Trouble Magnet

by DelSheree Gladden

  Everyone present looked not only bored, but uncomfortable and irritated. The only interactions going on were people shuffling around the food tables and passing plates or serving spoons back and forth. No one was talking, except Sonya, I realized. She seemed to be talking to me, but I’d missed the majority of what she had said. In the middle of a story about her grandfather, I tried to listen as I watched the other residents shuffle around the room.

  Sonya jabbed me in the ribs and I realized she was trying to get my attention. Looking over at her, I tried to remember the last thing she’d said and came up blank. Tilting her head to the side, she smiled a slightly strained smile, and said, “This is my grandma. She’s been excited to meet you.”

  “Oh,” I said as I set down the salad and extended my hand. “It’s so nice to meet you…” It was then I realized I had no idea what her name was and quickly shook her hand to distract from my lack of manners.

  As far as appearances went, Sonya’s grandmother looked like any other old lady. Her makeup was a little too thick and creased around her eyes and mouth. The purple tint to her hair reminded me of my own grandma before she passed. There was a slight tremor in her hands and smile as she regarded me, but seemed genuinely nice. Gold bracelets clinked on her wrist as she shook my hand with both of hers.

  “I’m Mrs. Osgood,” she said. “Bernadette is such a sweet girl. I hoped you would be, too. Sonya said you’ve been a delight to have around.” She patted my hand, still holding onto it.

  “Oh, well, it’s been great getting to know Sonya, too.”

  Her head bobbed up and down as she continued to smile and hold onto me. “She’s a sweet girl. A little too lax about the rules, but a good girl.”

  She said it like Sonya wasn’t standing two feet away, which made my friend roll her eyes. I was trying to figure out how to get my hand back when a small disturbance broke out near the door. The jam-packed room made it difficult to see what was happening. Sonya craned her neck around a few people before shaking her head.

  “What’s going on?” her grandmother asked. “No one drew on the walls again, did they?”

  “No, Grandma,” Sonya reassured her. “It’s just Baxter.”

  She clucked her tongue at that. “He’s a handsome one, but he’s always stirring up trouble.”

  “No he’s not,” Sonya argued, surprising me. “He’s perpetually in a foul mood, but it’s usually the other residents who are the ones causing him trouble.”

  Turning to Sonya, I eyed her with disbelief that she was defending him. She shrugged, then noticed her grandmother was still latched onto my hand and sighed. “We’re going to grab some food, okay?” It wasn’t really a question, mainly a distraction so she could peel her grandmother off me. “We’ll be back later. Eat your dinner.”

  Sonya pushed me toward the food before I could say goodbye. Glancing back at the old woman, I felt a little bad that she was sitting there all alone. Sonya kept pushing, though, and I found my attention caught by a strange assortment of dishes. Clearly, there were no guidelines on what to bring. Everything from microwaved meat pockets to homemade empanadas filled the table. More than a few takeout containers dotted the spread, and someone had dropped a bag of baby carrots haphazardly on a pile of plastic forks. I wasn’t sure I wanted to touch half of what was on the table, but Sonya grabbed a plate and started spooning things onto her dish.

  “Go ahead,” she said, “just pick what looks good. Most everyone brings something halfway decent. I’d just avoid that casserole dish on the corner. I’ve yet to figure out what Mrs. Holman is attempting to make, but if it tastes as bad as it smells you’ll probably keel over after the first bite.”

  Steering clear of the casserole, I grabbed a large helping of the salad I’d brought, and filled the empty spaces on my plate with an egg roll, some kind of potato dish, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. They seemed safest. I was about to turn away in search of something to drink when a pizza box dropped onto the table next to my plate, nearly spilling it and making me jump.

  “If you think I’m not well aware of the fact that you and Sonya are behind the rash of smoke detector failures lately, you’re a fool,” Baxter snarled from behind me. “I just replaced all the batteries a month ago.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. My gaze darted around for Sonya, but she’d been swallowed up by the crowd of unhappy people. I started to spin away from him, but he grabbed my arm. It wasn’t hard and didn’t hurt, but it startled me all the same and I froze.

