ECHO [Rewritten - NaNoWriMo '16]

Chapter 10: It Will Haunt You

14 March 2016

Wren

When we got back to my place, Echo immediately settled on the couch. I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. I needed something to settle my raging thoughts, but I didn't want to touch alcohol right now. The entire drive back had been silent, but the one question raged in my head. Who was her? And why did it seem that Echo wanted nothing to do with whatever her was. She had to know that I was exceedingly curious and while she had been plenty open this morning, she had seemed to shut down after the visit with Howl.

Abruptly, Echo said, "Were you expecting anyone?"

"Uh, no," I frowned. "Why?"

"Because you have company," Echo replied just a second before the doorbell rang.

I came out of the kitchen to see that there was indeed a shadow of someone beside his front door. I turned to tell Echo to go and get out of sight, but she was already gone. Muttering under my breath, I went over to the door and opened it to reveal Luke. I blinked. "This wasn't something I was expecting."

"Believe me," Luke said with as much enthusiasm as a corpse. "I wasn't too thrilled to be coming here either. But I found something that I thought you should know about."

"Well then," I opened the door wider, "Come into my humble abode."

Luke closed his eyes in agony, "Please don't use cheesy quotes, I'm not into it."

"Gotcha bub," I put on a smile as Luke entered, looking around cautiously. He took a seat on the couch without a word and placed a file on the coffee table.

"What'd you find?" I asked, taking a seat next to him.

He opened the file and handed me a set of photos. They were surveillance photos and the first one was Solozzo walking out of a Greek restaurant with a blonde woman on his arm. Her hair, unbound, covered her angled face so that it was impossible to get an ID on her. The next photo was another one of the two getting out of a car, but once again the girl's face was angled so that her hair hid it. There were at least a dozen photos like this. And then there was one where there was a blonde woman, but her bound hair was tied back loosely. She wore dark clothing, and it appeared to be heavy eye makeup. But once again her face was angled away. The next set of photos all featured a blonde who seemed to know where the cameras were and didn't allow her face to be viewed.

Damn it, Echo. You couldn't make this easier on me? I put the photos down. "The time stamp on the one says that she was entering the apartment with Solozzo forty-six minutes before the murder. That's our conformation and further proof that she was there."

"Exactly," Luke replied.

I paused for a moment, "Why are you sharing this with me?"

"I thought you should know," Luke shrugged. "After all, it was your case originally. And I know what its like to have a case that you put effort into to be ripped away."

"Thanks."

"Do you remember anything else from your time with Scarlet?" Luke asked softly.

"Other than she was seductive one minute and punching me in the face the next, nothing," I replied.

Luke sighed, "Too bad. And we don't even know if she is still in Arizona. And she could have easily changed her appearance."

"Don't let this become a case to haunt you," I warned.

"It won't," Luke looked at me with steady, dark blue eyes. "It'll haunt you."