Complicated

Chapter Fifty Five: Gifts

The clock is ticking
And I'll be giving my two weeks
Pick your favorite shade of black
You best prepare a speech

Katy Perry – I'm Still Breathing

It was the expression on Detective Angell's face that sent a chill running up Stella's spine as she stood respectfully outside the door to Flack's apartment, hands clasped in front of her. Her tanned skin was unusually pale as she clenched her jaw, her dark eyes blazing with indignant rage. Her hands were wound into tight fists which hung by her sides.

"How bad is it?" Hawkes asked the other woman in his rich soft tone.

Angell shook her head blowing out a long suffering breath from her parted lips. The uniform that stood beside her guarding the door, looked positively ill as he swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.

"The bastard left Grace a gift in the bedroom." she said finally, before stepping back through the open apartment door.

The living room and kitchen area looked exactly the way they assumed Grace and Flack had left them. It was tidy and neat, Grace's laptop was parked on the edge of the coffee table, a hand written list of things to do scribbled on the note pad beside it written in Don's clear bold font.

"Dispatch responded to a call from one of their neighbours saying that the door was ajar, she knew that Don was missing from the news and called it in." Angell recounted. "Detective Reagen's on his way to view the scene along with Detective Goren."

"I've worked a few cases with Reagen." Stella submitted, the trepidation in her chest growing as they took each step closer to the shut bedroom door. "He's a raising star up in Major Case and Goren's clearance record is second to none."

"I would have liked them to have intervened before something like this happened." Angell snarked, placing her hand on the apartment door and pushing it open to reveal the bedroom.

The bed was made, the crisp navy blue sheets pulled stark against the rigid, mahogany frame. It was the pillows that first drew Stella's attention, clearly someone had been searching for something underneath them from the state of disarray they were in. She couldn't help but wonder what.

There was a book placed at a jaunty angle on the small wooden table. It turned out Grace was reading 'Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. A pair of silver, star shaped studs were deposited near the base of the lamp, alongside a silver charm bracelet that Flack had bought Grace for Christmas. Angell tilted her head as she realized there was a new addition to the growing collection of brightly coloured charms, a tiny, glittering baby carriage and that made her chest ache even more.

On Don's side was an alarm clock and an open box containing two silver cuff links, she guessed he had tossed them in there after him and Grace had spent the night celebrating their pregnancy.

There was a small, gold hologram gift box sitting in the middle of the bed. The red velvet bow was tied expertly around the lid of the box, a square gift tag was attached to it sporting a single name in thick black marker pen.

Grace.

"Did you open it?" Hawkes asked as the three of them stared at the gift box dumbstruck.

"Yea." Angell sighed unable to describe the weight of the horror that was sitting in her chest.

Flack was her partner and to bare witness to this mess was driving Angell insane. They were meant to have each other's backs and over the years they had but she had failed on his part last night. She should have took more notice when he mentioned Maplin, she hadn't seen the worry in his eyes, she had only seen the frustration and the anger. It infuriated her that she had let that psychopath take her partner, even more so now that she knew about Grace's condition.