Page 90 of Veiled in Brick

“Yeah, yeah—what’s up?”

“I have been told that there may be a camera in the hallway.”

“A camera?” he repeated back to me. “Like…a security camera? Luke told me the complex didn’t have any.”

“Luke told you that?”

“I asked when he told me about everything—”

“Oh,” I paused, “yeah, no, um—not put up by the complex. I don’t think so, at least.”

“And, what, you think the guy put it up there?” James inquired with an edge to his voice.

“Dunno. Maybe—that’s all I got right now, though.” I recalled Carter’s description of it and stated, “It’s on the ceiling by the stairwell on Liam’s side of the hall—can you look for it and—”

“I’m like five steps ahead of you. Get camera, find footage, got it,” James replied quickly. I could hear his rapid footsteps and the unmistakable sound of my front door opening, and he asked, “Any idea what it looks like?”

“Small—maybe the size of a quarter?”

There were a few beats of silence, a handful of times where James was muttering so quietly to himself that it came across as incoherent, and then, finally, he whispered:

“Motherfucker.”

His curse sent my heart racing. “Did you find it?”

“Yup.” James grunted as if he were stretching his limbs and then said, “Can’t reach it, though. You got a step stool inside?” Before I could respond, he quipped, “Who am I kidding, of course you would own a step stool.”

“Is now the time for short jokes, Jay?” I snapped.

Liam rolled his eyes heavily and glanced to me as he murmured, “We all like joking about how short you are, but did he find it?”

I nodded, James’ soft laughter came through the speaker, and I told him, “Kitchen pantry, against the wall.”

“Okay, okay,” James spoke quietly. “There it is.”

I waited patiently as he assumedly made his way back into the hall. The blinker clicked away as Liam stopped at a stop sign, waiting for oncoming traffic to abate so he could turn as he tapped his fingers against the wheel to a beat that had no rhythm.

“One sec, let me set you down,” James said, and a dull thud sounded through the phone. Silence greeted me, and Liam murmured:

“Any time now, Jay.”

Shortly after Liam’s anxious muttering, we were turning to the left and on the road once again, and the sound of a door shutting quietly just barely tickled my eardrum.

I finally heard James once more. “That is a very tiny camera.”

My chest lurched. “You got it?”

“That I did.” His voice had a studious tone to it, and I could picture him holding the camera—however it looked—between his fingers; turning it to the left and right and squinting at it curiously. He groaned, and I heard my couch complain with the stress of his weight. “No fuckin’ clue how to work this thing.”

“Well, I don’t know how to work it—is there an off switch?” I thought aloud.

“Oh yeah,” James replied. “Already switched the ’lil bugger off.”

“Put him on speaker, Zo’.”

Liam focused on the road as he spoke, speeding up to just beyond the limit on the highway as he changed lanes. I obliged, setting the phone down in the cupholder between the seats as per usual.

“You’re on speaker, Jay,” I announced.

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