When it started vibrating repeatedly signaling a call, I grabbed it again, glad I did when I saw it was Blake.
“Hey, Rosebud.”
“My door is open.” She said softly.
“Uh, okay? Is that a… are you asking us to come over? I don't understand. “
“No! No, I just got home. I know I locked my door. It's open.”
That had me straightening up. “You haven't gone inside yet?”
“No, I just called you.” Her voice trembled a bit.
“Good girl.” I hummed. “We're on our way. Stay in the hall or go to the front office with people. Don't tell them anything, we don't want the police involved yet. Okay?” Even though I was the police, I still wanted to look around without others calling all over the place.
“Okay.” Came her voice, low and timid. I hated it like that. I was gonna skin whoever did this to her.
I hung up and called down the hall for Mal.
“What's up?”
“Someone broke into Blake's apartment. We gotta go.”
“Is she okay?” He came running down the hall. “Did she call the police?”
“She didn't go inside and I told her to hold off.” I huffed, pulling on my coat.
“Why the hell would you do that? Ethan, you're a cop, why tell her not to call?” He frowned, following me to the car.
It wasn’t a simple answer. I couldn't tell Malcolm about the texts I'd gotten because I had it under control. I had a sinking suspicion that the texts and Blake's break in were related too. I just wanted to scope the place out before involving outsiders.
“I can handle it.” I said softly and drove the few short minutes to her place before calling her again. “Where are you, Rosebud?”
“In the hallway.” She sniffed.
“What apartment building again? We're on the way up.” I knew it by heart, but she didn't know that. When she texted the address for dinner earlier, it didn't have the apartment number on it.
“F, upstairs to the back.”
“See you in two shakes.” I smiled softly, hoping I was giving her some kind of comfort from my voice.
Mal ran up the steps ahead of me. “Blake.” I heard him say while I was still on the steps.
He had her in his arms, smoothing down her hair. “We got you, E's here now.”
“Did you go inside?” I asked again.
“No, and no one's come out.” She said, hugging Mal.
I smiled and kissed her head before taking my gun from my waist band, flipping on the flashlight. “Stay out here, both of you.” I didn’t want her alone and I trusted Malcolm to keep her safe.
Walking into her apartment, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but ransacked wasn’t it. She has a small studio apartment that she kept clean, everything had a place. Now though? Her couch cushions were not only cut to bits but thrown around the room, stuffing littering the floor. Her coffee table was flipped, books torn to shreds and thrown around the room. Her bed was much like the couch, slashes in the fabric and tossed around like trash. Her kitchen cabinets were all open and all their contents scattered across the floor, glass and porcelain scattered the walkway. Whoever did this, wanted to crush her. Blake had worked so hard to get here, to be able to be on her own and someone came in and destroyed everything she worked for. I turned my flashlight to her wall, assessing for more damage and my blood ran cold. “WHORE” was written in blood red letters across her wall.
I swallowed hard, my mind reeling. I had missed something, an ex out for blood, another stalker, someone who wanted to hurt her. I’d missed it and I waspissed.Whoever thought they could do this to her and get away with it was added to my list. Right after Seth. Hell, maybe even before. I needed to find out. First thing first though, Blake wasn’t safe here. Not anymore.
“E?” Malcolm called from the doorway.
I ran a hand through my hair, grunting and went to the door, staring at him. “Call the police; she needs to make a report.”
