Chapter 28 - The Adventure.
Despite all my pushing, I couldn’t get Eggy to agree to let me go back down into his basement so I could find out where that remaining arm of the tunnel led. He was getting so much better about things lately that I didn’t expect such a backlash. But he was adamant that I wasn’t going back into that ‘damned tunnel’ alone no matter how much the mystery of it was killing me.
For the next week or so, though, my life got busy and, for a while at least, even I didn’t have time to think about Billy, Peebles, or their tunnels. My new classes were interesting and challenging, but the professors all started heaping on more homework than was physically possible to accomplish in the time given. Debbie was in a bind because one of her waiters quit on her without notice, so she was begging me to take whatever Diner shifts I could fit in between classes. My mother was off on a tangent where she had decided that we needed to do more ‘family’ stuff together and demanded that I come out to her condo for dinner at least a couple of times a week. And somehow I still had to fit in time to stop in to see Eggy, because I couldn’t live without my daily hermit fix. But with all that going on, you can see why there wasn’t time to read more of Billy’s journal, let alone go tunnel exploring.
It wasn’t until about a week or so later - after I got a demanding text from Daphne ordering me to actually come home that night and spend time with her or else she’d throw all my stuff out on the sidewalk (and she would totally do it, too) - that I had enough downtime to think about what we’d already discovered.
“So, this Billy guy was boning your architect, Peebles, who was so heels-over-head in loveee with the boy that he put in all these tunnels all over the city so they wouldn’t get caught?” Daphne summed up the state of things after I showed her the journal and explained the story. “That’s kinda romantic,” she sighed dreamily as she ran her fingers over the browning pages. “I mean, romantic but completely crazy at the same time,” she laughed. “I think I’d call the police if some guy from work did that.”
“I know, right? And the worst part is, going by some of the stuff Billy was saying, he wasn’t nearly as into Peebles as Peebles was into him.” I took back the bowl of popcorn that Daphne was bogarting and stuffed some in my maw. “I kinda feel bad for Peebles, you know? He seems like a nice guy, even if he was way too old for a kid like Billy, but he really did do everything he could to protect his younger lover. Somehow, though, I don’t see it ending well.”
“That sucks. I mean, you build like a million miles of tunnels so your lover won’t get caught by his overbearing family and then the kid doesn’t even appreciate it? That’s kinda douchey.” Daphne popped open the top of a soda can to wash down her last handful of popcorn. “So, does the journal say where the other part of the tunnel goes?”
“No. At least not the parts of the journal I’ve read so far. I haven’t read the whole thing, though. I’ve been . . . busy.”
Daphne laughed at my understatement. “No duh! I was beginning to wonder if you even remembered how to get back here.” She tossed a kernel of popcorn into my face and giggled at me when I gave her a dirty look. “If I hadn’t ordered you back here tonight, your bed might still be unused.”
“Probably. But why would I want to sleep here . . . alone . . . when I’ve got a much better bed, one filled with a hot hermit, to sleep in instead,” I stated, blushing at my confession.
“Get out!” Daphne practically screamed my ear off, slugging me in the shoulder to emphasize just how excited she was. “You and Eggy are actually sleeping together? How did you work that? And what ELSE are you doing together? Huh? Tell me EVERYTHING and leave nothing out.”
So I filled her in, because Daph and I had always shared pretty much everything, and this was one thing that I was certainly happy to brag about. She seemed really impressed by how quickly Brian had progressed considering the extent of his OCD symptoms. I attributed it all to my amazing therapy acumen. Daphne said it was more likely due to my amazingly shapely ass. We both ended up giggling away together like loons.
When we finally sobered up, the conversation turned back to more serious matters, like the ongoing mystery underlying my Hermit’s building. “So, when are we gonna go find out where that tunnel leads to? If it’s not in the journal, we need to investigate personally, right?”
“I would, but Brian’s super freaked out by even the idea of me going back into those tunnels. I mean, he’s doing so much better these days, and I don’t want to undermine all that goodness by pushing too far. But, yeah, personally I’d love to finish exploring down there. Considering what I found in the basement of the Hotel Liberty, can you imagine what else might be down there?”
