Gravity (Artistic Pricks Ink Book 1) (18 page)

I can tell by the look in Kionna’s eyes that she wants to argue with me, but she says nothing. Mom follows us out of the kitchen and up the hall to the front door. When I open the door, an older man in a police uniform is standing on the porch.

“I’m looking for Kionna Slade,” the cop says, pulling off his sunglasses.

“Yes, that’s me,” Ki says, clearing her throat.

Reaching out with my free hand, I shake his hand. “Luke Hanlon.”

“Officer Jason Stewart,” he replies. “My partner, Officer Alvarez, is securing the scene and checking out the back. I just need you to come with us so that we can see what has been disturbed and if anything is missing so we document it all in our report.”

Releasing Ki’s hand, I wrap an arm around her as we follow Stewart over to Ki’s house. A woman in uniform, who I assume is Alvarez, comes from around the back. “Both doors appear to have been busted in. Windows are broken in back, but they mostly look to have been broken from the inside.” Walking up, she shakes her head. “Looks like it was vandalism. Maybe some kids or a local gang.”

“No, it wasn’t. This was a warning,” Ki says, her voice small as she shakes her head. “I know who it was. Well, I don’t know who, exactly. I just think I have a pretty good idea.” Sliding from me, she starts toward the opened front door, all of us on her heels. Mom takes her steps two at a time to keep up, her worrying over Ki is just one more thing that she is surprising me with lately.

Scooping up her purse from the floor, she retrieves a handful of envelopes and hands them to Alvarez. “I’ve been getting these for days now,” Ki explains, before turning away from all of us. “I need a minute, please.”

Without another word she walks away, leaving us all. I start after her, only to be stopped in my tracks by Alvarez and Stewart as they both look to me for answers. “Excuse me, Mr. Hanlon?” Stewart asks. “What can you tell us about these photographs and letters?”

He holds up a photo of Ki kissing me before I left her house the other night making my mother gasp. My eyes widen in shock as he shows me photo after photo of Kionna and me. Us kissing, walking into my mother’s the other day. There is even a photo of our make-out session in her kitchen the other night that looks to have been taken through a window.

“I take it, by the look on your face, Mr. Hanlon, that you weren’t aware of these?” Alvarez asks.

“No, she hadn’t told me,” I reply, trying to force my anger down. “I had no idea someone was doing this to her.”

“Do you have any idea who would do this?” Audrey asks, her hand coming up to rest on my shoulder.

Why wouldn’t she have told me about this since they clearly involve us both? The only answer I can come up with has me only needing to do one thing. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to check on Kionna.” I say, starting down the hall after her, ready for answers that now I know I should have gotten yesterday when I showed up here.

Nearly everything I have worked for is gone. It looks like whoever is doing this to me took a sledgehammer to the entire house before slashing everything else. My bed has been ripped to shreds and thrown from the frame. Photos of my mom and me flung across the room, all smashed to pieces now. In less than a few hours, everything I have has been destroyed. Almost everything here had belonged to her, she was in everything that surrounded me and now it’s all gone.

Just like she is.

Walking around the room, I see a manila envelope beside my busted dresser. Kneeling, I pick it up along with a photo that had sat on my bedside table from my very first recital. I don’t know who took it, but the candid shot of my mother embracing me the moment I came off stage has always been my favorite. The pride and love that are shown so brightly for me at just five years old, was only brighter with every passing day until she died.

Fresh tears stream down my cheeks as I run my thumb across the image that always brought me such comfort. As long as I was dancing, she was always with me. A part of her would always be in everything I do, of course, I just feel so close to her still, somehow, when I’m dancing. Everything that shone in her eyes and her smile was more than enough to get me through the worst of days.

“Oh, Mom. What am I going to do now?” I whisper, wishing more than anything for just the sound of her voice.

“Baby,” Luke says softly. Coming up behind me, his hand comes to rest on my shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Were you planning to tell me?” I shake my head in response to his question and hear him sigh. “This isn’t something you just ignore or handle on your own, Dollface. Give me the envelope, Kionna. We should let the police open it.”

Guilt washes over me. Of course he is right. Yes, I should have told him. Everything. So why can’t I? Part of it is that Mitch has been my suspect the whole time. Could he be behind the whole thing? If so, how do I tell Luke his best friend is doing all of this. Not just to me, but to him as well. I had assumed if it were Mitch, the days I avoided Luke would have made him stop. Instead, things escalated. Now it’s gone so far I can’t help agreeing with Luke. This is something I can’t handle, I just don’t think he can either. If it is Mitch, I place a rift there that isn’t easily repaired. If it isn’t, that means we are back at square one, with nothing to go on and that may be the scariest thing of all.

Bending down, Luke helps me to my feet before taking the envelope from me. “Does it look like anything was taken?” He asks, looking around the room.

“No,” I reply. “Nothing that stands out. But, Luke, I should really explain…” I begin hoping to tell him more about the envelopes and so much more that he deserves to know, even if it’s the worst possible time and place to tell him.

“Not now,” he interrupts. Cupping my jaw with his hand, he tenderly wipes away a stray tear with his thumb. “We have a lot to talk about. For now, it can wait. The cops can’t. Come on, you can give your statement at Audrey’s.”

Taking my hand, Luke leads me from the bedroom. The debris crunches beneath our feet as we make our way up the hall into the living room where Stewart and Alvarez are talking to Audrey. Luke’s mom shakes her head, sadly, at them both.

