Robert Ellis - The Dead Room

“A memo sent to every insurance rep in the company detailing how to string out claims and avoid sizable payouts. When your client was hit by that truck, they knew he was injured all along. The memo is a how-to on how not to write checks and send them out.”

“Give me an example.”

He heard paper rustling, then Dawn Bingle’s voice. “I’ll give you two,” she said. “Paragraph three, using distraction to push a claim beyond the statute of limitations in order to win a zero payout. Paragraph four, recommending a physician from the following list because of their strong support and special relationship with the company.”

Teddy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The story he’d pieced together with letters from the insurance company amounted to fraud but was still open to interpretation. It sounded like Dawn Bingle, an obvious disgruntled employee, was ready to hand him the goods in black and white. The case would mushroom beyond a single client. The firm could hunker down and go for the kill.

“How much do you want?” he asked.

“You mean money?”

“That’s right. How much?”

She paused. The question had thrown her off, and Teddy took this as a good sign.

“I don’t want any money,” she said after a moment. “It’s my company that’s corrupt, not me.”

“Then we need to meet,” he said.

“I work out of our Center City office, but I can’t take the chance of being seen with you. I don’t want to lose my job.”

“You name the place,” he said. “I’ve got all afternoon.”

“My husband’s the treasurer at one of the boat clubs. Maybe we could meet there.”

“Which one?”

“The Nautilus,” she said. “See you in half an hour.”

When he asked for her cell phone number, she gave it to him and hung up.

Teddy marveled at the lack of traffic as he walked down the bike path along Kelly Drive. The sounds of the road were as faint as a country lane, the din of the city, behind him. He could see the Schuylkill River through the trees to his left. Even though it looked frozen solid, he could hear water spilling over the Fairmount Dam below the hill.

It was almost as if he’d left his worries behind and stepped into an oasis, a place where he could see his former life and the dreams he had for his future, but not touch them. After all, the insurance case was no longer his. Whatever he received from Dawn Bingle would have to be handed over to Brooke Jones the moment he returned to the office.

Maybe the act of giving Jones such an amazing gift would do something to change her attitude. As he thought it over, he had his doubts and laughed. You could feed a mean dog tenderloin steak, but it probably wouldn’t make the animal any more friendly.

He didn’t care.

As the bike path straightened out, his view cleared and he caught his first glimpse of the nineteenth century buildings that had become known as Boathouse Row. Constructed of stone and cedar siding, they looked more like large homes from the period than anything else. Steam was venting from the snow on the ground. All ten buildings were set directly on the river and shrouded in a fine mist that lingered in the eaves along their roof lines. When the afternoon sun popped out from behind a cloud, filling the moist air with rays of warm light, Teddy couldn’t help but think that the boat clubs never seemed more peaceful or majestic.

He spotted the Nautilus ahead and glanced between the buildings as he continued down the path. It looked as if the river had risen over the brim of the retaining wall before last week’s flash freeze. Beneath the ice, the sculling course lay hidden until spring.

He stopped in front of the club and checked his watch. He was ten minutes early. Reaching into his pocket for his cigarettes, he lit one and watched a snow plow work its way up the street. Piles of discarded snow four feet high filled in the parking spaces off to the side. If Dawn Bingle was looking for a place to park, she’d have as much luck as he had, and wouldn’t find one until she reached the art museum.

He gazed up the path and noticed a woman walking toward him. She was wrapped up in a long wool coat and scarf with a Navy blue beret pulled over her red hair. From what Teddy could see of her face, she seemed about the right age. But as she reached the Nautilus, she passed him by without a word or even a look and kept walking.

Teddy followed the woman’s course until he lost sight of her in the trees around the bend. He was beginning to feel cold and thought he might wait for Dawn Bingle inside. Although the boating season usually ended with the Frostbite Regatta in mid-November, he knew the clubs were open to some degree all winter long. There were rowing machines upstairs, weight lifting rooms and meeting rooms, and probably a kitchen where he could get a cup of hot coffee.

He flicked his cigarette into the snow and started down the walkway, unlatching the iron gate and crossing a small terrace to the front door. A note was taped to the inside of the glass. It had been left for a plumbing company, indicating that a keycard would be waiting in the usual spot if they needed to gain access to the building after hours. Teddy guessed that the call to a plumber had everything to do with the river cresting the retaining wall. Floods were a cyclical event for all ten boat clubs along the row.

He glanced at the keycard access box mounted on the wall, then reached for the door and pushed it open. Kicking the snow off his shoes, he wiped them on the mat and stepped into the entryway.

The air inside the club was moist, the dank scent of the river trapped within its walls, overwhelming. As he unbuttoned his coat, he glanced at the pictures on display. The Nautilus Rowing Club was founded in 1854, and many of the photographs of the club and various regattas dated back to the Civil War. On the table beside a lamp he saw a blank envelope that had been crumpled up along with a keycard. When he noticed the faint sound of a pump working in the background, he guessed the plumber had already arrived.

He climbed a short set of steps, following the sound of the pump around the corner until he found himself standing in the entrance to the base of the building. The lights were out, and he wondered if anyone was here at all. As his eyes adjusted to the dim window light, he could see the racing shells set in racks and slung from the ceiling. He called out, but no one answered.

He entered the room and looked past the boats to the four bay doors cut into the far wall. The set of doors closest to him were pushed into the walls a quarter of the way and open to the river. It looked as if the water had advanced halfway into the room. Several hoses were tossed out onto the ice beyond, pumping water from the building as fast as it came in. The pool of water on top of the ice appeared substantial, and Teddy figured that the plumber must have rigged the pumps sometime during the night.

He checked his watch again. Dawn Bingle was running late. Moving to the front window, he peered through the glass and looked outside. No one was on the bike path, and the traffic on Kelly Drive remained unusually light.

He pulled his cell phone out, flipping it open and entering the woman’s number. The phone rang eight times without an answer. As he slipped the phone back into his pocket, he decided he’d put off worrying about her for fifteen minutes. The roads were bad, the temperature, dropping. She could easily be caught in traffic.

He heard a sudden crack, and turned around. Crossing the room, he eyed the boats until he reached the edge of the river rising up the floor.

It wasn’t the water damaging the building. It was the ice, pushing its way into the bottom panels of the bay doors. He could hear the wood blistering and breaking up. It looked as if a tree caught in the ice jam had punched through the set of doors at the far end. Water was gushing through the hole and showering over the trunk into the room.