Klavier's mansion was on the other side of town, Apollo, Lana and Klavier all agreed that when one was off work, they were to help the (then) pregnant Ema to reduce her workload. Apollo agreed to this as a favour to his two best friends (although he wouldn't have, and still hasn't denied he used to have a crush on Ema) It was a childish fantasy anyway… Lana knows though, she thought it was cute… he reminded himself as he pressed the button for the bell on the bus. It rolled to a gentle stop. Trucy pushed Apollo out of the doors causing him to stumble, he steadied himself and grabbed Trucy's wrist to pull her out.
The mansion was so obvious that it was Klavier's. Two sports cars sat on the drive, one purple the other black. The house had purple curtains draped in all the front windows, making it so obvious it was his. Apollo made his way to the door, fumbling for the key that hung around his neck. He slid the key into the lock and stepped into the dark hallway.
"Polly, where is Ema?" Trucy noticed the solemn silence that filled the air, almost as if there was nobody home.
"I'm not sure, you look upstairs and I'll look down here." Apollo watched as Trucy began to ascend the huge staircase. Apollo began his silent pacing along the halls, opening the doors one at a time, waiting for a single sound.
He searched two of the corridors and the left hand side of the final corridor.
"Polly!" Trucy ran towards him. "Nobody's upstairs…" Apollo closed the door he had just looked through. "What's in this one?" The door was much narrower than the others.
"Don't open it!" Apollo grabbed her hand. "That's one of the doors to Klavier's closet. If you want to go in there then have a look around for the codes, he leaves them somewhere around here."
"Yay I get to go into Klavier's closet! Maybe I can take some of his clothes and auction them on the internet!" Trucy yelled joyfully.
"I think that's his coat rack area." Apollo thought carefully. "The codes change everyday so be careful."
"Apollo, the word 'coats' is written above it." Trucy pointed out.
"Ah, ok." Apollo opened the last door. The room was the living area, much bigger than the other rooms on the corridor. Normally Apollo had the aid of the maid, gardener and butler to help him locate Ema but they didn't come in until ten and it was only nine (Ema asked Apollo to come in earlier that day). There was nobody, even the flat screen HD television that dominated the left wall was switched off.
"Found it!" Trucy yelled behind Apollo making him fall into the room. She dropped the paper into his lap. "Where do I put the code?" Apollo took the paper from her hand, looked up the code and opened the door revealing the keyboard. He typed in the six digit number and let Trucy downstairs.
He searched the upstairs, getting increasingly concerned about the missing woman. Maybe she's finally started going out again…I know she isn't working… He opened the master bedroom door.
"Ema are you in there?" Apollo called, he would feel perverted if he didn't. He waited for a few seconds before stepping in because of no sound. The en-suite bathroom door was also open. The only place left is the…closet… Apollo opened Klavier's wardrobe. He had been there often enough to know where all the closet doors are.
"Master bedroom code…" He typed it into the keypad.
Two flights of stairs to the basement later, he reached the closet. The master bedroom was linked to every specific area of the closet. He opened the door to the shirt section, called her name and waited for a reply. When none came he moved to the next door until he covered all but one of Klavier's closets. He opened the 'coat' door, as he stepped in he tumbled over the coats scattered all over the floor. As he did, he pulled yet another of Klavier's coats down with him. The red trench coat splayed over his shoulders as he stood.
"Trucy! You need to clean this up!" He yelled rubbing his shoulder and gathering the paper and book in his arms.
"Wow Polly! That coat suits you!" Trucy popped her head out from a row of hangers on the bottom shelf. "See!" She pulled Apollo to the mirror. He had to admit it did suit him but it was far too big and belonged to someone else.
"Why don't you clean up here and go to his shirt closet?"
"Ok!" Apollo left Trucy in the room as she gathered the coats and hung them on the hangers.
The last door on the left hand side was labelled 'Fraulein' – his girlfriend's closet. He carefully opened the door and light flooded out.
"Ema..." He called as he closed the door. He saw a figure huddled in the corner. "Ema!"
He ran towards the figure. Her knees were up and one of her arms was hung over them. Her head was nestled against her arm. He lifted her face to check she was ok.
"Ema…" He threw the book and paper to one side and stared at the mess of makeup cascaded along her cheeks because of her drowning eyes. "Are you ok?"
"What do you think?" She cried turning away from him, revealing her other arm and the wound on the top of it.
"Ema have you been…cutting yourself?" Apollo took her shoulder and turned her back around.
"I'm sick of everyone going 'Oh I feel so sorry for Klavier' and 'Oh he should have picked a better girl'!" She sobbed throwing herself into Apollo's arms. "Nobody cares about me!" He noticed the pen marks along her arm; she had planned it so she didn't cut anywhere that would bleed horrifically bad.
