This time, when Kellan made to leave, I didn’t stop him.
* * *
One of these days I was going to explode.
I was seething a week later as I paced the length of the living room, my anger growing exponentially every second.
The front door opened, and I spun around, my glare stopping Kellan in his tracks. He hung back, looking wary.
"What have I done now?" he asked carefully.
"You've stuck your nose right where it doesn't belong, that’s what you’ve done!" I waved the letter in my hand. "You paid my bills!" I said, indignantly.
After I’d gotten back from work today, I’d decided to tackle them, thinking that I couldn’t put them off any longer. I’d called the electricity company first – only to be told that last month’s bill had already been paid. The same with the gas, and the phone bill, too.
I’d had a look through some of the unopened post, and the statements had only verified what I’d been told over the phone. It didn’t take a genius to realize who’d paid them.
"Yeah, I did," Kellan said so casually that you’d think we were talking about the weather. He took his jacket off, but kept his gun holster on. In the weeks since Dad’s disappearance, I hadn’t seen him take it off once. He remained constantly vigilant – as though Archie Chambers was likely to walk through the doors any second.
"I had it covered," I told him. "I'm getting my wages in a few days. I would have had enough to pay the bills!”
"And none for food or fuel for your car," Kellan said reasonably. But I wasn't ready to think reasonably. I was too mad.
"I don't want your charity," I hissed.
Kellan straightened, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's not charity," he said harshly, his stormy eyes glinting. "Mario did so much for me... so much more than I ever deserved. I wouldn't be where I was today without him. I owe him. I owe you."
His words, and the emotion behind them, sucked out all the anger in me. I deflated like a popped balloon.
"This is the last time, Kellan. I’ll pay them myself from now on. I’m taking on more hours at work. And I’m going to pay you book for this as soon as I can,” I said, stubbornly. "You have your own bills to pay. You can't pay mine too – especially while you're hardly working."
“I am working.” His face hardened. “And I don’t want you paying me back.”
"Really? How many arrests have you made since Dad went missing?" I asked. "You've spent most of your time looking for him. Don’t do this again."
He stayed silent, not making any promises. I debated pushing him further, but in the end, I decided that the probable headache wouldn’t be worth it.
Axel texted me later on, saying that he wouldn’t be able to make the trip down this weekend as he was having trouble with his car. I tried to dispel the disappointment I felt at that. I’d been looking forward to seeing him all week.
Kellan had planned to follow a lead outside of town, but when he heard the Axel wouldn’t be around, he hesitated to leave me alone.
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine,” I told him. He crossed his arms, looking as though he was debating just staying here with me. With a surge of inspiration, I said, “I’ll go to stay with him. I haven’t gone to visit him in forever. He’s always the one making the trip.”
“You sure?” Kellan asked, not looking as relieved as I would have thought at this idea.
“Yeah. I need to pack, and then I’ll hit the road, too,” I said, warming to the idea more and more.
He slipped on his jacket, his jaw working. “I’ll wait for you to leave.”
I rolled my eyes. “Isn’t Uncle Luke waiting for you? I’ll be fine. I’m leaving in ten minutes. Twenty tops.”
Kellan glanced at the clock, face grim and reluctant. He left not long after, not looking at all happy and as tense as a baseball bat.
I went upstairs to grab some clothes. But as I pulled my old backpack out from under my bed and looked at my closet, I felt overwhelmed just thinking about leaving. I’d gotten back from work half an hour ago, I was tired, and for some reason, the thought of spending the night away sent panic flooding through me.
What if Dad came back while I was gone?
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that the likelihood of that happening was slim, but once the thought flashed through my head, it wouldn’t be ignored.
After mulling it over for a while, I put my backpack away and changed into some pajamas for the night. Kellan and Uncle Luke were going out of town – they’d never know that I’d decided to stay home. They were being far too overprotective anyway. It had been weeks, and nothing had happened.
So I stayed. I cleaned the house from top to bottom, shed a few tears as I tidied up Dad’s bedroom, and then settled downstairs onto the couch.
It was hours later, when the sun had long set and the sky was pitch black, that I realized that maybe their fears hadn’t been completely unfounded.
I’d been sitting on the couch, playing my guitar, when I heard the sound of shattering glass echoing through the kitchen.
I wasn’t alone.
CHAPTER SEVEN
* * *
- KELLAN -
SHE WAS DRIVING me mad. Absolutely insane. I didn’t know why I even went back there every night when I’d most likely save myself a splitting headache by going straight home. But I couldn’t stay away. I’d hardly been back to my place since the day Mario went missing, spending most of the day out chasing useless leads and staking out places that Archie Chambers had been known to visit, before heading back to spend the evening with Ballerina.
I needed to find Archie, and soon. I hadn’t cashed in a check from a bail bondsman in almost two months and my finances were running seriously low. But I couldn’t take on another case. Not until I found him. Not until I found out what he knew – if anything – about Mario’s disappearance. For some reason, I wasn’t so sure he’d be of much use. Archie was a small-time criminal. I couldn’t imagine him being quick enough to pull one over on Mario.
