Chapter 14: Oakley Avenue

The building agent on Oakley Avenue wore a lanyard and a look of deep suspicion.

"The unit isn't available until October first," she said on the stoop of 2214.

"It's empty," I said. "I can see the east window from here."

"My application was approved on September tenth. I'd like to start today."

She looked at Veda, who stood behind me with her arms folded and clay on her knees.

Then she looked at the man standing three steps down with his hands in his coat pockets.

"Is he with you?"

"No," I said.

"Yes," Colin said.

"He's carrying the bag," I said. "That's all he's doing."

"I can do that," he said.

The agent sighed and unlocked the door.

The flat was one room with a kitchen along the back wall and a bedroom the size of a closet.

The floors were old oak with a long scar down the middle.

Light came through the east window and lay across the boards.

I stood in the middle of it and turned in a slow circle.

My hands knew where the stove was before my eyes found it.

"The first month and the deposit are due today," the agent said.

"I know."

I had not thought about that part.

Then I remembered the zipper pocket in the back of the sketchbook.

Behind the lease form was a plastic card with Kathleen Harnett printed on it, and the bank's name from my old firm's payroll.

I hadn't touched it since I resigned, and my old paychecks were still sitting in that account.

I tapped the card on the agent's reader.

My thumb typed a four-digit number I didn't know I knew.

The reader beeped, and the agent gave me two keys on a paper clip.

"Congratulations," she said, in the voice of a woman who had expected a fight.

Colin made a small sound behind me, and when I looked at him he was smiling at the floor.

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