“Like I told my son, I didn’t hear anything at all.” She says, frowning. “My bedroom is on the other end of the house. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. I wish I had, maybe I could have done something.”

“Thank you Ms. Campbell. It does help,” Stewart explains. “It lets us know where they didn’t go. That’s a start. If you had attempted to confront them, this could very possibly be a different type of call altogether,” he adds, scribbling on his notepad before looking up to Luke and me. “Alvarez, while I go see if any of the other neighbors heard or saw anything suspicious, why don’t you take Miss Slade’s statement?”

Nodding in agreement, Alvarez turns to me. “Are you all right Miss Slade? If you need more time I can give you a few moments. This is a lot to handle. Even if it wasn’t done to you physically, you have been violated; it’s a scary thing.”

“I’m fine, thank you Officer Alvarez.” I reply, nodding my head. “I would just rather get to it.”

“Would it be possible for us to give our statements next door at my mother’s?” Luke asks.

“Please call me Lucia,” she says to me, then turns to Luke and shrugs. “Whatever makes Miss Slade more comfortable is fine by me,” she replies before looking to Stewart, who nods in agreement.

“This was in the bedroom.” Luke informs her, extending his hand with the envelope in it.

“Thank you.” Taking the envelope, she looks it over handing it to Stewart. “Once we’ve had a look, I’ll be over to take your statement. You can view the contents then.”

“That’ll be fine. Thank you.” Luke says, steering me out of the house as quickly as possible.

Audrey comes up behind us like a woman on a mission. “I’ll make some coffee.” Shuffling past us, she hurries toward her door.

“She’s worried about you.” Luke explains when I look up at him in confusion. “I’ve never seen her like that.”

“Like what?” I ask once we step onto her porch, stopping just outside the door.

“Motherly.” His reply doesn’t shock me after the things Audrey has told me. “She’s genuinely distraught over not being able to help more even if that meant she could have been in danger.” Nodding, I say nothing else and follow Luke inside.

Walking into the kitchen, we are immediately met by Audrey, who is buzzing around the room. She’s brewing coffee and setting out snacks, along with place settings at the table. “Make yourselves at home, get comfortable. I have juice if you don’t like coffee, Ki.” Audrey begins, “Luke, do you want cream in your coffee?”

“Mom,” Luke says, arching an eyebrow at her. “This isn’t a Sunday afternoon brunch.”

Stopping mid-pour, she looks at Luke sternly. “I’m fully aware of that, Lucas. I may be only going on suspicion, but I say it’s safe to assume Ki wasn’t home all night. That she was with you.” Glancing between us she smiles sweetly. “You also had breakfast groceries that you left in the doorway, leading me to believe neither of you have eaten. I need to do something to feel helpful right now. This is all I have. So sit down and drink your coffee and stop being such a stubborn ass.”

“Okaaaay,” Luke replies taking the mug when she hands it to him. “I’ll just sit over here and drink my coffee then.”

“Juice or coffee,” Audrey asks me as Luke as I settle at the table.

“Juice is fine, really, thank you Audrey,” I reply.

A knock on the door has Audrey scurrying from the room, leaving Luke and me alone. “You okay?” He asks. Setting down his coffee mug, he covers my hands with his on the table. “You haven’t said much.”

“I’m okay,” I reply, meeting his eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You deserve to know everything, I just didn’t see a right time to tell you.”

“Just because you don’t see a perfect opening, doesn’t mean you never have the conversation,” he says calmly. “I know now that’s what matters. We will handle it.”

“There’s more you need to know, Luke. A lot I should really explain,” I start, then in walks Audrey followed by Officer Alvarez to take my statement. Audrey offers her anything and everything only to be declined. Turning, she shrugs and begins washing the dirty dishes.

“Later,” Luke mouths, taking his hands from mine to reach for his mug.

Sitting across from Luke and me, Lucia places a photo of Luke and me in a plastic evidence bag in on the table. “That was taken four or five days ago outside my shop,” Luke says angrily, before I can get the words out. “The bastard is following her everywhere she goes.”

“Apparently,” Lucia replies. “Do you have any idea as to who this could be, Miss Slade? A former lover, an acquaintance? Do you have anyone who would want to hurt you? ”

Looking at the picture, I’m dumbfounded but also relieved. Looking up at her, I shake my head. “No, there’s no one.”

Mitch was in the shop when I ran outside, eating and irritating Shelby. The angle is all wrong, it looks like it’s coming from across the street. There was no time in between for him to have snuck out and taken this. There is no way Mitch is doing any of this. As scary as it is to be back at square one with potential suspects, I am glad I didn’t say something to Luke about my suspicions. There is enough going on there without me placing my unfounded suspicions. That kind of doubt could ruin a friendship that I know means a lot to him.

“Okay, next thing.” Turning more toward me, she slides another bag across the table with a note. “I need you to read this and tell me does anything jump out at you. Everything else has been one sentence or just a couple words. This is very important. Speech patterns or even the scribble of a specific letter can help us.”

Looking over the note, I read the words carefully waiting for something to stand out:

For such a smart girl, you’re damned stupid. Ignoring my warnings is a mistake you’ll regret. This bullshit with the Prick has gone on long enough. Drastic measures had to be taken. Learn your lesson this time, Ki. I don’t like repeating myself.