Claws in the Dark | ✔

VIII

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Monday

Rebecca laid in bed, staring out the window as beams of the early morning sunlight streamed in. She didn't get much sleep because of something shady outside her window. Maybe she was just hallucinating.

She rolled over so that she was facing her bedroom door and checked the time on her phone. 6:00 a.m.

No reply came from Mike after her last text to him. She pouted and threw the phone back down onto the bed. Maybe her message was too much for Mike to handle and he just ignored her for the rest of the night. She picked back up the phone and opened their chat.

She typed, "Hey, good morning. Sorry for burdening you with my life's complications last night. Hope I haven't annoyed you and screwed anything up." If he didn't reply, then it was his loss.

She had explained everything that had been troubling her: the move, her father taking up the murder case of the Grimes, his obsession with proving that it was an animal that killed them and that he had no time for family. It was all centred around her father.

Rebeca sighed and got out of bed. She went downstairs and into the kitchen to find her mother making breakfast: toast bread with scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Morning, Mom," she groggily said.

"Oh, good morning," Gina chirped. She was peculiarly happy. "Slept well?"

"It was alright," she shrugged and climbed up on a stool. Her mother set a plate in front of her with toast, eggs and bacon on it and a cup of orange juice. She leaned forward and inhaled the aroma emanating from the plate. She dug into her meal like there was no tomorrow.

"Good morning everyone," Miles said, startling both of them.

"Ah, shoot!" Gina exclaimed from the stove. She had burnt her hand at the sound of Miles' voice. Rebecca coughed as she choked on a piece of toast and took a sip of her juice. They didn't even hear when he came down the stairs.

He observed the looks on their faces and chuckled. "I didn't mean to scare you girls." Rebecca gave him a nasty look as she bit down on and ripped away a piece of bacon.

"Off to work already?" She looked at him, clad in a pale-yellow shirt and black dress pants. His detective badge was hooked onto his belt.

"Yeah, I want to get an early start today," he replied. "I don't want to keep Chief Summers waiting for results because my partners and I still have a lot more to discuss."

"And we don't?" Rebecca muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, cocking his head to the side and arching a brow.

"Rebecca, watch your mouth," Gina warned.

"Nothing. Just go," she told him.

"Becky, what is the matter with you?" Miles asked.

Rebecca growled lowly. A little more and you'd think she was a Clawden. "You're my problem!" She stood up from eating and stomped up the stairs.

"Rebecca Trenton, you get back here, young lady!" He stood at the bottom of the stairs as she marched up and ignored him. "Rebecca! Rebecca!" He sighed and breathed out to calm his nerves.

"Honey," Gina said, standing beside him and holding his hand. "Let her be."

"Gina, I've been 'letting her be' for the last three years. It has to stop. She can't stay upset with me because we had to move. It's not like we constantly do it."

"I'll talk to her. Have a great day," she said as she walked up the stairs.

"Oh, and don't forget...Lou's cousin's funeral is today, okay?" he reminded her. "This afternoon at 1:00 p.m. I'll pick you guys up."

"Alright," she answered from the top of the stairs.

Miles picked up the boxes he'd set on the floor last night and went through the door. He had already examined the remaining 10 files that he, Landon and Dolph weren't finished with, but he found nothing. Nothing at all pointed towards what the supposed creature could be. He got into his car and then drove off for work.

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◀ MARDAIS ▶