His face was inches from mine, and I was breathing hard, shocked at how quickly he had moved. I couldn’t believe he was touching me as if it weren’t completely inappropriate. He was my boss and also my stepbrother. He shouldn’t be pushing me against the car.
“Don’t play games,” he said softly. “This is serious shit.”
“I just want to know what’s going on,” I replied.
“We’re staking out the landlord,” he said, moving away from me. I took a deep breath, steadying myself.
“Okay. Why?”
“I was approached by one of the tenements, Mrs. Suarez. She says he hasn’t been doing his jobs, been leaving things broken, trash out, shit like that.”
“What are we going to do about that?”
He hefted the camera. “Document it and then shake him down.”
I stared at him for a second. “Shake him down?”
“Yeah. I’ll show him the pictures, threaten legal action unless he starts being less of a fucking twat.”
“That’s crazy.”
He shrugged. “Easier than actually hiring a lawyer. They’re fucking expensive.” He began walking toward the building. “And I’m fucking cheap,” he said softly.
I hurried to keep up as we walked the perimeter of the building. Nothing seemed out of place, no garbage left out, no broken windows, nothing. Finally, we stopped at the front of the building again and stood out near the front door.
“What now?” I asked.
“Just wait.”
I stood there trying not to be annoyed as we watched people walk by on the sidewalk. Eventually, someone went to go into the building, and Easton quickly moved to follow. He gave the guy a disarming smile, but the man barely noticed as he opened the doors and let us through.
He paused near the stairwell. “Easy,” he said.
“I can’t believe that guy just let us in.”
“You’d be surprised how much you can get away with if you’re confident enough.”
“If you’re working for someone that lives here, why not just get them to let you in?”
He grinned hugely. “Because that’s not fun.” He turned and walked up the staircase, causing me to chase after him yet again.
For the next half hour, we wandered around the building. Easton didn’t say much, just kept taking pictures of various things. He photographed some stains in the halls, water-damaged ceilings, broken washers and dryers, dirty trash chutes, and more. That was just the stuff in the main areas, too. Who knew what was happening inside each apartment.
Finally, we made it to the top floor. He jostled the door that opened out onto the roof, but it wouldn’t open.
“Hold this,” he said, handing me the camera.
I watched as he took out a small black case and slipped out two shiny silver tools. He inserted them into the lock and began to careful jiggle the one tool while slowly turning with the other.
“Are you picking that lock?” I asked, incredulous. “Isn’t this illegal?”
“Shah,” he said.
Finally, the door clicked and swung open. He didn’t even pause. He just slipped the tools back into his pocket and walked out onto the roof.
“Did they teach you that in the FBI?” I asked.
“Yeah, actually,” he said, distracted.
The roof looked pretty normal. There were industrial-sized heaters and coolers up there, but nothing unusual. He walked around to the right and then stopped in his tracks.
“Pay dirt,” he said.
Up ahead was a large pile of black trash bags. I took a step closer, but the smell was almost overwhelming.
“What the hell?” I said.
“Take pictures.”
I brought the camera up to my eye and began to snap away.
“Get closer,” he said.
“No way,” I said, shaking my head. “It stinks.”
He sighed and grabbed the camera and walked right up to the pile. He took pictures the whole time, and eventually he even ripped one open, exposing disgusting, putrid garbage.
“Why is this up here?” I asked.
“Landlord is probably too cheap to pay for pickup.”
“Doesn’t the county just do that?”
“Not for industrial-sized loads like this, they don’t. He’s supposed to take care of it himself.”
“He just leaves it up here?”
“Probably has guys come and grab it once a month to save money.”
Just as I went to reply, I caught sight of the biggest rat I had ever seen in my life nuzzling its way through the trash pile. I kept myself from screaming by turning and walking away as fast as I could.
I heard the sound of his laughter and of his camera as I waited for him in the stairwell.