Peter
Peter woke up to his face so close to Priscilla’s and his arms around her. He could feel her breath on his face. He remembered vividly sleeping at the edge of the bed, but somehow he was so close to her. He wanted to stand up but was caught in a trance. She looked so beautiful and peaceful. She had a cute smile plastered on her face. He remembered how he got close to her. She was sleep-talking loudly with fear from what was apparently a nightmare. He placed his arms around her to calm her and somehow slept off like that.
He tucked the strands of hair behind her ear. He stared at her soft pink lips. He felt a sudden strong urge to kiss them. He was alarmed at his own thoughts. What the hell was he doing?
He stood up from the bed and stepped into the bathroom to brush and wash his face. He walked out to see she had changed her sleeping position. This time it was such a hilarious posture he grinned. She was such a heavy sleeper.
He went to his laptop and searched for crime scene cleaning companies. He found one with good reviews and a user-friendly website. He logged on to book their service. He entered the address and made the payment with relative ease.
He heard his stomach grumble again. He was yet to eat anything since yesterday morning.
He went into the kitchen to prepare tea, bread, and omelet. It was one of the few easy foods he could make without preparing a disaster.
He finished setting the table about the time she walked into the kitchen.
“Good morning.”
“Morning.”
“You have such a beautiful home.”
“Thank you. My mom designed it herself.”
“It’s really beautiful,” she said.
“How are you feeling now?”
“Better.”
“Settle down and have a taste,” he said, setting the food on the table.
She pulled a chair and sat down. She took a bite.
“Wow! This is really good,” she exclaimed. “I never imagined you cook so well.”
“I’m probably the worst cook to ever walk the earth,” he replied.
“Just take the compliment,” she said with a mocking tone and a twisted smile.
“I will take it as a compliment then,” he replied with a grin.
Lucy came into the dining room. He had completely forgotten about her. The smell of the food must have woken her up. It was her favorite food. Well, it was the food he mostly made in the morning.
He saw Priscilla's face lose all its earlier radiant color. He didn’t know what to do. The last thing she needed right now was seeing any cat. He watched her bend down to feed Lucy and stroke her lovingly. He was taken aback. He didn’t anticipate that, but was a bit relieved at her reaction.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she replied.
He settled down beside her to eat, watching her every move as she ate slowly. She seemed to have lost her enthusiasm. He sighed and continued eating.
Her phone rang. She ate her food with one hand and picked up the phone with the other.
“Mom.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m not hurt, I promise.”
“I’m at a friend’s place.”
“No, not Janet.”
“The policemen are handling it.”
“Nothing was stolen.”
“No, you don’t need to hurry down here. Finish up with what you are doing before racing down here.”
“I already told you, Mom. I’m fine.”
She hung up.
“Your mom?”
“Yeah.”
“You told her already?”
“I left a message on her cell earlier.”
“How agitated she must have felt when she read what happened to Max.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“I didn’t tell her about Max.”
“You didn’t?”
“Why?”
“She has had such a rough week. The last thing I needed was scaring her out of her wits.”
“So what did you write to her?”
“I told her the house was broken into but nothing was stolen. I added that the police were already on it and everything was fine.”
“She will have the rest of the information when she’s back and calm.”
“Touché.”
“What are the plans for today?”
“I must leave here soon for home. I have to clean the blood before it gets any drier and harder to clean. And clean the entire house before changing the locks on the door.”
“The cleaning part has already been taken care of.”
“What do you mean?”
“I contacted a cleaning company while you were asleep.”
“Oh.”
“I can’t have you do that. I really can’t. The last thing I need is to take advantage of you monetarily after all you’ve done.”
“Says who? Who said you were taking advantage of me?” he said with a laugh.
He realized she was dead serious and the laugh seemed inappropriate.
“We are friends, aren’t we? And friends help each other out.”
He saw her sad smile, and added.
“I apologize for not consulting you first, but it’s really nothing. It was a reasonable fee.”
“If you still feel disturbed about it, you can pay me back whenever you want to, and perhaps in installments.”
“How about that? Better?”
She nodded.
“Better,” she replied with a smile.
“Finish up your food so we can go check it out,” he said.
They pulled up in front of her house. Unsurprisingly, the policemen on lookout were gone. They alighted and walked into the house. They looked around. The house was sparkling clean. All traces of the mess were gone. Their service was totally worth the pay.
“They did such a great job,” she said with delight.
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure the pay wasn’t much?” she asked, with the delight replaced with worry.
“For the umpteenth time, it wasn’t.”
“Don’t stress yourself out.”
