You and Ernesto work a brutal double shift at Gorsky Manor when the cracked foundation spills wastewater into the boiler room. Working in a rubber suit, knee-deep in Gaia knows what, you bail out the hundred-degree boiler room for three hours while Mr. Veiss frantically calls from his grubby little office to find someone who can fix the damage. Ernesto turns gray around 3 PM and has to stop; you're pretty sure he has heart problems, because one of the few nurses who's worth a damn takes him away to check him out. Your only satisfaction the whole day is when you hear Mr. Gorsky himself chewing out Mr. Veiss an hour after sunset, once you've gotten the boiler room mostly bailed out. An hour after that, a repair team shows up. You're exhausted as you crawl upstairs to one of the showers and hose yourself off. Ernesto is getting dressed when you come out and shake your hair dry. He looks better.
Next
After devouring a sandwich, since you missed lunch and dinner, you hop on your bike and head through the 'burbs back into what passes for the city center, prowling the alleys for neglected food.
That's when an NPD police car pulls up and two cops step out. They move to flank you so you can't retreat back down the alley. Badges read Hassleman, which is a little funny, and Houpe.
"Are you Matulo November?" Hassleman says. He's the one with the mustache. Houpe, who also has a mustache, shines his flashlight in your face. "Are you an employee of Goultier Real Estate and Trust?"
"Yeah, that's me." And that's all I'm going to tell them.
"Goultier? He's my landlord, I don't work for him."
"Get out of my face. I don't speak to police or answer questions." I weigh my odds of knocking their teeth out and taking off.
"Why? Is Al Goultier in trouble?"
Next