Once inside the building, Bang-Bang and Lisa were surprised to see a fully functional Soup Kitchen.
There were many homeless people sitting at tables enjoying their nightly bowl of soup. Beside each soup bowl was a plate with a small bread roll.
The room was quite large and there must have been at least a hundred tables arranged in a rectangular formation like that which you find in a typical school classroom.
The only odd thing that Bang-Bang noticed was that there were elevators on either side of the dining hall. Bang-Bang wondered why there would be upper and lower levels to a soup kitchen.
Perhaps, he thought, this might be a completely operational Homeless Shelter.
“This must be a completely operational Homeless Shelter,” he heard Lisa say from behind and he smiled to himself as he said,
“You know, I was just thinking the exact same thing.”
Bang-Bang made his way to the nearest table and sat down with a group of people who were obviously enjoying their meal and paid very little attention to him.
Bang-Bang cleared his throat and gently tapped the nearest diner on the shoulder. He was an elderly man with a long grey beard and very bushy grey eyebrows. He reminded Bang-Bang of a Muppet. He seemed friendly so he decided to gently interrogate him
“Excuse me sir, I’m sorry to interrupt your meal but can you tell me where those elevators go,” he said quietly as he pointed to the other side of the room.
The old man took a long slurp of his soup and then said in a loud voice.
“Ya dumbass, theys go up and down,” the man chuckled and sneered at the other diners who were sitting at the table. He smiled at Bang-Bang and showed off his blackened and broken teeth. He took another long slurp and then looked back at Bang-Bang.
“Aw kid I’m just pullin’ yer chain, I bin told there’s showers and all such things up stairs. It must be good too”, the old man said as he slurped another mouthful of soup and spilt half of it down onto his beard. He used the back of his filthy sleeve to mop up the moistened beard.
“And why do you say that?” Bang-Bang said, trying not to show his disgust.
“Well, I’ve bin sittin here for a while and I’ve seen plenty go up but I aint seen any come back down again, except fur that pretty lady there,” the old man said as he nodded his head in the direction of the elevators.
Bang-Bang turned his head in the same direction and he noticed a rather good looking woman approaching them from across the dining hall. Bang-Bang thanked the old man and moved back over next to Lisa.
As the woman got closer, Bang-Bang could not help but notice how perfect her facial features appeared to be, even though he sensed that the woman was much older than she looked.
“Excuse me, can I help you,” the woman said as she appeared to be tapping the side of her head.
Bang-Bang was a bit perplexed by this strange action but decided to ignore it. He noticed that the people, who were eating, looked up momentarily from their food and then as if on cue they all resumed eating. The old man flashed him another set of those not-so-pearly whites and then resumed his slurping.
Bang-Bang looked at Lisa and noticed that she seemed to want to take the lead on this encounter. He just smiled and said nothing.
“Yes, we are Federal Agents, I am Lisa Roberts and this is Buck Lewiston er Miss. . ?” Lisa said as she held out her hand in greeting. The woman ignored the gesture.
“It’s Miss Smythe, Miss Susan Smythe I am the Co-ordinator for the Mundus Nova foundation. This is one of our philanthropic enterprises. Is there a problem Agents? Is there something I can help you with?”
“Well, Miss Smythe, you see we are a little confused. We are looking for the Paradise Apartments which we were led to believe were in this group of buildings,” Lisa said as she looked around the room. Bang-Bang noticed that Lisa had winked at him before she spoke. He was about to comment when he was interrupted by the woman.
“I’m afraid Agents, you are too late; the Paradise Apartments were condemned. They have been demolished,”
“They have been demolished in the past two days? That’s a bit sudden isn’t it? Where did the residents go? Lisa asked as she shot Bang-Bang another look.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s for me to decide when buildings should be torn down, and as for the building’s residents, well that’s also none of my concern,” Miss Smythe said in a slightly raised voice as she tapped the side of her head again.
“Now, I’m sorry but if you would please excuse me, Agents Roberts and er Lewiston is it? I am rather busy. Can you see yourselves out?”
“Yeah, okay Miss Smythe, thank you for your time. Come on Agent Lewiston, we will check the building next door.”
“Oh I wouldn’t bother, it’s also condemned and rather dangerous,” Miss Smythe said as she turned on her heels and quickly strode away.
The two agents watched as Ms Smythe entered the same elevator that she had come out of and they watched as the lights above the doors indicated that she had selected “Down”.
“That’s very interesting,” Lisa said as she led Bang-Bang out of earshot of the diners. “We can finally put a face to Mundus Nova.”
“Yes, and I think Ms Smythe appeared to be a bit agitated, and for someone who is supposed to be helping the homeless, I don’t think she is very compassionate. She was acting very peculiar, I think she is trying to hide something,” Bang-Bang said as he swiped at a loose strand of hair which, now that it was drying, was starting to fall across his face.
“Definitely,” Lisa said as she smiled at Bang-Bang, “She has piqued my curiosity. How about we stick around for awhile and check this place out. I’ll be interested to know about these other floors.
I think there’s more to it than meets the eye. This is definitely more than a soup kitchen, come on Bang-Bang let’s forget about the other dangerous buildings and snoop around here for awhile.
“I suppose it wouldn’t kill us to have a bit of a wander around. Do you think Ms Smythe will mind?” Bang-Bang asked as he followed Lisa towards one of the elevators.
“Trust me Bang-Bang, I’m counting on it.” Lisa said as she pressed the elevator button and winked at him.