The detective looked over the agreement. “Everything seems to be in order. Bruscow, will you take the necessary images?”
“Sure.”
Officer Bruscow pulled out his phone and flipped through the pages as he took pictures. “Ms. Knox, is there anyone you can think of who might have wanted to cause Miss Knight harm? What about her fiancé?”
I considered the different times I’d seen Jessica over the past few months. Was there anything suspicious? I didn’t remember anything from our brief encounters. “No, never. She was a great neighbor. Quiet. Respectful. We never hung out, but we saw each other in passing. Sometimes we’d loan each other eggs or sugar if the other was out.”
“What about her fiancé?”
Each time I’d seen him, he seemed like a man in love. I’d liked him, but I didn’t really know him very well. I answered with what I knew. “Michael wasn’t officially living there, but he spent a lot of nights over. I think he lives in Harbour Valley Apartments. We saw each other in passing on the way to work, and he helped us out a few times when things broke. They seemed happy.” A hand went to my mouth. “Has someone told Michael?”
“He was the one who found her.”
I gasped and couldn’t stop the tears. Finding the one you loved dead was horrible. Closing my eyes, I asked, “Where is he?”
“He’s gone to the station with his parents and the cat.”
His tone was cold, and I didn’t understand why. This man rubbed me wrong way. I grabbed Garrick’s hand and squeezed it. “Is he under arrest?”
Officer Williams responded, “No, it was at his request.”
My stomach turned. I knew how he must have been feeling—losing the one you’d planned to spend your life with.
The pain.
The torture.
The what-ifs.
“Ms. Knox, is there anyone you can think of who would want to hurt you?”
Garrick tensed beside me and asked, “Is there something you aren’t disclosing?”
“No. We’re investigating all possibilities. Ms. Knox’s name was on the lease. The front office doesn’t have Jessica’s name on file, and the manager said the filing cabinets were broken into two days ago.”
A vein pulsed in Garrick’s neck. He owned this property, yet he seemed in the dark about this. He remained silent. “Again, I’d like to ask—Ms. Knox, do you have any enemies? At work? Social circles?”
Me? Who would want to hurt me? My life was boring. Even at work, I’d always had good relationships with my clients—except this week, I felt like I’d made my first enemy. A queasiness settled in my stomach. “Umm… no. I mean, I got fired yesterday. But I can’t imagine my ex-boss wanting to kill me. Plus, she has my correct address on file.”
“Why were you fired? And where were you employed?”
If Mickey hadn’t fully hated me before, she would now if the police questioned her. “I believe my boss, Mickey Rapier, wanted to see Garrick, the man I’m dating, romantically. She was not pleased when she found out about our relationship. I worked for As You Wish Event Planning for three years, and then she abruptly let me go. I had an impeccable record.”
He scribbled a few more things in his notebook. “Until we figure this out, I would suggest you find somewhere else to stay. And we’ll need that address, if you decide to.”
“Okay, I’ll keep you posted.” There was no way I was staying here now knowing Jessica was murdered next door. I would find a hotel. Or if needed to, I’d go home.
What if someone’s after me?
Me?
Why?
Chapter Seventeen
The door closed behind the police as they left. I leaned my head against Garrick’s chest. “I still can’t believe it. Jessica’s gone.” His hand stroked my back. “Garrick, do you think there’s a chance it was meant for me?”
His silence scared me, and I looked up. “Have you been going in and out of Jessica’s apartment all week?”
“Yes. Sawyer helped once, but it’s been mostly me.”
He still hadn’t answered my question. I felt him kiss the top of my head. “Has anything weird happened? Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?”
Now that the officers were gone—and the stress they brought with them, as well—I remembered what happened yesterday. I pulled back to stare at him, eyes wide. Were my senses right all along?
“Knoah, what is it?” He gave me a little shake.
“After I got home yesterday morning, I went over to take care of Snickers. On my way to the dumpster, I had a creepy feeling—I can’t really describe it. But I bolted back upstairs and stayed in Jessica’s apartment for a bit.”
Garrick remained calm, but I saw the pulse in his neck jump. “You didn’t tell the cops about the creepy feeling.”
“No. I forgot about it. I’ve had it a few times this last week. Mainly at your office. It started at the concert.”
“Only since the concert?”
Now I was getting worried. “Yes, I think so. Garrick, you’re scaring me.”
His thumb stroked my cheek. “I’m not trying to. But we want to be open to the possibility and be prepared.”
I was scared but tried to think rationally through this. “Do you think it was one of Kurt’s fans?”
“I don’t know. But I agree with the officers. You need to stay somewhere that’s secure. A hotel has too many access points.”
I didn’t want to stay here, either, and staying alone in a hotel didn’t sound like a good idea. Where in the world am I going to go? My parents didn’t need the stress.
Garrick touched my cheek, and I focused back to him. “What about the apartments at my office? There are three on the floor above my office. One is mine, and the other two are reserved for clients. Both are vacant now.”
“What about Sawyer?”
“Of course she’s welcome to stay, too.”
