Grey City Rhapsody

XIV: Rabbit Heart

Mudd sat on the white, wood plank that used to hold the broken flower pot beneath it. Lavender petals and spring green leaves stick out of the black soil like stones in a cemetery. Gold shown through the slits of black fur and Mudd purred as Ash swiped her hand gently over his back. Gold eyes, not blue. She remembered the dream with the black cat and steeled her resolve.

"Let's try again," Ash inquired. "If I'm honest, I've got no other leads in mind, and I want to save scouring through old newspapers as a last resort."

Nick shrugged and tried to ring the doorbell, but when no sound echoed from inside the house, he tried the creepy brass knocker with the lion's face on it. The older man was distracted by the soft furball brushing up against his ankles, but the woman was listening intently enough to hear the faint sound of something heavy hitting wood and papers flying. When silence followed and no one answered the door, Ash put her finger to her lips at Nick and stalked around to the side of the house, through the gravel walkway tiptoeing on the settled rock platforms beneath hanging tomatoes and bleeding hearts and rhododendron bushes that were brightly colored with delicate care. She located the kitchen window and quietly opened the bay window to climb in. Her boots made virtually no sound on the tiled floor and she was grateful for not having a drink that morning despite the small tremors in her fingers.

Ash waltzed past a grandfather clock that was stopped and a bookshelf with old titles bound in leather with yellow paper and some books as young as 10 years old. The furniture was exactly how she remembered it in her childhood, close knit but not claustrophobic and embroidered with soft greens and magentas in laced in white and gold. The fireplace hearth was cold and empty, thoroughly cleaned and stuffed with old bed pillows for some reason. She saw Nick standing behind the distorted frost glass but clearly coddling the black cat who stood out against his orange and green shirts. She unlocked the door and stopped sneaking around as soon as she stepped onto the old wooden floor. Papers rustled from the room adjacent to the kitchen, and she walked around the stairs into the dining room stacked with papers and library books and a laptop. The shuffling in the fourth room became panicked when he heard her following him, and the squirrely inhabitant of the cozy house fled into the kitchen where he was cornered by a surprised Nick and Mudd. Squirrel man screeched and turned backward straight into Ash, who caught him by the elbows and tried her best to put on a friendly smile.

"Marty!" she practically squealed, "oh my god, it's been so long-- how are you?"

Marty stopped struggling and stared wide-eyed behind thick-rimmed glasses with his arms clasped tightly around a folder. He blinked and squinted, trying desperately to think past his fear. He stopped shaking just long enough to bark "Ash?" before shrugging off her touch. "W-wh-what? You're back? You're not-"

He glanced back at Nick and didn't continue. "What are you doing here--don't you know this is breaking and entering?!"

Ash smiled, "I understand your concern--" she brushed some nonexistent dirt from his white wifebeater, "--but we're here to help you."

His beaded eyes narrowed behind the thick glass of his readers. "I don't want your help."

"We saw the article you wrote in the paper. We want to help, and we know you can't do this by yourself." The clarification was mildly threatening and caused the frightened man to drop his papers. He hesitated, shaking in his house shoes, before crushing her fingers as he dragged her and Nick into the basement. His steps were loud as his flimsy sandals slapped repeatedly against his soles. He slammed his rear into his swiveling office chair and pulled up a password secure digital folder on a desktop computer. "Which article was it?"

"Uh, what?" Ash was busy wiggling her nose at the stench of the living space. The man clearly needed a shower or a power wash with a hose, plus a few hours of sunlight. Empty pizza boxes piled neatly along one wall, and hole carved into one wall a little bigger than a fist had distracted her.

"Which article," Marty huffed. "I've been writing about the disappearances for months. Which issue was it?"

"Today's paper. November 16th," Nick replied. He stood beside Ash with his hands in his jean pockets until he felt Mudd digging his claws into his legs and back to sit on his shoulder purring. He looked angry but didn't toss the cat onto the floor.

"Ah," Marty exclaimed. His fingers gripped the mouse and he clicked through folder after folder until he found what he was looking for. The images of six children filled the three monitors, two she recognized as Jaime and Juliette, and the first she assumed was Beth. Hair done up in braids to combat the unbrushableness of the tight curls and the dirt-stained coveralls screamed working Kennedy kid. Marty motioned towards the screens like a kid presenting his science fair project, only with an air of respectful solemnness. "Viola."

"Is that Robbie?" Nick walked up, Mudd adjusting to the sudden movement by bracing himself on the man's shoulder as he pointed at the picture of the young Chinese girl in a hot pink parka. "You used to be school friends, didn't you? Why is she on here?"

Marty sheepishly reached out and turned a framed photograph down on his desk before answering. "Roberta went missing 14 years ago. I've been tracking this thing and it dates back as early as the disappearance of Hugo Warrick, three years before."

"Roberta Cho, age 10. Last seen in the Sedna park on Lakely street." Ash felt the same pit in her stomach as she had during her grocery store episode. "Does Hailee know you've been doing this?"

Marty rubbed his hands together nervously. "What does she have to do with anything—she isn't here is she?!"

Ash stopped him from bolting out of the room, catching him and forcing him to sit down. Meanwhile, Nick pounced on the computer, exiting out of the file quickly and straightening up.

"What are you doing," Ash asked raising her eyebrow. "We didn't even read all of it."

"Marty here can email me the file at home, I'll print it off and we can let him get back to...journalism or whatever." He grabbed her by the elbow, and she didn't bother resisting. "It was nice seeing you, Martin, but we have to leave. You take care now, and don't worry about Hailee."

It wasn't until the two had exited the house that Ash ripped her arm out of his grasp. "What the hell was that all about?"

Nick rubbed his hand over the grey wisps in his sandy blond beard. "I...saw a rat."

She crossed her arms for a moment, not really believing his excuse but at least being capable of admitting it was a good one for him. Nick loved nature, but rats to him were what space was to Doctor McCoy. She hopped into the driver's seat again, putting a pin it, for now.