He led them up.
Nita looked back at the dark stairwell down and wondered if there really was a murder lake in the basement. Not that she planned to go look.
The stairs were cramped and rickety, and led them to the second floor of the pawnshop. It was a pretty barebones room, slightly warmer than the pawnshop but still a bit too heavily air conditioned to be comfortable. A mini fridge sat in one corner, a fold-out couch bed perched against a wall facing a closed door she assumed led to the bathroom, and everything else was just creaky bare wood floor and peeling lime green walls.
Nita looked around at the room. “You get people staying here often?”
Adair shook his head. “No. I used to store business files up here, the ones I used for taxes.”
“You mean the ones that made this not look like a money-laundering scheme,” Nita clarified.
Adair grinned and touched his nose. “Yes, that.”
“So why the change?”
“I had an unexpected guest for a while. I needed somewhere for her to live, so I set this up. She’s since moved out, and I haven’t changed it back yet.”
Moved out, or been eaten? Nita wondered, but she didn’t say anything.
“Now,” he said, turning to Nita. “My first name from your list.”
Nita didn’t pull the list out. She’d memorized it by now. “Agatha Washpenny.”
He clicked his tongue. “Knew that one already.”
Nita shrugged. “Not my problem. One name a day. That was the deal.”
“So it was.” Adair tossed a key onto the mini fridge. “This will get you into the shop when it’s closed. Which is most of the time.” He paused. “Also, don’t eat anything in that fridge.” He considered. “I mean, you could. But I reallllly don’t think you want to.”
Nita made a face. “Anything else we need to know?”
“I don’t live here, so you’ll have a ten-minute head start if you blow my shop up. Make the most of it.” He smiled, and this time when it flickered to that impossibly long, thousands-of-Alien-style-teeth image, she was reasonably sure he did it on purpose, because beside her, Kovit flinched.
Adair turned to leave but paused, “Oh, and you know the story of Bluebeard? Marries a lovely young lady, invites her into his home, says don’t open the basement door, she ignores him and finds a bunch of skeletons of his ex-wives?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I’m Bluebeard, and I’m telling you upfront the basement is full of rotting skeletons so please don’t go down there unless you want to join them. In which case, you’re more than welcome! If you’re going to kill yourself anyways, best to donate your body to my food stores.”
He laughed, and Nita wasn’t entirely sure how much of what he said was true, how much was him mocking her and Kovit.
“Understood?” Adair asked.
“Yes.” Nita pursed her lips. “What time should we expect your hacker tomorrow?”
“In the morning. I’ll call her tonight.” He nodded at them. “And if that’s all, I’ll be off.”
Without waiting for a response, he turned around and tromped away down the stairs, whistling softly.
Nita stared after him when he was gone. The stairs creaked as he descended, and after a few moments, the front door slammed. Nita walked to the small window that looked over the street, just catching a glimpse of Adair walking away, toward Lake Ontario.
Nita shook her head and sat down on the bed with a sigh. They had a place to stay. They were safe, for now. Adair probably wouldn’t betray them until he could see if his hacker could crack the phone.
So, they had until morning at least.
Nita flopped onto the bed, suddenly exhausted as the day caught up with her. Kovit lay down beside her. His hair tumbled into his eyes and Nita resisted the bizarre urge to brush it away.
She turned away and cleared her throat. “Can I borrow your phone? I want to check something.”
Kovit frowned. “You’re not downloading a browser for the dark web are you? I don’t know how secure the Wi-Fi is.”
Nita shook her head. Accessing the dark web required a specific browser so that your actions were untraceable. But if you set it up wrong, you could end up compromising your computer or phone. Nita wasn’t willing to risk it, since they only had the one phone left.
“No, there’s no point. I have no reason to think that man was lying. My phone’s GPS coordinates are probably for sale online.” Nita pulled up a regular browser. “But the bigger question is, who put them up there?”
Because Nita had a suspicion. And she wanted to confirm it.
She logged into the email she’d given INHUP, and there was a message from Quispe waiting for her.
Nita, I hope you and your aunt are having a good time. Shortly after you left, I learned Fabricio had regained consciousness. He’s going to be fine. And he was touched by your message, and sent one of his own, below.
Nita scrolled down to Fabricio’s message.
Nita, I was deeply impacted by your words about INHUP and safety. It’s so nice that you’re thinking of me.
I’ve been thinking of you too.
And while I can’t see you in person right now, I know you’ll make many new friends everywhere you go—friendships just like ours. I’d bet money you’ll meet lots of new ones in Toronto.
That. Little. Shit-weasel.
He’d just all but confessed to sending all those people after her. Friendships like ours? And that line about money at the end—he was profiting off it. He was the one selling her location online.
Nita nearly threw Kovit’s phone into the wall, but resisted at the last moment. They only had the one phone.
Fucking Fabricio. Not only was he alive and getting other people to try and kill Nita, he was getting them to pay him for doing it.
If only she’d added more poison. She remembered that moment when she’d heard he wasn’t dead, where part of her had sagged, relief slipping through her, a traitorous sliver in her soul. It was gone now. There was only regret that he wasn’t dead left.
“I’m going to fucking murder you, Fabricio,” Nita hissed.
And this time, she wouldn’t fail.
Kovit leaned over to read the message over her shoulder. “Translation?”
She translated it for him. He’d only been living in South America for a month when they met, and it hadn’t been enough time for him to pick up much Spanish.
He rested his chin on his hands. “That is a very passive-aggressive friendship message.”
Nita glared at him.
Kovit sat up. “So what’re you going to do?”
Nita closed the phone and tossed it back to him. “I’m not sure yet. But I’m going to send Fabricio a message he won’t soon forget.”
He raised his eyebrows, but didn’t question her further.
Nita looked down at the phone. She had the start of a plan. But it wasn’t ready yet.
“So, Adair’s quite a character,” Nita commented. “You have interesting friends.”
“I wouldn’t really call him a friend,” Kovit replied, rubbing the back of his neck.
Nita raised an eyebrow. “How do you know I wasn’t referring to Matt?”
Kovit winced.