Obsession: Callie Douglas, Book One

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Where will you put all your new pieces?" asked Gabe as we walked up the stairs. Arriving at my apartment, I saw that my door was ajar. I pointed to it and looked at Gabe. He motioned me to move over to the side of the door and to stay there. He pushed the door open with his shoulder and checked the entire apartment, in the closets, behind the shower curtain, and on the balcony. "Clear", he called out. "But you aren't going to like this."

I walked into the apartment and surveyed the damage. My dishware and glasses lay broken on the floor. The pretty flowers that Gabe had brought me had been thrown down and ground into the hardwood. The vase that they were in was shattered on the floor beside the mangled flowers. My picture frames had been shattered and my new couch had been slashed, with stuffing spewing out of it. I walked through to the bedroom. My clothes were strewn all over the room and what smelled like manure was ground into them. My mattress had also been knifed, as were most of my work suits hanging in the closet. I walked into the bathroom. My shelving unit had been pushed over, and the pretty jars of bath salts were shattered on the tile floor. My eyes filled with tears and I looked away from Gabe for a moment. Then I took a deep breath and said, "all right, what happens now?"

Gabe was looking around the rooms with his hard, assessing cop eyes. His muscle ticked in his cheek and he had his "not happy" look on his face. "First, we get someone in to dust the place and take pictures for your insurance company. Then, while we do that, I want you to see if you can determine whether anything is missing. Also think of souvenirs that might have been taken."

"Like hair?"

"Yes. Especially hair."

I walked in the bathroom and saw my hairbrush, all nicely cleaned out. "Okay, my hairbrush has been cleaned out and although I don't remember cleaning it this morning, I checked the waste bin anyway and found that there was no hairball in the waste bin either."

"All right. I phoned it in and a dusting crew will be here in a few minutes. Police don't like it when you mess with their own. We'll find out who did this."

I opened the patio doors and walked out on the balcony, hunched over the railing and tried to keep the screaming inside. There was a knock at my front door and voices as Gabe let the police officers into the apartment. Standing up and taking a few calming breaths, I squared my shoulders and returned to the apartment.

"Hi, Doc", said Lucas Cooper as he walked into the living room with his new partner, Levi. "Is this your place?"

"Yup, and I seem to be a pretty popular person. I've only been here two weeks and already I've had a vandal attack the place. Can I move around in here, or do I have to be careful of what I touch? I was hoping to make coffee for everyone."

"A cup would be great. Let me take pictures of your kitchen, and then you can get in there and clean up and make coffee", said Lucas. He took several pictures from all different angles, then dusted for fingerprints. After the fingerprints were taken, he moved on to the living room and dining room. "The kitchen is all yours."

"Thanks", I said. I started a large pot of coffee and went to my pantry to get some garbage bags and a broom and dustpan. By the time the coffee was ready, I'd cleaned up the broken pieces and the floor was clean. I got out a sleeve of disposable foam cups that I had stashed in the back of the cupboard and put it on the counter, and got out sugar and cream to join them. I opened a bag of cookies, then called the police team to come and get their coffee.

"This is a pretty safe building. Prior to now, I don't think I've ever been called out here", said Lucas as he added cream to his cup. "I'm surprised you had a problem."