I fought the tears that were accumulating in my eyes as I stood in front of my father's house. I had handed over the spare key to Sean who unlocked the main door and broke in with Thomas. I on the other hand, was drowning deep into nostalgia. I had spent a fair share of my life in that apartment and this was the place where my father was murdered. So being here was not easy for me at all.
"What are you waiting for?" Sean waved his hand in front of me, breaking the chain of my thoughts.
"Nothing." I said and walked inside.
The house was exactly like how I had left it. The last time I was here, it was a week after Dad's funeral. I had cleaned the floors and emptied the refrigerator before turning it off, along with the other electronics. Now I was glad I had done that because I didn't get to revisit the house after that.
"Okay so what do we know by now?" Sean said rhetorically, looking around the house.
"We know that the Machiavelli mafia has something to do with Elijah's murder and now they want you. Who are Machiavelli's? A renowned Italian Mafia family currently led by three sons of Antonio Machiavelli; Paolo, Enzo and Marco. Paolo is 42, the oldest and the only one who is married. Your kidnappers were hired by a woman who is probably Bianca, Paolo's wife. Enzo has been arrested in an organ trafficking case and the youngest Marco keeps a low profile." He went on and on.
"Have you ever conducted business with Machiavellis?" I asked.
"No because our moral values don't align." Sean replied as he walked into Dad's bedroom. I didn't feel good touching anything that belonged to Dad but it was important.
"You have moral values?" I asked, looking into his cupboard. The familiar scent of his clothes filled my nostrils and I imagined engulfing him into a giant hug.
"Contrary to popular belief, we do." He said and looked beneath the bed.
Once we had thoroughly checked the bedroom, we searched the kitchen and the guest bedroom. This room used to belong to me before I had moved out. It still had the swing chair that I got for my 16th birthday. I remember spending hours on this chair reading novels. That's where I got my love for literature that later became my profession.
I sat down on the swinging chair to reminisce those days. Sean was searching the room thoroughly and I should have been helping him but I was overwhelmed by all those memories of Dad and my past. I took everything for granted and now, I was left all alone in the world.
"Nothing here. Let's go." He said and then walked out of the room. For him, it was all a project, something he needed to solve. For me, it was my life and it was all in shambles.
We then went to his study room. It was Dad's private place where he hardly let me enter. It had his work place slash library where he used to prepare his lectures and checked all the assignments. The one time I was here, I accidentally emailed all his students the upcoming test question paper and after that, I was banned from entering this room.
"I don't think we are going to find anything." I said, blowing the dust off his books. He would never let them get this dirty.
"Your dad used to work here, right?" Sean asked.
"Yes." I said.
"Remind me what he taught in school?" He asked.
"Physics." I responded.
"And to teach highschool physics, he must need a laptop. I'm curious why I haven't seen one in the whole house." Sean said and it alerted me all of sudden.
I walked over to the desk and searched for his laptop. He had a MacBook pro and I remember it because I was the one who taught him how to transfer all the data from his old laptop to the new one when he bought it last year.
"Did the police take it?" Sean asked.
"No." I said, looking for it in the drawers.
"Was it here when he died?" He asked.
"I..." I tried to recollect but the memory of that day was vague. I was completely out of my wits and his laptop was the last thing I cared about.
"Try to remember." Sean said.
"I... I don't know. His deadbody was found in his bedroom. I don't remember anything from that day." I said honestly.
"And after that?" He prodded.
"When I came here three days after his death, I found that newspaper with your name. I didn't check his study that day." I told.
"And after that? Did you come here after that?" Sean asked.
"Yeah I came here the day I left. Um... I turned off all the electronics and..."
"And..."
Suddenly, it clicked.
"Yes, the laptop was here that day. It was thrown casually among his books so I took it and placed it carefully on his desk." I explained.
The whole scene was suddenly crisp in my memory. I skipped the part where I had burst into tears seeing it as it was an integral part of Dad's day.
"That means someone took it after your father's death. Why would someone take it unless the laptop had something important on it?" Sean stated.
"I don't know." My legs were giving up by now so I sat down on the empty chair. It was all too much to take in a single day. Wasn't it enough that I had to deal with my Dad's death? On top of that, it was turning out to be an elaborate scheme.
"Are you okay?" Sean looked at me and for the first time today, some humanity flickered in his eyes.
"I'm not. It's not a random person's death Sean. It's my father. He was my only family." I failed to control my tears this time. "Why would someone do that to him?"
He kneeled in front of me. "We'll find out. Trust me. It will give you some closure." He said softly, caressing the back of my wrist.
"Closure won't bring my Dad back." I muttered under my breath.
"But it will give your Dad justice. He didn't deserve to die like that. Yet, he died for what he believed in. Whatever was in that laptop, he died protecting that. Don't you think we owe it to him to find the truth behind his death?" Sean explained to me like he was talking to a child.
I nodded, wiping the tears away from my cheek.
"Let's go. That's enough for now. I'll ask Thomas to complete the search." Sean said and extended his hand for me.
I stared at his face and then at his hands. One minute, he had his cold, guarded exterior on and the next minute, he becomes the warmest person I know. When I first met Sean, I didn't understand why Dad sent me to this dangerous man but now I understood why. Dad knew he would protect me with all he had and Sean had done that at more than one occasions.
I took his hand and followed him to the his car. He opened the door to passenger seat for me and then took his seat on the driver seat. Instructing Thomas to complete the search, he revved the engine towards my apartment.
•°•°•
"Wait, let me rephrase that, this man is a mafia?" Mary asked as she gave Sean a side eye. Sean, who looked pissed as hell, didn't bother to hide his disdain towards Mary as well.
He didn't want me to contact anyone while I was here but it was Mary we were talking about. My best friend Mary, who was worried shit about me since I had gone AWOL. I had contacted her a few times with the phone Sean gave me but I wasn't allowed to told her about the intricacies of our situation. She deserved to know about my situation given we had shared everything since we were in high school.
"Yeah, but he isn't the one who wants to kidnap me. That's a different one." I replied.
"But isn't he the one who kidnapped you at first?" Mary asked.
"He did. But that was to protect me." I told her although it didn't make much sense to either of us.
We were at Mary's house right now because inviting Mary to my apartment could catch unwanted attention.
"And then you were kidnapped for real?" She asked.
"It it just me or blondie here is really dumb?" Sean interjected.
Mary reddened at his words and shrunk towards me. Mary was a natural blonde and had big, blue eyes. Her skin was freckled and she always wore girly clothes in contrast to my tomboyish attire.
"Sean!" I groaned and then held her hands to comfort her. "Don't worry. He won't hurt you."
"I never said I won't." Sean said in a teasing voice.
"Mr. Miller!" I glared at him and he held up his hands in defence. "See."
I then went to continue telling the rest of my story to Mary while Sean devoured the sandwiches Mary's mom had made for us.
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•