What Lurks in the Dark

Chapter 3

I stepped into my office the next morning at eight sharp, frustrated by what Mason had said to me the day before. It seemed as if everything was going wrong this week; I had gotten a new partner, Carter's killer resurfaced again after two years and Mason was in trouble again. As I was massaging my temples I looked up and saw that Nathan was grabbing files that had a large, red confidential stamp plastered on the front. "What's up?" I asked with a concerned tone.

"Commander Lee wants up to head to Carolina Turner's apartment and see if we can get a lead by looking through her stuff." He answered and cracked his knuckles which sent a small shiver up my spine. I hated that sound so much, Jamie did it a lot at home to annoy me.

"Okay let's get to it," I said unenthusiastically. I grabbed my shoulder bag and headed out to my car, gesturing for him to get in. I threw my leather bag into the back seat since I normally place it on the passenger seat, but now Nathan had occupied that spot. "Soooo... why'd you drop out of high school?" I questioned as I started up the car.

"You read that?" He asked in an embarrassed tone. I glanced at him and he had this sheepish look on his face, exposing his dimples. It seemed like a touchy subject so I didn't want to push that much to get an answer. It wasn't really any of my business anyway.

"It was kind of hard to ignore that you dropped out of high school and became one of the best detectives," I admitted, regretting my words immediately. "By the way, what did you grab those files for?" I asked trying to change the subject, not wanting him to take pride in my accidental compliment.

"I was thinking that maybe we could find something in her apartment that leads us to her murderer, maybe some messages on her computer or phone, possibly even notes or traces of the killer."

"Good job." Maybe working with him isn't that bad.

I slid the gloves onto my hands and we entered Carolina's apartment. I drifted from place to place, but to my distress, I couldn't find a clue or any lead that could help us. Nathan had already packed up all her electrical equipment so it could be sent off to the technological department.

I sighed and walked over to her nightstand, trying my luck there. I pulled open the drawer, doubting that I'd find anything, but I spotted a pastel blue notebook and when I flicked through the pages, I figured it was her diary. It didn't look that special, but I bagged it up anyway in hopes that there is a small chance she wrote about her killer.

I was about to close the drawer until I noticed something near the back, it was a small photo. I flipped it over and it had Carolina's name on it, but the woman in the picture looked nothing like her, however, she did look a little familiar to me - but I couldn't put my finger on it. I looked further in the drawer, but it was empty, so I tried the wooden bookcase instead and found a yearbook with a black bookmark in it. I opened it to the bookmarked page and there was a picture of Carolina and I standing there with the brightest smiles ever in a club photo. How did I forget her? "Nathan, come here," I said in disbelief. I couldn't accept what my eyes were seeing. I pushed my glasses up on my face in hopes that it would change, or I was just seeing things. But I wasn't.

"What is it?" I handed the yearbook over to him, pointing at the victim's photo.