The Apartment (Apartment #1) Read Online Free

music from all over the world, for every kind of dance you could imagine.
    “Where in the—?” Mrs. Knight mumbled to herself. “It was here earlier. What on earth did I do with that key?” She looked back at Lily as if she had the answer. “Wait a minute—that nice young man.”
    “Young man?”
    “Yes, there was a lovely young man who stopped in to look at it earlier. I forgot I gave him the key. But that was hours ago! I’ve been so busy that I didn’t realize he never brought it back down.”
    “Should you be concerned?” If Lily ended up taking the apartment she didn’t want some psycho out there with a key to her place.
    “Oh heavens, no! I’m sure that he just set it down up there and forgot all about it.” She glanced down at her watch with a frown. “I really must get back. Why don’t I show you the way and you can head up and take a look? If you see the key laying around up there, just be a dear and bring it back down with you. If it’s not there, don’t worry. I’ll get the locks changed if I have to.”
    “Really, if it’s too much trouble right now I can come back.”
    “Oh, don’t be silly! You’re here now. She stood to usher Lily into the hall. “You know, I really must get another spare key made. I misplaced my last one after the
incident
.” She emphasized the last word dramatically as if Lily was supposed to know what she was talking about.
    “Incident?” Lily asked, mainly because she could tell that Mrs. Knight wanted her to.
    “Oh yes,” she sighed. “I’m afraid the last tenant hadn’t been seen for days and he wasn’t answering his phone. When he didn’t answer the door either, I finally had to use my spare to open it up and it must have gotten lost in all the excitement. Poor thing.” She shook her head slowly and made a sign of the cross over her chest.
    Lily turned instantly pale. “You mean he died up there?”
    “Not quite.” She reached out and patted her arm. “But Mr. Douglas had a terrible stroke. When I found him, he was face down on the floor. Nobody knows how long he was there. I tried to hold onto his place for him for as long as possible, but the doctors say he won’t be coming home. He’s in hospice care now.” She looked very sad for a moment. “I used to work with him many years ago. He was a teacher at the school. It just breaks my heart to see someone so intelligent brought low like that. He can’t even talk now.”
    Now it was Lily’s turn to pat her on the arm. She couldn’t fathom what it would be like to go from being a fully functioning human being one day to being trapped inside your own mind for the rest of your life. Sometimes the human mind terrified her. That was why she could never bring herself to work at a nursing home; the thought of being around so many patients with dementia made her want to cry.
    “Well, come on. Let me show you where to go.” Mrs. Knight led her all the way down the hallway, past the door to the dance studio, until they reached the rear exit. “Now, you can access the apartment from back here,” she said, opening the large door. “There’s a parking lot on the other side of the alley behind here that all the tenants along the strip use. Most of the stores have at least one apartment upstairs, but some of them are lived in by the owners.” She pointed to another door next to them. “This door here leads upstairs. The same key will unlock it if you need it, but most tenants leave this one unlocked for visitors. Now, the room is just up at the top of the stairs. If you have any questions come and find me, okay?”
    “Thank you so much, Mrs. Knight. I really appreciate it. I’m sorry to have disturbed your class.”
    “It’s no problem, sweetie. I needed a break from those guys anyway, before I started smacking them with my stick!” They shared a final laugh before parting ways, each one going through a different door.
    Lily walked up the dark stairway. At the top of the stairs there was a