“That clears that up then.”
They said their goodbyes and left the Reynolds’ residence. They didn’t speak again until they were safely back in the hire car and heading towards the airport.
“Well, that was unexpected.” Caleb sighed.
“Yeah, you can say that again. It looks like we’re back to square one. Well, I am anyway. You have already helped out enough.”
“Not that again, I’m in this too Jaz. Your problems are my problems.”
“Thank you. I’m really glad you’re the one helping.”
“Me too.”
They returned the car to the hire company and checked in for their flight. Jasmine’s mobile phone rang as they were waiting in the terminal.
“Hello?”
There was silence for a moment on the other end before a deep husky voice spoke, “Drop it.”
“Excuse me, I don’t understand.”
“I said drop it; leave everything alone. This is your first and only warning.” The caller hung up.
“Who was that?”
“I don’t know, they said to ‘drop it’.” Her hands started to shake as she turned the phone off and replaced it in her handbag. “Do you think they were talking about the fire?” she asked.
“Sounds like it; did they say anything else? Did you recognise the voice?”
“No, that was it. I haven’t heard that voice before. It sounded like they were talking through something, trying to disguise their voice.”
“I’m sure it was just a scare tactic. Obviously, someone doesn’t want you to find out the truth. We’ll have to be careful about who we speak to.” He saw she was shaken and put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
She nestled into his shoulder. “I hope you’re right.”
The flight was delayed by half an hour but otherwise the journey went smoothly. It was dark when they arrived back in Avalon. They picked up Caleb’s car from the long-term car park.
Jasmine’s pride didn’t get in her way this time – when they pulled up outside her apartment – she asked Caleb to walk her up. He obliged eagerly and they walked up to the second floor together.
She rummaged around for her keys and opened the door. Instantly, she noticed that something wasn’t right. The little table she kept by the door was knocked over. As she opened the door wider, the destruction grew. Every drawer in the living room was upturned onto the floor, the contents were scattered from one side of the room to the other. Her furniture was in disarray, most lying on its side. Caleb gripped her hand to stop her entering the apartment any further. He stepped in front of her and put a finger to his lips, “Shhh.”
She followed him as he walked through each room, one at a time. They started with the bedroom, the door only slightly ajar. He approached the room slowly and as silently as possible. He put his back against the wall and, using his arm, pushed the door open. There was no sign of life, but everything had been disturbed. The clothes from her closet were strewn about the room; her bed covers pulled off the bed and unceremoniously dumped on the floor.
They continued through the apartment. There was chaos everywhere, but they didn’t find anyone else there. No item that Jasmine owned had been left in its rightful place. Even the contents of the cutlery drawer had been spread across the kitchen.
“Whoa, broken glass, be careful,” Caleb warned as they entered.
Jasmine couldn’t hold it back any longer, she started crying. Partly because of the shock of finding her home in such a mess, mostly because she hated the thought of someone going through her belongings. She didn’t have anything to hide, but these were her things. No one else had the right to even look at them without her permission. Caleb turned around and embraced her tightly. She cried into his chest until she felt like she could compose herself again. It took a while. It had already been an emotional and long day – this was just the icing on the cake.
“Come on, get some clothes, you’re staying at my place tonight.”
Jasmine did exactly as she was told. She didn’t have the strength to argue and she didn’t really want to be in the apartment any longer.
Someone had been there without consent; it wasn’t her home now.
Chapter 8
Jasmine was back at her apartment, lying in her bed. The room was almost dark; the only source of light was a thin sliver of moonbeam shining through the gap in the curtains. She had been awoken by something, a noise outside? She sat straight up, her ears straining to hear. All was silent and still.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She didn’t turn the light on, instead feeling her way through the room. A light might tell someone she was awake. For now, she wanted to have the upper hand with the element of surprise.
She crept into the living room. She stopped dead in her tracks in the middle of the room. There was definitely a noise outside on the landing. Just beyond her door, someone else was creeping about in the dark. She felt around for something she could use as a weapon, anything heavy would do. She found nothing in the dark and suddenly felt extremely vulnerable there all by herself, she may as well have been naked too.
The noise outside had changed. No longer was it dull footsteps; someone was trying to turn the doorknob. The handle rattled with the resistance of the lock. After a few failed attempts, the rattling stopped. The room was completely silent again. Jasmine told her feet to start moving. She had two options; hide somewhere and pray not to be found, or to go on the attack. There was of course a third option – call the police. But by the time they arrived it would most probably be too late. Not that they were very reliable anyway.
She stealthily tiptoed to the front door and pressed her ear against the hard wood. At first, only silence rang in her ear, but the next sound was almost as chilling as hearing the doorknob being tried – she could hear metal in the keyhole. It wasn’t a smooth sound like a key, but a clicking sound like a lock being picked.
She panicked, without a weapon or any great strength, she was going to have to take option one and find a place to hide. Her mind was racing; where was a good hiding place? Under the bed? In the closet? In the pantry cupboard? They all seemed too obvious. She thought maybe she could lock herself in the bathroom, but that wouldn’t work – there wasn’t a lock on the door.