Still, I’d leave no stone unturned. I’d find the bastard and put him behind bars, exactly where he belonged. I’d find out what had happened to Mario – even if it wasn’t through Archie.
Where was Mario? The question plagued me. I’d racked my mind, but hadn’t been able to come up with anything concrete. I was missing something, I was sure of it… but what?
Luke whistled to himself as he shuffled through a list of phone numbers that I’d secured from Archie’s phone bills. There had been a lot of useless numbers. Two pizza places, a Chinese takeout, and a burger joint that he rang up regularly. Archie Chambers hadn’t been a social butterfly – far from it, in fact – and his call history reflected that. But there were a few numbers that stood out.
Right now, we were headed to Archie’s mother’s house. They hadn’t been in touch in years, but we’d been tipped off by a scorned ex-girlfriend that he’d arrived there early this morning.
I hoped that the fucker was still there. We’d hit a traffic jam as soon as we got onto the interstate.
We’d heard on Luke’s scanner that there had been a traffic accident that had resulted in a six car pile-up. We’d been on the road two hours, and had only travelled about twenty miles.
I was already antsy to head back. I couldn’t ensure April’s safety while I was so far away from her, and I owed it to Mario to take care of her. He would have wanted... Shit. When had I started talking about him in the past tense?
I couldn’t give in. I couldn’t accept that he wasn’t coming back. Not until I had concrete evidence. Not until I had proof that he was gone. Until then, I’d stick tight to the small niggling piece of hope that remained at the back of my mind. That he was out there somewhere, safe, and alive.
I sighed, moving the car forward a few feet before I had to stop again. We’d been at a complete standstill for over half an hour.
I wanted to hurry back. I had a bad feeling about le
aving Ballerina alone. Lord knew what she’d get up to. I’d texted her about an hour ago, checking in and making sure she’d reached her little friend’s place, but she hadn’t replied.
I tried not to over think it. She didn’t always reply straight away. I was just antsy because I knew I wouldn’t be around. Yeah, that was it.
She’d always been a little spitfire. Always managed to get herself into trouble. What if Ballerina and her friend decided to go out? What if something happened? I didn’t know what unnerved me more; leaving April alone, or the fact that she would be spending the night at his apartment.
God, I fucking hated to admit, even just to myself, that it aggravated me. I never could tell what the deal was with them. Sometimes, I really did think they were friends. Others, I wasn’t so sure.
Last week, I’d come over just in time to see them climbing down the stairs. Fuck, if I hadn’t wanted to punch a wall then.
The cars in front of us finally started to pick up speed, and before long we were cruising down the highway.
“Stop at the next gas station, will you, Kellan? I need to use the restroom something fierce,” Luke said, shifting in the passenger seat. It had been over two hours since we’d left. We would have been on our way back by now if not for the traffic.
“Sure.”
Seeing a gas station on the left about ten minutes later, I turned into it. Luke went to the restroom, and I filled up the tank.
After paying, I settled against a wall near the car. It would be a long night, and I could do with a quick smoke.
Luke walked by once he was done with the bathroom, saying he’d wait for me in the car while I finished my cigarette. .
I had just put it out when my cell phone beeped in my back pocket. Pulling it out, I squinted at the text. I didn’t read so good. Never had done. I preferred calls to texts, and most people knew that.
I frowned, trying to make out the words. And when I got the gist of it, I rushed straight back towards the car.
- APRIL -
With my heart hammering in my chest, I put my guitar down on the ground as quietly and as quickly as I could – not an easy feat considering how badly my hands were shaking – and grabbed my cell phone. I backed out of the living room, hearing a guy guffawing in the back yard and another cursing rapidly.
I ran down the hall and hit the panic button that Dad had installed inside the house when we’d moved in. It set off an alarm that requested assistance from the local police, and it was a whole lot quicker than calling them.
The button locked into place – letting me know that a signal had been sent.
I ran towards the front door, and cursed when I remembered that I’d locked the door earlier on in the evening. The keys were on a hook in the hallway. I grabbed them, fumbling for the right one. There were dozens of keys on the damn keyring.
I felt exposed, standing there in the hallway, and fought the urge to run upstairs and hide under my bed. I needed to get out of the house. Now.
I knew immediately when they were inside. The sound of glass breaking stopped. I could only assume that they’d shattered enough of the French doors to get through. I wanted to kick myself. Sure, they were pretty, but doors made out of glass? No wonder Dad had intended to replace them. He’d always been very security and safety conscious. I’d thought it a shame to replace the pretty doors with something more safe and practical.
I found what I thought was the right key, but my hands were shaking so badly that I ended up dropping the whole bunch of them on the floor. I quickly snatched them up, but froze, my breath completely leaving me, when I heard two pairs of strong footsteps approaching.
They’d catch me standing right across from them in the hallway, and with that terrifying thought at the front of my mind, I half stumbled into the closet across from Dad’s study. It had some shoes and coats in there, but the door had hardly been opened since we’d moved in and dust assaulted my nose as soon as I got in. I pulled the door closer, but stopped shy of completely closing it when I heard the footsteps make their way straight into Dad’s study… almost as though they’d known exactly where to go.
