"Yeah," Gianna sighed heavily. "Gianna Taylor."
"And you are, sir?" Officer Cooper asked looking me up and down.
"Remel Robinson. I'm her boyfriend," I answered.
Mullins clicked her pen. "Well we did a full sweep, and nothing looks out of place. No broken windows. But that lock has definitely been picked." She pointed to it as Cooper stooped down to inspect it closer.
Gianna removed herself from my embrace to fold her arms around herself. "So…someone was definitely in here then?" she asked cautiously.
"Hard to say," Mullins admitted. "The lock has been picked, but there's nothing in there to suggest anyone actually entered."She pointed to the corner. "Noticed some cameras. Do they work?"
Ronnie rolled her eyes. "No," she huffed. "This dumb ass building was supposed to get them fixed months ago and they've been dragging their feet."
Cooper stood. "You're both pretty, young women. Anybody you suspect would want to try to come in—old boyfriends maybe?"
Ronnie and Gianna shared a look.
Gianna exhaled slowly. "Not a boyfriend exactly. But I used to see a guy who got kinda clingy. I saw him randomly at a restaurant last month. He got upset when I didn’t want to talk to him. Then I noticed a black truck following me and my boyfriend a couple of times."
"What's his name?" Mullins asked.
"Bishop Avery." Gianna licked her lips as the officer wrote it down. "I have a partial plate I took of the truck too," she added grabbing her phone out of her pocket. She showed it to Mullins who wrote it down.
"We'll run the partial and the name. See if anything comes up and let you know," Mullins said. "In the meantime, being here is no longer safe for you two. I would suggest you stay somewhere else tonight."
"What about all our stuff?" Ronnie threw up her hands. "We can't just leave everything unprotected like this."
"We can put up some caution tape," Collins suggested. "Changing the locks won't matter if someone knows how to pick them. We can also write a statement to assist with breaking your lease."
"This is fuckinginsane." Ronnie pressed her fingers to her head in frustration. "I can't believe this is happening."
Gianna was silent. Staring off into the apartment. They were in no condition to deal with this.
"Thank you, Officers." I spoke up, shifting Melo in my arms. "The caution tape will do, and if you can get that statement written before you go, we would greatly appreciate it. Do you mind sticking around while the ladies go inside to do inventory? Make sure there are no valuables missing that need to be logged."
Collins nodded. "Absolutely. We can do that," he agreed respectfully.
Ronnie looked like she was split between crashing out or crying. "Ronnie?" I looked over at her. Her eyes flicked to me. "I got you. Relax." Through the anxiousness, she was able to give me a grateful look and nod.
"Baby—" I said gently taking Gianna's hand. She blinked up at me. "Let's go in and make sure nothing is missing, okay?"
"Okay," she mumbled.
We went inside. The officers waited. Mullins inside—Collins in the hallway. Ronnie went to her room while we went to Gianna's. I laid Melo down carefully on her bed before stretching my arms out.
Gianna stood in the center of the room looking around. "Everything looks fine." She shook her head in bewilderment.
"Just double check, babe." I kissed her forehead.
She went to closet first. Checked. Nothing was missing. All her jewelry, designer bags and shoes were accounted for. Still shaking her head mumbling, "This is crazy," she began to open her dresser drawers. Squatting down slightly at the last one, she opened it. As soon as she did—
"Oh my God," she gasped stumbling back, hand covering her mouth. "Oh my God."
"What's wrong?" I rushed to her, placing my hands on her shoulders and searching her frantic eyes that were still stuck on the empty dresser drawer.
"They're all gone," she whispered.
"What's all gone?" I frowned in confusion looking towards the drawer.
