New York Detectives (Book 3)

Chapter 23

The moment Lucie drove away, I went back down the hallway and went to the master bedroom. I looked through the open door and looked at the white walls that had an orange glow from the descending sun.

I walked through the door and look around, finding a desk in the far corner. I looked through the papers, only finding bills and receipts, and I sighed. I looked in a file to find several articles about my cases that I had solved and I rolled my eyes.

"Kinda like a... Stalker, yeah!" I asked myself, finding papers from four years back. I looked around, trying to find a home phone, but seeing none, it was less of a chance of me getting zapped.

I put the file back and went to the closet, opening the sliding doors and looking through shoe boxes and picked locks from a file cabinet. I looked through the files and made sure to scan the papers.

A file named Destiny Saint Maiden had immediately caught my attention, and when I pulled it out, I gaped at the size.

The folder was about an inch or two thick. I placed it on the bed and closed the file, making sure it was locked. I grabbed the file and walked out, going to the next room.

It had been my old room, posters in the same spot and old knickknacks on shelves. I looked to the bed and smiled, sitting on it.

I looked around at the walls, my old journals and books on my desk, albums hung around the room and I looked to the closet, laughing softly at the poster of Jason Patrick from "The Lost Boys".

I stood up and opened the closet door, and looked through the old clothes. I pulled out the ten or so dresses from the back. I placed them on the bed and smiled, softly running my hands over the fabric.

I fell to the floor, sobs racking my body as each dress held a memory of Emily. I covered my face and continued to cry.

I curled up and stared at them, remembering every moment that Emily had stitched into them.

She stayed up late and would sew them for me, measuring and remeasuring for the waist and top. The bottoms flowing and very much Victorian. The torso was corset and several had sleeves, few had turtle neck.

I remember sitting in her windowsill, smoking and laughing with her. She would yell at me for making her room smell of smoke and when her mom would check on us, Emily would complain to her.

"You love her, none the less." Would be her mother's reply, a wink in my direction, and she would give us another case of soda.

"Yeah, I would love her more if my room didn't have nicotine soaked into the walls." Emily would laugh and I would make sure to take a huge drag and blow the smoke into her room.

"There. There's some more nicotine. Your walls look like the need it." I'd laugh and she'd roll her eyes and continue to sew the dress.

I wiped my eyes at the memory and stood up, clearing my throat. I walked out and grabbed the file from Lucie's and Nathan's room, then back to my old room and hid it inside one of my old drawers.

"All of this is coming back with me." I said aloud, and left the room, closing the door.

I walked to the office, a room just before the living room, and as I went to open it, I heard Lucie drive up into the driveway, and I heard the garage door open.

"Son of a Bitch." I cursed and ran into the kitchen, looking for anything to throw together and eat.

"Strawberries and..." I looked around and spotted spices, sugar catching my eyes. "and sugar it is!" I said as I grabbed a bowl and filled it a quarter way with sugar, and dipped a strawberry into the sugar and ate it, finding it surprisingly good.

As I finished the strawberry off, Lucie walked in and I looked up making eye contact with her and she smiled.

"Need help?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Oh, no thank you. I've got it."

She put the tub of ice cream and two bottles of root beer on the counter and giggled at my delicious finding.

"Strawberries and sugar? That's new." She laughed as she grabbed a crystal glass, one you'd use for sundaes in a restaurant.

"Sudden cravings, you know. Don't know how you handled it." I said as I finished off the sugar and started to clean off the counter, scrapping the tops of the strawberries and grains of sugar into my hand then I turned, stepping onto the lever of the trash can, waiting for it to lift, but it got stuck.

I stepped on it with a bit more force and it finally opened, slamming into the wall.
"Still malfunctions?" I asked with a laugh and dropped the scraps into the trash. I took a step back and turned to the sink, turning the faucet on and washing my hands.

"Yeah, it does. We've got a new one, we just have to grab it." Lucie laughed as she scooped the ice cream into the glass.

I nodded and turned the faucet off, using the excess water to wipe around my mouth. I grabbed a paper towel and wiped off my hands, then mouth.

"So, Lucie-"

"Why do you call me that?" she asked and I took a deep breath.

"You were never a mother to me, so I don't have the respect to call you one." I bluntly said and she looked at me.

"But I've been trying to fix it, ever since you came out here. Trying to find Nathan, I'm trying to fix our relationship, Destiny!" she exclaimed and I shook my head, crossing my arms.

"What you did, Lucie, that messed me up, bad. I became a crack whore, stripper, pothead, you name it. I became like you." I sneered and she shook her head.

"That was then, Destiny! Why can't you forgive me?" she asked, raising her voice.

"Because you fucking beat me, everyday of my life!" I raised my voice to a yell.

"I beat you, because you were a disrespectful daughter and had achieved nothing." She yelled back at me, root beer float forgotten.

"But look at me now! I have a stable relationship that isn't causing me to use, I'm going to be a mother, and I'm one of the best detectives!" I continued, my voice staying at a yell.

Lucie looked away, gripping the counter.
"I regret losing you." She said and I laughed. The laugh had no humor, no joy. The laugh was emotionless, and it honestly scared me.

"I wish I could say the same. I really wish I could. Everything in my old room, every single penny that I owned, that's getting packed up and going back with me. And from now on, I'm handling this case like any other: professional based." I calmly stated and started to leave.

"Destin, please. Just, talk with me. Please."

"What is there to say?!" I exclaimed, spinning around quickly. She had jumped at how sudden I'd turned.

"You had your chance at being an actual mom, and you lost it the moment you let Nathan slap me. And you helped. You helped him, Lucie! I was only 5. Don't you think that I grew up disrespectful because of that? I had to go to school with bruises and cuts. Other women who saw me had pity parties, but the real women became my actual Mothers. You, the only good thing you did, " I snapped, leaving forward and pointing at her, "was create me. You had one job, Lucie, but you lost the chance. You lost the chance to be called 'Mom'. You scarred me, and you expect me to call you 'Mom'." I shook my head as I grabbed my jacket.

"Yeah, have fun with that one. You meant nothing to me then, and you still mean nothing to me now."

I opened the door and walked out of the house, slamming the door shut. I looked up to the sky and closed my eyes as I heard Lucie start crying.