The building’s security was top notch and honestly the best solution. Should I stay with Garrick? I wasn’t sure. I’d make that decision once we got there. “Where will you stay?”
“In my apartment. You can choose which unit you want once you see them.” Garrick took a deep breath. Living in close proximity definitely made whatever this was between us more serious. “I’ll make the arrangements with the building. What about your belongings?”
I looked around the place. This wasn’t something I wanted to deal with today. “I’ll need to talk to Sawyer first. I know I can’t stay here another night.”
“Of course.”
I cast my eyes downward, uncertain. “We’ve just started dating. This is a lot for us to take on. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Yes, I think this is faster than either of us intended. But I want you safe. We’ll figure the rest out.” I searched his emerald eyes and saw only truth. “Do you want me to help you pack your things?”
The place I’d once thought of as my safe haven was now tainted. I wanted to leave as soon as possible. “Please. It won’t take me long. Maybe an hour or two. If you need to leave, I can handle it.”
Though I was not ready to be alone, I wouldn’t pressure Garrick to stay.
“I want to stay. Let’s get you packed. Movers can handle the rest if you don’t want to come back.”
We walked back to my room. Garrick surveyed it the same way he’d assessed the apartment yesterday. “Where are your pictures? The only pictures anywhere are of, I presume, your roommate and her family.”
He was right. “I don’t display them. It’s easier that way.” I braced myself for the inevitable questions, but none came. “Why don’t you push?”
He closed the distance between us and cradled my face. “The same reason you don’t push me. We’re unsure of what’s happening but unable to fight it. When you’re ready, you’ll tell me. Same goes for me.”
Same goes for him? Garrick has secrets? It must have taken a considerable amount of restraint not to press me considering how badly I wanted to ask him questions.
I reached up and kissed him on the lips. “You’re right.”
Desire darkened his eyes, and he touched my lips once with his before murmuring, “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Sounds good.”
Under my bed were all the packing boxes from when I initially moved into the apartment. The only pieces of furniture I owned were my bed and the dining room table. I found the packing tape, and Garrick helped me pack the things I pointed out. If someone was looking for me, chances were they’d figure out they killed the wrong person. I shivered at the thought of such an evil creature only a few walls away last night. If someone came back, I wanted all my stuff gone.
Through the packing process, we talked about easy things. Our favorite foods. What we wanted to be when we were younger. Our chicken pox experiences. We’d both had it at nearly the same time, which I thought was funny.
“Is this everything?” Garrick taped closed the last box.
“Umm… I think so.” Everything happened so fast today. “I’m going to miss this place.” It had been my first home since Dylan. I felt safe here. I checked the boxes to make sure everything was still labeled. “I don’t have much stuff. I guess you could call me a minimalist. Are you a pack rat?”
The distraction of talking about Garrick would help the melancholy from taking over. In a matter of twenty-four hours, my life had been completely upturned.
“No, not at all. I guess you could call me a minimalist, too.”
We smiled, and I said, “Something else we have in common.”
After this day—well, week—I needed it more than ever.
Garrick put his hand on my lower back. “Can I drive you to your appointment? Until we have a plan, I don’t want you to be alone.”
Warm, comforting relief filled me. Being alone was not something I wanted. “Yes, I would appreciate that. I really don’t want to be alone.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Wow, you’ve had a big week. You reconnected with an old friend, began dating someone, lost your job, and have been dislocated from your home. How do you feel? Not about what happened to Jessica, but about the rest of what happened. Let’s keep them separate for a minute.”
I curled up in the chair with my legs tucked underneath me. The laid-back atmosphere helped me relax. My therapist, Brooke, was young and unconventional. She sat in her blue chair, shoeless and wearing yoga pants.
I thought about her questions for a few moments while the ocean sounds from the sound machine filled the silence. I liked that there was no awkward quiet forcing me to rush my answers. “As for how I feel… Good. Relieved. Lighter. I have hope that my life may not be over. By no means do I think Garrick and I are going to live happily ever after, but it’s nice. I feel things around him I haven’t felt. And I think he feels things for me, too. I think the quickness of this shocks us both. We’ll see how it goes.”
“Are you scared?”
“Terrified. But I think I need to keep moving forward if I want a chance at living again. Dylan loved me and would want me happy. Now I’m trying to find my way to do whatever that means. Do you think it’s too soon for me to have another relationship?”
She smiled. “You’re happy. You’re smiling. How can that be wrong?”
I let out a breath. “I’m moving into an apartment in his office building for now. The police don’t think it’s safe for me to stay in my place.” I paused, unsure how much I should share about the case. For now, I left it at that without mentioning the killer might be after me. “After Jessica’s death this morning, it doesn’t feel safe there anymore.” I was still plagued by guilt. “Is it wrong that I’m smiling after such a tragedy? Should I find somewhere else to live?”
And worse yet… I might be in trouble.
“Knoah, you knew Jessica, but from what I understand, you were acquaintances. Right?”
She refilled our hot jasmine tea. I took a small drink. “Yes.”
“It doesn’t make her death any less tragic, but just like when Dylan died, you still have to keep living. It’s okay to smile and laugh and feel.”
