Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 32

Around noon, I heard the doorbell, and ran downstairs. Justin was lying on the couch, sound asleep. Still no sign of Eve, and I didn't expect to have any Micheal sightings, given the daylight hours. I raced down the hall to the door, which was braced with a wooden chair as a temporary lock, and hesitated.

"Micheal? You there?" A chilly breeze swept across me, ruffling my hair. He was strong today. "Can I open the door?"

Apparently, yes. I pulled the chair away and peered outside. There were two men standing on the porch, both tall; one was lean and hard looking, with black hair; the other one was a little pale. Not vamp pale. They both displayed badges. Police.

"You're Anastasia, right?" The lean one said, and extended his hand. "Joe Hess. This is my partner, Travis Lowe. How you doing?"

"Um..." I fumbled for the handshake. "Fine, I guess" Lowe also shook my hand. "Is something...I mean did you find-?" Because I both hoped that Justin's dad was in a holding cell. I rocked nervously back and forth on my heels.

Joe Hess smiled. Unlike most smiles I'd seen since I'd come to Morganville, this one seemed uncomplicated.

"It's okay" he said. "No, we haven't found them, but you've got nothing to worry about. May we come inside?"

I heard shuffling footsteps behind me. Justin had woken up, and was standing in the hallway, barefoot and rumpled, with a fierce bed head that got worse as he yawned and ran his fingers through his hair, standing part of it on end. How sick was it that I found that sexy?

Collected myself and pointed at the cops on the doorstep. Justin's eyes focused fast.

"Officers" he said, and came towards the door. "Anything you need?"

"I was just asking if we could come in and talk" Detective Hess said. He'd stopped smiling, but he still looked kind. "Informally"

A chill moved softly over my skin. A single wave of chill. Yes. Micheal was okay with it.

"Sure" I said, and stepped back to swing the door wider. The cops stepped over the threshold, Hess first, then Lowe and Justin shot me a look I couldn't quite figure out and led the men back to the living room.

Lowe studied the place more than the two of us; he seemed to really appreciate it. "Nice" he murmured. "Great use of wood in here"

I couldn't really say thank you, because, hey, I didn't build it. I didn't even own it. But on Micheal's behalf I said, "We think so too, sir"

I settled nervously back on the sofa, perched on the edge. Justin remained standing, and Hess and Lowe moved around, not exactly searching, but cataloging everything. Hess stayed focused on the two of us, and after a moment, he bent his knees and sat down on a chair. Hess seemed to shiver a little, and e looked up, maybe trying to locate the source of the draft.

"You had some trouble here last night" Hess said. "I know you had to talk with our colleagues Gretchen and Hans. I read the report this morning" Me and Justin both nodded.

"A little scary, huh?" He said.

I nodded. Justin didn't. He gave the detective a narrow little smile. "I'm a Morganville lifer. Define scary" he said. "Anyway, if you're playing good cop, bad cop-"

"I'm not" Hess said. "Trust me, you know if I was, because I'd be the bad cop"And there was something in his eyes and that made me believe it. "Look, I won't lie to you. Gretchen and Hans, they've got their own agendas. But so do we. We want to make sure you're protected, understand me? That's our job. We serve and protect, and Travis and I believe in that"