How to hide a body

Skirting boards

The rain slashed against her face as she snuck up the metal stairs at the side of the apartment block. She peered through the window into her apartment. It was the same as how they left it: clean. Glancing around quickly, she grabbed her pocket knife from her inside pocket and inserted it in the lower part of the window between the frame and the sash. She bent the knife and used it to pry the window open and continued to do this all the way around the edges of the window. She scrunched her eyes together as she used both hands to bend the knife and then she felt pressure be released. She pried the window open the rest of the way with her hands and pulled herself through the window, hissing slightly when she leaned against her right hand. 

She slipped her shoes off and left them by the window as she tiptoed around her apartment, carefully avoiding all of the loose floorboards just in case. Peeking her head around the corner, she made her way into the corner and stuck by the wall to the left of her just in case as she neared Quinn's room. But as she entered the room she noticed something: someone had been there.

The curtains were pushed further to the right than they had been when they left and Quinn's bed had been made differently. Only slightly but it was still different. Quinn normally tucked on the corners of her duvet because it made her feel safer instead, the corners were out. Nothing else seemed out of place, but things would probably be out of place in Quinn's draws if she looked more closely. 

Did they only go round Quinn's room though? 

 Tyler bit her lip as she ran out of Quinn's room and into her own. The glass was still there in the same pattern as they left it, her blood had now dried on both the glass and the knife, and her sheets were still ripped. Surely if the police had been there it would all be gone? But then who had been there? 

Tyler skidded back across the hallway to Quinn's room and searched every corner from her place in the door, her eyes stopping where she reached the place where Clay's body once laid. Tracing the area with her eyes, she stepped towards the wall directly behind where he could've touched. She crouched down, placing her thumb at a part of the skirting board that would've been directly where his arm touched, and pushed down, eyes widening when she felt the skirting board weaken a little. She back away and lined her foot up with the skirting board before she kicked her heel directly into the board, with a satisfying crack echoing across the apartment as the wood suddenly broke. She tore away the last pieces of wood left and reached her hand, touching the small paper bag that was crumpled around something.

Ripping the bag open, she glanced back towards the door before she took out the object inside. She gasped as the green light from the object sparkled into her eyes. Blinking quickly, she looked away before turning back to face the object again. It was a dainty tiara that had a larger emerald at its centre and four smaller separated at either side which was all circled by hundreds of tiny diamonds. Tyler gaped at the tiara in her hands and again searched around the room in case someone had magically slipped in without her hearing. She set it down on the tattered remains of the paper bag and searched the hallway cupboards for something; she stretched onto her tiptoes as her hand disappeared into the back of the cupboard. Her hand returned with a white laptop that had a white daisy painted on it. She thundered back into Quinn's room and huffed as it slowly loaded.

She leaped off of the bed when she heard someone knock on the door. Quietly, she crept down the hallway and towards the door with her water bottle clutched tightly in her hands as her knuckle turned white. She stood on the stall next to the door and pressed her ear against the wall.

"Hi Tyler, it's Kimberly I was wondering if you had any milk we could borrow," her next door but one neighbor spoke against the door. 

Tyler pursed her lips as she debated opening the door or not but went with her heart instead of her head for once and quickly unlocked the door whilst plastering a friendly smile on her face, "of course I'll quickly get it if you could wait here," once Kimberly thankfully nodded she thundered down the hallway into the kitchen and slammed open the kitchen, taking out the milk, and closing it behind her with her foot, "I hope this is enough. It's all we have," she handed Kimberly the milk.

Kimberly pushed her glasses up her nose and smiled brightly, "It's more than enough, thank you. I can pay you back as soon as you want."

Tyler clasped Kimberly's hands in her own, "Honestly don't worry. We weren't going to use the milk anytime soon."

Kimberly nodded, "Thank you though. How's Quinn been moving in?" She tried to keep the conversation and Tyler grimaced in her head.

"Good, good. She's bringing the last few things tomorrow when she gets back from visiting a friend."

"That's great," Kimberly started backing away from the door, "just give us a knock if you need anything."

"Will do, bye," Tyler started closing the door.

"Bye."

Tyer sighed as she closed the door and began locking it up again from the inside, running a hand through her hair once she'd finished. She returned to Quinn's room and sat back down on the bed, moving the laptop back onto her lap. She searched the words Clay Roan and watched as all the articles appeared on him; all of them listing on and on, and on. She scanned through article after article, not finding anything worth looking into further until after around 20 minutes of skimming, she found a random picture that he was outside with a building in the background from an area that she recognised. A few years ago, his area had a competition to see who could get out and exercise the most. If he lived in the same place then this whole thing could make much more sense.

Whilst she slipped her phone out of her pocket, she packed up everything and wrapped the tiara in toilet roll and some spare bubble wrap she had in a drawer.

"Hey Tyler," Jai spoke from the other side of the phone. It was crowded where he was, and she could hear beeping and doors slamming in the background.

"Hi, how's Quinn?"

"She's doing good. The doctors said there's no injury to any of her organs."

"Thank god," she sighed in relief.

"How are things going your way?"

"Better but I honestly have no clue where everything's leading to. Someone's been at our apartment, but they didn't break in."

"How did you get in?"

"I broke in through the window?" She answered, questioning where he was going.

"Why couldn't have someone else done that too? Whoever's doing this is obviously trying to cover their tracks, so why would they try to be so dumb?" He elaborated as something that sounded like a wheel squeaked past him.

"You're right," she pursed her lips, "I've got to go, but take care. Tell Quinn everything's fine."

"I will, stay safe."

She leaned back against the wall as he hung up. She typed the area of Clay's house into her phone, shutting Quinn's door behind her and swinging her bag over her shoulder. As she wandered down the hallway again, she quickly checked her room before she returned to the living room, more specifically the window. She slipped it open again and sighed as she made her way down the metal stairs again.