Yellow Eyes

by Sonya Lee

  Chapter 19

   

  The police had everything in place.  Katrina's car had been picked up from the Morae Hotel and brought to the captain's house.  They had outfitted her car with video surveillance monitoring and wire taps.   Diane loaned Katrina something to wear to the memorial service.  Katrina wore a simple black dress that stopped just above the knees.  She wore black pumps and carried a black clutch handbag.  She decided not to wear diamonds or any form of jewelry in difference to Kim who had died over diamonds she hadn't known existed.  She wore her hair flowing down her back in luscious waves to detract from the fact she wasn't wearing jewelry.

  Katrina had spoken to Allison the other night and told her she would be attending the memorial service. She had also told her she wanted to come stay with her and the cousins until their apartment was ready.  She hoped that the cousins didn't mind having an extra female there for a couple weeks.  Allison told her she'd already checked out the apartment and if she was coming on Wednesday, they might be able to move their things in Friday.  The apartment was already furnished.  The only thing they needed to do was go grocery and clothes shopping.

  Katrina was set to leave the captain's house at 9:30.  The service began at 10:00.  They did one more sound check for the wiretap before she left.  She would have just enough time to get to the auditorium of the Lennox Building.  She parked her car and walked towards the building.  She saw several students she knew walking in the same direction.  She looked up and saw Allison and one of her cousins standing in front of the building.  Allison waved at her to get her attention.  Katrina walked a little faster.  They embraced when she arrived at their location. They entered the building.

  "We're sitting on stage with Sophie.  She wanted us to be up there with her.  She didn't want to do this alone," said Allison.

  Sure she didn't thought Katrina.  She wouldn't have to do this at all if she'd given the diamonds back to Adan and Maxi.  Instead Katrina said, "No we can't let her go through this alone.  Why didn't her parents come?"

  "They couldn't do two services.  Kim's funeral is tomorrow and they're leaving for France after the funeral.  They want to get away from the press and everything for a few weeks," said Allison.

  "Is Sophie going with them?" asked Katrina.

  "Yes, they don't want her to be alone.  They've already withdrawn her from State," said Allison.  At that point the trio had arrived at the stage.  They glanced out at the audience.  The auditorium seated twenty five hundred people and it was packed.  It appeared that the majority of the graduate college had come to pay their respects.  Katrina took a deep breath. She and Allison walked on the stage towards Sophie.  Sophie was wearing a black sheath dress.  Every curve of her body was defined by the dress.  She wore diamonds studs in her ears and a diamond choker with teardrops dangled down to her cleavage.  Her hair was pulled back in a bun.  Katrina looked at the diamonds draped around Sophie's neck and her blood began to rage. She looked into her eyes and saw anguish there.  She faltered for a second.  Could Sophie have allowed her sister to be tortured and killed over diamonds?  She tried searching Sophie's face again, but Sophie encased her in a bear hug. "No one blames you, it's not your fault," said Sophie.

  Katrina's entire body tensed up.  It was all she could do not to attack Sophie right there on the stage.  Sophie released her and looked her in the eyes.  "It's okay," she said.  But the look in her eyes was one of triumph instead of despair now.

  Katrina sat down on the stage.  She was livid.  This heifer was trying to deflect the blame for Kim's murder on to her.  Katrina started wringing her hands.  Allison noticed the movement and touched her on the shoulder.  It helped to soothe Katrina's frayed nerves and prevented her from attacking Sophie on the stage.  Katrina gave her attention to the memorial service.

  The memorial service lasted forty-five minutes.  Several of Kim's professors spoke of her talented mind and selfless spirit.  Some of the kids from the tutoring program Kim volunteered at spoke as well.  All around the auditorium, Katrina could see the impact that Kim had on peoples' lives.  She would truly be missed. 

  Sophie asked them to wait for her after the memorial service had ended.  She didn't want to go back to their apartment.  A half hour after the service had ended Sophie was finished talking to the attendees and they left.  Sophie asked if she could ride with Katrina.  Sophie had used a car service to get to the memorial service from the airport, but had dismissed them when she had arrived.  She knew she would be able to get a ride from one of them.  Katrina and Sophie didn't speak very much on the ride to the apartment.  Katrina decided now would be a good time to breach the subject of the laptop.

  "Sophie, I know this might not be the best time, but I was wondering if you'd take a look at my laptop, it isn't working," said Katrina.

  "Sophie looked at Katrina for a moment before she spoke, "She told you didn't she? I swear that girl can't hold water," said Sophie in exasperation.

  Katrina froze for a moment, she wasn't sure how to respond to that statement. Katrina feigned ignorance to be on the safe side. "Told me what?" she asked.

  "Allison told you I wasn't coming back to state," she replied.

  "Yes, she did mention that fact," said Katrina.

