He slowed, looking down into my eyes with that same tender smile I was so used to. “I adore, you baby. Always have. Always will.”
The End
Like a good romantic mystery?
Read an excerpt of
Looking Glass #3
(Nolan’s Story title TBA)
Nolan
As crappy as I’d felt for the past two days, it’d at least been a distraction from my fight with Shana. It’d been two days since that fight got so ugly it had me storming out of her apartment and just as long since I’d last heard from her. But I’d be damned if I’d be the one to give in this time. Not under the circumstances. I frowned, taking in the scratch on my cheek in the mirror from her nail when she slapped me.
I wasn’t even sure I wanted to work things out and keep on with this chaotic relationship. But I was still hoping maybe I was wrong. Maybe my suspicions about her being shady and possibly sneaking around behind my back were without merit. Even if we didn’t work things out this time, at least my ego wouldn’t feel so damned bruised.
I started back into my brother’s guest bedroom with every intention of taking another big swig of cough medicine. My phone screen lit up on the nightstand, and I glanced at it, as the tiniest bit of hope ignited that it might be a text from her. But I frowned when I saw it was my brother Q, who I was sure was just calling to see how I was doing. I was in no way up for talking or even texting, so I decided I’d just call him in the morning. Hopefully, by then, I’d have a better prognosis to give him about this miserable flu.
Moaning from the aches that pummeled my body, I sat down on the edge of the bed, ready for another shitty night of hacking all night. The loud banging stopped my moaning, and I sat quietly, listening instead. When it was clear it was coming from the front room and not my brother’s bedroom, I stood up. Someone banging at the front door like that at this hour couldn’t be good.
Rushing out into the hallway, I nearly collided with Nico as he rushed out of his bedroom, shirtless and barefoot like me. Clearly, he had no idea who it might be either, but the murderous expression on his face had me following right behind him. With a young pregnant wife and two babies in the house, it was a shock he wasn’t already pounding his chest and roaring.
“Look through the window first,” I urged since he looked ready to swing the door open and give whoever it was a mouthful.
He did but shrugged as if seeing who it was still gave him no clue. “Two men,” he huffed, opening the door.
I glanced around for something to grab as a weapon, since my brother was so pissed he obviously wasn’t thinking straight. The moment he swung the door open I saw the two men in shirts and ties and slacks, and my heart thudded when I saw the badges. But my brother was already letting them have it.
“What the hell? I got babies asleep and—”
“Nico,” I said, touching his shoulder before he got hog-tied. “They’re cops.”
It took a second for that to sink in, but then I saw it in his eyes. The same alarm I was feeling. He turned back to the men and asked the very thing I was wondering. “Something wrong? My brothers and dad okay?”
Both men held out badges, introduced themselves, and explained they were detectives from the Radcliffe homicide department. “We’d like to ask you a few questions to help us with an investigation we’re working on.”
“Homicide,” we both said as Nico backed up, motioning them in.
Detective Williams, a stocky older black man, started first. “Which one of you is Nolan Cortez?”
“I am,” I said, feeling a little breathless now.
“We’re here to ask you a few questions about Shana Overton.”
Curiously, my alarm lessened. This wouldn’t be the first time Shana had had some issues with the law. I just hated that this was happening here at Nico’s because he’d never liked her to begin with and I’d never shared that part about her past with him.
“I haven’t talked to her in days,” I informed them.
“You her boyfriend?” Detective Serrano asked.
Nico’s face was already souring as he crossed his arms in front of him.
“Something like that,” I said but then changed my mind and added. “Actually no. Not anymore. We broke up two days ago, and I haven’t heard from her since.”
The detectives exchanged glances; then Serrano, the younger of the two, jotted something down on a notepad. “So two days ago was the last time you saw her,” he asked, not looking up.
“Two nights ago actually. I was gonna spend the night at her place, but after the argument, I left, and we haven’t talked since.”
“We’re gonna need you to come downtown with us for some questioning,” Williams said, slipping his notepad in his pocket as if he was done questioning me here.
“About what?” Nico asked, turning to look at me in question then back to them. “He’s been here for the past two days, sick as a dog. Whatever problem she’s gotten herself into, he had nothing to do with it.”
“Ms. Overton was found murdered in her apartment this morning,” Williams informed us as my jaw dropped open, and I felt the wind sucked out of me.
I did my best to catch my breath and listen to the rest of what he continued to inform us about. “It appears she’s been dead for at least two days, but since no one reported her missing, it wasn’t until this morning that her body was discovered. The landlord was called out by a complaint about a water leak coming from her apartment, and he’s the one who made the gruesome discovery.”
As I stared at him still stunned cold, he paused for a second before his expression went even harder. “Looks like you may’ve been the last person to see her alive.”
Only bits and pieces of what the two detectives continued to inform me of registered as the reality set in slowly. The detectives assured Nico and me that I was only a person of interest, and since it did appear I was the last to see her alive, it was imperative that they interviewed me.
