Adriana did not lose countenance. She lifted her chin to be able to stare back at the robot. It had bent over in order to examine her more closely, and Clarissa could make out the details of the startling metallic features, and the two small horns planted on each side of its head, giving it an animal-like aspect.
“I’m the granddaughter of Clarissa Katsef, the writer on the eighth floor. I was supposed to meet the person who lives here. But Jim never turned up. I fell asleep waiting for him.”
The silent robot appeared to ingest the information.
“The door was open,” Andy went on smoothly. “So I just came in.”
“Your mobile.”
The iron pincer made its way toward Andy, opening up to form a flat surface.
“I don’t mind showing it to you, but you won’t find traces of any of our texts. I erased them all.”
“Why?”
Andy shrugged.
“I don’t want my parents breathing down my neck. They don’t know about my relationship with Jim.”
“Hand over your mobile.”
Andy obeyed. She placed the phone in the little tray. A throbbing noise was heard.
“Thank you. You may take it back. Go up to your grandmother’s place and do not come back here.”
Andy seemed to hesitate; then she said, “Where is Jim Perrier, please?”
“There is no Jim Perrier here.”
“But where is he? Why did he disappear? Why is his apartment empty?”
“Go back upstairs.”
“I’d like to know what happened to Jim!”
“Do not argue with me.”
The robot slid forward and touched Adriana’s arm with its right pincer. The snapping sound of an electric shock was heard.
“What the fuck?” bawled the young girl. “I’ve done nothing wrong!”
“Go upstairs. Get out of here.”
“Okay! I got the message! I’m leaving!”
The robot shoved Andy toward the entry, claws brandished like weapons. Clarissa heard the door bang shut. She waited, frightened, her chest feeling tight. She’d let a few minutes slip by; then she’d rush upstairs to join Andy.
Jim Perrier’s vacant flat seemed dark all of a sudden. The only thing she could hear was her slightly ragged breath. Apprehension pulsed through her once more. What had she done, following Andy? She longed to be back home, all snug, with Andy and the cat. A mug of herbal tea and off to bed. If Jim Perrier could see her now, cowering with fear in his empty wardrobe. She could picture his grin.
A faint hissing sound was heard, and her heart froze. She pricked up her ears. There it was again. She hadn’t gotten it wrong. The Bardi had remained inside. It hadn’t left. It must have understood there was a presence in the apartment. It was coming back for her, like a bloodhound. Horrified, Clarissa crawled to the back of the wardrobe.
The robot slid along, unhurried, with the slight squeak she had learned to fear, while its face swung methodically from left to right. She knew it was equipped with sensors capable of picking out body heat. From her hiding place, she could make out the reddish glow of its two LEDs piercing the gloom. It was coming closer, slowly but surely, and it was going to find her. She could imagine the steel claws clamping onto her arm. She felt like she was going to pass out.
A series of loud reiterated knocks on the door made her jump. The robot stopped moving, only a few feet away from her. It swiveled back toward the entrance. Clarissa heard Andy’s shout.
“I want to know where Jim Perrier is! I want to know where my friend is!”
“Jim Perrier no longer lives here. Go home. Immediately.”
“But he told me to meet him here! Something is going on!”
“If you don’t leave, you’ll have to come with me.”
“I’m a minor!” wailed Andy. “You can’t just take me with you, and besides, I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Leave.”
“If I go upstairs, will you leave, as well?” asked Andy.
Clarissa was amazed by her granddaughter’s audacity.
“Yes, I will depart if you go upstairs,” came the robotic tone.
“Watch me, Mr. Bardi! I’m going up! Look! See?”
Andy’s voice became fainter.
Clarissa waited, her stomach still painful, her breath short. She couldn’t bear it if the Bardi came back. She peered out from behind the crack of the wardrobe door. The robot had stopped talking; it appeared frozen. Then, suddenly, it twisted down with an unexpectedly graceful swoop, coiled itself up, and took on the circle aspect it had when it arrived. Clarissa heard it roll down the steps.
A couple of minutes later, Andy called out.
“Mums! Get out of there! Hurry!”
Clarissa leaped out, not knowing where she was going, hands held out, and ended her wild rush, gasping for breath in Andy’s arms. The front door on the right of the landing opened, and an elegant man in his sixties appeared, wearing a blue dressing gown. He glanced at them cautiously.
“Is everything all right? I heard some noise.”
He had an American accent, blue eyes. Andy smiled at him reassuringly and answered him in English. They were very sorry; it was so late! She’d seen him earlier on; she’d come to ask for salt. Sean Pomeroy, right? From San Francisco. Clarissa introduced herself in turn, explained they were looking for his neighbor, Jim Perrier. Sean Pomeroy replied that he hadn’t seen him for a while. Perhaps he’d moved. Then he added, with a mischievous smile, “A rather raucous young man.”
“Oh?” said Clarissa.
“Let’s say he often came home drunk and got the doors mixed up.”
They said good night. Going up in the elevator, Clarissa told herself this amiable gentleman must have thought they were mad. She couldn’t get over what they had just done. The risk of it all! The danger! But she couldn’t bring herself to scold Adriana. Her granddaughter looked back at her with quiet triumph in her eyes.
When they got to the eighth floor, Clarissa asked her to make sure there was no Bardi lurking around. Andy checked.
“No Bardi, Mums. Just a poor cat mewing behind the door.”
Clarissa descended into a troubled slumber, with the memory of the Bardi’s red eyes chasing her. She
