She stared at me like she wanted to argue and I waited. Eventually, she shook her head and headed toward the elevators, and I followed.
The elevator ride up was quiet. Milan stood beside me with her arms folded across her chest, watching the numbers change above the door. While Boog was still downstairs like he was security for the building, Mace was on my other side, already going through whatever information security had given him, but I kept my attention on her.
She’d been holding it together downstairs. I could give her that. Most people would’ve lost their shit after finding out somebody had been inside their home, but Milan hadn’t. She’d called me, gotten out of the apartment and stayed downstairs like I told her to. That didn’t mean she wasn’t scared. I could seeit in the way she kept rubbing her hands against her arms and how her body tensed when the elevator slowed.
The doors opened, and two officers were waiting in the hallway. One of them stepped forward before Milan could move toward her apartment.
“We cleared the entire unit. Nobody’s inside, and there doesn’t appear to be any forced entry.”
“Then how did they get in?” Milan asked.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. The lock wasn’t damaged, so either they had access or the door was left unlocked.”
“I didn’t leave my door unlocked.”
“I’m not saying you did, ma’am.”
“Then don’t make it sound like I did.”
I looked at her, but she was already walking toward her apartment. The officer started to say something else, then apparently thought better of it and followed.
Her door was open when we reached it. I let Milan walk in ahead of me before stepping inside with Mace. At first glance, nothing looked out of place. Whoever had come in hadn’t torn through the apartment or made a mess. The living room looked normal, and there was nothing to suggest somebody had been there until my eyes landed on the kitchen counter where the police were taking pictures of the evidence.
The bullet sat in the middle of a folded piece of paper.
I walked closer without touching it.
YOU SHOULD’VE MINDED YOUR BUSINESS.
My jaw tightened after reading that bullshit.
Mace came up beside me and stared down at the note. “They knew exactly where to find her.”
“Yeah.”
“And got past security without anybody seeing shit.”
I looked toward the officer speaking with Milan. “Somebody saw something.”
Mace nodded. “I’m on it.”
He stepped away to make a call while I stayed near the kitchen. Milan moved through the apartment with one of the officers, checking to see if anything had been taken. Every few seconds, she’d stop and look around like she was trying to figure out what somebody had touched.
That was the part people didn’t think about.
It wasn’t just the bullet.
Some stranger had been inside her home. They’d walked through the same rooms she slept in, knew where she lived and had enough time to leave a message before walking back out.
“Nothing’s missing,” she said when she returned to the kitchen.
“You sure?” I asked.
“As far as I can tell.”
I looked at the note again. “They weren’t here to steal.”
“I figured that much out.”