It wasn’t even until we were halfway downtown when the numbness began to wear off that the brutal reality of this dawned on me. They didn’t just want to rule me out as a suspect like Nico and Madeline suggested. Given the circumstances, I was without a doubt their number one suspect.
I sat up suddenly, feeling the panic. “Holy shit.” I muttered, just before going into a full-blown coughing attack.
Excerpt from Lila
“Which one?”
Lila scanned the lunchroom full of loud rowdy kids, the one she rarely stepped foot in. She spent her lunch time by herself on the bleachers.
“It was only the one time, Lila,” Ali said nervously, already tugging on her arm.
“One time too many.” Lila stared out into the crowd, hoping it was someone in the group of Barbie dolls she hated so much. “You let her get away with it one time, and she’ll do it even more. Which one?”
“You’re gonna get suspended,” Ali urged. “Can’t you at least wait until after school when we can do this off school grounds?”
“No. I want every one of her fucking little friends to know what they’re in for if they ever do that to you again.” Lila turned to her anxious sister. “Now tell me,” she said as her fingers fisted at her side. “Which. One?”
Ali’s shoulder slumped and she exhaled loudly. “Missy,” she finally blurted. “She’s on the left with that big group.”
Lila started toward them immediately. “Are the assholes that were with her when she pushed you here too?”
“Yeah, most of them anyway.”
“Good. Which one’s Missy?”
It wasn’t the Barbie dolls like Lila had hoped. But knowing this group had been bullying her sister for weeks and Ali hadn’t said anything until they hurt her, made Lila hate them just as much. More.
“She’s the tall one with the backwards baseball hat.”
“The big bitch?”
“Yeah.”
Lila scoffed under her breath. Typical big girl who used her size to intimidate othe
rs. She was pretend tough. Lila was about to show this broad and all her stupid friends how tough the big bitch wasn’t.
As soon as they were close enough to Missy’s crowd, some turned and snickered when they saw Ali, no doubt still amused by the scrape on her cheek from where she hit the asphalt when Missy shoved her from behind. The instant Lila reached them and stalked right through their crowd to get to Missy the snickering ceased.
Missy smirked when she saw Lila coming toward her. It was a nervous smirk, one Lila knew all too well. Any time one of these wannabe tough girls ever got called out on their shit, they had no choice but to pretend to not be scared. Lila could already smell her fear.
She turned around, thinking Ali would be right behind her. But she’d fallen behind as the crowd apparently closed in around Lila and Missy. Lila knew she had to move fast; the growing crowd around them would only get the attention of the dean or someone to break this up too soon, and she wanted to make sure they all saw the consequences of messing with her sister.
This wouldn’t be the first time she’d be suspended, possibly expelled from school, but it already felt like it’d be the most satisfying.
“C’mere,” she said, holding out her hand to Ali.
A few of the girls blocking Ali from getting through, moved out of the way, but one was still blocking her, so Lila shoved her. “Move!”
As soon as Ali was close enough, Lila took her arm and turned to Missy. “You’ve been bullying my sister and then did this to her.”
She pointed at the scrape on Ali’s face, which only lit her insides more, like it had when Ali finally admitted how she’d gotten it yesterday.
Missy shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
“Well, let me help you remember, you fucking bitch!”
Lila’s fist nailed Missy right on the nose, getting a thunderous response from the crowd, mostly loud gasps and guys yelling “damn!” then cheering. Before Missy could bring her hand up to her already bleeding nose, Lila landed another blow making blood splatter onto the nosey onlookers standing too close, and Missy fell back onto the lunch bench. The moment she was no longer taller than Lila, she went in for her move. Grabbing a handful of Missy’s hair to hold her firmly in place, Lila proceeded to pound her face repeatedly.
She’d been right. Hearing and feeling the crush of Missy’s nose and then the crackle and slush of her bloodied face with every punch that followed was beyond satisfying. How dare this bitch put her hands on Lila’s baby sister?
As expected, the big tough bully never laid a hand on Lila, except to try and block some of her punches. Her attempts at even that were laughable. If Lila had to guess, Missy had never been in a fight in her life.
By the time the narks pulled Lila off Missy, the girl was a bloody, blubbering mess. Even seeing the damage she’d done when they’d contained her flying fists, Lila still threw a few kicks while she was close enough.
She stopped fighting the narks once she was too far to do anymore to Missy and turned to the stunned group of Missy’s friends instead. “You see that?” she barked.
They all stared at her, wide-eyed. Some held their hands over their mouths. One of them even cried. She knew what she looked like to them at that moment, a raving animal. One of her foster parents had called her that once because it’s what she felt like anytime her temper crossed the boiling point.
“Remember that the next time any of you even think of looking at my sister the wrong way,” Lila barked at the still stunned crowd. As the narks began walking her away, arms twisted and held tightly behind her back, she turned to Missy, who was still crying as a few cafeteria workers tried cleaning her bloodied face. “Shake it off, bitch! Isn’t that what you said to my sister yesterday when you shoved her to the ground?”
