Same disclaimers apply!
Dani woke up to the sun shining directly in her face. She squinted at her seemingly flashing alarm clock, which turned out to be a result of her squinting at the sun. 9:30.
She groaned at her now disrupted morning routine, having never woken up past 8:30am since before she started college.
"Coffee," she breathed as soon as she mentally put herself together. "Phone."
She slapped a hand over to her sidetable, only to knock her iPhone to the floor and fall off her bed trying to pick it up.
"Wow, I didn't even drink!" she complained to nobody in particular.
She blew a stray hair out of her face and anxiously checked her phone: still no call from Madison. Then again, it was still early. The earliest Madison ever woke up was 11:30, noon if she was spending the night somewhere. Madison's smart, she assured herself. Wherever she is, she knows what she's doing.
When Dani finally managed to get up from the floor, she trudged over to the bathroom that she and Madison shared with 2 other people in the connecting double room next door. They rarely saw them, so sharing was never an issue for the 4 of them; she wasn't even sure she knew the other 2 girls' names.
Sharing a bathroom with 3 people was a tremendous difference from sharing with all the girls on your floor; those showers were rarely peaceful, at least for her. She never forget her first communal shower, which took place in a stall between two couples having sex. How they'd managed to sneak their boyfriends in the women's showers and gotten away with breaking the "no sex in the shower stalls" policy was beyond her.
As she lathered her shampoo into her chocolate brown shoulder-length hair, she wondered what Joey's college experience was like, if he even went to college. With his stocky build, she pictured him on the football or basketball team, maybe even swimming. He was always athletic, and it was watching him play soccer when she was younger that had inspired her to play too, though she'd given it up when she got to college to focus on her studies. As for his major, she wasn't sure, but whatever he ended up doing, she hoped he was making a difference in people's lives, the way he had in hers during his little presence in her childhood.
From what she remembered, he always looked out for her and was never embarrassed to take her to the park or beach when their parents were unavailable, even when his friends would constantly tease him about choosing to spend time with her instead of go to some house party with his friends, although the latter did happen from time to time.
Danielle opened her eyes, not realizing she had briefly fallen asleep in the shower and was on the verge of losing her balance.
"Shit," she quickly grabbed ahold of the shower handle before she could seriously hurt herself. While her body was physically in the shower as she scrubbed her body with her strawberry citrus body scrub, her mind was elsewhere.
She was so lost in her thoughts – the way she often became when things started to eat at her – that when she'd run from the bathroom to answer what sounded like an urgent knock at the door, she'd completely forgotten that she was still in her bathrobe. "Can I help you?"
"Is there a Madison Murphy that lives here?"
"What is this about?" she demanded, not in the mood to deal with people after last night's fiasco. "And who the fuck are you?"
"Sergeant Batista and Detective Morgan. Miami Metro homicide," the man patiently showed her his badge.
"That's who the fuck we are," the tall, slender woman crossed her arms.
"I'm sorry," she smiled nervously. "I'm just so used to seeing cops in uniforms. Can I help you with something?"
"Yeah, actually you can," Debra Morgan was the first to answer. "Madison Murphy. Where is she?"
"Can I get dressed first?" the college-aged girl glanced down at her bathrobe.
"Take your time," Batista nodded, nonverbally motioning for Deb to back off as Dani let them in.
"I don't like her already," Deb murmured as she took a seat at Dani's desk.
"Maybe it was a bad morning. Let's reserve judgment for after we've talked to her, alright?" the Cuban sergeant said. "This is the only lead we have right now."
"Fine," she said through clenched teeth. This girl was very neat, she observed: clean, minimalist décor; a very spacious desktop (Deb could barely see the top of hers); and a neatly made bed when it wasn't even 10am. She only kept 2 pictures on her desk, clipped side by side on picture clamps, but one in particular caught her eye. There was something familiar about it, but she couldn't quite place a finger on it. Her nagging curiosity got the better of her as she carefully took it off the clamp, running her fingers over the two people in the picture. They appeared to be at some sort of dance recital, probably after the show. Deb smiled, reminiscing on her own childhood days, when she hadn't lasted a month in dance classes.
As she examined the picture more closely, a sudden wave of realization hit her. She'd seen those cheekbones before. In fact, she saw them every day, along with those blue eyes, brown hair, wide smile, and the unmistakable dimples that came with it…
"Oh my fucking God," she gasped, dropping the picture.
"What is it?" Batista asked, concerned.
"Nothing," she lied.
"Don't touch that!" Deb jumped as Dani quickly rushed over her desk and snatched the picture from her hands.
"Sorry," Deb replied. "It was a cute picture." Really, Deb? A cute fucking picture? She scolded herself.
"It's more than just that," she murmured, taking a deep breath to keep her temper in check. "So what can I help you with?"
"When was the last time you saw Madison?" the sergeant asked.
"Last night," the University of Miami student answered easily. "We drove out to Miami and went to a bar."
"You're underage," Deb pointed out. "How did they let you in? Fake ID?"
"No, they gave me a wristband," she held up a crumpled neon green strip on her desk. "I didn't drink, I was just her driver."
"Do you know where she is now?"
"She probably went home with that guy she was dancing with," Dani answered honestly Had her worst fears come true? Did something happen to her? "With all due respect, where are you going with this?"
"We found her blood at the same crime scene on the same bed where those girls in the barrels were raped and murdered," Batista cut in.
"Oh, my God," Dani blinked rapidly. I shouldn't have let her go out last night.
"We're still processing any evidence we found," Deb added. "so nothing's final, but according to our blood guy, we'd literally just missed her. Someone knocked her out and dragged her out of the room minutes before we got there."
"You said she might've gone home with a guy," the detective pressed on. "Did you get a good look at him?"
"I couldn't see his face too well," she shook her head once more. "Only his backside. Tall, early 40s, white, heavyset…the only other thing I remember is a tan line where he would've been wearing a ring on his left hand."
"Not a whole lot to go on, but that's a start. If anything happens, you'll give us a call?" Batista handed her his card.
"Yeah of course," she breathed.
"What did you say your name was again?" Deb suddenly cut in.
"Danielle," Dani replied, using her full name the way she always did with unfamiliar people.
"Danielle, thank you for your cooperation," he nodded as Dani held the door open for them. "I know this must've been difficult news for you."
Wouldn't be the first time someone's left me, she wanted to reply, but bit her tongue. There was no need to get more people involved than there needed to be. As she closed the door, she let out a heavy sigh and slid down to the floor, hands on either side of her head and chin resting on her knees.
"Sheesh, Madison, what the fuck did you get yourself into?"
Thanks for the follows/reviews/favorites, y'all! And to the person asking if there will be Quinn/Debra romance, I have 3 words for you: wait for it. I can say, though, that Deb in general will play a fairly big part in the story. It wasn't my original plan, but as I'm writing it, it's looking more and more that way, so you can imagine what will naturally unfold. Thank you so much for reading!