Celtic Cross | #ONC2019

VIII.

Mac stayed the night.

    He offered to leave after Nick's departure but I didn't want to be alone.

    Selfishly, I didn't know if I wanted to be alone again.

    I remembered the kiss he gave me before he left to go on his run in the morning, but I was still half-asleep and in no mood to ask for any more details, let alone what time it was that made him want to get out of bed at such an ungodly hour.

    I probably should have, I realized, once I heard the sound of sirens outside my apartment building.

    I tried to ignore it, hoping it would pass by, but it didn't.

    It lingered, repeating again and again as the light flashed on my bedroom walls.

    I had just sat up in bed, wrapping the blankets around me in an effort to warm myself from the morning chill when I heard the stomping on the stairs and the banging on my door.

    "Police!" they announced.

    "Shit."

I scrambled to throw on clothes, finding my yoga pants and a t-shirt that had long been discarded, and ran to the door.

    Outside stood two uniformed officers, hands protectively on their firearms and meaning nothing but business as I stood in my doorway.

    "Ma'am, we'd like to ask you a few questions."

    I swallowed. "About yesterday?"

    They looked to each other. "Ma'am, are you unaware as to what's happened?"

    "My friend's boyfriend was the one who died yesterday," I said. "Nick Warsaw. I know he was at the police station yesterday but I don't know what I can tell you that he hasn't already."

    "Ma'am, this is not regarding the Leo Kincade case," the other officer asserted. "We'd like to talk to you about Mr. Clifford Johnson."

    I couldn't hide my confusion. "Mr. Johnson. My landlord?"

    "Ma'am, where were you between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM last night into this morning?"

    "I... I was here."

    "Alone, all night?"

    My cheeks flushed. "No. I wasn't alone. What is this about?"

    They glanced between each other again. "Are you alone now?"

    I opened my mouth to answer but remembered Mac had already left. Was it around 6 in the morning? Earlier? I couldn't remember.

"What is going on?" I asked again.

    "Ma'am, would you be willing to come with us to the station? We'd like to ask you a few few questions-"

    "How about you tell me why I need to answer any questions in the first place." I crossed my arms over my chest, but my anxiety was rising. I had been interacting with too many cops too often recently and I was starting to panic.

    "Ma'am," the first officer sighed. "The investigation is ongoing, but at this time it appears your landlord, Mr. Johnson, was attacked overnight and found dead this morning."

    All color drained from my face and I had to brace an arm against the door jam. I couldn't hear anything through the blood rushing in my ears.

    "Ma'am, are you alright?"

    I blinked away the spots and colors forming behind my eyes, my vision blurring as tears began to burn. "How can I help?"

    "Again, we'd like you to come down to the station, ask you a few questions-"