A Condemned Haven

Chapter 25

Ever since she had found the key, she had been googling the foam beaver that was attached. Considering it was so general, she couldn't find a damn thing. She had been just sitting in the hall and the clock was approaching four. The school had pretty much cleared out and everyone was about done with their club meetings so she couldn't continue lingering. As she was walking out, she saw James just about to get into his car. What could be the harm in asking him about the beaver?

"Hey James?!" His head popped up from his phone. When he saw it was Clarke, he was really confused. What did she want?

"Hey. What's up?"

"There's this tag on a key I found, and I was wondering if you recognize it from anywhere around here." James took a good long look at the key and a glint of recognition hit.

"Yeah this is from the storage unit on the other side of town. My family had to store our stuff there a couple of years ago when our house flooded. Where did you find it?" Clarke couldn't exactly say she found it in a locker that had the combination in her supposed murder victim's notebook. She wasn't sure how well that would go over.

"I found it in my room with some of Brandon's stuff." That was a much easier explanation.

"Oh, do you need someone to go with you to check it out?" Clarke was kind of confused on why he was offering to go, but Jack had to work, and she really didn't want to go alone. It wasn't like she could just wander into the storage unit.

"Yeah actually if you wouldn't mind."

They decided to take James car back to his house and then Clarke would drive to the storage place since they lived right across the street from each other. They had a bit of an awkward air around them considering they didn't really know each other. The last time they saw each other was on the anniversary of his sister's death. They pulled up to the storage place and it seemed very run down. Then again it was the only storage place in town and had been open for over fifty years. It was a family owned business that had been passed down from generation to generation. Clarke remembered that Ben Grove had taken it over two years ago when he graduated. Clarke had dated him briefly before the end of his senior year.

"Okay so I have no clue what unit this is for. Were gonna have to ask the front desk."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Everyone around here kind of hates you, no offense."

"None taken. You're probably right, I can't just waltz up there and ask which unit Brandon owned. I'm not really sure how well that would go. The cops would probably get called. We could try putting it into every unit until we found it."

"The thing about this place is that if its inside they are going to see you and you can't unlock the side door unless they give us the code, or someone opens it up from the inside. I could go in there and say I'm picking stuff up for his family. Then they would give me the unit number and I could get inside. People aren't going to guess that we're together so I should be able to do it."

"Okay."

James walked inside with the key in hand. He knew Ben Grove because he had been on the football team. That seemed to be how James knew everyone these days. All he had to do was go inside and ask for the unit number, it couldn't possibly be that hard. The place hadn't really changed since the last time he'd been there with his family. It still had that same old ugly orange couch in the waiting room with the antique looking table. James had always wondered why Ben hadn't gone to college instead of staying home to run this place.

"Ben. Hey man how's it going?" Ben still looked the same with his long shaggy brown hair and half chin strap. He was never much of a groomer.

"James Keystone what are you doing down here?" He gave James a wide smile. James had personally never had a problem with him. Ben was always a decently nice guy.