  "You're acting just like my sister, always trying to steer me in the right direction.  I guess you think that if I play with your laptop, I'll change my mind.  But I won't.  I never wanted to go to State.  But my parents wouldn't let me go to any other school.  They wanted someone to keep an eye on me.  That's how I ended up at State.  MIT is a much better technology school. I would have been happy to go there, but nooo. Sophie took a deep breath and seemed to collect herself. "I'm sorry Katrina, I didn't mean to explode on you like that.  I just miss her so much. It's easier to be mad at her than mourn her." No trace of her earlier outburst was evident in her words now.

  "It's okay," said Katrina.

  "I'll take a look at it.  I'll have to see what I did wrong," said Sophie.

  They arrived at the apartment building and Katrina busied herself looking for a parking space.  She was lucky enough to find one a half block away.  Sophie helped her gather her few remaining possessions out of the trunk and they walked to the apartment building.  Allison and John were waiting for them in the lobby of the building.

  "Change of plans," said Allison.

  "What kind of change?" asked Katrina.

  "Apparently when I told my cousins you needed to stay for a couple of weeks they went into overdrive.  The apartment is ready, security has been informed that we are moving in and they have already moved my things into the apartment. I guess two females were a bit much for them to handle right now," said Allison.

  Their apartment was on the seventeenth floor.  Gary rode up with them and got them settled in.  He showed Allison where they had placed her things and promptly left. Katrina and Sophie wondered into the second bedroom.  They placed Katrina's things on the floor.  Katrina continued to explore the room.  Sophie walked around the apartment, checking it out as well.  "This is nice," she said from Katrina's bedroom door.  Sophie turned and went back to the living room.  She sat on the couch.

  Katrina followed behind her with her laptop in tow.  She handed it to Sophie. "I need to shower and find something to wear," said Katrina.  Allison yelled from her room that she was going to take a shower.  Katrina excused herself.  She went to borrow something to wear from Allison.

  When Katrina left the room, Sophie grabbed the laptop and flipped it over.  She was so engrossed in what she was doing she never noticed the changes to the laptop.  She looked over her shoulder to see if Katrina or Allison were coming back into the room.  She heard a shower come on and she heard a door close.  She reached inside her bag and grabbed a laptop battery.  She took the battery off of Katrina's laptop and replaced it with the one from her bag.  She clicked the button on the battery and the compartment slid open.  She poured a couple of diamonds
into her hands to insure they were still in the battery.  She poured them back into the battery compartment and placed the battery in her bag.  She called a car service to pick her up and take her to the airport. She was sitting on the couch humming when Katrina re-entered the room.   

  "Were you able to figure anything out?" asked Katrina.

  "Yes, it was just dust in your battery holder.  It was disrupting the charge, that's why it wouldn't work.  It's working now," said Sophie.

  "Thanks, I'd hate to buy a new laptop right now.  I have way too much valuable stuff on this computer," said Katrina.  Allison came into the room.

  "Sophie, how long do you have before your flight?" asked Allison.

  Sophie looked at her watch, it was 12:00. "My flight leaves at 3:00 this afternoon.  I'm leaving in about fifteen minutes.  I decided to call a car service. I didn't want to put you guys out.  It's been a long morning," said Sophie.

  "It wouldn't have been a problem, I would have dropped you off," said Katrina.

  "Don't worry about it, the car service is already on its way," said Sophie.

  "What about your apartment? What are you going to do about it?" asked Katrina.

  "We're donating everything to the Salvation Army," said Sophie.  They talked for a few more minutes.  Katrina pretending to try to talk Sophie out of leaving State and Sophie pretending to listen.  Sophie's cell phone rang. She answered it and said she'd be right down.  All the ladies hugged one another and said goodbye.

  Katrina walked over to the window and looked down on the scene unfolding. She watched Sophie exit the building and immediately become surrounded by officers from the Chicago Police Department.  Det. John's placed handcuffs on Sophie and Det. Christian escorted her to the car.  Katrina watched until they drove off.

  "What had you so engrossed down there?" asked Allison.

  "I was just watching the police arrest Sophie," said Katrina.

  "What?" said Allison in shock. "Why did the police arrest Sophie?"

  Katrina didn't know where to start.  She told Allison to take a seat and she related the whole sorted event to her over a cup of herbal tea. Allison never imagined that Sophie could be involved in her sister's death.  She hadn't known Sophie as long as Katrina had, but she couldn't imagine someone taking part in their own sister’s death.  Katrina couldn't explain it to her either.  She had no idea why Sophie had done what she had.  They discussed the situation, trying to make sense of it.  They finally let it go for the day.  They knew they'd eventually learn what had motivated Sophie. They decided to take their mind off the situation for now and started working towards making their new apartment into a second home.