“I know, right? It’s like looking for buried pirate treasure or something,” Daph enthused, an eager glint in her big brown eyes.
“Well, I don’t know about any treasure, but I sure as shit want to find the answers to all this mystery,” I agreed with her. “You know how much I hate it when I’ve got some puzzle that I can’t quite solve. It eats at me until I figure it out. And this is one huge fucking puzzle.”
We sat around talking it all through for the rest of the evening until we ran out of popcorn and soda. The upshot of the conversation was that Daphne agreed to pick me up from TAIP after I got out of class the next day so she could accompany me back into Egbert’s tunnels. We figured that, with the both of us ganging up on him, Eggy wouldn’t be able to resist our pleading and would allow us to continue our adventuring. It had always worked on our parents, so I had high hopes that together we’d wear him down.
“Hey, Eggy! Long time no see, Handsome!” Daphne greeted my poor unsuspecting recluse when we showed up en masse at his door the next afternoon.
“Uh, yeah, hi, Daphne . . .”
Brian looked like he was about to bolt for about a half a second, so I swooped in and distracted him with a nice, long, slow, intense kiss that left us both so breathless and hard that I almost forgot Daph was still standing there.
“Don’t mind her, Eggy. Daph just came by to be my wing person and safety monitor while I invade your basement again,” I explained when the kissing ended, trying to joke my way through the shitstorm I knew was coming.
“Justin, I told you, I don’t think it’s a good idea to be messing around in hundred and twenty year old tunnels . . .”
“I know. I know. But I just can’t stand not knowing, Eggy. Besides, the tunnels have held up this long, I don’t see why my going down there would cause them to come tumbling down. Plus, as long as I have Daph with me as my backup, she’ll make sure nothing bad happens to me. Right, Daph?”
Daphne nodded emphatically, but nothing seemed to dissuade Brian of his nebulous fears about all the bad things that were going to happen to us if we went back down into the tunnels. Finally, Daphne, expeditious as always, just took matters into her own hands, ignored Brian’s ongoing protests, and headed into the old pizza place on her own. Brian and I trotted after her. When we all came to the locked door that led down to the basement, Daph stood there, pointing authoritatively at the lock and giving Brian that look like he was a naughty toddler who needed to buck up already. It worked on him just as well as it had always worked on me. In mere seconds, Eggy was obediently unlocking the door and then standing back so that Daph and I could precede him down the narrow stairs.
Brian was more than a little antsy as I worked the secret door to the hidden room and then pushed the big chest of drawers away so we could open the door to the tunnel. Out of the corner of my eye I could see his fingers nervously twisting at the hem of the t-shirt he was wearing. I felt for him, really, I did, but not enough to stop. Despite my earlier misadventure and sprained ankle, I knew there wasn’t any real danger in going into the tunnels again. He was just projecting his fears onto me. There wasn’t any way to prove that to him, though, without just doing it. Or at least that’s what I thought at the time.
Meanwhile, Daphne was rifling through my bag and pulling out the flashlights we’d brought, making sure that they were working and the beams were bright and strong. When the door was opened, she bounced over to me and handed off one of the flashlights. I could tell by the bubbling energy wafting off her that my BFF was just a tiny bit excited by the prospect of our adventure. However, before I could join her in her fervor, I had to take care of my man.
Walking up to Brian I boldly wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him close enough for a reassuring kiss. “We’ll be fine, Eggy. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that. You have no fucking idea what’s down there,” he countered stubbornly.
“You’re right. I don’t. Oooh, maybe there’s a scary monster that’s been locked down there since time began,” I smiled.
“Justin, don’t fucking patronize me,” he sighed loudly and pulled me in tighter, our bodies now pressed firmly together.
“I know. I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better I’m pretty sure it’s just a long, empty, unused tunnel,” I replied, losing my battle with my sense of humor and adding, “but if we come across a nest of vampires or a dragon’s den, at least I’ll have died in an exciting and memorable way, right?”
