“Normally I would totally take him,” he said, leaning down to stroke Brad’s fluff. “But I actually have to get ready for work—I won’t be back until late. And I don’t want to leave him in a strange apartment alone. But I’ve left a message with my uncle that there’s a lockout happening here, and I’ll leave him a note too.…” He held out the leash to us, and Stevie and I exchanged a look.

I knew she wasn’t going to reach for it, so I finally did, wondering as I did so what we were supposed to do now. How were we going to see the play—or then, after, go to a restaurant—if we had a dog with us?

“Okay,” I finally said, because what else was I supposed to say? “I guess we’ll just look after him until we can get him back in the apartment.” I really wasn’t sure what other choice we had—it wasn’t like we could just tie the dog to the doorknob of 5B and leave him there.

“Great. I’ll head out with you. Just give me a sec,” Cary said, and he disappeared back into the basement unit.

“Head out?” Stevie echoed, frowning. “Does he think we’re going to leave?”

“Maybe he doesn’t want us to hang around the lobby.”

“Should we risk leaving? What if his uncle comes back in the next few minutes?”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“Also a good point.”

We stood there in silence for a minute, during which I started to feel distinctly panicky as all our options to solve this problem seemed to be disappearing. “Can you try Mallory again?”

“Yeah,” Stevie said, putting the phone on speaker. It went right to voice mail, without even ringing—which seemed to me to mean that Mallory’s phone had either died or was out of range, neither of which were helpful for us right now.

“Who else can we call?” I asked, closing my eyes and trying to think. “Ooh, maybe a locksmith?”

“I’m pretty sure you have to have ID proving you live in the place to get someone to unlock it. Otherwise, wouldn’t burglars just do that?”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” I racked my brain, trying to think about who else could get us back in. “Should we try and find Mallory’s roommate? What was her name? We know she works for the mayor, right?”

“Yeah, Flora,” Stevie said slowly. After a second, she shook her head. “What, we’re supposed to go to City Hall, somehow they’ll let us in, and she’s going to give her keys to two girls she’s never seen before?”

“Well, do you have an idea?” I snapped at her. I regretted it immediately. “I’m sorry. I’m being an asshole.”