Seven Kinds of Death by Kate Wilhelm

Author:Kate Wilhelm [Wilhelm, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780843935707
Publisher: Leisure
Published: 1992-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Charlie had walked to the condos from Tootles’s house, and now as he left the trailer/office to start the trek back, he saw Johnny Buell coming forward to meet him. Johnny was wearing good-looking tan work pants, a matching shirt, and a hard hat. He could have been dressed for an ad for an expensive liquor, or a sports car. He looked a lot like the boss’s son.

“How’s it going?” he asked, falling into step with Charlie.

“About what you expect this early. How many people have keys to the gate?”

Johnny looked startled, then thoughtful. Finally he said, “Damned if I know. Various foremen, Ditmar, of course. Dad. I do. Maybe Marion, but I sort of doubt that. Why would she? Pierce. Half a dozen, a dozen at the most.”

“How about the computer card keys?”

“Maybe the same list, with a few additions. I know Marion has one to the sixth-floor unit. She’s been in and out, picking out colors, drapes, that sort of thing. Ditmar has them all, and I do. I guess Dad does, too. A few others.”

In other words, a bust, Charlie thought regretfully. Too many people with access. They had come to Building A. One of the workmen had already explained the building designation: A is for Applegate, first in the row. B is for Birmingham, upscale, don’t you know? C is for Carlton, Rich, rich, rich, rich; D is for Davenport, a son of a bitch. E is for Ethridge, first among peers. F is for Farmington, or maybe for fears. Charlie thought the workers did not take the project quite as seriously as Johnny did.

He paused at the grillwork gate to the below-ground parking section. The gate was open now. “When you drove out on Friday, did you close both gates?”

“Sure. The system’s electronic. Going in, the thing closed after me, and coming out I just touched the button and it slid down when I drove up to the street level. I went back inside on the first floor.”

Charlie walked into the lobby at street level; the dedicated elevators with brass numbers lined the wall to his left, flanked by the door to the stairwell, broom closets, whatever.… He walked to the center of the building and gazed down the long corridor, with another bank of regular elevators at the far end, and apartment doors in between. “Are the rooms all kept locked?” he asked Johnny, who had remained at the entrance.

Johnny said they were, and Charlie sighed and shrugged. So it would take more computer card keys to enter them. He walked back to the front of the building. “Okay. See you later. Thanks.” He continued to walk toward the gate. It was open during working hours; trucks came and went, workmen came and left, there was a steady flow of traffic in and out. It had been open on Friday until Johnny closed it when he left to pick up Debra Saltzman and her friends, five thirty or thereabouts. The train had arrived at five forty and Johnny was waiting for it.

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