Zero History

37. AJAY
Inchmale’s spirit-beast, the narcoleptic stuffed ferret, still frozen in nightmarish dreamwaltz
amid the game birds, was waiting near Cabinet’s grumbling lift.
Robert had said, on being asked just now, that “Miss Hyde” was in. He seemed to have
entirely forgotten any discomfort experienced on Heidi’s arrival, and in fact showed every
sign of having become an enthusiast. This, Hollis knew, was all too likely to happen. Men
who didn’t permanently flee at the onset tended to become devotees.
She entered the familiar cage, pulled her bag in after her, shut the cage’s door, and
pushed the button. Once and only briefly, so as not to confuse it.
In the hallway, upstairs, she avoided looking at the watercolors, opened the door to
Number Four, entered, put her bag on the bed. Everything was as she remembered it,
except for a few unfamiliar dust jackets in the birdcage. She opened her bag, took out the
Blue Ant figurine, and went next door, to Heidi’s room.
She knocked.
“Who is it?” asked a male voice.
“Hollis,” she said.
It opened, a crack. “Let her in,” said Heidi.
The door was opened by a beautiful, supremely fit-looking young man, like a
Bollywood dancer, whose translucently short haircut became a sort of short black
waterfall on top. As if to balance this prettiness, though, it looked as though someone had
struck the bridge of his nose with something hard and narrow, leaving the suggestion of a
notch, pale at the center. He wore a bright blue tracksuit under Heidi’s faded leather tour
jacket.
“That’s Ajay,” said Heidi as Hollis stepped in.
“Hullo,” said Ajay.
“Hello,” said Hollis. The room was confusingly tidy now, with almost no sign of
Heidi’s characteristic luggage-explosion, though Hollis noted that the bed, where Heidi
reclined in a Gold’s Gym tank top and kneeless jeans, was very thoroughly unmade.
“What happened to your stuff?”
“They helped me sort it out, stored what I wanted to keep. They’re nice here.”
Hollis couldn’t remember ever having heard Heidi say that about any hotel staff
anywhere. She suspected Inchmale in the mix, advising Cabinet on how best to deal with
Heidi, distributing bribes, though in fact the Cabinet people actually were very good at
what they did.
“What the fuck is that?” asked Heidi, much more in character, indicating the blue
figurine.
“A Blue Ant marketing toy. It’s hollow”—she showed Heidi the bottom of its base