  I felt his body heat at my back as he stepped in closer. “This isn’t a game you want to start, Eliza. I have no patience for this sort of childishness, but if you insist, I will get you both back.”

  “I have no intention of playing any kind of game with you, Baxter,” I snapped, though the quiver in my voice stole some of its bite. “Get away from me.”

  “If only it were that simple,” he growled.

  Scared because I didn’t know what he meant by that, I tried to pull my arm out of his grip. It came free more easily than I expected and I stumbled into someone.

  “Watch it,” a tall, bulky man grumbled as he shoved me away without even looking at me. I wasn’t tall or bulky, so his push sent me crashing into Baxter’s chest. I thought I might get shoved again, but Baxter’s arm came around my waist, holding me against his chest before I could land either on my backside or in the food.

  “Shoving around girls half your size, Darren?” Baxter snapped. When the big man turned to face him with a scowl, Baxter’s grip tightened. “She tripped. Quit being an asshole.”

  Darren sneered at Baxter, then let his eyes wander over my body in a way that was definitely not endearing or appreciated. “Sorry,” he said. The leer in his voice said something different. “Next time you feel like falling on me, I won’t object.” His gaze flicked to Baxter, a challenge and a promise bringing fire to his eyes.

  Baxter didn’t back down and, for once, I was glad to have him around. “Leave her alone. She’s not interested. She just tripped.”

  Scoffing, Darren turned away, but not before giving me another once-over that made my skin crawl. As soon as he wasn’t looking in our direction again, I elbowed Baxter right in the gut. His physical reaction was barely more than an annoyed grunt, but his voice was cutting. “What was that for?”

  “For shoving me into that creep in the first place!” I hissed.

  “You’re the one who yanked your arm out of my hand,” he snapped. “I did not shove you.”

  Irritated that he was technically right, I wasn’t about to admit it to him. “You shouldn’t have been grabbing me in the first place. You and Darren can both just stay away from me.”

  Baxter’s gaze flicked over to Darren and his jaw tightened. “Seriously, don’t go near him. If he thinks he can get away with something…”

  “Like I need you warning me away from some pervy guy with a domination complex.” I grabbed my plate, wanting so badly to throw it in his face, and glared at him. “I may be new to the big city, but I am well aware of the horrible things people are capable of, especially when it comes to a seemingly naïve young girl.”

  More than done dealing with him, I spun away in search of Sonya, ready to lay into her for ditching me. Instead of finding my only friend in this ridiculous place, I spotted another of my least favorite people. He saw me as well and gestured for me to join him at the door. Trudging his way, I was ready to bite his head off by the time I came to a stop in front of him.

  “Officer Williams, what on earth could possibly bring you here, again?”

  Giving me a less than friendly grin, he folded his arms across his chest. “Well, since you were so eager to offer up suspects the last time there was a murder, I thought you might want to give it another go. Maybe get it right this time.”

  Suddenly, I was glad I hadn’t actually eaten anything yet. My stomach flip-flopped as his words sank in. “Someone’s been killed? Someone in the building?”

&nbs
p; Why hadn’t Sonya said anything? Where were the rest of the cops, the yellow tape, the forensic people?

  “Not in the building,” he corrected, “but connected to it.”

  “Who?” I only knew a couple of people, and didn’t particularly like any of them, but even Darren the Creeper didn’t deserve to die. Maybe monitored closely, but not murdered. What was going on with this place?

  Officer Williams glanced around the immediate area, like any of the other residents might care what he had to say. They hadn’t even cared enough to be bothered by the presence of a cop in their midst. After assuring himself no one was listening in, he said, “Lucas Renfro.”

  I felt sick. I’d seen him only a few days ago. I recognized him as the man who’d been yelling and giving Sonya grief, but that was par for the course around here. “And you’re sure he was murdered? It wasn’t an accident or something?”