“Thank you again.”
“And again, you are welcome.”
“So what’s next?”
“I have to repair the locks. Probably look for a locksmith.”
“There’s an old man at the outskirts of the city who specializes in locksmithing. He’s quite good at it.”
They were in the car again, driving towards the locksmith shop. It didn’t take long to find it. He brought the car to a halt in front of the familiar old shack.
They walked into the shop and were greeted by the old man. They negotiated a fair price for the locks and were on their way again.
The man talked throughout the drive. He talked about his children and also his grandson, who turned out to go to the same campus. He talked about how long he had spent in this town. A total of 67 years. Peter guessed that was his age, given he had spent most of his lifetime here. He talked about different types of people he had encountered. How most people stingily avoided spending enough on changing the locks and were often punished cruelly when burglars targeted their house. Peter knew it was clearly a ruse to make them believe his service was totally worth the pay.
After minutes of listening to an old man chatter, he pulled up in front of her house for the third time today. They all alighted and walked into the house. The man stood and observed the door while Priscilla entered to fetch her ID card and a bill.
“It doesn’t take an expert to pick these locks. These are very cheap locks,” he said.
“Just a pin could have done the job.”
“I want you to replace it with a lock much stronger.”
“Put your mind at rest and trust me.”
Peter nodded.
Priscilla came back holding her ID and a water bill.
“Is this good enough?” she asked, handing them to him.
“This should do it,” he replied after taking a brief look and handing them back to her before setting to work immediately.
She went back in while Peter watched him as he worked.
“Do you need any help?” he asked.
“Not at all, son.”
“I will call you when I’m done.”
Peter walked back to the living room to see her on a call. She hung up after a few minutes.
“It was Officer Joe,” she announced.
“What did he say?”
“Did they find anything?”
“They couldn’t find any other fingerprints.”
“Nothing?”
“And David?” he asked with disdain.
“They tracked him down. Apparently he was also at the stadium throughout yesterday’s game and had a strong alibi to back it up.”
“He said there will be further investigation on it and they will call for more updates as the investigation proceeds.”
“Fair enough,” he said.
“Hey, sonny,” the old man called out.
He walked back to the entrance to meet him.
“I’m done,” he said.
“Already?” Peter asked.
“That was quick.”
“I’ve been in this line of work for over 30 years. Being quick is a given.”
Peter nodded.
“I hope it’s secured enough.”
“You bet it is, son.”
“It would take the most experienced picklock an average of 20 hours to force his way in, which is more than enough time to get caught.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You are welcome, son. And please call me Mac. I feel very old when I’m called sir,” he said, handing him the keys.
“Thank you, Mac.”
Peter stretched his hand to collect the keys.
“It was nice doing business with you,” he said, extending his hand.
Peter shook it warmly. Mac had such soft palms. Quite unexpected from an old man and a locksmith at that.
“My pleasure, sir.”
“Mac,” he quickly corrected himself.
Mac gave a wide grin and turned to leave.
“Do you need a ride back?” Peter asked.
“I would appreciate that, sonny,” he replied with a wave of his hand.
“Okay, Mac. I will be there in a minute.”
Peter closed the door and inserted the keys into the lock to test it. It worked fine but looked like a regular old lock. He was willing to trust him.
He walked back to the living room. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He brought it out to see who it was.
“Hey, Ralph.”
“Where the are you?” Ralph said.
“I’m not in.”
“You told me to come over yesterday.”
“Where are you?”
He hesitated a bit.
“None of your business, Ralph.”
“Are you still with the girl from yesterday? Priscilla, right?” Ralph said with a mocking tone.
“I knew there’s something brewing between you two.”
“Shut up, Ralph.”
“I’m hanging up,” he said.
“Wait, wait…”
“What?” he asked.
“Did you use protection?”
Peter hung up.
He walked back to the living room to see her hanging up another call.
“Officer Joe?” he asked.
“No. It’s Phil and Janet. They just got the message I sent earlier and they are coming over to check up,” she said.
“Oh, okay,” he replied.
“The locksmith has finished changing the locks,” he said.
“These are the new keys,” he said, handing her the keys.
“I already tested the new locks and they work perfectly.”
“Thank you, Peter,” she said with so much appreciation in her eyes.
“I don’t know how I could have done all of this without you.”
“You are welcome.”
“You hungry? Should I fix you something to eat?” she asked. “Perhaps a sandwich?”
“That sounds nice,” he replied. He was really hungry.
“But that would be later. I have to give Mac a ride back to his shop.”
“I will be back in a jiffy.”
“Okay.”
He headed out.
