I checked the seal of the blackout drape and lit the smallest candle. Details of the room sprang into view, then faded as I moved around. The walls were painted cinderblock, maybe green. Hard to tell for sure. I searched every nook and drawer and container, dug under the cushions of the couch, shook out the magazines. I uncovered many new treasures, but no keys. In a small metal box with the odd word ‘Altoids’ just legible on the lid, I found a stash of old paper money, useless now except as an antique. The band holding it snapped as I poked at it, unfolding the coil in my palm. My hands recalled the greasy feel of bills like these—not a full memory quake, more like a minor tremor. Meanwhile, a very long hour back to the den and a hurricane screaming up the coast. Hurricane Joseph.

I was losing daylight as well as time. I considered staying put. Be sensible. Ride out the storm safe and dry. But since waking up in the Ward, I’d never slept or eaten a meal away from the den, never sat through a storm alone. Just the idea stirred up jitters, deep inside where the secret terrors still ruled. Plus, if I didn’t show, Rubio would fret.

Where were the damned keys anyway? Then, a grim thought.

I blew out the candle. With one of the door bars in hand, I stepped outside and poked around in the shadows for that tangle of bones and clothing. Wind gusts spat rain through the open sides of the building. The rod clanged against a drainage grate in the floor. Good. Water wouldn’t be running into the room. Then, there was the pile. I eased the end of the rod into the tangle, straining over the noise of the wind to listen.

Rattle, thud, rattle . . . there! Clinkety-clink. Harsher than the clatter of bones.

Now I had to go into that blackness, feel about with my bare hands. Gloves would be nice, but no time to get squeamish. Two fingers slipped in among the damp layers of rotting cloth, brushing against bone and dried sinew, finally bumped against a heavy metal ring, a carabiner studded with keys, probably for every door in the building. Unbelievable, the luck I was having! Stomach fluttering, I hooked in a finger, snatched the ring free of the mess, and jingled it hard, as if I could shake off the awful smell. At the door, I tried seven keys before one fit. With rain blowing sideways through the structure and washing down the ramps, I’d leave the others for later.