She heard the final click of the lock giving way and being opened.
Her mind was made up for her. She would have to hide in the closest place possible – under the bed. She ran back to the bedroom in the darkness, the light of the fast opening door following her as she flew.
She wasn’t going to make it on time, she could just tell. The person that was safely behind the door was now in her apartment, looking for her – hunting her.
She made it to the bedroom door and prepared for a slide under the bed. She felt her head being snapped back, someone had a hold of her hair. She spun around in surprise. Now she was face-to-face with her intruder. He wore a mask to cover his face; he was disguised as Chucky from the horror movies. He threw her violently onto the bed; she struggled in vain against his overpowering strength.
He had his hands gripped tightly around her neck. She was gasping for breath and digging her fingernails into the strong hands.
He wasn’t relaxing his grip; instead, it was getting tighter and tighter until she could no longer breathe. She gasped for air; each breath was harder to get than the previous one. She struggled to make him stop, trying so hard just to get enough air to keep fighting. He was winning though; his hands were like a vice clamped shut and only getting tighter. She felt herself starting to leave her body.
She woke up coughing; her hands went straight to her neck and rubbed it. She could still feel the man’s hands around her throat. He had been so very strong and powerful. She kept repeating in her mind that it was only a dream, just a dream. He can’t hurt her now that she was awake.
She looked around the room for a moment, disorientated and wondering where
she was. The bed was a big four-poster with a green doona. The walls were a matching shade of green. She remembered Caleb had taken her back to his house for the night. She was in one of his many spare bedrooms. Then all the memories started rushing back. Her apartment had been trashed by some unknown intruder. “Thank God I wasn’t there,” she prayed.
Adjoining the bedroom was an en-suite. She had a hot shower and changed her clothes. She didn’t think to bring any of her work clothes with her; instead, she put on jeans and a v-neck top. She went downstairs to the kitchen where Caleb was already dressed and making toast for breakfast.
“Jaz, how’re you feeling?”
“Like hell. How about you?” She stepped up to sit on a stool at the breakfast bar.
“I’m doing okay. Now tell me, you are going to go straight to the police this morning, right?” He looked directly at her, so she couldn’t avoid his gaze.
“What can they do? Take some pictures and open a file? Get real, they’ll have no idea. They’ll probably just make a bigger mess than there already is.” She took a slice of toast off the pile that Caleb offered her and spread some peanut butter over it.
“That’s probably true, but you need it documented. If anything else happens, you need to show a trail. If worse comes to worst and you need an apprehended violence order taken out against someone, you’ll need the evidence that you’re being victimised.”
“Fine then, I’ll go, but it’s just going to be a big waste of time. I need to go to work first though. I’m going to take some leave. I can’t deal with work and this at the same time. I need a break so I can focus on getting this sorted. I get the feeling that the sooner I get to the bottom of the situation, the better.”
“It sounds like a good idea, but just promise me something, Jaz – don’t get yourself into a situation where you’re going to get yourself hurt. Remember, the fire happened a long time ago. You might just be chasing ghosts.”
“I’m not chasing ghosts Caleb, someone killed my parents – I’m certain of it. If I have to take a few weeks to find them and get some justice, then I will. I owe them that.” She put her toast back on the plate; she had suddenly lost her appetite. “I owe myself that. My parents should be here today. I should have had that TV show family where everyone is perfect. Someone took that away from me and they need to pay.”
“Just make sure you’re safe. I’m only saying it because I’m worried about you.” He finished his toast and put the dishes into the dishwasher. “Call me if you need me.”
Jasmine watched Caleb as he picked up his keys and laptop from the counter and left the house for work. She heard a noise in the house, like someone walking down the hallway towards the kitchen.
She looked around for something she could use as a weapon. She scrambled behind the counter and grabbed the biggest knife she could see from the cutlery drawer. She gripped it tightly as the footsteps quickly approached.
The shadow of a person came around the hallway, followed by the owner. Her hand was starting to sweat from holding the knife so tightly.
“Jasmine Parker, nice to see you again.” She hid the knife and let her breath out. It was Caleb’s housemate.
“Logan – God you scared me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t think I looked that bad.” He smiled and got a can of coke out of the refrigerator.
“You’re having coke for breakfast?” She subtly replaced the knife back in the drawer.
“Yeah, it’ll probably kill me one day – but not today! What are you doing here? You and Caleb finally got it together. It’s about time; he’s been panting after you for long enough.”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” she said. Logan blushed at his mistake. “My apartment was broken into. I didn’t want to stay there last night.”
“Oh, forget what I said then. Too bad about the apartment, do the police have any idea who it was?”
“I haven’t told them yet. I will do, today. Hey, could I catch a lift with you? My car’s still at home.”
“Fine, you ready now?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She followed him into the garage where his red BMW convertible was parked. He gunned the engine and reversed onto the street.
* * *
“Do you want me to come with you?” Logan asked as they were pulling into the free car space outside the apartment block.
