Free Web NovelChapter 17: Chapter 17 - Flirting and putting
They both entered the elevator. Vincent pushed at the number 15 and waited.
"Are you famous?" He suddenly asked, remembering the way the barista knew about her hero name and how Officer Leo asked for her autograph.
"Kinda." Dawnstar nodded, scratching her cheek.
"What do you mean by that? Are you famous in a negative way?" Vincent pressed.
"No. I don’t want to tell you about that." She protested.
"It is important to the job."
"How?"
"My mental state." Vincent said shamelessly. "I don’t think I can sleep well without knowing about that."
"You can just search online." Dawnstar was firm, pouting cutely.
"I have time for that." Vincent said. "Besides, I think it is better to hear from you."
Dawnstar sighed and looked at him. Vincent smiled.
"Fine. If that makes you happy. You also feed me so I will consider this a payment." Dawnstar smirked, rubbing her hands like a fly. She looked evil for a brief moment.
"To be honest, it is not that special." Dawnstar sighed.
"Quite stalling, Miss Dawnstar." Vincent turned and smiled, getting close to her.
Dawnstar dodged his advance and pushed him back with strength. Vincent felt his ribs cracked. frёewebnoѵēl.com
How much strength did she have inside those thin arms? Vincent choked.
"Your fault." Dawnstar laughed. "It is because of an Internet clip of me. I saved a woman from being assaulted. That pathetic man started cursing me like show me your nipple like that. So, I just kicked him in the balls. Like this."
She recreated the scene with pride. For unknown reason, Vincent moved away a little from her.
"You should see the clip. It is funny. Not the thing I want when people search my name but I am proud of it." Dawnstar laughed.
"That is unexpected." Vincent said.
The elevator came to a stop when a growl was heard. Vincent was alert but for some reason, Dawnstar covered herself, escaping her stomach.
He understood what happened and let out a small laugh.
"Don’t laugh. It is not that funny." Dawnstar said in embarrassment, her face flushed with red. She wished to bury herself into the ground and slept there.
"You just ate a while ago." Vincent said in disbelief, wiping a small tear on his eyes.
"I am a superhero. Everything I do is super." Dawnstar explained clumsily but she didn’t manage to convince him at all.
"Can you hold for an hour?" He asked.
"It is rude to ask a lady." Dawnstar pouted, turning away her head.
"I will take that as a yes." Vincent smiled and knocked on the door of 1501.
The door was opened by a black woman in her mid-thirties.
Her shoulder-length hair had been smoothed with a hair iron and whatever product she had applied to it, gave it a delicate shine.
She was wearing a baby-pink bathrobe and flip-flops. Her toe and fingernails had been painted in a bright, lemon-yellow color. She looked distraught. In the background, a little girl of about four years old was playing with a plastic doll.
"Are you Emily?" He asked, shaking his identification card.
"Is this what about Emma?" She asked. "Mr Smith told me that she committed suicide."
Her voice carried a tone of disbelief as if she was dreaming.
"Yes, it is about her." Vincent nodded.
"Please come in." She said,
The apartment smelled of recently cooked food. The living room was much smaller than the one in Emma’s apartment.
There was only one armchair, also draped with a faded red sheet.
The two-seater sofa facing the small TV set was draped with a sheet that had once been red, but now, after so many washes, all that was left was a faded, pinkish tone.
"Please, have a seat." Emily said, indicating the softness while she took the armchair.
The little girl stopped playing with her doll and looked up at the new visitor.
"Hello." She said, waving her little hand.
"Hello there." Vincent smiled.
"What’s your name?" She asked.
"My name is Vincent. What’s yours?"
"I’m Richell and this is Sofia." The little girl showed Vincent her doll.
"Richell, baby." Emily said. "Why don’t you play in your room? Mommy has to talk to the nice policeman here for a few minutes."
"He isn’t wearing a uniform." The little girl said, pulling a worried face.
"I am a different kind of policeman, Richell." Vincent smiled, putting the finger on his lips. He whispered. " A secret kind."
