I sucked in a sharp breath and carefully placed the glass in my hand near the dispenser, inside the sink. My heart was beating hard against my chest as I placed a foot in front of the other and moved towards the table. I stopped just an inch before the table top and observed the rose. It still seemed fresh, whoever put it there had to have recently dropped it.
Swiftly, I crouched down to bring the pistol that was in my thigh holster. I made sure to turn off the silencer before holding it in both hands and walking lightly against the floorboards. I placed my body flat against the wall and looked around the house—making sure my index finger didn't leave the trigger and that I was ready to shoot if it came to that. Who'd be so stupid to break into the house of a cop? This isn't a fucking movie.
I let out a huff as I quietly turned the door knob of my room door, opening it enough for me to fit in. I tiptoed into it, pointing my gun at all directions, in case I came face to face with the intruder.
After fifteen minutes, I found nothing. There was no traces, no footsteps, no open window—nothing. It was like a ghost had come in here, dropped the flower and vanished into thin air.
I flopped on my bed, sprawling my arms and legs. My hair was probably in a tangled mess by now, coupled with body sweat and the minutes of adrenaline I just had. Maybe Kyle was right. Maybe the Maestro was a ghost.
It was my turn to take patrol and I couldn't get yesterday's night out of my head. In the locker room, I placed my radio in my waist holster and put on my eye mask.
"Lieutenant Larson, your partner, won't be available to do patrol duties with you today so you'd be teamed up with Enzo. You're dismissed." The captain had said to me before practically shooing me out of his office and letting me deal with the piece of information he gave me.
Walking out of the station to the police car, with Enzo trailing behind me; I brought out my phone from my pocket and dialed Kyle's number. He never mentioned anything yesterday about being absent from work today. Or maybe the captain or chief needed him for something and it was confidential so Captain Hawke couldn't explain in details.
When the call ended on the second trial without an answer from Kyle, I shoved the phone back into my pocket. Enzo got into the car first, taking the driver's seat and I followed suit. He inserted the key into the ignition and fired the car to life.
"Seatbelts." Enzo said in a low whisper, steering the wheel and driving the car away from the station.
"Right." I grumbled, yanking the seat belt and putting it in place, across my chest.
On our way to the district we were in charge of, I placed my head against the car window and stared out—into the streets and places of New Haven. It's been on my mind since, the black rose on my kitchen table. Like a dull ache waiting to be acknowledged. Why would he get into my house to place a rose in there? I haven't stepped foot on any black rose's property and I haven't snooped or investigated anything ever since that night happened. And yeah, I needed to find an explanation for what happened to Ava's dress. I tried washing it myself but that came out with a half baked result. Some of the stains left whilst the rest refused the budge—the dress was practically unusable.
"So did you hear?" Enzo asked all of a sudden, turning to glance at me before facing the road again.
"What?" I let my eyes close a bit, listening to the low, humming vibration coming from the car as it moved.
"There was a second murder at the fifth precint. Russell Wilson"
I opened my mouth to speak when the car suddenly screeched to a stop, forcing my eyes open wider than they were already were. I sat upright in alert and stared at Enzo for an explanation before staring at the road.
Enzo took in my confused state and nodded towards the road, "Something's not right."
I furrowed my brows at him and looked back to see what he was talking about. The town's usual hum was oddly muted. A faint haze curled ahead, just off to the right of the road. It was smoke. It slithered out from the mouth of the alleyway, thick and grey, rising lazily against the backdrop of old brick buildings. I took off my seat belt and moved to open the car door when Enzo stopped me. "Wait, what are you doing?"
I turned back to look at him, a frown placed on my face. "We should call backup."
"We have no idea what's going on, let's drive there and have a look first. It's just like some seconds away."
I let my head fall back and let him move the car forward towards the scene. As we got closer to the scene, the smoke curled like fingers against the windshield. Then, there was a faint sound, like people chanting and screaming. "You hear that?" I asked Enzo, easing forward to make sense of what I was seeing.
"Enzo stop the car!" My voice was sharp as I brought the radio out of my waist hostler and pressed a button. "Dispatch, this is Officer Laurent. We've got a brewing riot out on the 15th and Langston. Backup is needed immediately. There are flames and the crowd is growing. Over."
"Jude!" Enzo shouted, pressing some buttons on his side of the door panel to make the windows go up to the end. "Down now!"
I didn't wait to know what was going on before throwing myself down, in between the front edge of the car seat and dashboard. Something was banging against the police car. The window glass broke into pieces as I peeked a bat being smashed into the car. "Good for nothing cops!" I heard a voice yell as another window glass smashed into pieces.
When it seemed like there was no one around the car anymore, I raised my head to scan the car. "Here," Enzo offered me a hand when he had sat back up. I brushed the glass shards off my seat, before sitting on it.
Enzo and I shared a minute of silence before he whispered, "Fucking hell."
Image belongs to me.
Thanks for reading and if you're interested in other chapters, you can always get the full book on goodnovel;)
Oh, and we're officially on Inkitt. You can search for it there also🥰