Plant Life by Pamela Duncan

Author:Pamela Duncan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780440334187
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2003-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

JOHN WANTS ME TO TAKE YOU TO THE BASEMENT,” Linda said.

Laurel looked up from a spreadsheet. The basement? They’d skipped that on the tour, but was it really important for her to see it now? She’d been here only two weeks and hadn’t had time to learn the upstairs by heart yet. “What?”

Linda, wearing another pastel business suit with a skirt above her knees, shoved the desk calendar aside and sat on the corner of the desk, something she did whenever she took a break from baby-sitting John to drop off more work. Not that she really needed to move anything. Her bony tail could probably fit on a pencil eraser.

“I hate going down there,” Linda whispered, looking over her shoulder to make sure John wasn’t around. “It’s nasty. Part of it’s got dirt floors and boxes and boxes of junk and old file cabinets and all, crap they should’ve thrown away a long time ago. And there’s no telling what all kind of vermin lives down there. We have the exterminator out once a month, but you know there’s got to be rats down in there somewhere.”

And you want me to go down there with you? Gee, thanks. Laurel was not dressed for a basement crawl, and she did not want to ruin a perfectly good sweater set. “Is there any way we can do this tomorrow? I’ll wear jeans and a sweatshirt.”

Linda looked Laurel up and down as if seeing her for the first time. “Oh. I didn’t even think about you having on good clothes. Well, I would say let’s wait, but I’m taking the rest of the week off and John really wants you to get started as soon as possible.” She showed her teeth in a smile that dared Laurel to object again. Rumor was Linda and John were both going to be gone on some kind of retreat to Myrtle Beach and would probably not be sleeping in separate rooms.

No, he doesn’t, you bitch. You’re just enjoying the thought of me getting filthy while you slip off up here and spend the rest of the day filing your nails. Laurel sighed. “What exactly are we going to do in the basement?”

Linda hopped off the desk, jingling the bracelet key ring on her arm. “That’s where all the files are, the ones for the anniversary. You know, for the stuff you’re supposed to write for the newspaper.” She headed out of the office and Laurel followed, feeling like a whipped puppy forced to follow its master.

They went out of the building, around the corner to a door about halfway back, where they went down a steep flight of narrow stairs. At the bottom of the stairs they went through another door, turned a corner, and started down a hallway where fluorescent lights seemed to stretch forever, a never-ending hallway with a concrete floor and cinder-block walls like something out of a horror movie. At the third door on the left, Linda stopped and unlocked it with one of the keys on her wrist, then twisted the key off and handed it to Laurel.

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