Oscar looked at Walt, eyebrows raised.“Legwork?”
“Don’t tell him,” Walt said under her breath.
It took three hours for the man in the penthouse apartment to leave the building.
Since only Butterbean and Polo had actually seen the guy, they were the ones on surveillance duty. And they figured out one problem pretty quickly—blue eyes don’t show up on fuzzy black-and-white surveillance footage.
“Is that him?” Polo whispered early on. A light-haired man was leaving the elevator in the lobby.
Butterbean leaned forward, nose hovering in front of the screen.“I don’t think so. I think that’s Stinky Sweat Socks on three.”
“Are you sure?” Polo said, watching the man disappear off the edge of the screen.
“Maybe?”
Polo shrugged.“Okay.” Maybe would have to be good enough. Better to keep waiting than get it wrong.
After three more false IDs (Guy Who Smokes Cigars, Guy Who Yells at the Doorman, and Mechanic Guy) the Coin Man appeared. And once they’d seen him, there was no question. Even the way he moved across the screen sent chills down Polo’s back.
“Okay, you’re right—he’s creepy,” Marco said as they watched the blurry footage of the guy leaving the building. “Look, even the doorman guy doesn’t like him.”
“Wow, you’re right,” Butterbean said, pressing her nose against the Television again, leaving a smeary streak behind. “Mr. Doorman talks to EVERYONE, and he didn’t say a word to that guy. He just held the door and stepped back.”
“Bad news,” Polo said, shivering.
“Right,” Walt said, standing up. Getting creeped out wasn’t going to do them any good. And Walt was starting to think it was contagious. “Let’s get going. Now, you know the signal if he comes back?”
“Howl into the elevator shaft and hope you hear it,” Butterbean said solemnly.
“Fly outside, locate his apartment, and peck on the windows,” Oscar said.
“Good.” Walt nodded. “Hopefully, it won’t come to that. I’ll be out in the hallway, so I should be able to make a commotion on my own. But as we’ve seen,” she said, shooting a side glance at Oscar, “it’s good to have backup plans.”
Oscar clicked his beak and then nodded.“Well, better get going,” he said, shooing the rats toward the door with his wings. “Hustle. Time’s a-wasting.”
“Polo? Marco? Climb up.” Walt settled down on her haunches and waited as they scrambled onto her back. She tried not to wince as their claws dug into her sides.
“Not so fun, is it?” Butterbean said gloomily.
“It’s fine,” Walt said through gritted teeth. “Ready, rats? Let’s go.” She stood up, trying not to jostle the rats too much.
“Whooaaa WHOOOAAAAA,” Marco shrieked, letting go of Walt’s back and waving his hands in the air like he was on a roller coaster.
“Not the time, Marco,” Polo said.
“WHOOOAAAA… what? Okay, sorry.” Marco put his hands back down and held on to Walt’s fur. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”
“Well, don’t,” Polo said sternly. Then she winked. “We can goof around on the way back. AFTER we’ve found the loot.”
Marco grinned.“Got it. Let’s go!”
Walt rolled her eyes and slinked carefully to the door.“Oscar?”
Oscar flew over to the door and landed on the handle, jumping up and down just enough to jostle the door open.“Be careful.”
Walt took a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway.
The trip up to the top floor was supposed to be the easy part of the plan, but waiting for the Coin Man to leave had put them right into the elevator rush hour. It took them three tries before they got an empty elevator. (Luckily, they went unseen by one teenager wearing headphones, two women looking at their phones, and an old man examining his mail.)
“The trip down may be even trickier,” Walt said as she crept into the elevator.
“We’ll worry about that later,” Marco said. “After all, if the man comes back before we’re done, we might not even need to go back down!”
“Geez, Marco!” Polo scrambled onto Walt’s head and pushed the top-floor button.
“What? I just mean if he finds us, we could be dead!” Marco scooched back to make room as Polo slid back down onto Walt’s back.
“GEEZ! I know what you mean!”
“Guys, seriously?” Walt hissed, watching the floor numbers light up. It was kind of mesmerizing, actually.
“Ninth floor,” the elevator voice said as the doors opened.
Walt peered out of the elevator. They could hear muffled noises coming from one of the apartments, but otherwise the hallway seemed deserted. Walt raised an eyebrow at Polo.
Polo shook her head.“Not the one with the noises. It’s this one.” She pointed at the Coin Man’s apartment, trying not to shudder. She could practically still see him in the doorway, looming over the girl and Butterbean.
Without a word, Walt crept out of the elevator, keeping low to the ground. The door closed behind them.
There was no going back.
Walt slunk over to the Coin Man’s door, her ears moving as she listened for any sounds from inside. Finally she nodded.
“It’s clear. But we should hurry. Get in and get out.” Walt had thought most of the “creepy” talk earlier had been silliness, but there was something about that apartment. The hairs on the back of her neck were starting to prickle. “I’ll keep watch.”
“Got it,” Polo said, sliding off Walt’s back.
“You can count on us,” Marco said. “We’ll be super thorough. We’re going to split the apartment into zones to search, just like humans do when they’re searching a field for a body.”
“Geez, Marco!” Polo squeaked. “What have you been watching?”
“What? You can count on us to be thorough, that’s all I’m saying!” Marco said defensively. He patted Polo on the shoulder. “Why don’t I go first?”
Polo considered for less than half a second. There was no way she was going first.“Yep, sounds good. You first. Get a move on.”
Marco nodded solemnly.“Okay. See you on the other side.”
After an elaborate show of examining the gap, he lay down on the floor and started crawling into the apartment.
Marco stopped.
“What are you doing?” Polo leaned over and called to Marco, who was halfway under the door, butt high in the air.
“Um. Nothing,” Marco said, backing out again. “I just want to try it a different way. I’ll back into it. I think it’ll be better. For surveillance purposes, I mean.”
“Butt first?” Polo said. “Is that a good idea?”
“Yeah, I think it’ll be better,” Marco said, wriggling his butt under the door and starting to crawl backward.
Marco stopped.
“What is it this time?” Polo asked. Marco’s arms were squished forward in a weird way. Polo didn’t think they were squished like that for surveillance purposes.
Marco cleared his throat.“Um. My… um. My waistline seems to be a little large.”
“Well, suck it in!” Polo said, clapping her hands. “Squeeze in there! We’re rats—this is what we do!”
“Okay, yes,” Marco said, taking a deep breath and wiggling his butt backward. He made it a little farther, up to the bottom of his rib cage. “Um. Polo? No good,” he said, his voice a thin squeak. “And now I think I’m stuck.”
“Oh, sheesh,” Polo grumbled, grabbing Marco by the paws and dragging him out as he held his breath. “I’ll go first, then. But I’m not going butt first.”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_20]
Polo smoothed her side fur, flattened herself on the floor, and started to crawl under the door. When she hit hip level, she stopped too.
“Problem?” Marco said, looking at Polo’s struggling hind legs and tail. They didn’t seem to be moving forward anymore.
“Um,” Polo said. “Problem.”
“Is it your waistline?”
“Um. I think it might be.” Polo stopped struggling. “Pull me back out?”
“Sure.” Marco grabbed hold of Polo’s tail and started tugging. “Hey, Walt? Come here!”