Retribution

Chapter Twelve

She needed to stand by Johnny. The thought was plaguing her as she wearily pushed the elevator button. She was dimly aware of the faint noise of the elevator groaning in revolt as she waited for its descent.

If he needed her so badly, then why couldn't he tell her what was bothering him? Why did it have to be such a huge secret? The elevator finally shuddered to a stop in front of her and she stepped inside and deftly pressed the third floor, grateful no smiling bellboy was there as she leaned against the side of the lift and closed her eyes.

Secrets. That word about summed up what her relationship with Johnny had become. And with that came a sinking feeling that she didn't want to stay with him. Not if it was going to be like that. He'd changed. He was no longer reachable; instead it seemed to Katherine that he'd become some remote stranger, secretive and irritable. Trust. The word flashed across her mind and she knew she was beginning to doubt him. She tried to pinpoint the time when she'd first started noticing he wasn't the same, when he'd begun to block her out, causing her to pull away herself. The strong emotion she'd felt for him earlier had now fizzled out to this feeling of indifference. Her heart ached; he needed her, she reminded herself sharply as she stood up straight, the elevator having finally reached her floor. He needed her, and she'd promised to stand by him. After what they'd been through she owed him that much. And that was that.

So distracted was she in her thoughts, that her brain was delayed in processing the image of the disheveled man sitting on the floor against the wall. A worn black fedora pulled over his face as he snored, he was leaning on the wall of her apartment, right next to her door.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Her voice registered more abrupt than she'd meant as her not-to-cautious step caused Bailey Marsh to jerk awake, his hat falling to the carpeted floor. He didn't seem to be in the least embarrassed at being found napping outside her door and simply straightened his tie, standing up as he ran a hand through his unkempt hair.

"You sure keep late night hours, lady," he commented dryly as she inserted her small key in the lock.

"I don't see what business that is of yours," she refuted as she pushed open the door and slid her hand along the wall, found the light switch and flicked it up with her finger.Numbly she stood viewing the scene illuminated before her.

Her pretty living room looked as though a tornado had ripped through it. Spaced out across the floor were the three drawers belonging to the little blue dresser that usually stood tucked off to side of her hall. Scattered in between were the scarves and gloves the drawers had held, her notepad and sketchbook and several brushes and paints. The dresser itself was roughly dislocated, teetering on a left shoe from a pair of black pumps, which had left their place in her bedroom closet. Even her couch cushions had been slashed, its inner wire ribs crudely exposed, its white stuffing solemnly surrounding in tuffs. Her eyes sought past the living room into the bedroom where she glimpsed dresser drawers opened, their contents spilling out like blood from an open wound. The floor there, too, was littered with various items carelessly thrown from drawers, from their proper places.

The sound of something rolling merely added to the surrealist scene; Bailey stopped his foot mid-step, and sent his eyes after Katherine's, hers following the imperfect semi-circle arced path of the crystal glass she'd given Johnny his whiskey in hours earlier. The glass rolled until it was forced to a stop by the wall with sound emulating the last strike of a music box. 

"Why?" The noise prompted Katherine to ask weakly as she moved over to sit on the edge of the couch cushion, taking care not to lean back against the exposed steel armature.

"I was trying to warn you," Bailey said as he walked over to her side and nudged back into hiding a red lacy bra that peeked out from under the couch. "Sure isn't a nice thing to come home to." He gave the room another thorough glance.