AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My eyes shifted from the concierge to a man I was all too familiar with. Detective Kirtner stood inside one of the now-open elevator doors, an expression on his face that made me want to puke. “Is she okay?” I choked out, knowing if this man was present then something had definitely happened to Arella.
“Come up to your apartment with me, sir,” he said instead of answering my question.
“Is she okay?” I bellowed, raking my trembling fingers through my hair.
“Physically, yes.” That didn’t really tell me anything. With her mental health currently in question, his answer only made me quake. “But she needs you.”
The ride up in the elevator seemed to take an eternity but truly lasted less than thirty seconds. As soon as the doors opened on my floor, I stepped off. More cops stood along the corridor, speaking to my neighbors, who all held tissues or clothes to their noses.
That was when the smell hit me. Caught off guard, I couldn’t help the gagging noise that left me reflexively. A glance at Kirtner showed me he didn’t seem affected by the terrible stench. I pulled the pocket square from my suit jacket and lifted it to my nose, smelling the cologne Arella had spritzed on it after getting it back from the dry cleaners.
“What the fuck is that smell?”
“Death,” Kirtner responded deadpan. “Miss Stevenson received another…gift.”
“I need more context than that,” I told him as we continued walking toward the open door of my apartment.
Inside, it was pure insanity. The smell was more prominent here, so strong it nearly knocked me back a step when I entered the living room. Four people were in head-to-toe protective gear. Not hazmat, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if they’d had that gear on too. These outfits were all white, like an adult onesie with a hood and booties. They wore medical masks over their mouths and clear shields that covered their faces from forehead to chin.
“Forensics,” Kirtner commented when he saw my gaze land on them.
Mentally shaking my head, I glanced around for Arella but didn’t immediately see her. “Where is she?”
“Bathroom,” someone answered me without shifting their attention from the box the four forensic professionals were examining so thoroughly.
Unable to stop myself, I paused beside the box to get a look at what they were so interested in. Only to be thankful I’d skipped lunch earlier.
“Is that a cat?” I asked shakily.
“It was,” Kirtner said with a shrug. “There was a note with it. Luckily Miss Stevenson didn’t get any bile on it when she threw up earlier.”
“Luckily,” I replied dryly. Fuck, she’d been ill after smelling this. I needed to get to her. My skin felt too tight, just as it did whenever I went too long without seeing her. Yet all I could do was look inside the box at the hideous remains of a defenseless little animal. “What did the note say?”
One of the forensic guys lifted a plastic bag, which held a piece of paper inside. “Little birds get eaten by the big, bad kitty,” he read.
“Little birds,” I repeated, taking a step back from the box and turning to glare at Kirtner. “That’s what Garon called her. His little bird.”
“Yes,” he agreed with a nod. “But that bastard is good and dead. Either he had someone helping him we didn’t know about, or this person is working on their own to terrorize Miss Stevenson.”
“Jordan?”
At the sound of Arella calling my name, I took off running. I could hear the fear in her voice, and I needed to wrap my arms around her, take her away from the disgusting sight in the living room and as far away from the danger that had come back to try to steal her from me.
In the bedroom, a female officer was with her. Arella had on a robe, and her hair was damp. Steam still filtered out of the bathroom. Pushing her damp locks back from her face, she looked up at me with blank blue-gray eyes. “I’m sorry,” she cried. “I meant to call you. But I couldn’t stop puking. Mom called Kirtner, and he arrived with an army of cops. That was only like half an hour ago.”
Instead of worrying about why no one else had bothered to call me, I did the only thing I could right then and wrapped my arms around her. If Lana had called Kirtner, then she was probably a nervous wreck. No doubt she and Drake were already on their way to check on their daughter.
Arella shivered then turned her face into my chest before letting go of a shuddery sigh. “Did you see?” she whispered. “That poor little kitty.”
“Don’t think about it, baby.” I kissed the top of her hair. It smelled sweet as usual, a dramatic contrast to what the apartment—fuck, the entire floor—smelled like now. “Get dressed, and we’ll get out here.”
“Okay,” she muttered, her voice emotionless. “I won’t be long.”
Leaning back, I looked down into her face. She looked exhausted with the dark circles beneath her eyes from lack of sleep for so long. Her skin had a paleness to it that was unnatural. She looked unhealthy, fragile…and empty.
After struggling with her mental health for weeks, had this irreparably broken something in her?
Chapter 5
