Philip Kerr - Gridiron

It was late when she finished, leaving Mitch still working out an inspection schedule with Tony Levine, Helen Hussey and Aidan Kenny. She was glad to be getting out of the place. Although she was used to working late in empty office buildings, there was something about being in the Gridiron at night that she did not care for. She had always been sensitive to atmosphere, which she attributed to her Celtic ancestry and, unlike the rest of the project team, she was more than ready to believe in feng shui . Kay saw nothing wrong with trying to build something that was in harmony with the natural environment and in tapping the goodness of nature to benefit man. That the spirit of the land must be respected was, she thought, just another kind of environmentalism. Her privately held belief was that the place would feel better when the criticisms made by the feng shui consultant had been fully accommodated.

By the time she reached the cavernous garage her heart was beating quickly and she was beginning to feel a little nauseous. Public spaces, especially at night, made her nervous. Living in LA, she told herself, she was hardly unusual in this respect. But this was more than just urban paranoia. Kay suffered from a mild form of agoraphobia. Knowing she sometimes felt this way did not make it any easier to deal with. Nor did the fact that her car, a new Audi, refused to start.

Anger displaced nervousness for a few crucial minutes. Kay cursed and got out of the car to call the AAA from the security guard's office upstairs. She had the sensation that she was being watched, and performed a couple of walking pirouettes as she headed back across the garage, her heels echoing on the non-slip floor like the ticking of a metronome. Who else could be down here? Now that Sam Gleig was dead Abraham handled night-time security. Apart from her colleagues on the twenty-first level there was no one else in the building. Kay felt relieved when she re-entered the brightly lit elevator car and rode up to the atrium-

When the elevator doors opened the floor was in darkness, with only the light from the car behind her and emanating from some of the upper levels to let her see where she was going. The floor lights were often turned down at night. Since people who were working late usually exited the building from the garage, Abraham was saving energy. But his infrared sensors and cameras were supposed to note her arrival and switch the lights back on.

She was trying to work out why this had not happened when the elevator doors closed behind her and most of the available light disappeared.

Kay suppressed her panic. It was not as if she needed much light to know her way around the Gridiron. Her memory of the building's plan on every level was almost photographic. She had only to imagine herself seated in front of a work-station, using the CAD and steering her mouse to know exactly where she was going. Even before it had been built Kay had known her way around the Gridiron. When finally she went on-site and walked round the finished envelope she had experienced a sensation of odd familiarity.

But as she started to walk towards the security guard's office, she heard a voice she seemed to recognize.

'Can I help you, Miss?'

She felt her hair rising on her head.

'Is there anything the matter?'

Sam Gleig was standing in his familiar position at the front desk, his big hand resting on the gun he kept bolstered on his hip. And, althought it was dark, Kay realized that she could see him perfectly, in every detail, almost as if he had been standing in his own personal zone of artificial light.

'They say what happened to Mr Yojo yet?'

'What — what do you want, Sam?' Kay started to back away towards the elevator. 'Who are you?'

Sam laughed his big slow laugh. 'I don't mean to bother you at all,' he said. 'So who's working late tonight?'

'You're dead, Sam,' she whispered.

'Figured as much,' said Sam. 'Poor guy. Kind of a waste. How old was he?'

Kay felt the elevator behind her. She touched it with her hand. And yet the car did not arrive.

'Please,' she said. 'Please go away.'

Sam laughed again and inspected the toes of his well-positioned shoes.

'You gotta have somethin' to alleviate the boredom on a job like this. Know what I'm sayin'?'

'No, I don't.'

'Sure you do.'

'Are you — are you a ghost?'

'Didn't know there was such a thing. Goddamn. Goddamn, of course. Poor guy. Know something? This is about the safest job I ever had.'

Sam laughed again as Kay Killen started to scream.

In the boardroom on the twenty-first level, Mitch looked up from his computer and frowned.

'Did any of you hear something just now?' he asked.

His three colleagues shrugged or shook their heads.

Mitch stood up and opened the door.

This time they all heard it.

'Kay,' said Mitch.

The atrium was still echoing with her screams as they ran towards the elevators. On the way, Mitch leaned over the balcony and shouted down into the darkness. 'Kay, hold on, we're coming.'

'Jesus, what now?' said Kenny following Mitch into the elevator car. The doors slid shut and the car started its descent with Mitch banging on the walls impatiently.

When they reached the atrium Kay collapsed unconscious back into the elevator, her head banging on the floor of the car.

Mitch and Helen crouched anxiously beside her while Kenny and

Levine swiftly searched for whoever might have attacked her. By now all the lights were on and Kenny was soon back, shaking his head with bafflement.

'I didn't see anything,' he said. 'Not a damn thing. Is she OK?'

'She just fainted, that's all,' said Helen.

'It sure didn't sound like that was all,' observed Levine. 'Shit, I thought she was being raped or murdered for sure.'

Mitch lifted Kay against his chest while Helen fanned some air against her pale-looking face. Her eyelids flickered and she started to come round.

'What happened, honey?' said Kenny.

Levine came back, shrugging his shoulders. 'The front door's still locked,' he reported. 'And there's no sign of anyone on the piazza.'

'You're OK now,' Mitch said gently, as for a moment she became agitated again. 'You're safe now.' Then he helped her to lean forwards and place her head between her knees. 'Take your time. You just fainted, that's all.'

'Sam,' she said quietly. 'It was Sam.'

'Did she say Sam?' said Levine.

'Sam Gleig?' asked Kenny.

Kay lifted her head and opened her eyes. 'I saw him,' she said tremulously, and started to weep.

Mitch handed over his handkerchief. Kenny and Levine exchanged a look.

'You mean — like a ghost?' said Kenny. 'Here? In the Gridiron?'

Kay blew her nose and sighed profoundly.

'Can you stand up?' Mitch asked.

She nodded.

'It sounds crazy, I know,' she said, and let Mitch help her on to her feet. 'But I saw what I saw.'

She caught the look that passed between Kenny and Levine. 'Look, I didn't imagine it,' she said. 'He was there. He even spoke to me.'

Mitch handed Kay the purse she had dropped on the floor.

'I'm not the kind of person who would make up something like this. Or imagine it.'

Mitch shrugged. 'Nobody's suggesting you are, Kay.' He looked at her and added, 'Look, we believe you, honey. If you say you saw Sam, then you saw him.'

'You sure don't look like you're shitting us,' said Levine.

'He's right,' said Helen. 'You're as white as a sheet.'

'What did he say?' asked Kenny. 'What did it look like?'

Kay shook her head with irritation.

'Not it. I'm telling you, it didn't look like anything except Sam Gleig. Just listen to what I'm saying, will you? He looked the same as always. And he was laughing, too.' She opened her powder compact and frowned. 'Shit, I'm a mess. He said — he said he figured he was dead and that it was a waste. His exact words, I swear to God.'