Easily Breakable

Chapter 13

The elderly woman from the night before let me sleep on her couch until I found somewhere to live. I didn't go to school the next day, a woman called my cell to give me information. I agreed and now I was walking downtown, towards the address she gave me. I stepped in, gave my name, and they led me to the back. 

        There was a woman in the room who looked to be about in her mid thirties. She shook my hand and told me to have a seat. "I called you here to tell you in person that the autopsy report came in this morning," she said. I was confused. They told me he died from the smoke, so why did they need to do an autopsy?

       "Um, okay," I said. My confusion was visible on my face. "I need to ask you a few questions first." I nodded my consent and she began.

        "Where were you last night when the fire started?"

        "I was at the carnival with a… friend." I felt bile rise as I thought of Dani that way, but I held it in.

         "A friend? Who is it?" 

         "Well, he's my biology partner, but I don't speak to him anymore. We had a fallout last night after he brought me home."

        "A biology partner took you to the carnival?"

         I nodded my answer and she wrote something down on her legal pad.

        "So I understand that your father is CEO at a multibillion dollar technology company called Katsune?" 

        I nodded again and waited for her to continue.

        "Does your father have any… enemies, or rivals that you may know of?" 

        This question caught me off guard and I shook my head with my furrowed brows. "Are you- are you saying someone killed him," I choked out.

        Her expression turned grim. "Your father was found with multiple stab wounds to the chest and back. The stab wounds in the chest were random but the one on his back, they were actually cuts. There were two marks, a few inches apart on either side of his spine with the letters FA underneath. He was murdered and I assume that the suspect tried to cover his tracks with the fire." 

       She must have read the look of horror and disbelief on my face. "Miss Gallardo, I am so sorry about this, and I know that this is probably the last thing you'd want to hear, especially after your mother's death." I swallowed back the lump in my throat and she continued. "Will you give me all of your friends contact information, please? So we can track him down and ask him some questions." I hesitated. I hated Dani more than I ever hated anyone, but I didn't know anything about him.

       "I don't have his number or address or anything. His name is Daniel Sinner, and he lives in an abandoned warehouse. I've been there once, but he took me on his motorcycle and I had my eyes closed, so I don't know how to get there," I said honestly. 

        "Okay. That's fine. Do you know how old he is," she asked. I shook my head and said "I don't know the exact age, but he's older than me," by a few centuries, I thought to myself. She nodded and wrote more down on her paper.

        She looked up and gave me a small smile. "Okay. That will be all, sweetie." I stood up and when I made it to the door, she stopped me again. "What was that fight about Miss Gallardo?" I paused for a second. "He just… he used me," I said. She probed me with her eyes. She finally gave me a dismissive nod and I left. 

       I walked out and started back toward my neighborhood. I started thinking about my mother's death, all the reporters that had crowded around for days, but we were in a smaller city now, so I doubted there'd be news reporters crowding me. But I knew that it was on the news channel this morning. The elderly woman I was staying with, Ms Bernie, she changed it as soon as she realized that they were talking about my father.