The Death Curse

Chapter 21: Apartment

Vivian and Marcella's apartment was small, the main room held both the living room and kitchen while the bedroom barely had space for a full-sized bed. As Vivian had said, the place was completely empty.

"Are you sure it's hidden in here?" I asked. "It could have been taken away with the rest of your stuff."

Vivian shook her head. "No, if I hid it in my apartment then it should still be here. I had a special place that I kept things I wanted to keep hidden from Marcella." Vivian wandered around the small apartment until she stopped and pointed to a small vent near the floor. "Look in there."

I knelt in front of the vent and found the cover slid off easily but the only thing inside was a small stack of papers. I grabbed them out to see if anything was hidden beneath them but there was nothing.

"What are those?" Julia asked from over my shoulder.

"Looks like hospital bills."

Vivian crouched next to me. "Marcella always felt bad that I had to take care of her after our parents passed away in a car crash. I was nineteen and already the guardian of a fourteen-year-old. And then when got sick a few years later the idea of her being such a burden on me ate away at her. So I always hid the bills when they came. I was glad I did, especially when they started piling up." She smiled sadly. "It's starting to come back to me, in pieces."

Vivian stood up and gestured for me to follow her. She took me to the bedroom and pointed to the dome light fixture. "I think the ring is in there."

"In the light fixture?"

Julia came to stand next to me. "Don't you think they would have found it when they cleaned the apartment? They probably changed the light bulbs too."

"It doesn't work," Vivian said. "The wiring has been messed up since before we moved in. When I asked to get it fixed the lazy ass building manager said to just get a floor lamp instead."

"Vivian said it doesn't work," I said, giving Julia the abridged version. "Give me a boost."

Julia crouched down and put her head between my knees then stood up, giving me a shoulder ride.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah. Hurried it up," she said, her voice strained.

As quickly as I could, I unscrewed the fixture and pulled it away from the ceiling. There was no light bulb but something was duct-taped to the ceiling next to the empty socket. Careful not to drop the dome, I reached up with one hand and ripped the tape off, letting it drop to the floor. I screwed the dome back on and Julia let me down.

The three of us crowded around where the duct tape landed while I pulled off the chunky vintage ring that was stuck to it. The band was made out of thick silver and had a flower design carved into that was dulled by the years. The stone, however, still had a glow to it. It was deep red and heart-shaped, too big to be fashionable now but still pretty.

"Yep, that it's it," Vivian said. "My grandmother's ring."

"It just looks like an old lady's jewelry. Do you really think they will take this over actually money?" Julia's tone sounded doubtful.

"Well, we won't know until we try," I said, though I kind of agreed with her. I turned to Vivian. "Are you ready to go or would like a bit more time here?"

Vivian glance around the small apartment, her eyes glistening with tears. "I think I'm good."

I nodded and the three of us headed to the door. When we crossed the threshold, Julia shivered.