Chapter 11
Arliss stood outside the squat three-story building where he used to live. The faded white-brick apartment house was just east of Tricks, on a street with lots of new condos and older vintage buildings that had been rehabbed in recent years. Arliss’s former residence, from the 1960s, was probably the eyesore of the street.
But he had once called it home. And for better or worse, he knew his old roommates would have no problem taking him in for a day or two while he tried sorting things out and attempted to discover what it was he really wanted. After all, they made a habit of taking in strange men all the time. At least they knew Arliss.
He went inside to the tiled lobby that was always cold, even in summer. It was dark and cheerless, with a grimy floor and a wall of battered