“Brat!” he complained, with a hint of a smile finally breaking through the mask of worry.
“Now, we’re determined to find the end of the tunnel, so it might take a while, okay? I don’t want you freaking out if we’re not back in ten minutes or anything. But I promise not to dilly dally or anything, and we’ll come right back here as soon as we can.” He looked ready to panic again. “You know, you don’t have to stay down here and wait for us. You can go back upstairs. Do something productive, or at least distracting, so you’re not just standing here, imagining the worst, and coming unglued.”
Brian shook his head. “Nope. I’m staying down here. I don’t think I could concentrate on anything else.”
“Fine. Suit yourself, Eggy.” I freed myself from his arms and joined Daphne at the tunnel entrance. “Okay. Be right back . . .”
We stepped into the murkiness of the long dark tunnel, leaving Eggy standing sentinel in the doorway, and headed off on our mission of discovery. I was well familiar with the first leg of the tunnel so we didn’t waste any time, trotting around all the piles of rubble, past the skylights, and then around the first bend. Daph took the lead through the second section, beating me to the door of the Hotel Liberty and then yelling for me to hurry up. I hadn’t bothered to lock up after my previous visit, though, so she already had the door opened by the time I caught up to her. We scrambled through the door and I flicked the switch that lit up the big glass light fixtures, illuminating the red-bedecked room.
“Wow! Sweet!” Daphne exclaimed as she ran her fingers along the dusty top of the long bar. “This place is legit. I could so see us hanging out here and drinking some night. Too bad the folks upstairs don’t even know it exists.”
“All the better for us to keep it to ourselves,” I replied. “A secret hideaway isn’t any fun if it isn’t secret.”
“True dat!” she agreed with me. “So, show me all the antique dildos!” Daphne, straight to the point as usual.
I obliged, pulling open the cupboard and showing her the drawers, laughing as Daph exclaimed over all the dangerous looking toys she found. And while she was doing that, I took a minute or two to examine the side wall, looking for some mechanism that might open up a hidden door to the rest of the building. It took a little bit of searching, but eventually I discovered that the crack between the wall and the panelling that made up the last section of the shelving behind the bar was a larger, darker gap than necessary. Trailing my fingers over the woodwork, I found a piece of decorative scrollwork that, when pressed, seemed to give. I heard a metallic click and then stepped back with a triumphant smile as that whole section of shelving swivelled inward.
“Aha! Found the exit!” I announced to my friend.
Daph joined me and we peeked our heads around the opening, finding nothing more than another small, almost empty, basement room. In the corner I could see some HVAC equipment and there was the usual pile of random junk piled around, but nothing of real interest. Which was good, because I really didn’t want to spend my time here anyway; I wanted to follow that tunnel.
“You seen enough for now?” I asked my companion in crime, and Daphne nodded her agreement. “Okay. Let’s go find out where our tunnel leads.”
We shut the basement door to Beefy’s Bar and Dildo Emporium and made sure the drawers and cupboards were all closed as well, then switched off the lights and headed back out. The tunnel took a sharp left turn - more than ninety degrees - just beyond the door that led into the Hotel Liberty, so we headed around this corner and flashed our lights along the next, unknown, stretch of darkness.
This section of the tunnel looked, if anything, more disused than the section closer to Eggy's building. It was darker too. There was only one, exceedingly dim, patch of light at the far end of the passageway, but it wasn’t nearly enough to illuminate the space to any reasonable degree. There was also a lot more damage to the walls and ceiling in this section. The piles of loose bricks and assorted rubble made the floor almost unnavigable in spots. At one point there had even been a small cave in on the right side, the crumbled brick and cement exposing a cracked metal pipe that dribbled foul-smelling liquid into a muddy puddle on the floor. I made a mental note NOT to inform Egbert about that little factoid, as it would only serve to strengthen his arguments about the tunnels being unsafe.
Despite all this, though, Daph and I managed to make our way pretty well. When we arrived at the spot where that dim glow trickled down from the ceiling, you could see it was coming from another skylight built into the sidewalk above. When you looked up, however, all you could see was something large and dark blocking out all but a three inch wide strip of the glass blocks. No wonder it was pitch black down here, right?
