The Pros of Cons

11 | The Witness

TONI

I spent all about 35 minutes at work before I was on the freeway again, quite possibly driving to the location where my life almost ended in the most horrifying way. So, there were (quite understandably) a few times during the ride over where I was having second thoughts about doing this. 

Not only could this be re-traumatizing for me, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't allowed to leave my work building without a police escort – and I was doing just that... again. I was barely gaining Kez's trust back, and I was pretty sure any trust Cons had in me was long gone at this point. He made that pretty clear to me last night. If anyone from the P.D. found out about this... well, simply put, I wouldn't have any friends in the police anymore.

The area was farther out of town then I thought. It wasn't quite outside of the city, but it was far enough to be considered as such.

"Where is this?"

"Somewhere in the South End... Looks pretty rough, right?"

I couldn't believe I had been here at night. It was scary enough in the daylight. Buildings seemed run down, grocery stores had tarp covering the windows. I should have never been alone out here.

"And this person lives here?"

"Don't be judgmental, Harvie," Andrew said, turning down a side street. I knew we were getting close.

"I-I'm not meaning to be, I'm just..."

Anna cleared her throat. "It does look kind of scary down here."

I could hear Andrew roll his eyes at both of us. We didn't know much about Andrew and his story. He always drove the conversation away from himself. All we knew was that he had been in foster care as a child and his home life probably wasn't that glamorous or stable as an average middle-class American child. It made me wonder if Andrew's childhood looked a bit more like the homes I was seeing pass by my window.

We slowly came to a stop in front of a small blue house. Andrew put the car in park and immediately started spitting out facts. "Her name is Carlotta Holmes. She's a 63-year-old flower shop owner. I think she lives alone."

"That seems nice," I said. I felt slightly more comforted by the fact that she was an older lady. "Anything else?"

"Why do you think she hasn't talked to anybody?" Anna added.

Andrew just shrugged before opening his car door. "Let's ask her."

Carlotta Holmes' home was — well, despite its appearance on the outside — rather pleasant and tidy on the inside. The second we stepped inside, the strong smell of petals and fresh soil wafted through the air. This was definitely the house of an old lady in the floral business. While the excess of flowers was arguably a bit much, the furniture and colour schemes around the home complemented the space nicely. I had to give her props.

"Your home is lovely," I told Carlotta. She was a shorter lady with curly red hair that stopped at her shoulders. White and grey strands coated her head, but I was impressed at how strong the colour in her hair remained.

"Yes," Carlotta agreed, eyeing me carefully.

Initially, I planned to be cautious coming in here and having Carlotta see me – in case she did recognize me. But then again, maybe I wanted to see if she could recognize me. Then I would know for sure she was serious and then I would have to know all that she knew. Either way, I was here and I was going to find out.

Carlotta had us sit in her living room after pouring us each a small cup of tea. We situated evenly around a small coffee table, with Carlotta sitting in her own chair in front of us.