“If it’s alright with you all, I’d like to join too?” Ian requested.
“You’re asking?” Pratt asked, shocked.
“Not really.”
Pratt, Cortez, and York laughed before heading out of the room with Highlander, Ian, Carter, Alvarez, Gene and Larry behind them. Shaking her head, laughing, Sgt. Brocard looked over at Swift.
“Officer Swift, let’s go meet with Candy and her attorney. I want to see what new bullshit feeds us now.”
The small entouragearrived at Candy’s apartment complex, gathering in front of one of the SUVs. Highlander placed his hand on Pratt’s shoulder, making sure he always had a connection with her.
Ian, Carter, Alvarez, Gene and Larry watched the three women look at their surroundings after they stared at the complex building. Ian and Carter exchanged a look that only the two of them understood.
Pratt, Cortez and York exchanged a look for a moment before York nodded to the two women and disappeared around the building.
“Where is she going?” Gene watched as York moved with ease, very aware of her surroundings.
“What she does best.” Pratt answered after York retrieved her bag out of the back of the SUV.
“That is?” Carter looked at Pratt and Cortez then to Highlander, waiting for someone to answer his question.
“I’d tell you, but I’d have to kill you. I’m sure Uncle Gene likes you…or is that needs you?” Pratt pretended to ponder which one before shrugging. “Eh, besides I actually like Alvarez here, since she’s fond of you, I’m going to be a good girl.”
“I like her.” Alvarez grinned at the same times as she winked at Pratt.”
Highlander swatted Pratt’s ass as she walked away from him. “Brat, be nice.”
“Knowing Laura, she was,” Gene laughed, following behind Pratt and the others.
Pratt stopped and turned around. “Ian and Carter, can you two blend in out here? Help York check things out here? The hairs on the back of my neck keeps shifting…”
“Say no more.” Carter and Ian disappeared into the surroundings.
“I have to agree with her. It feels like we are being watched.” Alvarez surveyed her surroundings, “Are you sure you never dabbled in spook life, redhead?”
“Nope, it wasn’t for Uncle Gene’s lack of trying either. He taught me well to trust my instincts.”
Pratt, Cortez, Alvarez, Gene, Larry and Highlander walked up to Candy’s apartment and knocked on the door. When it was answered, Pratt and Cortez flashed their badges, identified who they were to the officer who answered the door.
First thing Pratt noticed when she walked into the apartment was the open floor plan of the living room and the kitchen. The large sectional sofa and curtains in a soft peach color were all slashed to shreds. The pillows that had once been white were now thrown about, shredded with the stuffing all over the place.
The walls in the living room were bare of any photos nor were there any plants in the living room. It held no personal attachment. It made Pratt feel like it was barely used. The wall by the front door had a spot where it appeared that the large screen tv, that was now laying on the floor smashed, had one hung above the black entertainment center. The black entertainment center had been turned over and busted.
Pratt stood in the middle of the room and watched as Cortez walked into the living room from the kitchen. “Well, I think it’s a given Candy isn’t going to be getting her security deposit back.”
“Yeah I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet. The kitchen was trashed also. The dishes were all broken, food taken out of the fridge and thrown everywhere.”
“This feels more like a warning than a search.”
Pratt, Cortez and Alvarez walked into the bedroom to see it was trashed just like the kitchen and the living room. Everything in the room had literally been destroyed. The blinds had torn off their slider and torn to pieces, the sheer curtain had been slashed and shredded. The mattress upended and slashed.
The bedding, pillows and extra blankets had all been slashed and thrown about the room. The nightstands had been overturned and busted apart with the items in the drawers thrown about the room. The lamps and their shades were destroyed.
The dresser against the wall near the sliding glass door had been overturned, the drawers thrown about the room, broken. The mirror on the wall near the door had been shattered as well as the tv that had been on the wall above the dresser in the same condition as everything else.
“Well, someone is gonna have bad luck for the next seven years.” Cortez pointed out the broken mirrors in the bathroom.
The master bathroom looked like a blast went off inside with the broken mirror pieces all over the vanity. The glass shower doors had been shattered all over the floor. Candy’s make-up had been busted up and thrown about, making it unrecoverable.
