Page 73 of Stop and Seek
Except, when his eyes focused?
Yeah—no.
This wasn’t right, either.
What happened to my apartment?
Nothing on the floor. The carpet was light brown again, not the dirty, dingy color it had been this morning. If he didn’t look at the blood stain by the bathroom—it was brand new.
Well, his keys worked. This wasn’t someone else’s place he’d accidentally broken into.
But this place? It wasn’thisapartment.
His kitchen had been a disaster zone when he left, stacks of dishes threatening to fall. That was gone. The whole place smelled like lemon wood polish and disinfectant.
What—
Who—
Who the hell cleaned it?
No one else had a damn key except—
Rachel.
But she’d been at work.
Even if he wanted to blame her, she wouldn’t have been so thorough. The blanket on the couch looked like it had been ironed, and who did that?
He debated calling 911, but what would he even say?
Yes, operator, someone broke into my apartment and deep cleaned it without my consent. I’m traumatized and require help.
It had to be Rachel.
Theo dug out his phone and tapped on her contact. The ringing dragged on for an eternity before she answered.
“Two minutes, Teddy.”
“Were you in my apartment?”
Rachel clicked her tongue, and he could almost see her rolling her eyes. “Only when I came to check on you. Did you find a mouse friend again?”
“I’m serious,” he cradled the phone against his shoulder, running his fingers along the dustless, sparkling counters. “It wasn’t like, a prank or something? Did I win the lottery of a selfless act of kindness, or whatever?”
“What’sa prank? What the hell are you talking about?”
“The… all of it, I guess.”
There was a pause, and then, “Are you high?”
“No! Rachel, please. Have you been in here?”
Theo could hear the mechanical,I didn't catch that,of the pager on her shoulder. Then her muffled voice talking to someone else, offering a string of apologies.
“I have to go,” Rachel whispered. “I’ll text you later. Just—try to sleep off whatever you took.”
The line went dead, and he spent a long time staring at it.
