Author's Note: This one took longer than I expected to finish up, it was hard to write. Thanks, always, for the reviews and the favorites and the follows, they mean a lot.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Disney's Austin and Ally, I'm just taking them out to play.
Chapter 29
They woke to a gray and rainy day, New York City was welcoming them with style. Going to see Austin's apartment was at the top of the list of things to do today, but they both wished they could crawl back into bed and lose themselves in each other.
Ally fortified herself against the cold with skinny jeans and brown, wedge-heeled boots. She pulled on a cream-colored tank and a thick, knit cardigan which was the only bright color she wore. It was pink and ruffled and sweet and as she tied the bow which held it closed over her breasts, Austin teased her about wrapping herself as a present for him.
Ally smiled weakly at this attempt at humor, because that's all it was, an attempt. The smile on his face didn't quite reach his eyes and she knew that today was going to be difficult for him. He had decided not to wear anything colorful, which wasn't really like him. He wore jeans and dark shoes and a black t-shirt with his black, leather jacket over everything.
They could hardly sit and eat the breakfast that had been delivered to their room, both of them jumping up to get more coffee or another muffin to push around on their plates. On edge and jittery, they both jumped up when there was a knock at the door. Ally's hands were shaking when she reached the door first to reveal the somber faces of Dez and Trish.
The taxi ride was silent and fraught with tension, none of them really wanting to be there, but knowing they had no choice, there was no other option. They had to be there for him. Austin would face the ruin of his place and Ally, Dez, and Trish would stand beside him, no matter how much it hurt any of them.
…
The four friends stood shoulder to shoulder, matching looks of horror and grief on their faces as they stood just inside the open door of Austin's apartment perusing the damage. Ally moved her hand and gently tucked it into Austin's cold one, trying to bring him some comfort.
Austin's eyes filled with tears as he regarded his home, he watched the gray light filter in through the floor to ceiling windows as the rain poured across them. That was how he felt: angry and sad and bitter cold. It was so cold today and he didn't know if he would ever get warm again. He almost couldn't process that this was his place.
There was a pile of broken things near the door to his music room, his breakfast furniture, he thought, broken and tossed irreverently away when it didn't help whoever did this get into the only locked door in the place. It was obvious that the chairs and table had been dashed against the locked door again and again as there were deep scars across it. It hurt to just look around.
Ally pulled Austin's arm closer to hers as she tried to pass some of her warmth to him, although it was hard. She had walked into this room prepared for the devastation, but pictures did not do it justice. The furniture was destroyed, stuffing everywhere, dark red stains from the paint that had dried on absolutely everything.
She took a shaky breath as she let her eyes roam over the large room, pictures shattered across the floor, glass trailing haphazardly from where they had obviously been beaten against the wall to where they rested now, in a towering pile of glass and debris in the middle of the room. Paint had been tossed over them as well, looking like a pool of fresh blood oozing over them.
Trish blinked back tears of sorrow for her friend as she began to let the anger creep though her, she would never get through this if she didn't get angry. Just look at the place: completely, utterly trashed. She saw the mangled remains of two guitars to her left resting against the bare wall. They had been wasted and she sadly recognized one as a gift from Ally.
Those broken guitars lay there sadly in a crumpled heap of wood and string, coated with red paint as everything seemed to be. Bleeding guitars, Trish thought to herself. Someone had to have been really pissed at Austin to do this, to break his guitars (which anyone who knew him could tell you they were his prize possessions), to leave them shattered on the floor. She shook her head and blinked harder, she wasn't going to cry now, she'd have to save that for later.
Dez let the tears fall, there was no point in holding them back. This was sad, so sad for his friend. The words scrawled across the walls in dripping red paint were hurting him too. Die bitch die. Obviously directed at Ally. How could anyone say that about Ally? She was positively adorable. He glanced around the room and found threat after threat.
Burn in Hell. I hate you. Pretty boy who can't sing should die. No talent wannabees deserve to die together. Dez found himself struggling to breathe as the viciousness of the threats began to wear him down. So much anger, he thought, toward a couple of the sweetest people on this earth. Why would anyone want to do this? How could anyone do this? It was shocking and heart-wrenching and he better stop crying before Trish noticed and kicked his ass.
Austin took a deep, shuddering breath and blew it out shakily. His hand realized it already had one of Ally's and he tightened his grip. She dug deep inside herself and focused on the man beside her, he needed her to be strong today and she was going to do just that. She lifted her free hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks as she also took a deep breath and turned her face up to look at Austin.
"Austin," she started softly. "Come on, let's look around. See if anything is missing."
He just stood there for a moment, frozen as he contemplated walking into this place of destruction. Finally he was ready and he tightened his fingers on Ally's. "Thank you," he said as he led her further into the room.
The police officer, who had been waiting patiently behind the friends followed the young couple through the room, reminding them not to touch anything if they could help it. Lieutenant Halley hated days like today, when the rain turned the city he loved gray and wet and when he had to help sweet innocent children face the horror in their lives. His partner Lieutenant Jones walked into the apartment and over to Halley
"They find anything missing yet?" Jones asked. Jones was a large man in a button-down, short-sleeved white shirt and an awful, mustard-colored, stained tie clutching a small notebook in his beefy hands.
