Heart of Steel ~ Winn Schott

This Leap Is on Faith

"But I only left a few days ago, surely this couldn't have all happened in that short of a time frame."

"I don't know about that..." Alex gestured wildly around Brad's living room, spinning in slow circles to give the full effect of what she was trying to say. Now that she and Frankie had entered the apartment, they could see every detail of the ransacking more clearly and it was becoming obvious that something didn't add up. "Look at the floor, the counters; there's no dust or grime or anything. It looks like it's all new mess."

Frankie shook her head, not understanding Alex's point. "But it smells so bad."

"Fair enough. When did you last take the trash out?"

"I'm offended that you're implying I haven't changed the bag in so long that literally just days passing made the whole apartment stink like literal shit."

"So, either someone's broken in and dumped all of their trash for the fun of it," Alex said, her voice oddly light. "Or he did come back but was trying to leave in a hurry."

"The woman across the hall said she hadn't seen him though."

A slight grin grew on Alex's face and she turned back in Frankie's direction. "She was crocheting her own nudes, I don't know how much faith I have in her observation skills."

"Art is subjective, Alex. I'm not sure what gives you the right to be criticising hers, I've never seen you pick up a crochet needle in your life."

"Either way," Alex took a few steps toward the kitchen to meet Frankie next to the sink. "We're in agreement someone broke in whether or not it was Brad, right?"

As she looked around, Frankie couldn't help but notice a distinct organisation to the chaos, a method to the madness which, to her, discredited Alex's theory of a robbery. While it was true that clothes were flung everywhere and torn books took up almost every open shelf space, it still felt just a touch off.

Then, Frankie realised why it wasn't clicking.

"Or he was trying to make it look like someone broke in." Alex looked over at her, her jaw so tight in confusion that Frankie didn't hesitate to explain. "The food in the sink is all stuff that rots within hours and all the expensive shit is still here; everything's nasty and gross, but it's all surface level. It's almost like he was hoping we'd come back and think he'd gotten himself in trouble or something and not bother to look any closer."

"So that we'd come and rescue him?" Alex asked, bending over to examine a mug that looked as though it hadn't seen a rinse in days.

"Maybe... Or he might have just wanted to disappear." While Brad had been distant while they were dating, she'd never expected him to go to any lengths to cover his tracks, and yet every clue in the apartment pointed to the fact that it had been a rush job. The only conclusion Frankie could reach was that Alex had truly scared him off. "All I know is that he technically doesn't live here permanently, he never did. He was always based in Metropolis and he'd go back and forth all the time. What if he was afraid that we'd come after him or tell someone?"

"Sure sounds like something he'd do," Alex agreed, rather lightly for the situation but not altogether inappropriately. After all, Frankie thought, what was the appropriate reaction to her ex-boyfriend ransacking his own apartment and disappearing off the face of the Earth?

Her eye was drawn to the tv in the corner of the living room. The screen was shattered and shards of glass finer than sand blanketed the floor below. She made her way over to it and carefully picked up the remote that lay on the ground next to the coffee table. It had a small dent on one corner and the paint was slightly chipped, making it clear to Frankie that Brad had thrown it at the screen.