Exsanguination and Other Love Stories

VII. Sixteen Keycards

I would have run after it and given that d**ned card to him – what use to me was a card I was forbidden to use? – but I couldn't get it off the key ring. By the time I'd figured this out, Mr. Blue was climbing into a limo.

I certainly wasn't going to run into the street after him with the entire ring. I didn't want to look silly.

Anyway, the knowledge that I could now grab my stuff and leave at any time did a lot to dispel my anxiety. I slid the key-card Omri had given me that morning onto the ring on top of all the other cards: I noticed as I did so that the ring was very flexible, as if they had all been pulled on and off many times before.

I set off down the hall, shuffling through the keycards one by one. They were all printed with numbers and a tiny map of the complex on the back, with the rooms they opened highlighted in blue. The orange dog padded after me as I went, mouth open as if it were laughing.

After some time, it ran off down a hall with a bark, glancing back impatiently, as though waiting for me to follow. It stopped before a nameless door and barked again, an irritatingly piercing sound.

"Fine," I said. Maybe that was the kitchen or something. But when I slid the card and entered, the dog pushing in ahead of me, I almost stepped right back out.

At first glance, the room looked very much as though it were still occupied. There was a curling iron still plugged in on the vanity, and a boar bristle brush tangled with long strands of silvery-yellow hair on an end table.

The dog hopped up on the unmade bed, turned around three times, and collapsed into the sheets with a sigh. From there, it watched me go around the room with very intent eyes.

A toothbrush and several vials of upscale perfume had been abandoned in the bathroom. To be honest, I was really starting to get creeped out by that point, despite my determination to continue believing everything at Azure Tech was a-ok and normal.

"Look," I said to the dog, "I'm going to go find a kitchen. You can – stay right here. "

And I left. To my relief, it didn't follow me.

Room 52 was full of clothes in all sizes – men's and women's – and one color – navy. I picked out a suit set and the highest set of heels I could walk in, changed, and tottered onwards.

The staff kitchen, when I finally discovered it, was well stocked. I found sandwiches in the fridge. They were very nice sandwiches, and by that time I was very hungry. I sat under the noon sunlight in a cafeteria which had clearly been built for a staff of at least twenty-five, tried not to spill mustard on my new clothes, and thought.

At a little past one, Rude Omri entered, and discovered I had taken the last of the steak sandwiches. I could have sworn I heard him growl as he opened the refrigerator and saw it was gone.

I decided to focus very hard on dissecting my second sandwich, in hopes that he would leave before I had finished. He'd made it quite clear earlier what he thought of me, and my stomach was already sort of sinking and twisting in a way I didn't like, just at the sight of him. It reminded me of my weakness that morning, the shock of someone saying to you what you already think of yourself.

Little matter. I was going to leave this evening. Mr. Blue couldn't stop me from taking off in a public, could he? Heck, I could leave right now if I liked. I would just go live... with Florence. If she hadn't already given Florian an open invitation into her living room for drinks. Which, knowing her... she probably had.

Nevermind.

"What keys did he give you?" Omri asked me urgently.

"What?"