THE SOUND OF DEATH

Chapter 2

Kashmira woke up the following morning feeling rather uncomfortable. Her shoulder ached as she moved to get off the bed. Now that she as a little less tired and a little less stressed she started noticing the space around her. She was in a large full of light, room. It had a semi-double bed in the middle, a dresser with a mirror on top of it right next to it and a desk across. There was a large two-door wardrobe on a nook on the wall. All of the furniture was black and gray. The walls had a beautiful cream color. Everything looked perfect. A large window allowed sunlight to enter the room and lighten it up. She dragged her feet to the window and leaned against its frame looking out at the backyard. A small patch of grassy green land that was fenced with a white wooden fence, that was the backyard.

She wore a loose white t-shirt that she guessed belonged to Knight. It stopped mid-thigh. Kashmira contemplated wearing something else but decided against it. She opened the door and looked out at the corridor and quickly tiptoed out of the room trying to find her way around the house. She walked down the staircase. The lowest floor had a marble floor, that felt cold against her bare feet making a shiver creep up her spine.

The living room was beautiful. One large black leather couch against one wall two armchairs placed one on each side of the small coffee table that was in the middle of the room. In the corner of a room stood a big bookcase with shelves full of books and small decorations. Facing the couch there was a big flat-screen tv. Natural light entered the room through a huge Glass door that led directly to the small backyard she'd seen from the window.

Knight was in the living room. Sitting in an armchair typing something up something on his laptop.

"Kashmira how are you feeling?" he asked startling her. She turned to him. He seemed to not have slept much. His light brown hair was messy and shining from the sunlight. She suddenly felt self-conscious about the number of clothes she was wearing and the state of her own hair but tried to brush off the feeling.

"Pretty good. How are you Detective?" she smiled.

"I'm well. But please call me James" she nodded.

He gestured her to sit. Kashmira joined him on the opposite side of the coffee table. She just sat there for some minutes in silence before she finally decided to break it.

"I need to ask you though. Why did you ask me to come here? I mean you had no reason to" she asked.

"I don't know it seemed right when I thought about it, so I suggested. Why did you agree to come?" he returned the question.

"Well, it's not like I had anywhere else to go anyway. you seem to be a good person anyway." She said. Knight smiled.

"Are you from out of town?"

"Yes but that is not it. My mother is dead, my father and sisters haven't been in contact with me for years. I don't have friends in town. To be honest I don't have many friends in general" he listened patiently and nodded.

"Do you work or study Kashmira?"

"Both I work at a bar near here and study criminal justice, now ready to start my practice " she replied

"Interesting. What attracted you to criminal justice?"

"Well I just liked the idea of being able to help find someone's killer . Give justice to the family. I believe that finding the killer gives closure to the family"

"Homicide detective is tough you need to have a strong stomach" he replied

"I know that, on another note detective, how long have you been divorced?" she asked making Knight look up and close his laptop

"How do you know that?" he questioned. He hadn't spoken about himself at all to her, let alone his personal life

"I'm pretty sure you didn't decorate this place by yourself. There is clearly a woman's touch here. Also, I'm pretty sure you are not the type to hire a decorator" She explained

"Great observations Sherlock. We broke up almost two years ago. It didn't work out" He joked. He didn't seem hurt by the divorce or the mention of it.

Her phone buzzed with a text message from the owner of the bar she worked at, Upon reading the message she frowned.

"What happened?" he asked seeing the change in her expression.

"I just got fired, for not showing up" she didn't take her eyes off of the screen.

"What? Don't they know what happened?"

"They do I even sent them a note from the hospital. Cuce was always an asshole but now he just exceeded himself" she said. She didn't seem sad she'd just lost her job, she was annoyed.

"Kahsmira this is not legal. Maybe you should report it" he suggested

"No, I'd rather not to deal with him and I don't want to go through the process of reporting him. I'll go get my final paycheck and that's it."

"Whatever you say Kashmira I still think it would be a good idea to report it but it's up to you" he insisted.

"I don't care enough about that job to report him. I'll just have to find a new one as soon as I get the okay from my doctor, that I can return to work," she replied.

James figured out that he would not be able to change her mind so he dropped the subject. Kashmira had leaned against the back of the couch and was now looking out the window at the backyard while he was thinking whether he should break the silence that had developed between them or not, ultimately deciding not to.

James' phone rang and he walked away to talk, returning a while later to announce to Kashmira that he had been called at the station and after apologizing for leaving her alone he grabbed his coat and left, allowing her to explore the large house. She walked through the kitchen admiring the space of it, comparing it to her old cramped up apartment. The room she had slept in was almost the size of her apartment alone. She could get used to it, living there.

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Thank you for reading. there might be some mistakes so bear with me. I'll try to update more the following two weeks since we're in quarantine here and can't even go out. Expect the next chapter soon !