Free A Catered Halloween by Isis Crawford Page B

nearest door on the right. A small plaque on the door read MS. LONG. “I guess Kane was telling the truth when he said the site they’re using for the Haunted House is the last place they have to remodel.”
    Bernie peeked inside. The room was small and generic. It contained a desk; a monitor, keyboard, and mouse on the desk; a standard-issue office chair; a wall full of bookshelves, which appeared to contain reports; and stacks of reading material on the table by the door. The room was devoid of any personality. Looking at it, Bernie decided she could be in any office anywhere in the world. For all intents and purposes, the old Peabody School was gone except for where the Haunted House was. And soon that would be gone, too. It made her sad. She carefully closed the door behind her and started down the corridor.
    “Let’s go find Inez,” she said.
    Brandon hurried after her. “The sooner the better as far as I’m concerned,” he told her.
    “So you’ve said,” Bernie retorted.
    They walked down the corridor. When they got tothe end, they followed the music and turned left. Aretha was louder now. So was the vacuum cleaner.
    “How many people are on this cleaning crew?” Bernie asked.
    “Ian said three,” Brandon replied.
    They made another left. Bernie began to feel disorientated. The place was like a rabbit warren, all sharp, angled turns. One hallway led to another, and the white walls and gray carpet and overhead lights made everything look the same. Half of the rooms looked as if they were unused. By now the words to “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” were pulsing through Bernie’s head. She paused in front of the door where the music was coming from.
    “Let’s do it,” Brandon said and pushed open the door.
    They stepped into a paneled conference room. A vacuum cleaner was parked by the far wall. A large, gleaming wooden table sat in the center of the room. The air smelled of furniture polish. A man in coveralls was bent over the table, spraying its surface with Pledge and wiping it down.
    Bernie went over and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and spun around. It took him a minute to focus his eyes. Whatever he was on, it had taken him someplace else.
    “Sorry,” Bernie shouted. “We’re looking for Inez.”
    The man blinked. He made an effort to look at Bernie. She smiled encouragingly.
    “Is she around? We need to talk to her,” Bernie explained.
    She’d expected that he’d ask why, but he didn’t. If anything, he seemed annoyed at being interrupted. He shrugged and pointed to the door on the far wall.
    “Through there,” he told her. “She’s cleaning the bathrooms. At least that’s what she’s supposed to bedoing. Whether she is or not, I can’t say.” He nodded toward Brandon. “Hey, pal. How’s it going?”
    “It’s going, Josh,” Brandon said. “It’s going.”
    “You can say that again,” Josh said and went back to waxing the table.
    “How do you know him?” Bernie asked when they got outside.
    “His brother was in our class.”
    “He was?”
    “Matt Keller.”
    “That’s Matt Keller’s little brother?”
    Brandon nodded. “Yup.”
    Bernie shook her head. She remembered him as this blond little pain that was always following Matt around. Now he looked about fifty and was missing half of his teeth.
    Brandon must have read her mind, because he said, “That’s what happens when you live on the streets. You want me to talk to him while you go have a chat with Inez and see if he can tell us what she was doing last night?”
    Bernie nodded and went off to find Inez. She located her a little while later in the ladies’ room. The door was propped open, held in place by a large garbage can. When Bernie walked in, she could see Inez leaning against one of the sinks, smoking a cigarette. Bernie did a double take. Inez must have gained at least fifty pounds since she’d last seen her. Inez’s face had that round, puffy look drinkers’ faces got. Her waist had