The Broken City

Chapter Four

Frank froze in place. His face was set in a confused expression. He didn't even blink for what felt like hours to Carla. The instant she began to speak, he broke. He howled with laughter. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes. Carla couldn't help but get caught up with his laughter. She started laughing. It took him a few minutes to stop laughing. After he caught his breath Carla asked, "What's so funny about that?" He grinned, holding back laughter again. Carla stared, confused, waiting for a reply. "Honestly? I'm not totally sure. It's just," he laughs again, "It explains a lot." Carla was still wholeheartedly confused. Frank took a breath, "Your ability to think fast on your feet. Or hell even being able to convince a veteran cop that you didn't know a thing about what happened on the roof." Carla nodded a little, still not fully understanding him but not wanting to push the issue any further. Frank stood up from the chair and walked over to the coffee table. Carla continued cleaning up from stitching him when she noticed him staring at the table. "What is it?" She asked while washing the bowl out. "What is all of this?" He questioned. Carla dried her hands and walked over to him. "My boss, she was acting odd today. And I was researching how her husband died." "Odd how?" "Uh, she gave me mace and this." She replied as she grabbed the "pen" knife off the table. She pulled the top off and handed it to Frank. He looked it over before handing it back to her. Carla replaced the top and continued, "I thought she gave me this stuff because of her husband but I think it was because of her daughter. But I can't find any information on how she died." Frank gave Carla a half smile, "If you're looking for information I know someone you can talk to." "Oh?" Carla was curious. "You're not going to like it though."

Carla stood just outside the door to the office. She was nervous but she was determined to find out what happened. With a deep breath she knocked on the door. "Come in!" A pleasant voice yelled from within the office. Carla opened the door and saw the occupant hunched over a laptop. She was a thin, pale woman with blonde hair that was pulled up into a quick bun using a pencil to hold it. Her blue eyes flicked off of her laptop screen to Carla. "Hi." Carla spoke awkwardly as she closed the door behind her. "Hi, what can I do for you...?" Karen asked. With another breath Carla spoke, "I'm Carla Reid." Karen paused. She was obviously confused but tried to keep her composure. "Have a seat Ms. Reid." She motioned to the chairs behind Carla. "Please call me Carla." Karen nodded nervously before joining Carla. "I wasn't sure if you-" Carla waved her hands cutting Karen off. "I'm not here about the night on the roof. Our, uh, well I don't know what you'd call him, told me you could help me find some information on a person." Karen nodded. "He told me that you were good at digging." Karen laughed, "He said that?" She paused, "Nevermind, sorry, what are you looking for exactly?" Carla smiled, "I looking for information on how this woman, Aurora Löfgren, died. I can't seem to find a thing about her." Karen looked puzzled, "Why are you looking for information on her?" "She's my boss's daughter." "Why don't you ask her about it then?" Carla let out a small laugh, "I've only known her for a week but Alice keeps things very close to her chest. But yesterday she did somethings out of character for her and I got curious." Karen laughed, "Tell me what you have so far." Carla explained, "I have her father's obituary that says she passed before him and a broken link to an article on the Chronicle's server." "What's the link?"  Karen asked while retrieving her laptop. "Uh," Carla said while she fished in her purse, "here it is. I wrote it down." Karen took the paper and quickly searched for the link. "It's a link to something that happened back in- shit. Shit!" "What?" Carla panicked. "I know what this link is to." Karen rubbed her brow and stood. "What is it to?" Carla pushed. "Come with me." Karen spoke as she walked to the door. They both walked through the office to the record room. "After the incident the servers got fried and even now we don't have them fixed but there are hard copies in here." Karen said as she headed to the back of the storage room. She flipped through the papers, looking for the date she needed. "Here it is." She said pulling out one of the papers. She handed the paper to Carla. There was headline that read, "Woman Dies In Mugging Gone Bad".  There was a paragraph under the headline,