BOILER

Chapter 19

He'd learned the bodies were being kept at a morgue called the Comfort. The entrance was a steel door below street level. The steps leading down to it were deadly themselves as they were in a state of permanent wetness and carpeted with moss. There was a keypad and call button on the wall next to the door. Toland poked the button. A trey came out of the wall and a shrill voice asked him to post his ID and look up at a camera he was just now noticing. He did as asked. The voice came back.

'What's your business?'

Toland took a second to consider how much he really wanted to do this.

'State your business, detective.'

'You had some men brought in this morning. A detective, a patrolman, and two citizens.'

'And your business.'

'I wanna take a look at them.'

'Papers.'

Toland brought out a paper that had the agency heading stamped in ink, a summarized detail of the commission, and the names of those lost in the night. He put it up to the camera and asked if he should post it. The door unlocked. He leant into it and slowly got it open. A young man with black-rimmed glasses and a ponytail stood in front of a white desk. The man was smiling. There was a tv with the volume way down in one corner. It was so quiet in there. The smile went away quickly. The smell of bleach was building since the door had shut. There was another door at the back of the room with a round window in it.

'Charlie Wise, Marcus Hughes —'

'Through the doors. Room three is the second door on the left. Someone will be with you shortly.'

Toland took a step. The man went behind his desk and turned up the volume on the tv.

'You'll have your ID back when you leave,' the man said. He was more interested in the tv now. 'I'll record your attendance.'

Toland went through the doors without saying anymore. He walked a small distance down the hall to room three. He tried the handle out of habit but there was no give to it at all. He stood away from the door and noticed the man at the front desk was watching him through the glass. He looked back at the man until a woman in paper slippers came down the hall. She glanced at him.

'You are here for the Mill Street bodies?' she asked. She was pale to the point of anaemia in the hallway lights. She carried files. Her smile lasted for the blink of an eye, but her lips were red and pleasant over her round chin. She breezed by and had the door open without saying anything else.

'Charlie —'

'Wise, James Ford, Marcus Hughes, and Nathan Mills. Will you want to view all of them?'

'Yeah.'

'Their possessions are stored separately. Will you request them?' she asked, like she was in a rush to get the words out before she ate them.

'No, I just want to —'

'Call if you change your mind,' she said. Her movements were as to the point as anything that came out of her mouth. There was a wall of square and silver doors, and she went directly to one without ever seeming to look up. She put some force into getting the handle to release and that slowed her down. The door opened. She reached into the cold and pulled at a table that slid out smoothly and with no more persuasion. She left the table travel on its own and did it all again at another door down the wall. And another. And another.

The room could've been bare for all he was interested in it. He watched the green lumps slide out and felt the cold in the room. He pulled the sheet back on the first body. He checked the body tag. Ford, James.