Chapter 39

He went inside to the tiled lobby that was always cold, even in summer. It was dark and cheerless, with a grimy floor and a wall of battered metal mailboxes. Now it felt even more uninviting. He went to his old buzzer, because he had left his roommates his key, and leaned on it.

Arliss wasn’t surprised when he was immediately buzzed in, no questions asked. His two roommates were not what anyone would call virtuous, and they had guys coming over, usually from online hookup sites, at all hours of the day or night. They probably thought he was just another trick arriving.

He skipped the elevator and took the stairs, two at a time, up to the third-floor apartment. Even before he got to the door, he could hear the heavy bass beat of techno music that signaled a porno movie was being screened.