“Her doctor hoped she could come home today,” Sigrid said. “You like her?”
“Sure. She’s okay once she gets used to you, and she always keeps the place good. Clean sheets on the bunks, washes the dishes if we forget. She was real kind when my wife left me last year. Sewed a button on my jacket for me.” He stretched out his meaty hands. “I don’t do too good with needles, see? Got a little arthritis in my fingers.”
“Was there anything different about Lundigren when you saw him last night?” Sigrid asked.
“Different?”
“Did he seem upset about anything?”
“Nope. He told us to keep an eye on the people in 7-A. The board’s gonna evict them and he was afraid they might do something to hurt the building before they get out. They’re not really our kind of owners. I don’t know why the board let them buy in. The rest of the shareholders act like regular people. The Rices act like we’re dirt. We’re not worth saying good morning to unless they want us to do something for them. Anyhow, I told Phil okay and he said he’d see me this morning. I went on in back to sack out and I guess he went to his apartment upstairs. Wish I’d had a chance to really tell him goodbye. He was a good man to work with.”
“About the new man. Antoine Clarke?”
“Yeah?”
“We’ve heard that he and Phil Lundigren didn’t get along too well.”
Horvath propped his elbow on the table and began twisting one droopy end of his mustache between his thumb and index finger. “I wouldn’t know about that.”
“Sure you would,” said Hentz. “You’re here the longest after Lundigren. You had to’ve heard if they didn’t hit it off.”
More twisting of his mustache until that end was nothing but a tight string, at which point he sighed and capitulated. “I don’t know what really set them off, but it started with the kids, especially the Wall boy.”
“Corey Wall?”
“Yeah. See, Antoine wanted to haul him up short the first time Corey stole the elevator on him. Wanted Phil to take it to the board. But Phil’s been here since before Corey was born. Used to let him stand on the polisher and hold on to the handle when he was little. Taught him how to ride his first bicycle right up there in the lobby. He really loved that kid. But Corey was fifteen when Antoine came and he didn’t like it when Antoine tried to make him quit horsing around in the lobby. Antoine’s not that much more than a kid himself, you know? Phil says they’re jealous of each other. Antoine’s already a man, see, but Corey’s gonna go off to college, have a good job, make a lot of money, and Antoine’s gonna be running an elevator the rest of his life.”
“Did you see Antoine last night?”
Horvath shook his head. “Not to talk to. I had to take a leak around nine-thirty and he was watching TV. Said the snow was starting to come down heavy. Next time I woke up, it was around eleven and he was climbing into the top bunk, so I told Sidney to go on home early. Right after that’s when all hell broke loose and you people wouldn’t let me take anybody down for a while. Antoine was still sleeping when I came down to eat my cheeseburger, see, so he didn’t know about Phil till I told him this morning when he took over for me and I came back here and sacked out again.”
Sigrid and Hentz exchanged glances. This definitely put Antoine Clarke in the building and awake when Lundigren was killed.
“Thanks, Mr. Horvath,” she said. “We’ll probably be talking to you again before this is over. Would you tell Mr. Ruzicka we’d like to speak to him?”
“Okay.” He stood to return to the locker room. “I got nobody to go home to, so if you need me, I’ll be bunking here again this evening. They’re saying we could have more snow.”
As he walked away, Albee and Lowry returned.
Hentz glanced at his watch. “That was quick.”
“The Rices lawyered up,” Lowry said. “Said that given all the animosity in this building, they weren’t speaking to us without one present and theirs won’t be back till late tonight. They’ll come down to the station tomorrow morning.”
Vlad Ruzicka was a big expansive man. Fifty-two now, according to the job application he’d filed seven years ago. His face was broad and flat with merry blue eyes and an infectious laugh.
When Sigrid introduced herself, he bounded over and shook her hand enthusiastically. “Lieutenant!” he exclaimed. “All day I’m hearing about the beautiful lady cop with eyes that can see into a man’s soul, and now here you are!”
“Have a seat, Mr. Ruzicka,” she said, reclaiming her hand.
“Call me Vlad. Everybody here calls me Vlad.”
He described at great length how shocked he’d been when Mrs. Wall called him this morning, how unbelievable it was, how hard it was going to be without Phil around to guide them, and what about poor Denise? The longer he talked, the sadder his face became, until his blue eyes filled to overflowing.
She interrupted to ask when he last saw Lundigren, and in a quavering voice he said, “Friday, near quitting time. He comes down to see the sign-up sheet for the coat racks. He says Luna DiSimone’s having a party on Saturday, so he puts her name on the sheet and tells me to have a good weekend and he’ll see me Monday. And now he’s gone.”
“Tell us about Antoine and Lundigren,” Sigrid said before his eyes could fill up again.
The tears vanished as quickly as they had come and with exaggerated caution he pretended to look first over one shoulder and then the other. “Sidney. He’s not here, is he? Not listening? And you won’t tell him what I say?”
“Your secrets are safe with us,” Hentz said dryly.