By whatever dim light the blocked skylight did provide, though, we could see that the tunnel took yet another turn at that point. This corner was an almost perfect ninety degree angle, heading us off to the right again. Unfortunately, by that point I was totally turned around. I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and tapped on the compass app icon; according to that, we were now headed roughly south-southwest. That was about all I could tell, though, since I didn’t have enough of a signal to make the map app work. Stupid tunnels.
“Should we go on, or turn back?” Daphne asked, shining her flashlight ahead of her into the new section of tunnel. “There’s absolutely no light down this way at all.”
“I’m not going back till we reach the end of this tunnel.”
“Okay, then. Lead on, Marco Polo,” she teased, stepping aside to let me take point.
This last section of tunnel was in the worst repair of all. We saw at least two more cave-ins and there was a lot more dampness from questionable sources. It kinda stunk, but at least there wasn’t any visible sewage or anything. It was just dank and musty and stale smelling. We carefully made our way over and around whatever obstacles we found, including one especially tricky spot where we had to crawl over a large concrete block that stuck out from the left wall, pretty much blocking the entire passage. Luckily, this branch of the tunnel network was the shortest yet, so it didn’t take us too long to reach the end.
And, yes, this time it really was the end. Just a few meters past the big concrete block, the tunnel came to a dead end, our progress halted by a rusty metal grate that blocked the entire passageway. The grating had a small gate in it - just big enough for a person to get through, but only if he or she ducked down - which was secured by a very old looking lock. I tried shaking the gate, testing the strength of the lock, but the whole thing was so badly corroded that it barely budged. If anything, the lock apparatus seemed even more rusted than the rest of it, making it doubtful that I could get it open even assuming I could pick such a relic. Looking through the bars of the grating, I could see steps leading upward, presumably to the surface, except that the exit was blocked with some sort of metal plate. It probably wasn’t worth it to even try to get out that way.
However, there appeared to be a second option. Just to the left of the grating leading out of the tunnel, there was a doorway secured by what looked like an ordinary-looking, grey, metal door. This door was even fairly modern, at least compared to the tunnel. It was secured with a standard deadbolt lock; not a problem for Egbert’s favorite burglar. The only question was where this doorway led to and would we be immediately arrested for breaking and entering if I picked the lock and we let ourselves out that way.
I looked sideways at Daphne, silently questioning her whether we should try the door or just turn around and go back. Daph scrunched up her face, her head tilted to the left as she thought. In the end, all she gave me was a shrug and a ‘whatever’ gesture, leaving the decision up to me. Which was a bad call, because I’d always been a bit of a trouble maker, not to mention a notoriously bad decision maker. And right at that moment, I was thinking, ‘why the hell not?’.
So, without further ado, I pulled my pick set out of the back pocket of my jeans and went to work on the door to the unknown.
“Ever the professional,” Daphne teased as she watched me work my magic.
It turned out to be a slightly higher than average quality lock, so it was a little tricky to pick. It took me probably close to five minutes to figure it out. Daphne stood by, holding her flashlight so I could see what I was doing, and trying not to bug me too much by repeatedly asking how it was going. Just before I was about to give up and say ‘fuck it’, though, the last of the pins dropped into place and I was able to turn the mechanism, releasing the deadbolt. Then, with a nervous look at my burglary buddy, I pushed down on the door handle and slowly pulled the door open.
I stopped as soon as there was a crack big enough to see through. I was surprised that there was already light coming from behind the door - I’d expected to find myself in another practically empty basement - and I worried that there would be someone in there that would catch us and possibly be angry. I really couldn’t see much around the edge of the door, however, so I was forced to keep going, come what may. I carefully opened the door wider, all the while waiting for some shout of protest. When nobody came to investigate, though, I took a deep breath, mentally crossed imaginary fingers, and then poked my head all the way through the opening.
