Look at Me; A Rose Hood novella

Chapter 3

19 years later

"How's your new apartment?"

34-year-old Amy Carr winced. "Not done unpacking yet but I hope to be moved in soon."

She took her eyes off the screen in front of her where she had been dutifully entering numbers for the payroll of the company she worked for. Her boss was the kind of man who was a good listener but also tended to be a bit nosy.

"Is it close?" He asked with interest.

"Practically down the street." She replied smiling. " It's a small building but the apartments are all big with their own kitchens and bathrooms. I actually can't wait to get moved in. It's called Rose Hood. Isn't that pretty?"

What she didn't add was the history of Rose Hood building. It had in turn been a notorious whore house, a Speakeasy with ties to some of the meanest gangs in New York, and even at one time became a kind of morgue for people who had died from Spanish flu.

The building was pretty though. The history made it more interesting.

"Well I hope it all works out for you Mrs. Carr." He handed her papers he had been holding and moved away from her cubicle.

Amy sat back briefly. She was nothing more than an accountant and her ridiculous dreams of being a model of any kind had been scrubbed away by a lot of therapy, a good amount of medicine, and one moment of weakness that had her in jail where she had been scared out of her mind. Luckily with that minor record the firm still hired her.

She knew she had been lucky this time.

Rose Hood was owned by two brothers who were listed as the Daniels Brothers on a plaque outside the building's zip code. She had dealt with the youngest who had gone over everything, checked her info, and assured her the criminal record would not stop her from getting an apartment with them if he could pass inspection with his brother.

Jason had been his name. He had been skinny with hair that was too long and flopped in his eyes but a boyish open face.

She had sweated the process because he had to get his brother's consent. She hadn't met his brother yet, but she had heard his deep voice raised in anger and glimpsed him stalking around the building with a bag of tools. Apparently he was in charge of maintenance.

Amy had asked Jason to please fix her shelves in the pantry and she hoped if the owner did it he wouldn't be sour over the prospect she couldn't even hold a hammer and the mess she had made trying to fix them on her own. She had gone through a whole box of nails and still hadn't gotten the damn shelves up straight.

She took a few deep breaths and then dug briefly into her purse pulling out her bottle of Klonopin.

Taking one she took one last breath and then leaned down over the typewriter again.

***

She went in through the clear stained glass doors that featured roses. Once inside another door greeted her and she had been pleased to see you had to be beeped through by a gentleman in a security outfit.

"Hi, there's a delivery..."

"Already upstairs. Might see the owner up there if you might mention to him he got a plumber waiting to see him." The guard delivered all that in a flat tone and went back to watching a small tv. She was glad he wasn't the overnight guard too.

The elevator was a charming old one with a sliding door and to her delight when she stepped in she had found out it had an old-fashioned lever instead of buttons.