Floors: (8 page)

“Something’s not right over there,” said Bernard as Milton delivered the small red cup topped with foam.

“How do you mean, sir?”

Milton returned to the machine to make his own drink, for he knew his boss would take some time answering the question.

“Someone is set against us, though I can’t see who,” Bernard continued, still staring out the window as Milton returned.

“I think our plan is going to work,” Milton assured him, sipping carefully from his own cup. “How can we lose with you-know-who on the job?”

“True enough. Still, I can’t help but want to stack the deck more in my favor. Read me that travel entry again, will you, Milton? I think it may be of some help.”

Milton went to his silver briefcase, riffled through the contents, and found the entry in question. He sipped his strong coffee, cleared his throat, and began reading out loud.

Bernard shook his head.

Milton scrunched his nose. “I’ve been all through the place, top to bottom. There is no Railroad Room. Right?”

“Either way, our plan is in motion. Things will get interesting starting tomorrow.”

Milton sipped the last of his coffee.

“I can hardly wait.”

B
y the time Leo reached the lobby, the hotel was ready for the night. Remi had fallen asleep in one of the big chairs while his mother quietly dusted the brass handrails. Ms. Sparks was nowhere to be seen, off on a rampage searching for Leo all over the hotel.

Leo tucked the two boxes beneath the nearest sculpted green bush (it was in the shape of a rabbit) and turned to send the duck elevator back up to the roof. Betty was sitting down in it, nestled in a ball, which was very unlike her.

“Are you okay? You must be hungry.”

Leo felt terrible. He loved animals, and he’d put
Betty through quite an adventure. The poor thing could barely keep her eyes open.

“I’m sending you back to the roof now,” Leo whispered. “You’ll find some food in the pond.”

He closed the duck elevator and pushed the button for the roof.

“Where’ve you been? Everyone’s looking for you!”

Remi had woken and tiptoed over in the dim light of the lobby, scaring Leo half to death.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Sorry, it’s a habit of mine. I like to sneak.”

Remi’s mop of dark hair was messy from sleep, and he’d loosened his kid-size bow tie.

“Sneaking might come in handy,” said Leo. “Just don’t sneak up on
me
.”

Remi smiled widely and stole a look back into the main lobby.

“I’m going to leave in a minute,” he said, “but I’ll be back in the morning. Can I keep the two-way radio?”

“Of course you can,” said Leo. “You are my partner after all, right?”

Remi was growing on Leo, but more importantly, Leo was going to need his help in order to find all the boxes and get to the bottom of what was going on.

“I could sneak away from the door if you want,” Remi offered.

“How?” asked Leo, assuming Ms. Sparks’s evil eye was on the door all day long.

“Ms. Sparks has errands tomorrow afternoon, so my mom will work the front desk. She said she’d watch the door so I could explore if I wanted to, as long as I didn’t go looking for cupcakes. Are there cupcakes up there?”

Remi looked up at the ceiling curiously, licking his lips.

“You’ve never been upstairs?” asked Leo. He had such free rein of the hotel, it hadn’t occurred to him that others might not share the same privilege.

“Are you kidding? I’ve only been here one day, and I spend every waking moment standing at that dull front door. It’s torture.”

Remi looked at the ceiling again.

“How many cupcakes are up there?”

“Forget about the cupcakes, Remi. We’ve got more important things to think about. Right now I have to get these boxes to the basement and avoid Ms. Sparks.”

“Boxes?” said Remi, for he’d only seen the purple box.

Leo cringed — he’d spilled the beans.

“You found another box! That’s awesome!” Remi glanced around the lobby, searching for the hidden boxes. “They must be important, right? The first one’s
got Merganzer’s head on it and every thing. Wait a second…. You said the purple box had duck food in it.”

“I barely knew you way back then,” said Leo. “I had to come up with
something
. For all I knew, you were working for Ms. Sparks.”

“Are you kidding? She won’t even give me a bathroom break!”

But Remi wasn’t hurt. He understood that it took at least six or seven hours to cultivate a trusting friendship.

“So what’s in the boxes?” he asked.

Before Leo could answer, a voice, splashed with a rich Spanish accent, filled the lobby.

“Remilio? Time to go, sweetie.”

“Mom! Please don’t call me that. It’s embarrassing.”

“Leo?” Pilar said, finding them at the duck elevator. “You’d better head for the basement before Ms. Sparks finds you. She needs some cooling-off time.”

