Page 41 of The Perfect Crime

"I'm at the door that he entered," Hannah said."It's reinforced-metal.There's a high-tech camera above the door, and another one across the alley pointed at the door.They're serious about their business.The address number is 224 ½, but I have no idea what street this is.There's no signage.I'm going to buzz the com and see if they let me in."

“Don’t do that yet,” Kat hissed over the phone, “let me see if I can ID the place based on the address number.”

“I don’t think I have time for that,” Kat muttered quietly.“I’m starting to think the purple-haired chick vaping one door down might be a lookout for this place.If I just stand here, it’s going to look really suspicious.I have to either buzz or leave.”

“Then leave,” Kat ordered.“You can always come back after I figure out what’s going on in there.”

“Come on, Kat,” Hannah whispered.“You know a standard Google search isn’t going to reveal anything about this place, and we don’t have time for a deeper dive.Besides, they’re going to be on high alert if I leave and come back.They might even think I’m a cop.I don’t really have a choice at this point.”

"Of course, you have a choice," Kat insisted.

“I’m going in,” Hannah said, ignoring her as she pushed the buzzer.

There was a long pause before an unfriendly male voice with a hard-to-identify accent spoke.“Yeah?”

“I’m interested in making a purchase,” she said, hoping she was being vague enough to keep the conversation going.

“Do you have an appointment?”the man asked gruffly.

At least now she knew that this was the kind of place thathadappointments.But for what?

“No,” she admitted.“I’m a walk-in.”

There was no response.She wondered if the guy was just going to ignore her.But after a solid ten seconds, he spoke again.

“Step back from the door,” he instructed.“Put your hands in the air.Let Asia know if you have any weapons.”

The vaping woman stood up and walked over.As Hannah took out her earphones and slid them into her pocket, she took note of the woman’s tattoos, which covered both thighs and the exposed part of her neck.

"Hi, Asia," she said with a tight smile.

Asia didn’t return it as she swiftly but thoroughly patted her down.When she was done, she looked up at the camera above the door and silently nodded.It buzzed.Hannah grabbed the handle and yanked the heavy door open.

She stepped inside as the door slammed behind her and found that she was in complete darkness.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

After the echo of the clanging metal door dissipated, she stood quiet and unmoving.After a few seconds, she sensed that she wasn’t alone.She could hear what she thought was breathing.

“You are in a secured vestibule,” the same male voice said over a speaker.“It serves as a metal and thermal detector, which we use as secondary security protocols.Remain still.The testing will be complete momentarily.”

Hannah remained frozen in place.After fifteen seconds, a dim overhead light turned on and she blinked, trying to adjust.She squinted as she looked around.The man hadn’t been kidding.She was essentially in what amounted to a completely enclosed, mirrored phone booth.There was a second buzz and a door in front of her unlocked and popped open slightly.

“You can enter now,” the voice said.

She stepped through the door into a narrow hallway.There was a small glassed-in window to her right, like a ticket booth at an old-style movie theater.A man with long black hair and a bird’s nest of a beard slid a piece of paper under the glass and said, “you’re number four.Go to the end of the hall, take a seat, and wait for your number to be called.”

Hannah grabbed the piece of paper, which as promised said simply “4.”As she walked down the hallway, she considered sliding her earphones back into her ears but decided not to chance it.Kat would have to make do with silence for a while.

She reached the end of the hall and turned the corner, where she found three metal folding chairs lined up against a wall.Rex Stiller was sitting in one of them, looking nervous.He glanced over at Hannah for a second before returning his attention to the man standing in front of the door at the far end of the room, which was otherwise completely empty.

She took some brief solace in the knowledge that their surveillance of him must have been pretty good.If he'd noticed her previously, he would have probably had a stronger reaction when she walked in.But her relief was quickly replaced by anxiety caused by the man that Stiller was staring at.

The guy was easily six foot five and 250 pounds.His head was shaved, and his scalp had multiple scars, as did his cleanly shaven face.He was wearing all black—black sport coat, black turtleneck, black slacks, and black boots that were meant to look like dress shoes but could clearly do much more damage.

Hannah also noticed a slight bulge under the man’s sport coat at the right hip.Wherever she was right now, it required metal and thermal detectors, as well as a giant armed security guard who looked like he’d been in a war zone, a cage match, or both.What had she gotten herself into?

She wasn’t going to ask, and the security guard obviously wasn’t in a sharing mood.As a result, the three of them, including Stiller, remained quiet.As the silence stretched into minutes, Hannah’s fingertips and toes began to tingle slightly.It occurred to her that her body’s reaction to the situation was as close to nervous as she was capable of getting.It was refreshing and unsettling at the same time.

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