No Body No Crime || Bad Omens || Noah Sebastian

I did something bad

Lisa had left work early that day. She had a nasty argument with one of her patients and felt she needed a break. Nancy had told her to leave, and she hadn't needed to be told twice. She knew the band would be busy all day. They had their recording studio in the house where they lived. Lisa thought it would be nice to buy some treats and bring them to the guys.

When she rang the doorbell of the villa, Jolly answered.

“Lisa, hey, what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to surprise you guys. I brought some pastries.”

Jolly took the tray from her hands and invited her into the living room. The house wasn’t too messy, except for the instruments left carelessly around the spacious living room. It was a creatives' house; she certainly didn't expect a tidy environment. Art reigns over chaos.

“You're amazing. Noah and the guys went out for a walk, but they’ll be back soon. Can I offer you something?”

“Do you have a beer? I’ve just come from work and would love to switch off for a while.”

Jolly opened the fridge and handed her what she asked for. The sun was setting, and Lisa wondered when was the last time she’d seen that beautiful display of colors. She usually left the office when the sun had already given way to the darkness of the night. Jolly seemed to appreciate her fascination with the sunset and invited her to sit outside on the small couch they had set up on the porch.

“You look exhausted. Is everything okay?” Jolly asked while taking a sip from Lisa’s bottle.

“Just a bit tired. I’m working on a tough case, and I’m a bit worried.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I couldn’t tell you much anyway. You know, professional confidentiality and all that stuff” she took a deep breath. “But sometimes I feel like I have too many responsibilities and no one ever taught me how to handle them. How to handle myself in the midst of difficulties. I mean… this person’s life depends on me. He thinks it depends on me, and the more I tell him that the real work of therapy is done by himself, the more he emotionally leans on me for everything.”

“What’s wrong with this guy, if I may ask?”

Lisa wiped away a rebellious tear from her face. “I can’t tell you. I just want him to get better, but I simply don’t see any improvements, and I told him that today. I suggested he change the therapist —maybe I’m the problem, and it’s fair to step back, and he... Oh, he went nuts. He thinks I don’t want to see him anymore, but I said it for his own good.”

“Hey,” Jolly said, placing a hand on her shoulder, “it sounds to me like this person makes you uncomfortable. Maybe the problem is that he believes you can work miracles. You can refuse to continue the therapy, can’t you?”

“And what if that makes him worse?”

At that moment, Noah and the two Nicks arrived. Folio greeted her with a beaming smile and stole a sip of her beer. Nicholas gave her a brief wave.

“What are you doing here, Liz? I thought you’d get off work later,” Noah said, planting a kiss on her cheek. Lisa shot a glance at Jolly, hoping to make its meaning clear. That conversation had to stay between the two of them.

“I wanted to surprise you. I brought some pastries.”

“Oh, I love this woman,” the drummer said, ruffling her hair before heading inside. Jolly and Nicholas followed him, leaving her alone with Noah.

“Is everything okay, love?” Noah asked, stroking her hair.

Lisa smiled, even though inside she felt her guts screaming.

“Just a bit tired.”

“Me too. We’ve been composing for hours. The next sound I want to hear is a beer being opened.” He got up from the couch and joined his friends inside the house. Noah didn’t realize it, but Lisa felt trapped. Her job was consuming her more and more each day.

It wasn’t just exhaustion. Lisa felt in danger.

___________________________________________

Noah sent himself the file containing Lisa’s diary on his phone and left the apartment. Every corner of that house screamed his girlfriend’s name, and he wanted to go deaf. After what he had discovered, he just wanted to tear down every corner of that house, starting with that couch where she had kissed a man who wasn’t him.

At that very moment, Lisa’s neighbor came out of his apartment. He was an elderly man, stout, with an unkempt white beard. He still wore his wedding ring, even though Lisa had told him he’d been widowed many years ago.

“Hello, young man,” he greeted him politely. “Are you taking the elevator with me?”

Noah nodded, and while they waited for the elevator doors to open, a question came to his mind. “Excuse me, do you happen to know if my girlfriend has been home in the last few hours?”

“Who, Dr. Kingsley? No, I haven’t seen her since last night. I even went out early this morning; we usually take the elevator together, but she wasn’t there today. I thought she had left a bit earlier than usual.” The old man looked him up and down. “Is she your girlfriend?”

Noah nodded. “Yes, we’ve been together for a while, but I haven’t been around much lately.”

“Well, that explains why you look nothing like the guy I saw with her last night.”

Noah felt the coldness spread through his veins. “A guy?”

“I’m sorry, young man. Maybe you’ve been away for too long.”

They both got into the elevator, and the man looked thoughtful. “You know, they looked like a couple, or at least they were arguing like one. She didn’t want to let him in, but he managed to convince her somehow. She greeted me coldly, which I found strange; that girl is always kind to me. When she bakes something, she always brings me some.”

Noah couldn’t believe it. The night before, after their fight, she had gone home with the man from the diary. It hadn’t been a moment of weakness. Lisa had been cheating on him, and who knew for how long.

“Can I ask what time it was when you last saw Lisa?”

“It was late, after midnight. I remember that because I had dinner at my son’s house yesterday, and he dropped me off around that time.”

“And do you remember what the guy looked like?”

The man thought for a few seconds. “I don’t remember very well, but he had black hair and was covered in tattoos, just like you.”

They got out of the elevator, and Noah immediately headed for his car. He didn’t care how much work she had to do that day without Lisa; Nancy would have to give him plenty of explanations.