Shadow Cave Read Online Free Page B

difficult.
    Yet a couple of things occurred to me just then. The first was that Mike was not a messy person. The second was that the apartment didn ’ t stink —not even a faint unpleasant odor lingered in the air. I walked over to the kitchen sink and carefully lifted a plate between two fingers for inspection. Clean. I dug deeper to find that the rest of the dishes piled in the chrome sink were also clean.
    I picked up a shirt from the nearest laundry pile and sniffed, dropping it back down with smug satisfaction. So someone had gotten to the place before me. I had to admit whoever scoured the place did a fairly good job of covering their tracks. To the casual onlooker, it would look as if Mike was simply a lousy housekeeper, the typical bachelor. At first glance it didn ’ t appear that the place had really been ransacked.
    I froze . Belatedly I wondered if whoever had searched the place before me had gone. “ Shit. ” I whispered. “ Well, this is a fine time , ” I muttered. My eyes scanned the kitchen, looking in vain for some kind of weapon. I was imagining gun toting thugs around every corner, so the kitchen knife I grabbed didn ’ t bring me a whole lot of relief. I dropped it on the Formica table with a bang.
    “ Quiet , ” I reminded myself. Without giving myself any more time to think on the virtues of a suitable weapon, I grabbed the nearest frying pan , which conveniently still hung from a rack over the oven, and left the kitchen. I paused in the hallway, sparing a glance at the door. It occurred to me that there were no other doors along the hallway. It was just a long entryway with the front door at the end of it from where I stood, shaking in my sneakers. I could just run like hell for that door and come back some other time. Say, tomorrow when it wasn ’ t twelve thirty in the morning and pitch black outside.
    I looked longingly at that door. I would be safe in my car and on my way home to a bath and a warm bed. All I had to do was run. It really was the sensible thing to do.
    I pushed my shoulders back and took a deep breath, and turned toward the living room. Mike wouldn ’ t run I reminded myself as calmly as I could. Besides, I comforted, if there had been anyone left in the apartment they probably would have finished me off about ten minutes ago while I was ignorantly sniffing the dinner plates in the kitchen. So I was reasonably safe. I hoped.
    I jumped around every corner of the apartment — thank God there weren ’ t many. Each time I brandished my frying pan like a ninja in a bad movie. Nothing. I quit holding my breath and dropped down onto the chair in Mike ’ s bedroom.
    “ All clear ; ok ay , so... . ” I looked around, wondering where to start. In the end I decided to start by cleaning up the place. I know it sounds crazy, but I just couldn ’ t stand to see the apartment in such a state of disarray. It wasn ’ t what Mike would have wanted. He was a very tidy person. Not quite fanatic al , but close. I smiled.
    Plus, I, who has never been referred to as a cleaning fanatic or organized for that matter, have always found that once you start to clean your house, you find things. It ’ s true. You find all sorts of interesting items when you put things away and deep clean a space. Car keys, lipstick, money, half eaten ... ah, maybe that was just me…once. Okay, twice. Anyway , I figured that was my best chance of finding anything useful. And when Mike came back, I was sure he would greatly appreciate my setting things to right. He was coming back. I had to believe that.
    Two hours later, I stood cursing in the middle of a very clean floor. My search had turned up absolutely nothing that stood out as odd or unusual. Books, papers, clothes a couple of candles and some incense did very little to crack the mystery of what in the hell had happened all those months ago and what was going on now. I didn ’ t know what I expected. I stretched and looked around again. I guess I had