Fractured by Kate Watterson

darkness. “If I’d broken into this building, I’d have used this door. It is on the opposite side from the street and pretty hidden.”
    â€œIt’s covered. Maybe they are camping out here to get a break from the cold.”
    â€œIn this weather?” Ellie was halfway down the steps and turned to him.
    He jiggled the handle. “You think Milwaukee doesn’t have homeless people?”
    To his dismay, the door opened.
    His lucky day. The only thing worse than those silent halls and rooms upstairs, he discovered, was the basement of an old empty school. Ellie pulled a pencil flashlight from the pocket of her coat and flicked her light over piles of old desks, folded cafeteria tables and chairs in stacks, broken ceilings tiles—no doubt asbestos from the age of the building, he thought darkly—broken shelving, and just about anything that obviously had no value any longer.
    Something rustled in the corner. He did not want to know in the least what it was. He muttered, “This is some creepy shit.”
    â€œYou’re a homicide detective.”
    â€œSo it must be really creepy shit,” he said defensively.
    â€œStairs over here.” Ellie headed toward the right corner of the room, unbuttoning her coat as she went, not because it wasn’t cold, because it was, but so she had easy access to her weapon. Good call. He’d already unzipped his jacket and taken off his right glove.
    The door at the top wasn’t locked either and the hallway was almost as dark as it was below. The only illumination came through the doors on each end, and those had each been partially boarded up.
    Jason felt his phone vibrate and he slipped it out of his pocket “Text.”
    Ellie echoed his low tone. “Metzger?”
    He read it. “Yeah, no one is supposed to be in the building. Last check was scheduled two weeks ago. The city is still trying to sell it.”
    â€œGood luck to them. In this neighborhood … And what is up with that? Everyone just moves in, no rent required?”
    Jason surveyed a row of rusting lockers. “I think I might sleep on a park bench instead. Let’s go look, but my prediction is, whoever might be here has so many options to move around, it would take us hours to even search this place and all he’d have to do is slip past us, which would be dead easy in a building this size.”
    â€œI’m hoping for a witness to give us a clue as to the identity of the victim.” She swung the beam in an arc across sagging ceilings. In one spot electrical wiring hung free about three feet above them. “Doesn’t look like turning on the lights is an option. Maybe we should ask if a couple of uniforms could come help us search.”
    He could swear the place smelled of a million-plus cafeteria meals, most of which had apparently involved stewed tomatoes, coupled with the scent of mildew and disuse. “We can ask, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m not all that anxious to hang around a long time to wait for them to show up. I’ll send the chief a message but let’s get started. The sooner we are out of here, the better.”
    Ellie threw a curious glance over her shoulder. “You and I waded through waist-high grass full of snakes and who knows what else last summer, in the dark, after a ritualistic killer who burned his victims, and you weren’t even fazed.”
    True enough, but he preferred a known quarry.
    â€œYeah, what a great idea that was. It seems to me I was shot twice that particular night.” He pointed at the doorway to their left. “Let’s start there.”
    *   *   *
    The search was probably as fruitless as Santiago had pointed out it might be.
    Every room had a closet for coats and supplies, the walk-in coolers in the kitchen had the massive doors off their hinges and were set aside, and the custodial closets were still locked.
    He was right. This needed to