“No, that’s okay. Thank you for the lift, I’ll see you later.” She got out of the low riding sports car and walked towards the staircase. She was apprehensive to say the least. She kept telling herself they wouldn’t come back if they had already been right through the place.
No doubt the apartment would be exactly as she had left it last night.
Her hand shook a little as she turned the key in the lock. She heard the click and opened the door fast. It was as she had thought. Still the same mess. She quickly went from room to room to make sure she was alone, even checking underneath the bed and in the closet.
No one was hiding. She didn’t touch a thing, only her car keys, before leaving.
Her first stop that morning was Apacho & Sons, or more specifically – Adam Denver’s office. She knocked on the door and waited for the “Enter” command before opening it. Adam was staring at his computer, no doubt trying to figure out how some of their software worked.
“Miss Parker, to what do I owe this pleasure?” He quit trying to figure out his computer and sat back in his chair.
“Sir, I need to take a couple of weeks’ leave. I was hoping you would approve it with no notice.”
“What do you need leave for?”
“Personal matters. I’m going through something at the moment and need time to get over it. I assure you, once I’m done then I will be as dedicated as ever to my work.” She handed him the leave approval request form. He took it and stared at it for a moment, trying to think whether he should let it rest or niggle at it a bit.
“The procedure is for two weeks’ notice to be given for all leave. It says so right here on the form.” He pointed to the fine print.
“I know and I’m sorry. This was unexpected and I can’t wait two weeks.” She started crying, only half acting.
“What could be so important that you need immediate leave?”
“My apartment was broken into last night and trashed. I think my life might be in danger.” She emphasised the last part, hoping to scare him into approving.
He shook his head and signed the leave form. “You women; always so dramatic. Fine, take the leave, but in two weeks time I want to see you back at your desk, with your head down working so fast that you the make the world spin faster. Am I clear?” He handed the form back.
“Absolutely, sir. Thank you.” She took the form and left the office. On her way to human resources she received many puzzled looks from her co-workers, but no one dared stop her to talk. She left the form in the assistant’s inbox and left, making sure not to catch anyone’s eyes. She was grateful that she hadn’t made any real friends at the company since she started. They only would have slowed her down.
Her next stop was the police station, just as Caleb had told her to. She prayed she didn’t see Constable Vinny Duril, unsure exactly what she would do if she did.
Another police officer, Constable Davis, ushered her into a small office and listened as she recounted last night’s events. He took some notes and promised one of their officers would drop by later today. He told her to go home and not to touch anything. Exactly how he thought this was possible, she didn’t know.
Jasmine pressed him for a time commitment so she didn’t have to sit alone in her apartment all day. Constable Davis explained they were very busy and they would try and be there as quickly as possible. “We’ll be lucky to get there today,” was his closing remark.
She left the Avalon police station and chanced the time to pick up some groceries. Her refrigerator had been left open by the intruder, so all her food had gone off. Besides making a mess on the floor, it also meant that she would have to
replace every item in there.
She was grateful she hadn’t had any time off work since she started at Apacho & Sons. The leave she had accrued was more than enough to cover the two weeks off work. At least the regular pay cheque would still be rolling in. One less thing to worry about.
The supermarket was nearly deserted so she managed to manoeuvre her shopping trolley quickly around the aisles, collecting all her food staples. There was not even any waiting at the checkouts. A far cry from the crowds that do their shopping on a Saturday morning, like Jasmine usually did.
She loaded up her car and drove home. It felt weird to be out on a workday – she was so used to her normal routine. Sometimes she thought she was always just running on autopilot; following the same routine week in, week out, didn’t require much thinking, you just went through the motions. It felt good for the change, even under these circumstances.
She carried her groceries up the stairs and entered her apartment. She took photographs of the kitchen and then set to cleaning it up; just enough so she could put her food away and avoid the awful smell becoming permanent in the fridge. She noticed that in amongst all the mess of the room, her kitchen table was completely clear. She wondered where the newspaper articles she had printed were. She searched around the floor, but there was no paper, only broken plates and cutlery.
She found a piece of blank paper and walked around the apartment, prepared to note down anything else that appeared to be missing. Jasmine normally kept her home meticulously neat and tidy.
Everything had a place and was labelled to make it clear where that place was. This didn’t just come in handy for finding things, it also helped to work out what was missing. Everything appeared to be there, except her laptop computer. She wondered why they didn’t take her desktop computer. Perhaps they were after something specific, or perhaps they had thought it was too bulky and might draw attention to them.
She thought back to what exactly was on the laptop. She used it mainly for when she brought work home or had to visit clients. There were a few budget spreadsheets, some training notes, some MP3’s and a few card games. Nothing that couldn’t be replaced. She smiled. ‘It will probably be the most boring laptop anyone will look at,’ she thought as she noted its absence down on the paper. It wasn’t a very big list with only the two items on it. ‘Oh well, could have been worse,’ she thought.
Ashes to Ashes Page 9
