Page 23 of Mann Hunt
As he stared down the road, off in the distance, he saw his mother’s car. She pulled in to the school’s curved drive. He saw her through the windshield. She was wearing her large sunglasses. He froze. She stepped out of the car just long enough to yell, “Get in,” which he did. Strange—he’d never gotten into the car before in the dozens of times he’d had this dream.
There was no seat belt. Odd…he knew her car had seat belts. Odder still was that he noticed it. Mother and son stared at each other for a moment. She slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The car rocketed forward. His gaze was locked on his mother’s face, her lips curled into a snarl like a dog ready to attack.
Then her face relaxed, looking almost beatific—like she had found salvation. He turned forward to see the oncoming concrete wall. His mouth opened in a silent scream.
Declan woke in a cold sweat.
* * * *
Charlie’d had a fitful night’s sleep. Nightmares of finding dead bodies in car trunks were mixed with dreams of Declan cradling him in his arms as he carried him away from the crime scene. Charlie’s eyes drifted open, and his heart was pounding. He could still smell the scent of Declan’s body. He wanted to stay in bed forever, not wishing to abandon this feeling, but he had to get to work.
Charlie got up and quickly masturbated in the shower as he fantasised about Declan. He dried off, got dressed and called an Uber, arriving at the office at eight a.m. He thought he could get used to this life of being chauffeured to and from work but he knew that after this morning, it would be back to Calgary Transit or Francine.
He walked into Gwen’s shop. The doorbell chimed as he entered.
“Well, hello there, stranger,” Gwen called out.
“I’m sorry I didn’t poke my head back in yesterday, but things got a little hairy.”
“They have a habit of doing that around Declan. So…can I assume that you being back this morning is a good sign?”
Charlie smiled. “I got the job!”
“Well, good for you. Declan’ll be lucky to have you.”
“I understand that you put in a good word for me.”
“I’m surprised he told you. So…what’ll it be this morning?”
“Apain au chocolatand a latte, please.”
Gwen packaged up the pastry and coffee and handed it to Charlie. “I threw in a bag of cookies for later,” she said.
Latte and breakfast in hand, Charlie mounted the stairs to the office and opened the door.
First on his to-do list was to activate the security system, which he’d noticed that Declan had been paying for since it had been connected two years ago. Mrs B had probably been too frightened of accidentally setting it off to complete the installation process. After that, he had to familiarise himself with the bookkeeping.
There was a terrible crash from upstairs. The lights suspended from the ceiling shook.
Charlie raced to Declan’s office, then to the door at the bottom of the stairs to his apartment. He hesitated for a moment before opening it. He scanned the office for a weapon as another crash shook the room. Charlie made out an audible “Oof.” He looked around and saw a hammer on a side table, picked it up then opened the door quietly and crept up the stairs.
As Charlie reached the third floor, he was greeted by a grunt, followed by a third crash. He leapt into the room, hammer swinging wildly, letting out a terrifying scream.
“Jesus Christ,” Declan yelled, dropping his barbell on the floor. “What the hell are you doing?”
Charlie scanned the room, hammer still swinging, ready to defend himself against an attacker. Instead he found himself alone with his boss, who was wearing nothing but trainers, tight shorts and sweat.
Charlie mumbled a quick apology and ran out of the room.
* * * *
Thirty minutes later, Declan entered the main office, dressed in jeans and a tailored paisley shirt. Charlie was typing away at the computer, his face still flushed. His lips were pursed so tightly he appeared to have none. He was taking his anger out on the keys. Declan watched, then broke out laughing.
“Oh…my…God, you should have seen your face. You were absolutely wild-eyed!”
“Of course I was. I thought someone was trying to kill you.”
“And if there’d been someone, you would have scared the shit out of them. You terrifiedme!” Declan paused. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed. Here—let me get you a peace offering. Latte, right?”
