On a String

Chapter 15

"Could you turn the torch on?" Cole asked, shutting out the bright City light by pulling the front door closed.

(And the post mortem begins...)

Kai obeyed wordlessly, flicking the switch and watching as the yellow beam of light travelled down the corridor. An empty coat rack stood on his left and several pairs of colourful heeled shoes lay carelessly beside it.

He felt sick.

"What are we looking for?" Cole asked, taking the torch from Kai and starting down the hallway. "Kai?" he asked, realizing that his team mate wasn't following him.

"Uh..." Kai looked back down at the shoes and swallowed.

The shoes.

So colourful and smiley and pretty and-

She'd never wear them again.

"You alright?"

Kai shook himself. "Yeah," he nodded. "Clariss- she researched the gang and I think she hid her findings somewhere in this house. If we can locate them, we might be able to find something which will stop the group,"

Cole began to walk forward again and Kai followed him this time. "You don't know where she hid her research?"

"No." Kai frowned as they arrived in some sort of lounge.

Cole waved one hand in front of his face and coughed while scanning his torch over leather couches. "Urgh, what is that smell? It's all stale... like cigarettes and mint,"

"She smoked," Kai explained shortly.

"Wouldn't that have made things difficult for her when she was captured?" Cole questioned, stepping further into the dark room.

"They let their prisoners smoke," Kai muttered behind him. "Because if they're addicted, they depend on the prison guards to provide them with cigarettes. The gang sought to control its prisoners, and that was one of the ways they did it,"

Smoking was a habit she had been trying to kick... she said she was determined to live long and die healthy.

Then she'd been captured and as a result of the stress, had practically depended on the cigarettes. (And the group had been more than pleased with that- willingly supplying her with as much as she wanted).

It was so sick.

They destroyed her goals... her hopes... her dreams... her life... just to get what they wanted.

Kai closed his eyes and heaved a silent (pained) sigh.

There was no way he could have come here on his own.

Beside Kai, Cole gave another cough before moving across the silent lounge towards a table of photographs. "Is this her?" he asked, gesturing at the figure of a slightly overweight, pretty, middle aged lady wearing a silver dress. The picture appeared to have been taken at some official event, as the people in the background were in a similar state of formal dress.

She held a wine glass in one hand and a light green clutch purse in the other. Her blue eyes laughed silently at the camera while red painted lips curved in a giggle as if sharing a joke with whoever had been taking the picture.

Kai came closer and looked at the photo. "Yeah. That's her,"

Cole nodded, gently setting the photo down. "Was she married? Kids?"

"No. She didn't date,"

"Nice person?"

"Yeah, she was," The words were bitter in Kai's mouth.