The very thought made Lila want to pound her some more, and she tried in vain to break free of the narks’ hold. That only made them twist her arm farther up. “Enough, Rico!” the dean said. “You’re already in enough trouble. Don’t force me to expel you too.”
It was a slight relief to hear this wouldn’t be an automatic expulsion, not that she gave a shit about the school. She and Ali had only been attending this one for a little over a semester, and unlike Ali, who made friends almost immediately, Lila always preferred to keep to herself. Now she knew why they’d lasted this long in one place. Ali had been keeping the bullying from her. It burned her up to know this had been going on for weeks, maybe longer.
The whole way to the dean’s office, Lila tried her hardest to stay on her best behavior, which was difficult given the adrenaline still pummeling through her veins. Her biggest incentive by far for not getting expelled again was Ali. The last time her fists had gotten Lila in trouble at school, she’d been warned Ali wouldn’t be coming with her if she had to go to a new school. She hadn’t wanted to chance being separated from her sister, so, for months, she’d kept to herself and steered clear of any trouble. This time it just couldn’t be helped.
For nearly an hour, she’d sat just outside the dean’s office, waiting on him—first while he checked on Missy’s condition and talked with her parents in another office and then while he made phone calls in his office to Lila’s foster parents and therapist, no doubt. The last time she’d been in trouble with her foster parents was when she’d nearly strangled a middle-school punk from up her street. For weeks, he’d been a dick to the poor young pit bull he dragged around on a leash. He wanted to show off, but he didn’t know the first thing about training it, so he’d drag the pup who’d often sit like a stubborn mule and refuse to move. The punk made the mistake of kicking the dog in the head to get him to move, right in front of Lila’s house as she sat on the porch. It was all she could take. She jumped her own fence to grab the leash and wrapped it around the idiot’s neck.
That probably would’ve been enough to teach the kid a lesson. Unfortunately, once in a rage like that, it was hard to come down from it and stop. Luckily for the stupid kid, she’d been pulled off him before she did too much damage. And fortunately for her, the boy had been too embarrassed to want to call the cops or report to anyone that a girl had kicked his ass.
But her foster parents had insisted she get back into therapy. After many hours of talking to her therapist, it had since been established she was “very angry.” What a joke. She could’ve told them that from day one and saved them all a ton of money and time.
Finally, the door to the dean’s office opened, and he motioned for her to come in. Dean Martinez was a tall muscular man with a wicked glare. He had a penchant for making examples out of smartasses who were stupid enough to talk back to him. But for the most part, the loud hallways literally quieted when they saw him coming. Lila could see herself being a dean someday, putting the fear of God into all the smartass trouble makers, if she was any good at school, that is. She wasn’t stupid; she just hated all the boring shit, and she didn’t think she could handle another four years of it, once she finally graduated from high school.
“Close the door behind you and have a seat,” he said as he walked around his desk and sat down. “Why are you trying to get kicked out of school, Rico? You have less than a semester to go.”
“I’m not,” she said; though she was aware her indifference was anything but convincing.
“You know we have a zero tolerance for fighting here.”
“And you’re supposed to have a zero tolerance for bullying. That bitch—”
“Language!” his deep voice bellowed.
Lila took a deep breath. “She and her friends have been bullying my sister for weeks. Probably longer. That scrape on Ali’s cheek is from that—” She paused to take another deep breath as her therapist had taught her to do to calm herself. “That Missy chick and her friends did that to her. You do that to my sister; you answer to me.”
Lila looked him straight in the eye, matching his wicked glare. Zero tolerance or not, this man had to understand that, unless he could promise no one would mess with Ali, she couldn’t make any p
romises about her behavior either.
“You’re very angry,” he said.
For the first time that day, she chuckled, sitting back in her chair. “My therapist tell you that?”
“He didn’t have to. I saw what you did to that girl.”
“And I’d do it again,” she said, sitting up. “I’m all my sister has and I’ll be damned if—”
“I get it,” Martinez said, holding up his hand. “And trust me. I understand. But doing what you did to that girl is not the answer—”
“Bullshit! If she’s gonna fuck with my—”
“Rico! I warned you about the language. I don’t care how angry you are. You will watch that mouth when you’re in my office.”
Lila glared at him and nodded, remembering she did not want to get expelled.
“Tell me something.” He sat back in his seat. “What are you gonna do if one day you beat someone so bad you get thrown in jail? Who’s gonna look after your sister then?”
Still staring at him, she swallowed hard. This wasn’t the first time she’d been asked this. Most of the times she’d lost it so bad were because someone had messed with her sister. The foster care system had been brutal, and she and her sister had found out real fast the only people they could rely on were each other. Ali had been born with numerous medical issues. She was better now, but those issues had done some permanent damage. Because of her hypothyroidism, she’d always struggled with her slow metabolism.
Coupled with her stunted growth, being short and plump most of her life made her a target for bullying. Even when they were very young, Lila had made sure she was clear to the bullies what they were in for if they chose her sister to pick on. Her therapist and her foster parents were always quick to point out she’d be no help to anyone if she was locked up.