly eyes. I kept wanting to look back over my shoulder, convinced I'd find something awful crouching there, waiting to spring; but I didn't. There was no-one there. Suzie
would have known. And you don't last long in the Nightside if you can't learn to control your own instincts.
A mirror on the wall beside me caught my attention. It took me a moment to figure out what was wrong with it. The mirror wasn't showing any reflection. It was just a piece of clear glass in a wooden frame. It wasn't a mirror at all.
There were two doors to my right, leading to rooms beyond. Ordinary, unremarkable doors. I moved slowly over to the nearest, and immediately Suzie was right there with me, shotgun at the ready. Joa
The door swung easily open. The hinges didn't make a sound. The room beyond was completely dark. I stayed just inside the doorway and flashed my light around the room. The darkness seemed to suck up the light. Still no furnishings or fittings, no personal signs or touches. It looked more like a film set than anything someone might call home. I stepped back into the hall and moved down to the next door. The second room was just like the first.
"Whatever was going on here, I think we missed
it," said Suzie. "Someone must have told them I was coming."
"No," I said. "That's not it. Something's still here. It's just hiding from us."
I walked over to the foot of the staircase. Bare wooden boards, simple banisters. No frills or fancies. No scuff marks or traces of wear, either. It could have been old or new or anything in between. Almost as though untouched by humans hands ... I raised my voice in a carrying call.
"Hello! Anybody home?"
The close air flattened my voice, making it sound small and weak. And then from somewhere up on the next floor came the sound of a single door, slamming shut. Suzie and Joa
"Someone's home."
Joa
her name over and over, increasingly loudly, until finally she spun on me, breathing hard. Her face was hot and red and angry, almost furious.
"Let go of me, you bastard! Cathy's up there! I can feel it!"
"Joa
"I know! I have to go to her, she needs me! Let go of my arm, you ..."
When she found she couldn't pull or twist her arm out of my grasp, Joa
"No-one gets to hit John but me, Mrs. Barrett. Now behave yourself; or you can listen to the bones in your wrist breaking, one by one."
"Easy, Suzie," I said. "She's new to the Nightside. She doesn't understand the kind of dangers we could be facing."
Except she should have known, by now.
"Then she'd better learn fast," said Suzie. "I won't have her putting us at risk. I'll kill her myself first."
"Dead clients don't pay their bills," I reminded her.
Suzie sniffed and let go of Joa
she pointedly stayed where she was, ready to intervene again, if necessary. I released Joa
"You mustn't lose it now, Joa
Her mourn was a sulky pout, her eyes bright and almost viciously angry. "You don't understand what I'm feeling. You know nothing about a mother's love. She's up there. She needs me. I have to go to* her!"
"Either you control yourself, or I'll have Suzie drag you back to the front door and kick your arse out onto the street," I said steadily. "For your own protection. I mean it, Joa
"You don't know me at all, John," said Joa
That wasn't like Joa
"You shouldn't have brought her here, John," said Suzie. "She doesn't belong here."
Her voice wasn't especially harsh, or unforgiving. She was speaking the truth as she saw it, just as she always did.
Joa
"Damn right," said Suzie, entirely unmoved. "And you'd better be good for the money."
They went on snarling at each other for a while, in their own hot and cold way, but I wasn't really paying attention. The house, what there was of it, baffled me. I kept thinking I was missing something. Something had called, or even summoned, Cathy to this place, and all those missing important people Walker had mentioned, but now I was here, at the heart of the mystery, there was nothing here. Except for whatever
was playing games up on the next floor. Nothing in the house, nothing at all... I started up the stairs, and Joa
No more slamming doors. No reaction at all. When we got to the next floor, all we found were more bare walls and more doors leading off. All the doors were safely, securely, closed. Suzie looked slowly about her, checking for targets, the shotgun tracking along with her gaze. Joa