“Motivational speakers?”
“Something like that.” He locked the phone screen before I could take a glance at it. He looked around the foyer before turning towards the stairwell. “Follow me. The boss doesn’t like having you around the building, and he said not to give you any more information. He said if you were a cop, he’d demand a warrant. I could lose my job if he knew you were here again. So, you can look at the footage, but you can’t touch. Ok?”
“Got it, big guy.” I agreed. I wondered what Robbie had told his security firm to cause such a drastic change in tune from our last visit. I guessed it was something over enthusiastic.
Robbie led me down the fire stairs and across the underground parking lot to the small security office. He removed a chunk of keys from his coat pocket, which looked heavy enough to work out with, before he chose one key and opened the door. The office smelled worse than last time. The stale stench of a young man’s body odor was like a wall of thick air.
“Spent a bit of time in here lately?” I questioned as I stepped inside.
He looked up at me in a quizzical fashion. “I guess.”
He paused for a moment, then sat down on the office chair and wheeled himself to the position behind the five surveillance monitors. He turned the computer on and began to type the password. He typed with both index fingers only, the task taking a painfully slow amount of time. After he finished what he was typing, he stopped and slowly reread the information back to himself. I waited near the open door, leaning against the frame, while he kept typing.
“Done much drawing over the past few days?”
“Not much drawing but I’ve been reading a lot of comics in here. The boss has been giving me grief about not watching the security footage enough, so he wants me in this room more. I’m not sure why. Apart from what happened to Mr. Waltz, nothing ever happens in this building. I watch some people come and go, people greet each other in the lobby, and then I watch the rich old guys with their hired girls walk across the foyer before they walk into the stairwell. But I think one of the residents complained about the gunshots and my boss wants to assure them that they’re safe. He promised them that I would be here more. But it’s boring. It’s so, so boring. All I do is sit here, read comic books and draw some sketches. What a job, eh? What a life.”
“You could always look for another job.” I leaned out the door, trying to grab a breath of fresh air. “Find something to do with comics? It’s important to follow your passion.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do. I’ve been trying to get published for years, but it’s hard, man. Really hard. I’ve been working on my main character for so long, and I’m sure he’s the guy that will make it big for me. He’s my ticket out of here.” He pointed towards one of the sketches on the wall. “I’m sure he’s going to be the character that inspires people.”
I walked towards the sketch, almost sorry that I asked. It didn’t take much to distract Robbie. The pencil drawing was of a strong muscular man, who I’m sure Robbie saw himself as, holding a sword, defending a small child against an attack from a group of large birds. It was a good drawing, he certainly had skills, but the hero looked like every other superhero I’d seen.
“He got a name?” I asked.
“I’m thinking DOA or Vengeance.”
“Vengeance? Sounds ominous.”
“Yeah.” He shrugged and pointed to another one of his sketches on the wall. “That’s one of the first ones. I drew him for the first time sitting in this office. I’ve had a lot of time to think about his character.” Robbie continued to tap slowly on the keyboard. “Maybe one day I’ll get a break. Maybe one day someone will pick up my drawing and I’ll be done with this boring security job. It’s the only way to keep myself sane.”
“Do you have any other skills?”
“I know how to design websites. I’ve built and designed a few sites, but nothing has taken off.”
“Anything interesting?” I asked.
“Nothing that would interest you, I don’t think. Most of the sites are small ones with niche audiences. They don’t make much money, just a few dollars a month, but it’s amazing what people get attached to. Some people are passionate about some very strange things.”
“I bet.”
“And some people really don’t know how dangerous the internet can be. There’s one older guy that I work with who has asked me to store some very incriminating videos of him. I did it, but man, if those videos ever got out, he’s done for.”
“I think I know what you mean,” I laughed, but Robbie didn’t. Perhaps I interpreted his hint wrong. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I removed it and looked at the number. It was Detective Williams calling again. I ignored it and sent the call to voicemail.
“We should get down to business, Robbie. Let’s see that footage,” I said. “I’m looking for any women that were hanging around the building the night before Waltz died. I’m particularly looking for a small blonde woman. When we reviewed the footage earlier, we weren’t looking for a woman, so I’m hoping we can see something. And I need footage of the night before the shooting. This might help us understand what happened.”
“Like I said,” Robbie continued typing on the keyboard. “The boss doesn’t want you touching anything, so you shouldn’t even be here, but I want to help you. I want to do work like this one day.