What I saw wasn’t what I expected. The room behind the metal door looked like any other storage room, only this one was much cleaner and tidier than most. The area was well lit by several long fluorescent ceiling fixtures. The walls were lined with metal shelving, floor to ceiling, and various items of equipment, tools, and plastic storage bins were stacked on the shelves. A few larger items, like a ladder and a metal cart, were lying on the floor, but nothing was noticeably out of place. The shelving on the far wall was jam packed with bankers’ boxes, all prominently labeled by year and chronologically arranged with the oldest years on the top left of the leftmost shelf. Thankfully, there didn’t appear to be anyone in the room, despite the lights having been left on.
“Where the fuck are we?” Daphne whispered nervously as we both stepped into the room and looked around ourselves more thoroughly.
“No idea,” I replied as I examined one of those storage boxes more closely. “Someplace with the cleanest basement ever seen by man, it appears.”
Daphne followed me, just as curious, lifting the lid of one box so she could snoop inside. “Hmm, looks like old newspapers and pictures and stuff.” She fished out an old hard-bound book, opened it to a random page, and ‘hmmed’ again. “Hmm. It’s just like our high school yearbook, only for the graduating class of like a hundred years ago.” She turned the book around, holding it up so I could see the array of sepia-tinted photos. “These guys all have the same gay hair as your architect, Justin. You think your Peebles guy is in here?”
I grabbed the book out of her hands and turned it around so I could read the title on the front. ‘Duquesne Club Membership Roster - 1928’.
“I doubt it. Peebles was probably dead by 1928. But some of these other guys in here might have known him,” I surmised, handing the book back to Daph so she could return it to the box where it had come from. Then I looked in another box, finding similar items of memorabilia, all of which seemed related to my father’s social club. “So, I’m going out on a limb here, and I’m gonna say that I think we somehow emerged in the basement of the Duquesne Club.”
“I’d say you’re right,” Daph agreed as she rifled through more documents. “I guess we know where your architect’s tunnel came out . . . I mean, I get connecting up with the Hotel so they could get their orgy thing on, but why hook up his building with some drafty old social club?”
“I don’t know. Maybe all the founding fathers of Pittsburgh were closet gays?”
“Yeah, that’s likely,” Daph scoffed at me.
“I suppose that it was the one place where Billy’s family wouldn’t give him shit for going,” I hypothesized as I worked through the mystery in my mind. “It kinda makes sense, right? According to his journal, Billy was here at the Club all the time for meetings and shit. So his father wouldn’t have any reason to complain about him coming here. And if he just conveniently left after his meeting by way of the basement exit instead of the front door, who would have been the wiser? He could then go to see his lover, Peebles, or go hang with Beefy’s queers, or whatever, without getting caught. Its kinda ingenious actually. I just wonder how Peebles managed it without being found out.”
I’m about to look into another of the boxes of memorabilia, looking for an answer to that particular quandary, when I hear voices coming from behind me and a door - not the one we came in through from the tunnel - opened to reveal a young man dressed in the Club’s typical waiter uniform; black dress pants, a white button down shirt and a dark maroon vest. This guy is about the same age as I am, maybe a little older, but his stockier build makes him look more mature. I vaguely recognize him from my infrequent visits with my father. In fact, he might have been one of the bartenders at the Christmas party. I can tell right away that he recognizes me.
The initial exclamation our waiter was going to throw at some interloper who had invaded the Club was immediately suffocated and, instead, he offers a more deferential warning. “I’m sorry but this area is for employees only, Sir.”
“Of course,” I push the box I’d been rifling through back onto the shelf and turn around to face the waiter. “I was just showing my guest around and we got turned around.” It was a bald-faced lie and everyone knew it but since I was the son of a paying Member this guy would never call me on it. “When we saw all these boxes, though, we got curious. Does the Club keep all it’s records? How far back do they go?”
“I don’t know. You’d have to talk to the Manager about that, Sir,” Mr. Deferential replied even as he held the door open in a clear invitation for me and Daphne to get the hell out of there. “We need to lock up now, if you don’t mind.”
