The Worth of a Coin (BxB)

Chapter 13

"I couldn't find anything," Sara stated and raised her head high. "I'm pretty good at these things; he had a lot of plants."

"That helps," Quan said. I could tell by his tone that he was brushing off her words and input. "Could I go into his house? Maybe even just to the welcome mat."

"Sure," I agreed.

"Absolutely not," Aubrey countered. "We are not invading his privacy like that."

"What about his family?" Luka asked quietly. "They've taken it pretty rough."

"Yeah..." I trailed off. I didn't feel like I had any authority on this street anymore. "But I know them, a little at least. Chances are that they'd be more than happy to figure out what happened to their son."

"I don't know, angels can be difficult sometimes," Sara said.

"Hey!" Luka exclaimed. "We're respectful, not difficult."

"Either way, I think that we should be checking out the house." I moved towards Quan and put my arm around him again, making sure not to touch him or make him uncomfortable, well, too uncomfortable.

"Fine, just don't upset them," Harlen said reluctantly. "We'll be right behind you."

I tried not to feel intimidated by Harlen and the rest of my friends as we walked down the pristine path to Simon's house. I felt like there were eyes following us the entire time, which there probably was.

I knocked on the bright white door which didn't hold a speck of dirt, and waited for a response. A fragment of a face peeped through the blinds that were covering my view of the inside.

The door opened slightly. "Hello?" a soft and feminine voice greeted. Their voice was a little hoarse despite the softness, as though the person had been crying. I immediately recognised the voice as Simon's mother.

"Hello, miss, I was wondering if I could talk to you?" I asked in a softer tone than I had used in the past few years. "I'm sorry for your loss. I wanted to ask you more about Simon, if you're willing to talk?"

"No," she stated. "Goodbye."

I held up a finger to Quan, who had since deflated. I had forgotten that he couldn't see what I was doing. When I remembered, I quickly put my hand down to my side and coughed awkwardly.

The door swung open a few seconds later, revealing what I could only describe as the embodiment of grief.

People mourned in different ways, some ate away their emotions, and others cried until boxes upon boxes of tissues were discarded. Some get on with their lives and pretend that everything's alright, and some spend sleepless nights wondering why it happened to their loved one.

I couldn't tell which one of those Mrs. Addams was, but she looked like a complete wreck. Her hair was tattered and in knots, as though she had been pulling at it. She wore her work clothes, despite it being several days since she was last working, unless something else happened which I hadn't heard about. Her eyes held dark circles underneath and her nose was red and raw, presumably from where she had rubbed it with tissues.

"What do you want to know?" Mrs. Addams said through sniffles. Her voice was as dry still as it had sounded earlier.

"We were just wondering if we could pop in?" I asked in the friendliest voice I could muster. "This is detective investigator Quan Leung. He is going to help us investigate Simon's death."

Mrs. Addams shoulders tensed, she looked sceptically at me and gave a small scoff. "And you expect me to believe that a person such as yourself is involved with the police?"