Eats to Die For! by Michael Mallory Read Free Book Online Page B

apartment was the opposite of what I had found in Louie’s: it was immaculate. It was also largely empty, with just one thrift-store sofa, a battered table and mismatching chair by way of furniture, but with an enormous plasma television, a gaming console, and a shelf packed with video games shoved against one wall.
    â€œDo you game?” he asked.
    â€œYou mean play video games? No, I’m afraid not.”
    â€œIt’s my job. I review new ones.” He sounded very proud.
    â€œIs this the balcony?” I asked, rather redundantly, because if it wasn’t, the wall-sized sliding door led out to a two-storey drop to the ground.
    Stepping out, I saw what he was talking about: there was only about a three foot gap between the edge of his narrow stucco balcony and the edge of Louie’s, which had a few potted plants scattered around on it.
    It looked easy…at least until I climbed up on the ledge. Now it looked terrifying. Those three feet had suddenly turned into a mile. But I knew this was the only way to reenter Louie’s apartment and continue snooping.
    â€œWish me luck,” I called back. Deciding I couldn’t actually step over, I tried lunging head first, figuring I could catch the ledge and balance myself on it with my hands, while I vaulted my legs over.
    Boy, was I wrong.
    CHAPTER FIVE
    The good news was that I did not fall two storeys in my attempt to jump from balcony to balcony. The bad news is that I took a direct belly-splat onto the rough stucco surface of its side wall. I managed to pull myself over until I was safely on the balcony of Louie’s apartment, and tried to retain my wind, which had been knocked out of me.
    Popping up again, I faced the nerdy kid next door.
    â€œWow, that looked like it really hurt,” Avery Klemmer said.
    â€œYeah, it hurt,” I assured him through gritted teeth, “but it’s all part of the P.I. game.”
    â€œTell you what,” Avery called back, “why don’t you open the front door and I’ll in that way.”
    I was about to refuse, but then realized that if not for him I wouldn’t have gotten this far, so I felt that I owed him something.
    â€œAll right.” Stepping inside the darkened apartment, careful not to disturb the ransacked clutter, I first lifted my shirt to make sure I was not bleeding. My stomach was a little red, but miraculously there were no abrasions.
    When I opened the front door, Avery was already standing there.
    â€œThis is so cool,” he said, grinning like a jack-o-lantern.
    â€œCome on in, but don’t touch anything,” I replied. “Technically, we’re both trespassing.”
    â€œThat’s what’s so cool. It’s like I’ve made it to the hidden level.”
    No one said anything in my head, but I did hear the Twilight Zone theme music.
    I glanced both ways down the hall to make sure we were not being seen by the sodden manager or anyone else, and once satisfied on that score, I closed the door and turned the lock again, then switched on the lights.
    â€œWow, what happened here?” Avery asked.
    â€œSomeone’s gone through the place, in search of something.”
    â€œIn search of what?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œMaybe that stuff you found earlier.”
    â€œYeah, maybe.”
    I’d actually forgotten about the folder I’d taken, which was probably still in Avery’s place. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the object of the search, or else it wouldn’t have been left behind, but I didn’t bother explaining that to him.
    Instead I started looking around myself. There were not a lot of things hanging on the walls of Louie Sandoval’s apartment, just a large clock, a framed poster from a Leonard Cohen concert, an unseasonal wreath, and a photo of a young man, stripped to the waist, and in a lot better shape than I ever was. A boyfriend? It had to be.
    I looked behind each hanging