Serendipity

Chapter 24

I haven't moved from my spot at the window even though it's been several hours since the police left. And I'm still steaming over the attitude of Detective Kaplan, which didn't get any better as time went on while we waited for Technician Browers to complete his investigation of what was found. I wasn't surprised when the initial assessment he gave was that it was a small camera hidden in the cat and koi fish statue. He thought it was a type of nanny cam like the ones I've heard of in teddy bears to spy on what someone was doing. He couldn't confirm if it was still active, or how far reaching it would be with a receiver. That could only be determined once he got it back to the Police Laboratory. But just knowing there was a camera watching my every move has me shaking, the knowledge that it has been in my home for several years...the first statue that Leeza had gifted me.

Technician Browers had gathered up all the broken ceramic along with the camera, after pictures had been taken of how it looked before he bagged it. He also bagged the other statues, which had fallen and cracked on impact, but didn't break. I'm just relieved that all of it is out of my house!

I've been reflecting on when I received that statue from Leeza years ago...shortly after Jeffrey had started pursuing me...and the more I think about it, the angrier I become...

...It's a Tuesday evening after work, and I'm tired, wanting nothing more than to find a bite to eat and go to bed. But as I'm taking a quick drink from the bottle of beer in my hand, I hear someone knocking on my door. By the rhythm of it, I know it's my bestie Leeza. I set the beer down to answer before she starts knocking obnoxiously, the way she always does when I don't open the door within a certain time frame, which tends to change with her mood.

I throw the door open just as she raises both hands again, poised to rap her knuckles in the staccato beat of whichever show's theme song she's into at the time.

"What's up, Leeze?" I ask, chuckling at her surprised face. I can tell she didn't expect me to open it that quickly.

"Not much. I was bored and thought I would come and bother you for a hot minute."

I step back to allow her into my small studio apartment in Queens, a few blocks away from the subway that takes me to work every day. I watch as she bends over and picks up a non-descript white box that was hidden from sight just around the corner of the door before she enters. I leave her to close it as she kicks off her shoes just inside while I walk back to grab my beer, taking another drink before turning and grabbing a second bottle from the fridge. Tossing it to her as she passes by, she catches it with one hand, heading straight through.

These types of drop-in visits happen at least once a week, the routine always the same. As she settles on the futon, she opens the bottle, quickly drinking half of it in one go.

"Hard day at the office, honey?" I quip in a syrupy sweet voice as she emits a long belch from the airy suds she sucked up as a result from the toss.

"Oh, hell yeah, baby, it was the roughest!" she winks at me before tipping the bottle again, draining it. I grab her another, walking over to hand it off, settling at the other end of the futon facing her. She leans back, dropping her head to rest on the back of the futon, staring at the brown water stains above us.

"Wanna talk about it?" I ask, serious this time, knowing by her mood it had to have been a hard day for her as well.

"Nah, not really, but thanks for asking, Nae. I got lonely sitting in my dismal tiny apartment and didn't want to be alone so thought I'd come be lonely in your dismal tiny apartment...yeah," she says, turning her head to look at me for a moment before rolling it back to stare at the ceiling again. "How's work been for you? You look tired."