Not Dark Yet Read Online Free PDF Page B

the door. He went over to it and looked back at Kaye.
    Kaye nodded and smiled, then played another sound, a deep one, which hummed right at the edge of his hearing.
    He moved to the wall that emitted the tone.
    The assistant professor grinned at him through the one-way mirror. “You’re a good owl.”
    He smiled back.
    “What do you think?” Kaye said, standing in the doorway. “Is the room too small for photographing the birds?”
    He shook his head. “Should fit perfectly for a camera on a tripod,” he said.
    “Excellent!” Kaye said. “Then we’re all set. Can we start tomorrow afternoon?”
    “Yes,” he said. “When?”
    “Six,” Kaye said. “Unless that’s too late for you?”
    “No, it’s fine.”
    “I’ll meet you at the door downstairs,” Kaye said. “The foyer should be open until eight. If it’s locked, just phone me.”
    He nodded.
    The assistant professor went back to the recording room.“It’s rather late. Do you need a ride home?” Kaye said while switching the monitors and the lights off.
    “Thanks, that would be nice,” he said.
    They exited the soundproof space and returned to the cloakroom.
    “If you wish to be absolutely certain of not bringing any mouse allergens home, take a shower and wash your hair once you get there,” Kaye said, peeling the green coverall off and putting on the brown fleece sweater again.
    He nodded. “I’ll probably go swimming.”
    “In the sea, at this hour?”
    “No, there’s a pool in the building.”
    “Really?” Kaye said. “And it’s actually being used?”
    “Mostly by me,” he said. “I rarely see anyone else there.”
    “What a luxury,” Kaye said.
    He nodded.
    They both exited, the door sighed shut and the lock whirred into place. The ventilation hummed. The hallway was dark, lit only by the green shine from an emergency sign at the end. When Kaye started down the corridor, the ceiling lamps flickered to life.
    “Not many people up here,” he said.
    “No, not at this time in the evening,” Kaye said. “Probably only a graduate student or two, doing overnight experiments.”
    They continued down to the fifth floor hallway and caught the elevator to the first floor. In the small mirrored space he leaned against the wall and avoided Kaye’s eyes, listening instead to the whirring of the elevator as it moved through the shaft until it slowed, bounced, and the worn doors rattled open. The foyer of The Institute for Biological Sciences was empty. The rectangular, rust-colored tiles on the floor dulled the light from the fluorescent lamps in the lowered ceiling that stretched from the elevators to the front door of the building. The rear wall facedan overgrown park and consisted of glass set in enormous rectangular wooden frames. In the space between the concrete front and side walls, and the glass-and-wood back, several suspended ramps rose toward the second and third floors. The panorama wall and ramps made the foyer look grand, but with the night pressing against the glass the space seemed dark despite the plentiful illumination. Their footfalls on the tiles were hushed and dry. The foyer was so beautiful he hoped he would never have to see it in full daylight.
    Outside it was humid and foggy, on the verge of drizzle.
    “My car’s right over there,” Kaye said and nodded at a modest vehicle further down the street. Except for the campus structures at the end, the thoroughfare was dominated by old yet well-kept tenement buildings which boasted elaborate casement windows, verandas with carved banisters, and tall finials at the gables. Kaye’s car was cramped and old and smelled of gasoline and rain gear. The dashboard held a compact disc player and several unlabeled discs cluttered the small compartment beneath it. In the back seat unidentifiable clothing and a plastic bag lay rumpled.
    “Please excuse the mess,” Kaye said, got in on the driver’s side, and pulled the seatbelt on.
    “Where do you live?” Kaye