Joe kept his hands in his pockets as he walked head down, following the same route he did when he followed Ella, looking both ways before hoping down a curve and across the road to her apartment building. Tilting his cap forward a little more before jogging a little, managing to slip his hand in between the door as it was closing, an elderly lady carrying her grocery's blissfully unaware she'd just let in an intruder. He stayed back away from her, deciding to take a stairs, he hadn't even been able to keep up with peach, he really did need the work out. On his way up Joe tried to work out which number it was, far left. Second floor, that should make it,
"Eighteen," he whispered, staring at the door with a gold one and eight stuck to it. He tried his luck and jiggled the handle,
'What, it was worth a try?'
He looked around at his surroundings once more before he ran his hand across the doorframe, again, nothing, until he spotted an overly cheerful welcome mat at her door,
'Surely she wouldn't,'
He knelt down, moving the mat to spy a single metal key,
'Ella, that's dangerous, someone could just break in,' he scoffed to himself, quietly inserting the key into the lock, and with ease, he used his enclosed shoe to open the door, slipping in and closing it behind him with ease. The decor of her apartment surprised him a little, it was.. her, but then again, he didn't know an awful lot about her yet. But he would.
He slipped his cap off, placing it onto the kitchen bench, it was certainly small, smaller then his apartment even, but it was homely, his eyes first landed on the bookshelf, who's wouldn't, he passed the lounge, running his fingers across them, "worn, so I take it your an avid reader Ella, I hope that means I'll be seeing more of you," he noted the books she had the most of, assuming it was her favourite series,
"Well, now we have something in common," he smirked to himself, pulling out a copy of the rhye, "this is an old one.. Mr Mooney keeps his antique books in the basement.. I can work with that," he sighed quietly. Stepping backwards casually to glance around her apartment once more, casually making his way to her bedroom, again small, but he definitely saw her in it. Running his hands along the bed sheets, they were clean, smooth,
He turned to eye the small pile of dirty laundry kept in a basket, smirking to himself he moved and leant down, digging into the loose clothes until he found exactly what he was looking for,
'Bingo-'
Joe held the pair of beige underwear in his hand, bringing to his nose,
'A little momento for the road,' he thought, balling them up and shoving them into his back jeans pocket. Looking around the room once more,
"Joe, this is.. you need to stop, get out before this gets worse!"
"It's not worse," Joe grunted towards Beck as she stood, a worried expression on her face, it was interesting, in his memories she always wore her scarf, but not today, todays she chose to show off the bruising around her neck.
"You broke into her apartment!" She argued, following him as he exited the room,
"There was a key, that isn't breaking in," he retorted. And with that, Beck disappeared once again, Joe stopped at her bathroom, looking around before going in, he usually always looked in the wastebaskets for a personal item to take home, and low and behold, it was his day. He quickly took the bloodied item from the bin, pulling out a plastic bag and setting it in firmly. Eyeing it before it went into his other back pocket. He sighed before deciding his snoop was done, she liked music, and books. That was clear, it was good. He has what he needed, now all he had to do was find her socials.
Joe grabbed his cap, placing it back onto his head before leaving the apartment, closing the door carefully behind him, before he could lean down to put the key back a voice cleared it's throat behind him,
"Who are you?"
'Ahh shit bricks'
Joe gave his best smile before turning and facing an old lady with hair curlers in,
"Who are you? Your not from this building," she demanded,
'Dammit Joe, your an old lady magnet'
"Ah, I'm with euro Tv, I was- ah, setting up Ella's cable," he lied, putting his hands behind his back.
The old lady eyed him, up and down, "you aren't in a uniform, I wanna see some ID,"
Joe wanted to roll his eyes, so badly, but instead he lied some more,
"I'm with a private company, so, casual clothes and all, and I don't have an ID, given the private company.."
The woman eyed him, it was clear she didn't believe him, not one bit.
"I'm going to call her. I know her, we tell each other everything," she said shakily, turning and heading back into her apartment.
'Dammit'
He eyed her as she walked, slow, and a home phone, so she would have to dial the number.
He also eyed the heavy looking cat figure near her door. Leaning down slowly to grab it, he crawled into her apartment, and with a quick swift movement, she was on the floor. The cat statue cradled with blood in the corner.
He dropped the statue, letting out an angry sigh,
"You couldn't have just taken the excu-"
Joe stopped, staring at the cat that started to purr at his feet, another sniffed the lady on the ground,
'Don't- don't do that, great, now I feel bad,' he thought to himself, wiping his hands on his jeans before leaving yet another woman's apartment.
Beck only looked at him with pure horror as he closed the apartment door.
"What? She slipped."
