AllFreeNovel
Share Us
3
EVA
The walk to my parents’home actually took me almost thirty minutes, but only because it feels like all the rain that’s been falling for the past two weeks has collected in my legs and feet. So I actually have no idea how enough of it was left to collapse the roof of our home.
I didn’t have to tell my parents about that right away, thankfully, because when I arrived, Sana was shaking and sobbing at the kitchen table, an untouched cup of coffee in front of her. Both my mother and father looked like they’d seen a ghost as they tried to comfort her. Sana is close to their age. She’s a late mother like me.
“I’m sorry,” she hiccups at me as I gingerly take a seat across from her so as not to wake any more aches and pains or set the baby kicking again. “I just didn’t know who else to call.”
Mom brings me a tall glass of cool water and she already has the kettle boiling and a mug with a tea bag ready for me.
“You were right to come to us,” Mom says as she lays her hand on Sana’s shoulder and squeezes. “Eva will sort this out.”
Mom’s hair is uncombed and her eyes are red rimmed. Dad isn’t in much better shape. This trust they’re placing in me might not be warranted. I might not be able to do anything about this. I could be completely wrong about what I think this case is and Milo could well have committed the crime they’re accusing him of.
But I don’t think I’m wrong. I have that feeling ofjust knowingI sometimes get about cases like this, the kind that always turns out to be the correct one.
“Can you tell me what happened last night?” I ask Sana. “Why was Milo arrested?”
She hiccups again and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand as she looks at me. Her thick, dark grey hair is a messy, wiry mess, and the bags under her eyes are bruise black, but it’s the haunted, suffering look in her hazel eyes that cuts the deepest.
“Milo has finally put his life together. He’s clean of drugs and has been working as a repair man at a specialized cycling store. He always loved biking and bikes, so it is kind of his dream job,” she says, rambling nervously as though she’s trying to talk fast to outrun the tears I can hear building in her throat.
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time last night. He was just going out to get a pack of cigarettes from the gas station, the one that’s open all night, and walked along the river to get there.” She takes a long shuddering breath and holds it. “He told me that she was just lying there in the dirt and the mud. He went over and tried to help her. But she was covered in blood and she was dead. He ran to the gas station to get help because he didn’t have his phone on him and then the police arrested him. Said he stabbed that woman. But he never. He never would. Not Milo. He’s not like that.”
Sobs overtake her, and she holds her breath to try and stop them.
She spoke quickly and disjointedly, but I got the gist of it.
I do believe the police officers who arrested Milo had more to go on that just the fact that he discovered the body and was covered in blood because of it.
“Did they officially arrest him for the murder?” I ask, and she looks at me blankly.
“They questioned him all night,” she says. “All night until five in the morning when he called me and told me what happened. He has work today. Now he’ll get fired. He didn’t do this.”
I’ve seen Sana upset before. Often when Milo was in trouble while he was growing up, she’d come to my mom for support. But I’ve never seen her like this and I’ve never seen my mom and dad as worried about her either.
“OK, I’ll see what I can find out,” I say and push myself up against the tabletop.
Mom and Dad both follow me out of the kitchen and into the long hallway that runs the length of their apartment from the front door to the kitchen.
“It doesn’t sound good, does it?” Dad asks.
I shrug as I search for my phone in the deep pockets of the long black parka I left hanging on a peg by the front door.
“It sounds like how it happened,” I say. “If this victim that Milo found is connected to the others, then no, I don’t believe he’s the killer. But if she’s not… if the police are right…”
I let the rest of the sentence hang unspoken. They know how the rest of it goes. No need to say it out loud.
“Just ask Mark to look into it, please,” Mom says. “I’m sure Sana only needs to know what is happening, and then she’ll be calmer. She’s strong. She can accept whatever happens.”
I nod even though I’m not so sure she’s right. I think Milo had finally started to get his life on track, just like she said, which is something she’s been hoping for all his life. If he is responsible for this murder, then this is a blow that might be too much for her to take.
“I’ll call Mark, see what he can find out,” I say and edge past them to get to the dining room. “Go back to the kitchen and be with Sana.”
They both turn to do as I asked, but just before she enters the kitchen, Mom turns back and looks at me inquisitively. “Are you here this early for work? You shouldn’t be working at all. Being pregnant at your age is difficult enough as it is, without you stressing yourself out.”
“I’m not stressing myself out,” I respond. “I’ll tell you later.”
