Chapter 1:
Every inch of the room looked like it had faced some sort of destruction. No piece of furniture had been left unturned or un-torn. Each wall had a splash of read, and the distinct red liquid pooled in various parts of the carpet. "There's too much blood," Dante said under his breath just loud enough for his partner and old friend to hear.
"Don't think like that. You don't know that and you don't know it's her blood. Have you gotten in touch with her roommate yet?" Ronnie's usual demeanor left little comfort.
"So, in order to not think that my girlfriend's dead I have to hope her best friend is instead?" His anger continued to rise, because it was all he had left. He had shown up to the door of the frightening apartment with a bouquet of roses hoping to sweet his girlfriend off to dinner. His sixtieth step to showing her how important she was to him after all the mistakes he had made so many months ago. Other men would have just done a few gestures and gone on with life, but he refused to ever let his fateful errors ruin what he cared about most. He had knocked on the door until it had opened itself to reveal the desolated room. In that moment his soul had been sucked out of his chest.
"Look, man, we should probably call Lucky and then get you home. You're no use here and I already have your statement."
"I want to stay! I want to find the bastard that did this!"
"Falconeri! You are no use to this investigation! I'm sorry, but you're not going to be able to think straight. You won't cope hearing about what may or may not have happened to Lulu." Ronnie wasn't wrong. When he took full inventory of the room he dropped the flowers and fell to his knees where his pants got soaked in blood. It had been fresh and the realization hit that he had only missed whoever hurt her by a few minutes. His mind played the possible scenarios on the back of his eyelids without permission. "Go home and get yourself cleaned up. I'm going to work like hell, alright? You have my word."
Reluctantly, Dante agreed. He was escorted to his loft by a uniform officer who offered his own meaningless condolences he didn't have the nerve to listen to. When he walked in the door his brother and her brother had been waiting for him. They both stood to their feet upon his arrival.
Dante's eyes immediately met Lucky's sad expression and burned him in his gut. "Dante…" Lucky was already welling up with his intensely reddening eyes. His body shook from head to toe. "What the hell…" he yelled. Michael was left to look between the two while looking for clues. "Where's my sister!" he demanded equally as loud.
"I don't… I don't know…" he answered in despair.
"Then why aren't we out there looking for her!" Lucky shouted even louder only to be pushed onto the couch by his cousin.
"You need to calm down!" Michael explained as the calm voice of reason. He had developed a true talent for masking his own emotions. "Dante… you need to sit down. Tell us what happened."
"I don't know what happened. I…" He worked his way over and slumped himself into the chair closest to the elevator door. It was hard and more uncomfortable than he remembered. Much like breathing, everything felt wrong. "We were supposed to go to dinner… Mexican…" Lucky began to openly sob.
"What are we supposed to do now?" His brother pulled him out of a daze. He had been staring at the bed trying to ignore the fact that he wouldn't be waking up in bed with her tomorrow. Waking up had always been his favorite part.
"Ronnie said that I was in the way of the investigation and to just stay home…" He was interrupted by the constant buzzing of the phone. It seemed so foreign that he almost forgot to answer.
"Answer it! It could be about Lulu!"
"Falconeri," he answered.
"Hello, Detective," the voice told him in cheerful ominous. Dante perked up where he sat. "How has your evening been? Mine's been a splash," the voice chuckled. "Get it…splash…"
"What the hell do you want you sick freak?" The anger that roared from his voice caught the attention of Lucky and Michael.
"Well… since love looked so good on Lesley Lu… I thought I'd give you a gift."
"If you do anything to her…"
"It's a little too late for 'ifs,' Detective!" His mild chuckle had turned into a hideous laugh. "I thought I'd let you witness your lover's last breath." Tormenting screams sprang to life over the phone. Loud enough that it echoed throughout the entire room until the line had been disconnected.
Sneak Peak: Dante mourns Lulu's death.
Author's Note: Thought it would be nice for something to happen to Lulu on the show to get people to wake up and take notice… and then I realized that waiting was useless so I'm writing it. The song "A Kiss in the Dreamhouse" is a very creepy song talk stalking someone, and it just instantly screamed Franco when I saw the lyrics. I hope you like it. Thank you for reading and please remember to comment.