"Trying" Normal [Editing In Progress]

Chapter 2: Castle Hill Condominiums

The drive was over an hour. Finally I saw the entrance sign of the place, a finish line with golden letters etched into a dark green piece of wood. It stood as the centerpiece of a landscaping circle, which split the entrance and exit of the complex.

Castle Hill Condominium

A string of cars had passed by one after another, blocking the way in. With the time it gave me to sit there, I pulled up the messages Cami had sent and scrolled back to the one about the office.

|Cami:

-The office building is on the hillside. Moira should be there, and she talks a LOT. Like NEVER shuts the hell up!

The incoming traffic had finally passed, and I made my way in and took one of the empty spots on the parking lot's edge. I stepped out and gripped the edge of my car door, a creak sounded out as I forced it to shut. Looking around, I observed the surrounding people.

Some people walked dogs, while screaming kids ran by dressed for the pool. Their parents fell behind, yelling for them to wait. Many courtyards were filled with people chatting at picnic tables and grills around the numerous brick buildings that occupied the area. Manicured grass completed the suburban dream imagery the property projected. If not for the sweltering heat radiating off the concrete beneath my feet, I would have taken in the scenery further.

They've really put work into making this place seem as if two brutal murders didn't happen here. I wonder if there's any people who lived here back then?

As I stood on the concrete, I grew increasingly aware of the heat that radiated off the asphalt. Despite being in the air-conditioned car for so long, the cool feeling it had left on my skin had already vanished.

"Goddamn heatwave," I said to myself before facing the white sided multistory building that was the management office. Upon reaching the stone steps, I took them two at a time until I reached a bulletin board.

Might as well see if there's anything useful in these papers.

Glancing over the sheets were reminders to curb your dog. How much it costs for an after hours lockout. A monthly newsletter for the condominium. Before I could read it, a low humming noise filled my ears. After some searching I found the source, the many fans that filled the office building's windows. My eyes relaxed as my teeth gritted and I let out a breath.

"Great, I'm gonna get air-fried in there." With my second complaint within a minute made, I approached the door. "Let's make this quick." Opening the door was like opening an oven. The hot air flowed out and past me, followed by the ringing and clacking of the bells inside of the door.

"Be with you in a minute," said a woman, standing in the cracked open door behind the front counter. She stepped through, passing out of sight into the room beyond the door.

"Ok, thank you!" With my acknowledgement made, I looked around the room when the heat of the room filled my thoughts. "Please be quick," I said as a prayer. A prayer that I lost faith in as the second minute of waiting in the sweltering room passed by ever so slowly.

I need a distraction.

I occupied an additional two minutes by reading and re-reading the sign for loading money onto a laundry card machine. I wondered how many years the machinery had sat there. Three more minutes passed looking at some framed newspaper articles and a plaque given by Mayor Thomas Castle to Matthew Castle. It was given for his continued dedication to developing the town, back in August of sixty-six.

Tonya's body was found about a month before the mayor gave his nephew this award. There wasn't much coverage after the initial articles on her death. They could have done a few ceremonies and other puff pieces to keep the news of Castle Hill Condominiums off the murder and focus on the positive... Or maybe it's just blatant nepotism.