  “Who said it was murder? I’m just telling you that he’s dead.”

  “You said he was. Right before you asked if I wanted to offer up another suspect,” I snapped.

  Cringing a little, he said, “Oh, well, it doesn’t really matter. It will most likely be in the papers tomorrow. Plenty of people saw him. It’s probably on YouTube already.”

  “Saw him…die?” My stomach roiled. Would someone really put that online?

  “Saw his body,” Officer Williams said, his tone clearly annoyed. “It was found in a nearby park, covered in newspapers so he looked like a vagrant. Probably so no one could see the way he’d been beaten up. It happened yesterday.”

  Taking a deep breath, I tried not to think about that. “Is that why he missed your meeting to get into his aunt’s apartment?”

  He grimaced. “Possibly. My guess is that he saw the killer hanging around the building and tried to hide.” Pushing aside his own discomfort with the situation, he got back to work. “You never saw him after Tuesday morning, did you? Lurking around the building over the last few days, maybe?”

  I shook my head. “That was the only time I ever saw the guy.”

  “Has there been anyone else hanging around the property that you’ve noticed?”

  “No.” I wondered why he was asking that, since Lucas had only been staying with his aunt for a few weeks while in between apartments. From what Sonya had said, he’d moved out right before I’d gotten here. Sonya didn’t seem to know why he needed a place to crash, but now I wondered. “His death is connected to his aunt’s, isn’t it? Whatever the killer was looking for, it must have belonged to Lucas. That’s why he was so hot to get back into the apartment.”

  Officer Williams’ eyes hooded and he seemed to square up. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that sort of information with you.”

  I wanted to slap him, but I still felt sick and I had a plate of food in my hand. “Can you at least discuss the likelihood of whoever killed the two of them coming back to the building? The killer didn’t seem to find what they were looking for.”

  “What makes you say that?” he demanded, probably afraid he’d accidentally divulged something he shouldn’t have again.

  “Well, if they had, they wouldn’t have needed to beat Lucas up to try to get information out of him, right? They would have just killed him outright, and probably not in the middle of a park.”

  “Why not a park? It seemed to have happened in the middle of the night. It could have easily been made to look like a mugging,” he argued.

  Not even bothering to hide the roll of my eyes, I said, “A mugger who hid his victim’s body under newspaper?” I couldn’t tell if Officer Williams was being intentionally thick to irritate me, or if he really just wasn’t much for logic. “It seems likely that when they ransacked Ms. Sinclair’s apartment, they didn’t find what they wanted, so they tracked Lucas down and tried to get the information by force. Maybe they were too rough, or maybe he didn’t know and they killed him for it. Either way, I don’t think they got the information they wanted. Which means, they might come back.”

  He seemed to think about my theory for a moment before giving in and nodding.

  “Well?” I demanded. “What are you going to do to protect us?”

  I was not comforted in the least when Officer Williams shrugged.

  6: Hiding

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sonya asked.

  “What? Going out with Sean, or just going out?”

  She twisted her hands together and jumped when the smoke detector beeped, then glared at it. “Remind me again why we had to change the battery in this smoke detector? It’s going to drive me nuts.”

  “Because Baxter knows it’s us.”

  “And you think this will throw him off?”

  Scoffing, I said, “No, but it will make him doubt just enough to get him to shut up for a day or two.”

  Sonya had been on edge since the previous night when Officer Williams told me about Lucas’s death. Like me, she believed the killer would come back, but Officer Williams hadn’t been able to offer up any sort of protection more than to have a patrol car drive by once in a while. The detective heading up the main investigation didn’t think the killer would come back since they’d already tossed the apartment and come up empty. As far as they were concerned, Lucas was the main target, not his aunt, though no one could tell us what made Lucas so important.

  “I don’t think you should go out tonight,” Sonya said, “with or without Sean. What if they’re watching the building?”

