Chapter 101 The Arrest
At 20 Cooper Square, Brooklyn, Elorm was having fun with his male friends in the backyard of his two-bedroom apartment. They had the barbecue stand out, and they were roasting some meat. Elorm's phone rang, and he knew Zora was at the door.
"Mark, please take over. Zora is here. Please don't do your thing," Elorm said, and the boys started making dog calls.
"Cut it out. Zora and I are good friends. Besties," Elorm said, and the boys stopped. "Thank you," he said before heading back into the house.
"Yeah, right," Fred commented after Elorm had left, breaking the silence.
"Who is he lying to, us or himself?" Grayson asked, and they all laughed.
Inside the house, Elorm opened the door and invited Zora in.
"Welcome to my humble home. The boys are here. Just forgive them for whatever they do. They can be troublesome sometimes?" Elorm informed Zora, smiling, and she made a face, but quickly changed it into a smile. "Don't worry, I won't let them bother you," he assured her.
Elorm walked Zora to the backyard. The moment the two entered the backyard, Mark began playing his guitar and singing along, causing Elorm and Zora to freeze in their spot, surprised.
"You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you. You'd be like Heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much," Mark said, and Fred hugged himself romantically, hearing the latter part of the song.
"Oh yeah," he moans the words before getting behind the keyboard.
"At long last, love has arrived. And I thank God I'm alive," Fred sang, his voice so sweet, smooth and soft to the ear as he joined Mark while playing the keyboard.
"You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you," Mark and Fred sang in harmony.
"I love you, baby. And if it's quite all right. I need you, baby. To warm the lonely night. I love you, baby. Trust in me when I say. Oh, pretty baby. Don't bring me down, I pray. Oh, pretty baby. Now that I've found you, stay. And let me love you, baby. Let me love you," Grayson joined the two, and the trio sang in harmony.
Their beautiful voice, backed by the two instruments, filled the environment, leaving Zora stunned, and Elorm's jaw dropped as he stood behind Zora staring at his friends.
Zora smiled, enjoying the song as they sang, having no idea the trio were just teasing Elorm about his feelings for Zora, which he was too scared to let her know.
"Let me love you," Grayson ended the song, and Zora clapped, smiling, and Elorm was forced to clap to avoid raising any suspicion.
"Zora, meet my friends, Grayson, Mark and Fred," Elorm introduced.
"Welcome, princess," Grayson said and planted a kiss on the back of Zora's hand.
"You are welcome, queen of Elorm's heart," Fred said in Spanish, but Elorm understood.
Zora smiled and turned to Elorm, whom she knew understood Spanish.
"What does that mean?" Zora asked, smiling.
"He just said welcome," Elorm explained, sounding awkward, and Fred smiled, knowing he was just lying to her.
"De nada, esposa de Elorm," Mark said, and Zora understood a word from the statement.
"Esposa, means wife, right?" Zora asked, staring at Elorm.
"No, he meant to say, flindosa, which means, lovely, darling. He mixed his language with Portuguese sometimes," Elorm explained, and Zora bought his explanation.
Elorm warned his friends to stop teasing him with the teasing using his eyes.
"You guys were practising?" Zora asked.
"Yeah," Elorm answered and quickly offered Zora a seat and a drink. "We are just chilling and practising," he added.
"You guys can form a band. You have such an amazing voice," Zora complimented.
"We are a small band. And we sing in bars," Fred replied.
"That is nice," Zora said and shifted her gaze to Elorm, who was now back at the barbecue stand. "Do you sing?" she asked.
"Yeah, Elorm," Mark added his voice, making the boys laugh.
"Sort of," Elorm replied and placed a roasted meat on the plate for Zora.
"Why don't you give Ms Zora a demo?" Grayson suggested, and Zora smiled, making it difficult for Elorm to object.
"Demo, demo, demo," they all started chanting in unison.
"Alright," Elorm said, calming them down.
Mark quickly grabbed his guitar, and Fred got behind the keyboard. Grayson was ready to harmonise whatever song Elorm would sing.
Elorm cleared his throat and began to sing with passion the song Amor de siempre by Coco. Zora didn't understand a word because he sang in Spanish, but she enjoyed the song from beginning to end. His friend knew he was expressing his love to Zora, but Zora didn't understand.
"Wow, you should be singing more often. You have such an amazing voice," Zora complimented.
"Yeah, amigo. Sing more," Fred teased, and Elorm smiled, staring at Fred, knowing exactly what Fred meant.
In songs, he can express his feelings for Zora even though he uses a language that Zora would not understand.
"Wow!" Mark exclaimed, drawing the others' attention to him.
"What happened?" Grayson asked realizing Mark was staring at something with shock registered on his face, while Elorm went back to his barbecue stand, ignoring them.
"Mrs Patricia Moore has just been announced dead," Mark announced, and Zora choked on her drink.
Zora began to cough violently, and Elorm quickly rushed to Zora's side. He offered her some water after tapping her back gently for a while.
Once Zora was calmed, she tried to speak again.
"What did you say?" Zora asked, her voice sounding hoarse.
"Mrs Patricia Moore is dead," Mark repeated, and Zora took the phone from him.
Zora stared at the news, completely shocked.
"Guys, the news is everywhere. It's true. The announcement went live less than 20 minutes ago," Fred said, also staring at his phone.
"This is the second death recorded in the Moore family, and they were all killed by a gun," Grayson pointed out. "Someone is after them," he added.
"Obviously," Mark commented, but Zora was so shocked to the bone that she couldn't react.
"Zora, are you alright?" Elorm asked, and Zora snapped out from the memory of the gathering she saw earlier across the street, wondering if that gathering was for Patricia?
"I was with her a couple of minutes to an hour ago," Zora said, her voice very low.
"You saw her before she was killed?" Fred asked.
"Yes," Zora replied, trembling.
"Hey, come with me," Elorm said softly to her, and Zora nodded, standing to her feet.
"Guys, Angela Anderson has just been arrested in connection with the second murder," Grayson announced, and Zora turned to hear Angela's name.
"What! What did you say?" Zora asked in a voice trembling, but she retrieved her phone without waiting for a reply.
"The police have just picked up Ms Angela Anderson, a former employee of Diamond Corporation, who was a suspect in the murder of Ms Elena Moore. The arrest was also made in connection with the current murder of Ms Patricia Moore. Ms Angela was hiding in a cabin house downtown when the police found her following a tip-off. The arrest was done around 7.30 p.m." Grayson read, and Zora's phone dropped to the ground.
Elorm picked it up and ended the call she was trying to make. The news had just been published on social media, but Angela had been picked up an hour ago.
"No, I have to go get Angela. She is innocent. I was with Patricia. I saw the people gathered across the street, but I didn't go there. Angela was at home. She didn't do it," Zora defended.
"Zora, calm down. Think carefully before you do anything. They might arrest you, too, if you go to the police with this information. They will just say you shot Mrs Moore," Elorm said, not willing to risk Zora getting arrested.