"Ema, lots of people care about you…" He soothed as he stood and helped her up. "It kills us to see things like this happen."
"Polly is everything ok? I heard some shouting."
"I hope you don't mind me bringing Trucy, she wanted to see you."
"She's quite welcome to stay." Ema smiled the same broken smile she had been doing for the last fortnight. Apollo retrieved the paper, covering the book with it and followed Ema upstairs to the door Trucy had come in through.
Ema ran to make a phone call to the maid saying she could bring her kids over to keep Trucy company before throwing herself into the sofa in the same squalid condition Apollo had found her in.
"Trucy, why don't you go into Klavier's game room and play on one of his consoles?" Ema asked. "Go upstairs and turn left. It's the first door on the left." Apollo set out cleaning Ema's wound. She hissed and even slapped him at one point as he bandaged the wound.
"Do you want me to pick anything up for you or anything?"
"No…could you keep me company until Lana gets back from her business trip?" Lana had spent most of the first week with her baby sister, which annoyed Klavier who hated her guts.
"Of course." He smiles. "I see what you mean though…" He grabbed the paper from the coffee table. "I thought Klavier didn't want the baby…"
"He didn't!" Ema cried as she read the article. "Every paper's making me sound like a hooker!" She sobbed.
"Well you're not! Don't let them convince you that you are."
"Good morning Miss Skye!" The maid called as she walked into the room followed by the butler. "Good morning to you Mr Justice."
"morning…" Ema mumbled.
"Can I get you something to eat madam?" The kind butler asked.
"Just a glass of orange juice please…"
"For you sir?"
"I already ate; a coffee would be nice though." Apollo looked across at the maid's three children. "Trucy is in the games room."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Lana knew Klavier hated her, which made it more fun to frequent visits to him. She expected her little sister to be back at work, when she found the desk empty one of the officers told her she wouldn't be allowed back in for another six weeks.
"I hope she's still getting pay…" Lana stormed up the stairs. "If I find out the moocher's using this as an excuse I am gonna get so much joy out of kicking his ass!" She ignored the receptionist and stormed straight into the office disturbing Klavier's meeting.
"Mein liebe's schwester!" Klavier gasped surprised, not that you could tell his expression well behind the reflective sunglasses he wore. (schwester = sister) The client he was with smiled shyly.
"Listen you! Where's my baby sister?" It was no secret Lana hated Klavier as much as he did her.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Here's your mail Miss Skye." The butler came in and dropped a single letter on the coffee table beside Ema's drink.
"Can you read it for me Apollo? My head's pounding too hard."
"It's from the hospital…" Apollo pulled the top of the letter out of the envelope. "Miss Skye, we are sorry about your loss. You have an appointment with our resident Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at two thirty p.m. on the 23rd. Yours sincerely K Taylor."
"I wish these fuckers would stop reminding me!" She slammed her hand on the table, withdrawing it as it stung. "What's this?"
"It's a copy of the book I wrote. I thought you and Klavier might want to borrow a copy…" He handed the book to her. "There's stuff in there that Phoenix would kill me for."
"Why?"
"I can play a piano." He smiled. "Perfectly since I was thirteen years old."
"Wow…can I read this?"
"Anybody home?" A call came from the hallway. "Ema?"
"Lana!" Ema yelled in joy.
"Ema!" They both embraced each other. "Klavier was being a right jerk back at the precinct."
"Uh…Ema. Maybe I should leave…" Apollo felt intrusive.
"No that's fine, you can stay." Ema smiled at him again. She was in a state, her hair had lost its sheen and was knotted no matter how much she brushed it, dark patched formed under her eyes and she lacked energy to do anything.
"Ema, do you mind if I talk to Lana outside for a sec?"
"No." Ema wasn't dumb – she knew what it was about and Apollo knew she did.
"Lana, we need to help Ema…" He closed the door gently behind him. "I found her slumped in the closet with a slash wound on her arm."
"Do you think Klavier did it?" She asked.
"No I think…" He swallowed waiting to be slapped in the face. "it's self inflicted."
"Ema's…?" Lana couldn't hold it against her sister. "By the way, have you noticed how shifty Klavier has been acting lately?"
"He's just an airhead who's getting attention from the press. It'll pass." Apollo assured her. "But right now we need to show Ema she's important and get her back to her usual loveable and somewhat aggressive self."
"You seem to care a lot for a girl you can't have…" Lana giggled.
"Just because she dates someone else doesn't mean I have to stop caring, I still want to see her smile."