The little girl’s eyes widened. "How cool."
She stood up, whispering to the doll and left.
When he heard the door closed, he turned his attention back to Emily.
"I won’t take much of your time. I knew that you were friends with her."
"Yes, we knew each other." Emily said. "You could say that we were friends. She was one of my clients but we got along quite well. I just can’t believe she would kill herself."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"Three days ago when she came to fix her nails. She told me she had a date. It was apparently quite a good man and she wanted to look her best. It makes no sense that she would kill herself."
Vincent noted with his mind.
"Did she seem depressed to you at all?" he asked, recalling that she was bipolar.
"Depressed?" Emily breathed out. "Not even a little bit. I know that sometimes she would get depressed for no reason at all. She told me she was bipolar but Friday wasn’t one of those."
"Do you know if she was worried or scared of something or someone?"
Emily paused, thinking deeply.
"She was a little worried about her ex-boyfriend. He is a good for nothing loser." Emily finally replied.
"Ex-boyfriend?"
That was interesting.
"Why was she worried about it?" He asked.
"Well, she dumped his ass two weeks ago. And she did the right thing if you ask me."
"Did Emma tell you what happened?"
"Yes." Emily crossed her arms over her chest.
"They were out one night and he got too drunk, again. Apparently he is one of those men who just can’t handle his liquor, you know what I’m saying? He gets too drunk, and then he starts being mean to everyone around. Helen told me that they were in this cocktail lounge somewhere in Long Beach. She was chatting to an old friend, a guy. Well, Jake had one cocktail too many and that was it. He pushed the guy to the ground and dragged Emma out of the lounge like a caveman. He called her a "no-good whore", a "dirty bitch" and worse."
Emily shook her head in disgust.
"Do you know if that had happened before?"
"It had." Emily sighed. "You see, they hadn’t been going out for long. You know how it is, everyone is on their best behavior."
"Honeymoon phase." Vincent said. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"That’s right." Emily agreed. "But no matter, after that night, Emma dumped his sorry ass for good."
Vincent frowned. "You mentioned that she was worried about him?"
"Yes, after she dumped him, he never stopped calling her. Saying that he was sorry and that night was a liquor talking and acting not him.. same old bullshit. But Emma stood her ground. And she did the right thing. No man is worth having out with that kind of crap." Emily sighed after a long rant, collecting herself.
"But what worried her was she had given him a set of keys to her place."
Vincent took the notebook and wrote it down.
"I told her to change the lock." Emily continued.
Vincent knew that Emma didn’t follow Emily’s advice. He had checked the door locks in Emma’s apartment. They weren’t new.
"Do you know if Jake had threatened her at all?" He asked.
"If he did, she never mentioned it." Emily said. "But the guy was a psycho. Give him a few drinks and who knows what he would do. Trust me, I know the type."
Hunter wrote a few more notes down and closed his book.
He stood up. "Thank you very much Mr Emily. You have been a great help."
Emily walked both of them to the door as they passed to the kitchen, something caught his eyes.
He paused. His thought process skipped from 1 to 100 in a fraction of second.
"Something wrong?" Emily asked.
"Not at all." Vincent smiled.
The door closed.
"What was that?" Dawnstar asked, studying his face. "I know you realize something from there."
"You are sharp." Vincent smiled, getting close to her. This time she didn’t back down. "Is it because you are studying my face?"
He said in confidence.
Dawnstar threw him a smirk and crossed her arms, lifting up her head.
"Don’t get cocky, Detective. You are handsome no doubt but I am more beautiful than you."
Vincent tilted his head, not understanding the meaning behind her words. Did she mean she was out of league?
What a cute response.
Vincent slowly lifted up his arms. He did it on purpose. He touched her hair and smiled. "Indeed, you are beautiful."
"Now, let’s head back to the scene and piece together all the puzzles. After that, we can go eat some lunch and arrest the man." Vincent smiled. "And of course, lunch is my treat."
"Really?" Her green eyes lit up in excitement and she jumped up and down. "You are the best."
He let go of the hair and smiled softly.
