We stepped in, closed the door, and stood for a couple beats taking it all in. It was like a hoarder was conducting mad scientist lab experiments. Small aquariums stacked three tall lined a kitchen counter. There were more of them in the room that was designed to be a living room but was now a strange office and lab.
He had a large scarred wood desk that held stacks of papers, crumpled fast food bags, cigarettes stubbed out in used coffee cups, a small digital food scale, and a place for a computer, but the computer was missing.
The single bedroom contained more aquariums, more stacks of papers, and an unmade bed. The ratty quilt on the bed had ink stains and cigarette burns on it. More crumpled fast food bags and discarded Starbucks coffee cups.
I took a closer look at the aquariums and broke out in goosebumps. They were filled with tiny bugs. Every aquarium.
“What are these?” I asked Ranger.
“I’m not an expert, but they look like fleas,” Ranger said. “I imagine he’s breeding them for use in an experiment.”
No surprises in the bathroom. It was filthy as expected. The medicine chest was crammed with sleep aids, decongestants, pill bottles without labels, Benadryl, and a variety of prescription meds.
Kitchen cabinets were filled with screw-capped jars holding powdered chemicals. Some were labeled and some weren’t. One whole cabinet was devoted to small empty glass vials with stoppers. Mixed in with the powdered chemicals was a box of Cheerios and a jar of peanut butter.
He had a pint of chocolate ice cream and a bag of frozen mice in his freezer. The refrigerator contained a half gallon of milk, and what appeared to be a bag of blood.
There were assorted devices on a small kitchen table that a biologist or chemist might use. A Bunsen burner, a couple glass flasks, a suction device, and there were furry black spots of something growing in a petri dish.
“I’m completely grossed out,” I said to Ranger. “How can anyone live in here?”
“I want to take a quick look at some of these stacks of papers. While I’m doing that I’d like you to document the apartment. Go through and take pictures of the fleas and the equipment and the medicine chest.”
We’d been in the apartment for exactly a half hour when we got a call from Julie saying Pooka was on his way home.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “We couldn’t keep him here any longer. He wanted Gobbles to go home with him, and when Gobbles refused he got angry and stomped off.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
Ranger and I took the back door out, crossed into the neighboring yard, and returned to the Macan.
“Next stop the Zeta house,” Ranger said.
“Take the loop road through the campus and turn when you see Windward Dorm. Zeta is a couple buildings down from Windward.” I buckled myself in. “Did you find anything interesting in all those stacks of papers?”
“Some of them looked like student term papers. Most of them were copies of professional articles. I don’t know enough biology to understand the content. His doctoral thesis was bound and on his desk. There were a couple professional journals on his desk. He had pages that mentioned him earmarked.”
Ranger turned onto the loop road, found Zeta, and parked in the small lot at the side of the building.
“I’ve never seen the campus this quiet,” I said. “No one’s picketing Zeta. No one’s playing Frisbee. No music blasting out. No one’s on the porch yelling sexist slurs at the women passing by. No women passing by.”
“Saturday morning,” Ranger said.
The inside of Zeta was just as quiet. No music. No television. A couple brothers stumbled past us on the way to the kitchen.
“We’re invisible,” I said to Ranger, leading him to the cellar door. “Probably everyone is still blind drunk from last night.”
Ranger looked at the two locks that had been installed on the door. “No problem here.”
Moments later the door was open and we stepped inside. Ranger locked us in and flipped the lights on. The Zeta basement was one large room that had been finished at a basic utilitarian level. Cement floor, raw drywall ceiling and walls. No-frills fluorescent lighting. Mechanicals were at the far end of the room. Cases of soda and water were stacked back by the mechanicals. There were several empty kegs by the cases of soda.
Two large folding tables had been set up in the middle of the room directly under one of the lights, and paper tubes were lined up on the tables. A box of firecrackers had been set to the side on the floor. A bunch of empty red and silver tins had been tossed into a big box. Another box held tins that hadn’t been opened.