Chapter 1
A sigh escaped from the woman's lips, forming a cloud in front of her cold face. She was cold. It wasn't supposed to be this chilly in D.C. At least not this early in the year. She needed a drink to warm her from the pit of her stomach, but the hot mocha with whipped cream coffee in her hand was going to have to suffice.
"I'm too tired for this bullshit…" She grumbled to herself. Her voice was somewhere between the voice of an alto and a soprano, but still came out in a low tone. She took a long sip of her coffee. The scalding hot beverage was welcomed against the biting chill. "Ugh…" She grumbled and walked across the street when the light told her she was safe to do so. The herd of people around her pushed her to quicken her pace and she had to bite back the urge to let out a mooing noise.
Once on the other side, she took a left and walked passed the large stairs leading up to the Jeffersonian. Frowning, the woman glared up at the building with envy. The forensic department was in there. The occupation she wished she was able to have would have had her in that building, solving crimes. Helping people.
Someone bumped into her, throwing her mind out of her self loathing. A tallish, dirty blonde man in a suit. His attire and gait practically screamed federal agent and the woman flinched, her eyes widened ever so slightly. Her stomach flipped. The fear in her brain was overwhelming and her breathing and heartbeat quickened. He kept walking as if nothing happened, up the stairs and into the glass doors, but the fear didn't leave.
This was not something she needed. Not after having a long work day at the coffee shop and she hadn't even gotten to perform today. An anxiety attack was the last thing on her wishlist.
In attempt to forget and slow the fear to nothing, she kept walking towards her apartment complex. It was going to be a long and not very positive walk.
Seven blocks, a crabby security guard, three flights of stairs, and an avoidance of a pedofile later, the woman was able to unlock her apartment door and stumble inside. She had discarded the empty coffee cup two blocks back and was able to pull off her gloves without stomping her boots into her kitchen. She took off her coat next and then her hat. She sat on a shoe chest to pull off her boots and was met with the familiar dark furred feline face. After removing her footwear, she picked up the black cat and stroked her neck and back.
"Hey, Dirt." She smiled, kissing the cats head. "I'm surprised you even got up to come welcome me." She commented, obviously to herself. She turned to the side and saw that Dirt's food bowl was empty. She huffed as a form of laughter and set the cat down, filling her bowl up and changing her water bowl with fresh water.
Once that chore was done, she dragged her feet to the bathroom. She flicked on the light and was met with her reflection.
Pale skin on a freckled face greeted her. Her dark brown hair fell down in waves to her mid-back, which wasn't actually as long as it seemed since she was only five foot three inches. She had a decent hourglass shape, but it was hidden under a dark purple, long sleeved sweater. She glanced up and met the eyes of the reflection. Long, uneven, and dark lashes crowned the odd, swirling orange iris'. Not amber, nor a light brown. These eyes looking back at her were orange. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen her eye color and liked the irregular eyes.
Her eyes narrowed in contempt of herself and walked back out of the bathroom, turning the light off. She walked into the living room and stared at the dark cream colored couch. It looked so comfortable, so inviting. She glanced over to the flat screened television. It would have been so nice to just sit in front of it and watch reruns of old Tim Burton movies, but, sadly, she turned back down the hall, passed the bathroom and into the bedroom.
Inside the pale green walls was a decent sized closet that had most of her clothes folded inside. A bed, strewn with a Pokemon comforter and her large, fluffy, purple body pillow, sat low to the wooden floor. She claimed it was so she could just trip and fall into it, but she hardly did that, in fear that Dirt would be buried, napping somewhere in the heap. A desk was charmingly shoved into the corner of the room with a rolling black chair, which had been tampered with to be taller.. It all seemed so normal, so typical for a young twenty-one year old, but it was what sat atop the desk that put everything off.
On top of the dark colored, hard wood were three computer monitors, all black. A computer tower sat off to the side, allowing room for the keyboard and whatever else needed to sit on the desk, which was mostly food.
The woman strode over to the chair, taking a seat, but instead sat with her legs crossed and under her instead of on the floor, and pulling herself up to the desk. She powered on the tower and watched the screens light up. Once the computer was up and running, the middle monitor glowed a dim grey and, on the screen, requested a password, which is what it received. The desktop uploaded, causing all three screens to display an odd, government-like search engine. The woman cracked her knuckles and went to work.
It took a long while, but eventually the woman let out a small, "Bingo." and proceeded to type a few more things. A new tab popped up and the woman quickly scanned over the information.
In a flash, she was running to her closet and slipping a black metal object into the back of her pants and running to her door. She flung on her coat and boots and, after grabbing her keys, was out the door, on her was to her new destination. An unsafe destination.
Instead of walking this time, she went to the apartment parking lot and jumped into a black Jetta Volkswagen. Not the most stylish car in her opinion, but it got her places and had a good stereo system.
Pulling out of the parking lot, she began venturing out towards the darker parts of the city. Eventually, she pulled up to an old abandoned warehouse. Her eyes looked everywhere in the dark. She shut off her car and slipped the key into her bra for good measure. Stepping out of the car, she began jogging before she turned and locked the vehicle and then continued jogging up to the building. She didn't have much time.
She banked the side of the building and went towards the back where there were old piles of broken bricks, dirt, and other garbage. She gave an annoyed huff, the frozen mist exploding around her face. She was getting cold again and cold made her crabby.
She walked over to the first pile of rubble and began carefully digging around, without it being noticeable. She didn't find what she was looking for and growled, heading over to the next.
It took about three failures before she found it. A broken, mostly decayed corpse lay in a pile of upturned dirt. She quickly slipped on a pair of rubber gloves that she had pulled from her pants pocket and prodded around the corpse's pants. The deceased was obviously male, she could tell by the bone's structure and the clothing was more masculine. She pulled out a wallet and let out a cry of joy. She flinched when she realized how loud her voice was and she quieted down and she began searching through the wallet.
"Bobby…" She read out the familiar name. She gritted her teeth. "Liars." She snarled to herself and put the wallet back.
She needed to leave. Now.
Heading back to her car, she pulled off the gloves carefully and put them into the passenger seat of her car. She'd dispose of them properly when she got home. She turned on the car and pulled away from the warehouse. She was pissed and she had more work to do, meaning less sleep.
She drove with ease, having the radio play a soft acoustic rock all of the drive. She glanced to the other side of the highway and watched as federal vehicles drive past with their lights on. She could feel her anxiety coming back when she first saw the lights and it didn't go away this time until she had safely locked her apartment door behind her.
Once she had sat back down in her chair, leaned back, and stared out into the darkness of her window, did the anger come back.
"Damn it… damn it!" She yelled out, hitting the desk's surface in desperation to lash out.
They had lied once again to try and get her back on their radar and this time she didn't doubt that they had the upper hand on this situation. Bobby had been a friend of hers in the coffee shop, but not just any friend. Bobby had been an intimate relationship interest. Not that anything had happened between them, but something probably would have in about a month or two.
They had known she had worked at the coffee shop and they must have known that she had a relationship with someone there. They just couldn't do something to her, but now they might.
"No. No." She shook her head. She wasn't going to let this happen. This was the closest they had ever gotten, but this was all they'd get. She was quitting her job tomorrow and moving. She had seen an apartment for sale a bit closer to the Jeffersonian building. It was on the fancy side, but she had plenty of money in her multiple bank accounts. Maybe not her money, but it was money that she had access to.
She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She sat like that for a moment before she stood up and pulled off her sweater. She walked into the bathroom and removed the rest of her clothing. She turned on the water to hot and stepped in, shutting the sliding glass door behind her.
"I'm too tired for this bullshit…"