I held my breath, wondering if they’d seen the door move. After waiting a moment, I deduced that they hadn’t. The door was still slightly ajar, but I was too afraid to close it in case it made a noise.
I heard rustling coming from the other room. One guy was cursing, and the other one seemed to be instructing him on what to do.
I still had my phone in my hand and the house keys too. Careful not to rustle the keys, I typed out a text to Kellan with unsteady hands – letting him know that there were intruders in the house and that I was currently in the closet.
I could just imagine his reaction to getting that text.
God, why hadn’t I just gone to Axel’s like I’d told him I would? And how long would the police take to get here? How long ago had I pressed the panic button? Twenty seconds? A minute? I couldn’t tell.
My breath coming out in short pants, I felt like I’d pass out at any second. I was terrified of being discovered.
“We need to hurry the fuck up, Slade, and find the flash drive. You made enough noise to wake the whole neighborhood back there,” one of the guys said, his voice harsh.
Flash drive?
I heard some banging and some more rustling and realized that they were going through Dad’s files.
Moisture broke out on my forehead as I grasped that this wasn’t just a random break-in. They weren’t ordinary burglars, looking for valuables. They were looking for something specific. A flash drive. Did they have something to do with Dad’s disappearance?
Bracing myself, I risked a peek through the gap in the door, and stopped breathing altogether when the door creaked slightly as I accidently opened it an inch further. It was a small noise, but it sounded as loud as a truck horn to me just then. I prayed that it would go unnoticed.
“What the fuck was that?” the other guy, Slade, said. I watched him turn around sharply, but dark as it was, I couldn’t make out his face at all. They hadn’t turned on the light in the study and were using flashlights. I could barely make out his profile; bulky and a fair bit shorter than the other man beside him.
“It was probably nothing. The little bitch is out of town, and the house is empty,” the taller guy said. Little bitch? I didn’t need two guesses to figure out who they were talking about, and ice slid down my spine. How had they known that I’d planned to go out of town tonight?
I was becoming more and more convinced by the minute that this had something to do with Dad.
I looked out again, determined to learn as much as possible, and could make out Slade’s figure rummaging through drawers in Dad’s desk.
The other guy, who was closer to the study door, went back to Dad’s filing cabinets, pulling out random files and throwing them on the floor as he felt around at the bottom of each drawer.
“I’ve found it!” he suddenly said. Pulling his arm out of the large drawer, he held up something that was small, silver, and the size of his thumb.
“I wonder what’s on it,” Slade said, having abandoned his search of Dad’s desk. His words made me pause. They were searching for a flash drive, but had no idea what was on it?
That didn’t make any sense.
“We’ll never find out. Tony will have our heads if he even suspects we’ve looked at what’s on it,” the taller guy said, turning the flash drive round and round in his hands.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Slade said, making his way out from behind the desk. He bumped into a painting on the wall as he got out, revealing the small safe built into the wall behind it. Of all the rotten luck. I closed my eyes. I didn’t know exactly what was in the safe, but I knew that whatever Dad kept in there was extremely important. “Hell, yeah. Now that’s what I’m talking about!”
The other guy put the flash drive on top of the filing cabinet and moved towards the safe, his movements quick
and eager. “What do you think is in there?”
“Dunno.” Slade bent over and peered closer at it. “Tony doesn’t pay us enough for this shit, man. He wouldn’t care if we helped ourselves while we were here.”
The way they talked… it sounded very much like they had a boss. A boss that had hired them to retrieve that flash drive.
Where the fuck were the police? I wondered with mounting impatience.
My whole body ached from how still and tense I’d remained this whole time, and my heart continued to race. It had been several minutes since I’d first heard the shattering glass, but it felt like hours had gone by while I’d been stuck in the closet.
Both of the men had their backs towards me as they examined the safe. Slade had a crowbar, and was using it to try and pull the safe out of the wall.
Would they stop there? Or would they search the rest of the house and find my hiding spot before the police got here?
Making up my mind, and grateful for the noise they were making, I stepped out of the closet. And then I did something so completely stupid that I later wondered what on earth had possessed me to do it.
Instead of moving towards the front door, I moved quickly, without thought, towards the open door of the study.
The filing cabinet was just on the left of the door. Without even stepping into the room, I grabbed the flash drive on top of it before hurrying towards the front door.
My hands still trembling, I shoved the right key into the lock. And just as the lock turned, I heard the blessed, beautiful sound of police sirens close by.
I didn’t stick around to see what the men behind me would do. I ran as hard and as fast as I could out the door.
* * *
The police came and immediately went into the house after asking about any weapons I may have seen. I told them I hadn’t noticed any, aside from the crowbar.
An elderly neighbor that I’d never even spoken to before came over and hustled me across the street onto her front yard where a plastic picnic table lay on the grass. She sat me down on it and disappeared through her front door to get me a cup of coffee.
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