Leo couldn’t help thinking Remi’s mom was about to see the two boxes tucked beneath the rabbit bush, but it was Remi who spied them. Leo could see it in his round saucer eyes.

“And you, little hombre,” said Pilar, putting an arm around her son. “We better get you home. You have a long day at the door tomorrow.”

Remi groaned in agony at the thought of standing in
the lobby with Ms. Sparks all day, but he brightened when he remembered what his mother had told him.

“I’ll show him around the place tomorrow afternoon,” said Leo, reading Remi’s thoughts. “I know the Whippet inside and out.”

Pilar was happy to see her son had made a friend in Leo, whom she had always adored. And Leo liked her, too. She’d covered for him with Ms. Sparks lots of times.

“Skip the Cake Room, okay?” she said playfully, messing Remi’s hair.

“You got it,” said Leo.

“You guys can team up all you want.” Remi smiled. “But if there’s a Cake Room in this place, I’ll find it.”

Remi left with his mom and Leo grabbed the boxes, heading for the basement. When he came to the bottom step and creaked the door open slowly, he peeked inside, hoping not to see his dad drinking iced tea and reading
The New York Times
, old copies of which stood in three towering piles next to his bed.

“Dad, you in there?” Leo whispered. The basement wasn’t huge, but it was very cluttered. Pipes, boxes, the call center, the boiler, the washer, the clothesline, and a lot more.

No one answered, so Leo crept inside, took the boxes apart, and hid them under his cot, sighing with
relief. At least the boxes were safely hidden, even if he was in trouble for going missing for several hours.

Leo heard the sound of the toilet flushing in the small bathroom off in the corner and realized he wasn’t alone after all. He had a few seconds, though, which was just enough time to leave something on his dad’s pillow.

“I thought I heard you come in,” Leo’s dad said. It was true Clarence Fillmore was a big guy, but he was more of a teddy bear than a growler. He didn’t have it in him to scold Leo for disappearing.

“You know,” he said as he sat down, “you’re getting older now. If you need time to yourself, it’s okay. Just let me know where you are, so I don’t worry that you’ve fallen down the elevator shaft.”

“Sorry, Dad,” said Leo. “It won’t happen again.”

“And I got the ducks back to the roof for you. You know how Ms. Sparks gets if we leave them on the grounds too long.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

Even at his young age, Leo knew his dad was a little bit broken, a little bit sad. There were reasons for this that Leo didn’t like to think about, but one thing he knew for sure: He wouldn’t lie to his dad, because he loved him too much. There would be no elaborate
yarn about where he’d been that his father would probably believe.

“Good luck avoiding the wrath of Ms. Sparks, though,” Mr. Fillmore said. “I can’t save you from that.”

Leo held his breath, waiting for his dad to see, wondering if he’d done the right thing.

“What’s this?” the big man said, seeing the ring on his pillow and picking it up. The moment he did, Leo knew he’d made the right choice.

“I found it for you,” said Leo, which was true.

Leo’s dad didn’t say anything. He stared at the ring as he lolled over and lay down on the sinking cot, moving it in the light.

“I don’t know how you did it, but thank you.”

They looked at each other then, smiling in a bittersweet sort of way. The ring had been missing a long time, but it was back now.

It had belonged to Leo’s mother.

Leo got up before light the next morning and went straight to the roof. He was too nervous to look inside the blue box with his dad snoring so nearby, but he knew by midmorning the basement would be empty and he could safely investigate. Leo brought the ducks down and walked them through the lobby, all in a
perfect line, out the door and onto the vast grounds. It was a short walk, partly because he knew Ms. Sparks would soon arrive and he wanted to avoid seeing her, but also because Betty was in a foul mood.

“You miss Merganzer, don’t you?” Leo asked, but she wouldn’t look at him. Leo took the ducks safely back to the roof and returned to the basement, intent on starting his father’s coffee brewing.

“How about we go to the big breakfast this morning?” Mr. Fillmore said. “I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”

Leo began to protest, because it would mean seeing Ms. Sparks. But then he reasoned that a) he could not avoid her forever, b) breakfast at the Whippet was hard to resist, and c) it was a good sign that his dad wanted to eat breakfast with everyone. He’d been keeping to himself more and more, staying in the maintenance tunnels, avoiding contact with just about everyone.