I played with the fringe on the pillow in my lap. “You’re right. It still seems a little surreal. Everything is moving at warp speed.”
“And you’re not feeling in control.” I loved how she understood me in ways I found hard to express.
“Yeah. I relied on my job to be my grounding point for so long, and now everything has changed.”
From a folder on the table by her chair, she thumbed through some papers and placed two pictures in front of me. The pictures were drawings of an owl. One was more abstract with blending lines and colors, and the other had crisp and clear lines where one color began and ended. “What do you think of these two pictures?”
“They’re the same owl but done with different styles.”
I kept looking at them, trying to figure out what she wanted me to learn from this.
She continued after a minute, “Consider the two people who drew these. Would you say one is right and the other wrong? They were given the same picture to color.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Brooke pulled out another sheet from the file folder. It was the original, uncolored page with numbers on it. Each number corresponded to a color to be used for the owl. One person had followed it, one had not. “Knoah, sometimes when you try to control every action, you can miss something beautiful. Sometimes the uncontrollable isn’t bad—”
“You’re brilliant.”
She smiled and shook her head. “You connected the dots, not me.”
It made sense and helped ease my tension. However, being here in the moment was easier than remembering it later.
“Let things with Garrick take their course. It’s dating, Knoah. That’s it. If it goes fast, it goes fast. If it goes slow, it goes slow. If you move in with him today, you move in with him. If you stay in a different apartment, you stay there. Enjoy this time as you discover each other.”
Move in with him? Whoa, that seemed like a huge jump. Yes, we were somewhat living together, being on the same floor, but I planned to get a separate apartment.
“Knoah?”
My eyes shot to Brooke.
“Let it take its course.”
I wanted to. “He’s here. Umm… he brought me today. I still feel shaken, and he offered.”
She smiled. “That was sweet of him.”
“He doesn’t know about Dylan,” I blurted out.
“Do you plan to tell him?” There was no accusation in her tone, simply curiosity.
It was a part of my life, but at the same time, hard to open up the wound. I felt ready to tell Sawyer. Was I ready to tell Garrick? “Yes, at some point. I’m not ready yet. I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s been so long since I attempted anything with a guy. I don’t want to hide it, but it’s not something I really want to verbalize, either. In some ways, it makes moving on real. That scares me because I don’t want to forget Dylan.”
“Just be happy.” Is it that simple? “Be happy, Knoah. Being with someone else doesn’t erase the past. It simply makes your future brighter.”
Wow, this was deep. I’d need some time to process, but it eased my apprehension.
She looked at the time. “Do you want to meet next week instead of three weeks from now?”
I considered that for a moment. “Yes. That doesn’t mean I’m regressing, does it?”
With a kind smile, she shook her head. “No, you’re tackling a lot head on. This may be the one environment that hasn’t changed for you. If you need to come in sooner, text me and I’ll make time. I’m proud of you. Keep pushing forward. Remember that you’re a strong, courageous person.”
“I wouldn’t call me that.” In fact, most of the time I felt the exact opposite. I played some more with the fringe of the pillow.
When she didn’t respond, I looked up, and Brooke was smiling at me. “Oh, I would. You’re trying to reclaim your life. I find that admirable.”
&nb
sp; Her words made me feel good. I was healing. Finally. “Thank you.”
She took out her planner and looked at the schedule. “How does next Wednesday morning at ten work for you?”
“Good. Unless I have a job, and then I’ll need to reschedule.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then. Text or call if you need to talk before then.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Before we made it to the door, she stopped. “You seemed to do well with the last challenge I gave. For this next week, don’t get bogged down with the what-ifs. Live in the moment with your boyfriend. Enjoy having someone care about you.”
Boyfriend. I have a boyfriend.
I felt a pat on my arm. “You don’t have to put a name to it if it makes you nervous. Remember, it’s just a label. The two of you control how it progresses.”
“You’re right. I’ll work on the challenge.” Oh man, the challenges were always harder than what they seemed. “Do you want to meet him?”
She gave me a hug. “Let’s wait. I want to continue to be a neutral zone for you. Your mom called to set up an appointment, and she’s going to meet with a colleague of mine. You need someone who isn’t involved with anyone else in your life to talk to.”
“Thank you, Brooke.” I loved Mom, but selflessness had made me give her Brooke’s information. I needed a safe, neutral place to continue progressing and healing.
“I’ll see you next week. You’re amazing and have helped immensely.”
She hugged me again. “I only help show you what’s already inside. You’re doing all the work. Remember that. I can’t wait to hear about the challenge this week.”
In the waiting room, Garrick had a scowl on his face as he talked on his phone. “Find out. Get me the files.” His eyes connected to mine. “I’ll call you later.”
“Hey. Everything okay?” As I spoke, the warmth returned to his eyes. He stood and took my hand.
With his free hand, he tucked his phone in his pocket. “It will be. Would you like to eat or head to the apartments?”
A new place for a new start for the time being. “Apartments.”
Untouched Perfection Page 12
