Chapter 117 Chapter 117
Liana's Pov
The rain had stopped, but the streets still glistened with water, there were puddles around, some marked with lines that looked like rainbows. Growing up, we were told that it was as a result of oil being on the floor before the rain. The windshield wipers moved lazily now, not because we necessarily needed it but Stanley left it working, squeaking faintly as they moved. I sat in the passenger seat, staring at the road ahead but not really seeing it. My mind was too busy circling the same thoughts over and over, looping back on itself like an old film reel with a scene it refused to move past.
“Almost there,” Stanley said, his voice low. It startled me for a second; we’d been in near total silence since leaving the safe house. I glanced at him because I needed the distraction of another face. His hands rested steady on the steering wheel, but there was a kind of tension in his shoulders that told me he understood exactly what we were driving toward.
“Thanks,” I murmured, though my throat felt dry.
The closer we got, the more familiar the streets became. I’d been here before. Once when Serena had invited me over for a movie that we never actually finished because we ended up talking instead. That was before all of this… before the attack, before the police reports and the whispered conversations about court dates, before her name was a file on someone’s desk.
We turned a corner, and the building came into view. I’d forgotten how ordinary it looked. Five stories high, the brick faded to a kind of tired reddish-brown, with a narrow entryway and a buzzer panel that probably hadn’t worked since the late nineties. A single pot of plant sat by the door, its leaves browning at the edges like no one had thought to water it in weeks. Well, no one actually had. Serena had moved here after she let Dominics house and as bare as it looked she insited it made her feel safe.
Stanley turned off the engine, and for a moment we just sat there. Neither of us moved to get out.
“You ready?” he asked.
“No,” I said honestly. Then I opened the door anyway.
I stepped out of the car and the air hit me. It was cooler here, with that faint metallic scent that comes after rain. My shoes made a soft splash in a shallow puddle as I walked toward the door and I cursed immediately.
“What if we don't find it?” I wispered.
“We will,” Stanley said and squeezed my hands in reassurance. Stanley stayed close, not hovering exactly, but close enough that I knew he’d always be by my side. The building was quiet. Too quiet but what did we expect?
Serena’s apartment was on the third floor, at the far end of a hallway with peeling wallpaper and a dim overhead light that flickered too frequently for my liking. My fingers hesitated on the doorknob.
When I pushed it open, I almost wished I hadn’t. The place was upside down.
Not in the dramatic, smashed glass, overturned furniture kind of way you see in movies. No! This was worse... It was the calculated chaos of an investigation. The drawers were open, their contents half pulled out as though the officers hadn’t had time or hadn’t cared to put anything back neatly. Papers scattered across the coffee table in a mess and the couch cushions were scattered everywhere, one of them tossed carelessly on the floor.
And God, the smell… the air was stale since the windows hadn’t been opened since she left. It was layered with the faint scent of something chemical.
I stepped inside slowly, my eyes moving around over every surface. It felt wrong to be here without her. Like I was intruding, even though she’d agreed to me doing this.
“They went through everything,” I whispered, more to myself than to Stanley. My voice sounded small in the empty room. He stayed by the door for a moment, scanning the hallway as though half expecting someone to follow us up.
“Where do you think she would normally keep it?” Stanley asked out of nowhere.
I froze for a moment, brainstorming. “Most probably on a bed side table since she doesn't have a study.” I said after a little thoughtful moment. My mind was already running through possibilities. Serena wasn’t careless with her things, she’d once lectured me for leaving my phone on the table when I stepped outside for five minutes on one of those days we still secretly met in the Café. If the police hadn’t taken the laptop, it meant it was still supposed to be here.”
The first place I checked was her bedroom. The bed was scattered. Her sheets were rumpled and pulled back in a manner that suggested the police had been searching beneath it too. The closet doors were widely open, clothes shoved to one side. I crouched down, running my fingers along the floorboards in case there was a loose one. Nothing.
I moved to the dresser, opening each drawer carefully. There were socks half folded, t shirts in messy piles and lots of vests. I hesitated at the bottom drawer, then pulled it open. Just sweaters. Thick, soft, and mostly black. Some of them still had faint traces of her perfume on them. I raised then just incase it was hidden underneath but still nothing so I closed it, inhaling quietly before moving on.
The living room was worse. Every shelf had been touched. A stack of books lay on its side where it had fallen, a thin layer of dust outlining where they used to sit. I picked one up, a paperback with its spine bent from too many readings and flipped through the pages to see if there were written notes but it came out negative.
By the time I reached the kitchen, my hands were trembling slightly. Not from fear, exactly, but from the tension of knowing I might leave here empty handed. The counters were clean, but the cabinets had been rifled through. Mismatched plates stacked unevenly and mugs facing the wrong way.
“Have you found anything?” I called out to Stanley.
“Nothing yet,” he called back from somewhere down the hall.
It was when I reached the small hallway leading to the bathroom that I noticed it a faint scuff mark near the baseboard, just beside a narrow utility closet. My pulse kicked up.
I knelt down, running my fingers along the edge. The board felt slightly loose. I pulled on it but it was too stiff for me to move.