  “If they are, they’ve seen me coming and going all week.” I sounded more sure than I really was. “Besides, I’ve barely been here a week. I’m the last person they’d think might be connected to whatever this is.”

  Sonya bit her lip. “Still…” Another beep made her flinch.

  In truth, I was worried about being out in a city that was much bigger than I was used to, which I didn’t know very well, with a guy I’d known for all of a week. But Sean had helped me get a job, and he’d been extremely nice and helpful since we’d met. I didn’t feel right about blowing him off, but I wished I could invite Sonya along. If she’d been dating someone I could have passed it off as a double date, but no such luck. Not that it was Sonya’s fault. She was sweet and pretty with her tanned skin, dark curly hair, and bright smile, but spent the majority of her waking hours dealing with the building’s residents. It didn’t leave much time for dating.

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. “If anything happens, I have Officer Williams’ phone number. Sean knows the city, too. He grew up here. We’re just going to dinner, anyway.”

  Unconvinced, Sonya rolled a pencil back and forth across her desk. The longer I sat in her office, the guiltier I felt. It wasn’t just about me possibly being in danger if I went out. Sonya was scared of staying here without someone to keep her company, and who else was she going to hang out with? Baxter? Reconsidering my plans, I jumped when my phone chimed in my hand.

  Just pulled up. Ready?

  “Sean’s here,” I told Sonya as I sent a quick text back that I was ready. “Why don’t you come out and meet him? It’ll make you feel better.”

  Sighing, Sonya pushed back from the desk and stood. “Fine.” When she reached me, she asked, “You’re just going to dinner?”

  “Two hours tops. Then me and you can hide out on my couch and discuss danger and dating all night.”

  Offering up a half smile, Sonya nodded. Together, we made our way to the front door. I expected Sean to wait for me outside, and was surprised when I opened it to find him about to do the same thing. Normally he saw me in worn out jeans, a white chef’s coat that was a little too big, and my hair pulled up in a ponytail. The grin that spread across his lips said he didn’t mind seeing me in a dress and curls.

  “I knew you were holding out on me,” Sean said teasingly. “You look great.”

  Attempting to fend off a blush, I took the compliment in stride and turned to where Sonya was standing next to me with her mouth half open. “This is my friend Sonya.”

  “Che
cking up on me?” he asked her as he extended his hand.

  Sonya surprised me by accepting his hand with a smirk that was both confident and just a little bit seductive. “Just curious,” she said as they shook. “Eliza’s new to town and I wasn’t about to let her wander off with just anyone.”

  Sean held his hands up, offering himself for inspection. “Well, do I pass?” He was grinning as she eyed him.

  “You don’t seem like a dirtbag,” she said.

  “Ah, but looks can be deceiving, right?” He winked before chuckling. “I’ll take care of her. Promise.”

  Sonya’s expression faltered for just a moment. “I’m going to hold you to that,” she said more seriously than any of her other comments.

  If Sean noticed the change, he didn’t react to it. Instead, only raised his right hand like he was taking the oath in a courtroom. Turning back to me, he asked, “Ready to go?”

  “Yeah.” I was about to say goodbye to Sonya. Baxter burst through the front door wearing his usual scowl and interrupted my thoughts.

  As soon as he saw the two of us, he leveled an accusing finger at Sonya. “If you think I’m changing the battery in your smoke detector when you and Eliza are the ones switching them out for dead ones in the first place, you have another thing coming. I have hit my limit with you two.”

  “If you don’t change it, I’ll write you up,” Sonya said with a huff. I doubted she would really do that, and I think Baxter probably knew her well enough to know she was too nice to follow through, but he still looked pissed that she would even suggest it.

  “Don’t push me, Sonya. It has been too long of a day to deal with idiotic demands from two little girls with nothing better to do than act like ten-year-olds,” he snapped.

  He was totally right about us, of course, but that didn’t stop either of us from pointing accusing fingers at him with nasty retorts on our lips. I had plenty of things to say to Baxter about idiotic demands, but Sean proved to be the only voice of reason between the four of us.