There was no helping it. We couldn’t just tell this waiter guy off and go back through the tunnels - not unless we wanted to give away the fact that we’d broken in to start with. So Daph and I let Mr. Waiter Guy lead us out of the room through the regular door, which emptied into a dark and narrow hallway. Mr. Waiter stayed right on our tails the whole way, as if to usher us upstairs and make sure that we wouldn’t get into more trouble in rooms that we weren’t supposed to be in. We all trooped up the stairs and eventually found ourselves on the main floor of the Club in the back hallway next to the rest rooms. Mr. Waiter watched diligently as I escorted Daphne the rest of the way out to the lobby, leaving the disapproving waiter standing guard over the basement stairs.
That’s when I looked down at the time display on my phone and realized just how long we’d been gone. I imagined that Brian would be going insane waiting for us. Shit! I grabbed Daphne’s arm and we started running back towards Brian’s building.
“Can you fucking believe how close we were to getting caught?” She laughed almost gleefully as we pounded the pavement of Liberty Avenue. Thank fuck I was still wearing a support bandage on my ankle because without it I probably would have fallen face first into the road.
I shook my head as I continued running, I was now almost desperate to get back to Brian and reassure him that I was okay. I can only imagine what was going through his mind right then. But shit, we were so lucky we weren’t caught as we were coming in through the door. That’s all I needed - getting arrested at my father's social club for breaking and entering. Dad would have been livid.
“That was too fucking close, Daph.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, though. Maybe it was the adrenaline or something, but as I rattled the door to Eggy’s building, kicking it open in my best Burglar imitation, I started laughing almost manically. Daphne joined in. I don’t think either of us knew what we were actually laughing about, but it was obviously a release that we both needed.
We sped through the lobby, heading for the basement stairs. As the door to the pizza place shut loudly behind us, I suddenly heard Brian thundering up the stairs from the dungeon. Shit, he didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked furious. His face was taut and I could hear him breathing loudly as he stood at the entranceway.
Daph and I had immediately stopped laughing as we saw Brian barrelling towards us, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly felt thick with tension.
“Brian, I’m sor . . .”
I didn’t get to finish my apology as he rushed towards me, almost tackling me to the ground with the impetus as he threw his arms around me.
“You’re okay. Thank fuck, you’re okay,” he kept repeating this in my ear as he hugged me tighter. “I was so fucking worried, Justin. You were gone so long. What the hell happened? Actually, you know what? I don’t want to know.”
“I’m fine. We both are. I’m sorry I worried you,” I heard myself apologizing into his chest. The sound of his heart beating furiously against my ear made me feel like a complete and utter asshole. “I didn’t mean to be gone so long.”
“I thought . . . I don’t know what I thought actually. But it wasn’t good.”
“But we’re back now and we’re fine,” Daphne piped up.
I’d forgotten for a second that Daphne was still standing next to us. But there she was, using her soothing manner to calm Brian down, and it was working. I could hear his breathing normalize and his heart was no longer threatening to explode from his chest.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” and I watched as, without a second thought, Brian reached his hand out to pat Daphne’s slightly rumpled and dusty shoulder. It was quick, and I don’t think he even knew he was doing it, but Daphne’s eyes widened ever so slightly - something only a best friend would notice. And the moment Brian’s eyes were back on me, I could see her giving me a very subtle thumbs up out of the corner of my eye.
Then, just when I thought this moment couldn’t get any better, Brian wrapped his hands around the sides of my face, holding me in place while he stared intently into my eyes. He just stood there, looking at me while one of his thumbs absentmindedly stroked my cheek. I went to say something but he shook his head, silently telling me to keep whatever I was going to say to myself. The next thing I know, he’s bent down and taken my lips in a deep kiss that almost took my breath away, and he didn’t release me until he’d kissed me thoroughly. But the thing that really DID take my breath away - this time with an overwhelming burst of pride - was when my favorite germaphobe used one of his big thumbs to wipe away a small smudge of dirt on my cheek.
And he didn’t even flinch, he just casually wiped the filth off on the leg of his jeans and then turned, his arm around my waist, and led me and Daph back out through the lobby doors and up to his rooms.