Page 16 of Black Curtain

Dan glanced at his clipboard now.

He pointed the penlight at the next item on the list.

“And that speaker there. He’d asked to have that moved…?”

“It’s done, sir,” Bucky said confidently.

“And the second set of doors over the basement?”

“Also done,” Steve chimed in.

“With the interconnected keypads?”

Both men nodded, their expressions grim.

Dan nodded in reply, seeing that the speaker blended into the wall as perfectly as Bucky claimed. He doubtedanyonewould pick that up, even with infrared.

He aimed the light at another section of wall.

“…Okay, that looks good, too,” he said, remembering there was a modification the client wanted to the projectors on that side of the room.

He walked back upstairs, giving a last look around the kitchen, then the foyer. He walked back into the living room, still inspecting places where changes had been made.

He flipped pages, scanning through the list he’d gotten from the client a third time.

Three floors.

Four, really, with the basement.

Every damned room in the place had some weird thing in it now.

Every damned one had been worked and reworked until the client was satisfied.

Dan exhaled in relief.

“Okay. I think that’s everything. I’ve modified the original blueprints already, so we can give the client the finals when he shows up. I’ll give him a tour. Take him through everything you did, all the little changes and improvements you made… make sure he sees all of it.”

Dan thought of something else.

He glanced around the dim space.

Immediately, he frowned, noting half-full paint buckets, paint-covered trays, dirty brushes, stray tools, drop cloths, sawdust, screws, nails, a table saw covered in more sawdust and metal chips, toolboxes, pieces of wood.

“Jesus. You all need to clean this shit up right now. He’ll be here in…” Dan checked his watch. “…A little under two hours. He needs this place finished.Completelyfinished. He was super clear about that. He’ll be using the locationtonight.That means getting all our shit out of here. That means getting all ofusout of here. It means handing him the shiny new keys with the doors, counters, floors, and toilet seats clean enough to eat off of. We need to do all that. Now. Or we don’t get the bonus, boys…”

The circle of men grumbled.

The current shift lead, Arnie Delgado, folded his arms, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He glared around at the living room carpet and into the central hall, focusing on the mess that remained in the foyer.

“This place looks like a dump anyway, boss,” Randy pointed out.

“It’s like the world’s dirtiest haunted house,” Steve echoed. “There’s shit everywhere. You should see some of those upper rooms––”

“Whoever he brings to this rundown shack, they won’t notice the difference,” Bucky chimed in confidently. “We can clean up alittle,boss. But it would be ridiculous to clean the bathrooms or worry about the floor… given there isn’t a piece of furniture in the place worth sitting on.”

The current shift lead, Arnie Delgado, said nothing.

From the expression on that fleshy face, Dan Lamas suspected the forty-something electrician was keeping his thoughts to himself with an effort.

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