The request took Ruth by surprise.
“Sure,” she replied cautiously. All the drive seemed to have fallen away from her friend in an instant.
Jennifer took a second before replying. “I need to talk to some people upstairs about my vault in, well, in an assertive fashion. It seems they unlocked it.” “What was in the vault?”
“I’m not sure where to start” Jennifer continued, evading the question, “do you think you could help me through it?”
“You want me to help you be angry at the people you rented a vault from?”
“Yep.”
For the second time that day Ruth wondered what she was doing here. Still, there was no denying it felt good to be needed, to be in control. Jennifer always was hopeless at being assertive.
“All right then.”
“Thankyou,” she smiled, just a little, “I’ll… I’ll be just behind.”
Feverish - that was the word - Jennifer was a feverish person. Even when sitting still she had a relentless energy about her; a need to do something, anything to put her restless mind at ease. There was enough insanity in the air these days as it was.
The walls were bathed in electric green, lights buzzing overhead as they made their way out of the storage vaults and up towards whatever fresh madness lay ahead. Ruth winced as they passed a blaring neon sign that read in garish bold: “GOODWIN LOTS”. The stairwell had a chill to it. That roaring argument flared up again, this time close enough to make out the odd word. Names, slurs, obscenities.
Emerging onto the second floor they found themselves in a long, narrow hallway. The noise radiated out in muffled bursts from one of the offices along the way marked private. Ruth made sure to steer clear. How many employees did a small-time storage company need? Ruth kept imagining she might find a gagged prisoner if she opened one of those many doors, or a stack of banned books, or drugs, or anything. Jennifer tailed behind almost shrinking away from the noise, all her previous confidence gone as soon as it had come. Still, she kept a skittish, watchful eye out. A part of Ruth wondered what the wizard would do if they came to any trouble in this isolated part of the city. Another part did not want to find out.
They came to a reception desk. Empty. The path branched out in two directions leading to yet more corridors and yet more dismal offices. Tapping her on the shoulder, Jennifer gestured to her ear. Listen.
The sound of footsteps dulled by the stained carpet. Next the creaking of wood - Ruth glanced around to see one of the office doors clicking shut. The corridor was empty. Somebody must have been inside.
Ruth steeled herself. She was not one for skulking, or at least she was not meant to be. This was only going to be solved one way. There was no sense in delaying. Without allowing herself to wait any further, Ruth gripped the door handle and thrust herself into the office.
It was only Jennifer who saw what was written on the front door while it was still swinging from her friend’s entrance. She paused for a second and decided it would be better to wait outside.
The room was plastic. Not just in its furnishings and fake foliage but down to its artificial soul. Sterilised furniture sat upon a beige carpet - the cramped space bearing down on Ruth as she squinted against the glaring green light that forced its way out of the overhead lamp. A smudged view of the city below could be made out from the back window and in somewhere more human it might have made the place desirable. The glass was partially obscured by a flimsy-looking desk treated to appear like solid oak, and as Ruth’s eyes adjusted she began to make out the figure sitting behind it. Her face settled into a practised frown.
“For goodness sake,” she said.
It was her brother. Malcolm Lapham; sitting pretty in a suit, his pale skin turning paler.
There was a moment of silence. Outside the distant squeal of a siren bellowed its way down the street. Well, Ruth concluded, this simply wouldn’t do.
“What are you doing here?” Her brother eventually forced out in equal parts annoyance and fear. His head darted from one side of the room to the other searching for invisible enemies or escapes.
Ruth muffled a cough. “I’m here to make a complaint on behalf of a friend,” she said dryly, “but if I knew this was your ‘big city job’ I would have phoned ahead.”
“It’s not that -”
“It is that bad, Malcolm. You may as well have a fridge full of severed toes.”
He knew better than to answer that one. Back in the corridor hidden safely behind a wall, Jennifer stifled a laugh.
“What was that?”
Ruth looked over her shoulder, feigning ignorance. “What was what?”
“That!” “Stop repeating yourself, it was probably nothing.”
Clenching his teeth, Malcolm struggled to compose himself. It had been some time since Ruth had gotten a proper look at him. He looked old (and still ten years Ruth’s junior, God) his dynamism having faded a little. She could remember when he had impressed the dinner table with his wild speculations and business ideas. Malcolm was an achiever in an age of dirty opportunities. Still, he was not stupid.
“Whoever you have waiting out in the corridor, please invite them in,” Malcolm said, his voice steady. For a moment Ruth considered resisting but there was little point. She ducked her head back out the door and gestured for Jennifer to join them. It took some cajoling but eventually all three of them were packed into the office.
“Thankyou,” Malcolm said, his eyes growing wary at the sight of the strange newcomer, “now what do you want?”
For a moment Jennifer froze. She looked to her companion who let out a sigh.
“Go on then,” Ruth encouraged, suddenly exasperated by her reluctance, “deal with the nice gentleman.”
Her head darted to Malcolm and then back to Ruth before she whispered:
“I don’t want to fight your brother. That sounds so wrong -”
“No, I didn’t mean deal with him like that,” Ruth snapped, “negotiate.”
At the sound of this Malcolm began digging his fingernails into the table - something his sister was very gratified to see.
“Who is this feyblood you’ve brought into my office?” he whispered to his sister just loud enough for the whole room to hear. Jennifer shifted uncomfortably before finally finding her voice.
“I have, well, I have a vault leased out from your company downstairs,” she explained, “a vault containing something of great value to me that was left unlocked.”
“Unlocked?” Malcolm furrowed his brow, “We unlock all the vaults that haven’t been attended for more than a year. If you have a problem with company policy take it up with -”
“Damn,” she cursed sharply, “has it been that long already?”
For a moment the only sound was that muffled argument still going on in some distant part of the complex. Malcolm was inspecting the elf with a long, hard stare that seemed to hold the world in place. Eventually he looked to Ruth with an almost worried expression.
“Tell me this isn’t who I think it is?”
“This -“ Jennifer did not look like talking so Ruth continued, “- this is an old friend of mine from college. I’m bringing here to the family gathering this evening.”
He seemed to consider this, turning the idea over with a hint of melodrama before finally shaking his head.
“You can forget that,” Malcolm stated.
Her brother did not sound scornful, simply nonchalant as if he were reciting a plainly-known fact. Jennifer stood for everything strange and spontaneous in Ruth’s small world, and that was something that the Lapham clan had never been comfortable with.
Eventually Malcolm cleared his throat breaking the uncomfortable silence. “My apologies,” he said, putting on an official tone, “but I cannot help you. As you may have heard some of those under my management are in need of a calming down and I cannot get away with hiding in here for much longer. If you’ll excuse me - “
Whatever she might have thought of him Ruth had to admit that her brother could be refreshingly honest when he wanted to be. Not wanting Malcolm to have the last word she called after him before he could beetle his way out of the office.
“What are they arguing about?”
Malcolm paused to consider this.
“Politics, apparently,” he mused, “but to be honest I think they’re just angry at the world. Take care, Ruth.”
“You too,” she returned, watching as he gave Jennifer one last distrustful glance before leaving them in peace.
Apologies for the delay, weekly updates will resume every sunday.