Halley, on the other hand, was dressed impeccably in navy dress pants, a light blue, long-sleeved button-down shirt and gorgeous, dark blue silk tie. He was younger than his larger partner and held his smart phone in one hand to jot down notes. "Nope, they just went in now really, just stood here looking for the longest time."
The officers glanced around the apartment that they had practically committed to memory after spending the last couple of days here looking for clues. It was on an upper floor of the building and had a great view of Central Park, well, when it wasn't raining. The furniture was all high-end leather and chrome, just like they had expected when they heard the place belonged to Austin Moon the pop star.
What they hadn't expected was the funny pictures of his friends that used to cover the walls and were now shredded across the floor and the collection of stuffed animals they saw torn up and strewn across the room. This boy was a conundrum and they were going to have to start asking some questions if they ever wanted to get to the bottom of this.
Jones leaned down to speak softly into his partner's ear. "You want to start questioning them now or take them down to the station."
Halley frowned and sighed. "Might as well do it here, doesn't get much more uncomfortable than this."
The four friends had moved farther into the large open room, Austin and Ally still held hands as they surveyed the disaster that was Austin's living room. Dez was picking his way delicately across the room to investigate the nasty sayings on the wall sniffling quietly to himself. Trish had wandered over to peek into the doorway of the room that Austin used as his bedroom, biting her lip and twisting her hands together as if that would help her hold in the tears.
Halley stepped forward and cleared his throat garnering the immediate attention of the friends. "Mr. Moon, can you tell us if you notice anything missing?"
Austin looked around the room blearily, hardly believing that this had been his home for two years. It took him a moment to respond to the question he had been asked. "I don't know. I don't think so, but I would need to look more closely. I haven't been in my bedroom yet, either, so I just don't know yet. This is all a bit much to take in."
Jones nodded and gestured toward Austin's bedroom. "Can you tell us why there are no clothes or other personal items in the room where you sleep, Mr. Moon?"
Austin shook his head, "Um... because I just sleep there. When we converted the master bedroom into a studio of sorts, I still kept all my stuff in the closet there because it was bigger."
"Can you tell us about your relationship with your neighbor, Jack?" Halley asked, scrolling through the questions on his phone. "When exactly did it start?"
"It didn't," Austin stated confidently. "It never started. I never dated Jack. She's just my neighbor."
Halley nodded and looked at Jones who turned his serious gaze toward Austin. "Okay, that's what we figured after talking to her and talking to her psychiatrist. So you were out of town this weekend and you have no idea how this happened or who could have done it?"
"Yes, my friends and I were in LasVegas this weekend and anyone could have done this. I guess my neighbor could have gone off the deep end when she heard that Ally and I got married this weekend or it could have been a fan or it could have been the girl I had been dating... God, I sound like a prick."
Austin dropped Ally's hand so he could scrub his hand through his hair and over his scalp and back. He took another deep breath. "I'm really not sure who could have hated me or Ally enough to want to do this. Haven't you guys found anything?"
Jones and Halley exchanged a look. They were certain that none of the people in this room had had the opportunity or motive to do this but there were still several suspects. "We don't really want to discuss that right now. If you know of anyone who we need to speak to, just point us in their direction. You can start by giving us the contact information for the woman who traveled with you to Vegas," Jones said.
"And, if Mrs. Moon could give us the information on the man she had been traveling with, that would be great," Halley added.
Austin and Ally exchanged surprised glances before crossing to the officers and giving the information they requested. Trish and Dez joined them with Dez even supplying still pictures of John and Jasmine apparently from the footage in the airport when they had arrived in Vegas.
The four friends did their best to answer all of the detective's questions, even though Ally had to stomp on Trish's foot twice when she could tell that her Latina friend was about to lose her temper and Austin had to elbow Dez more times than he could count when he started to get off topic, why would these officers even care about how global warming was connected in some obscure way to the mating habits of orcas.
After a couple of hours of questions and digging through the remains of his life which were scattered across the floor of his living room Austin was finally allowed to unlock the door to his music room to fill another bag with essentials.
Ally had followed him to escape Dez's lame attempts to discuss the mating habits of other marine animals, leaving him in the capable, but oftentimes brutal, hands of Trish. She looked around the room that she had never been in before and smiled as she realized that this was a fully functioning music studio, complete with sound booth and board. Austin could do almost anything in this room, well musically, at least.
Ally let her gaze continue around the room until she had almost turned around to look at the wall beside the door. She stopped in shock and stared for a moment. She turned completely around and half shut the door to look at the pictures on the wall. There were several large pictures, framed and matted, covering the entire wall. All of them, every last one, was of her. Close up and very personal photos of her.
She continued to stare at herself, allowing herself to take in the meaning of this wall. She looked at herself laughing, at herself smiling softly, at herself staring pensively off into space. Obviously, Dez had taken them, but what in the world were they doing here?
"I can't work without you, you know," Austin spoke softly from the doorway of the connecting bathroom.
"What?" Ally asked turning slightly but not wanting to tear her eyes away from these photos.
Austin chuckled and she really did turn, she was surprised to see that his spirits had lifted. He hefted the bag in his hand and walked across the room to join her looking at the pictures. Dez had done good, Austin mused to himself. These pictures managed to capture Ally in all of her moods and they, in turn, helped him create great music.
"I can't work without you," he leaned down to breathe across her ear. "Didn't Dez do great?"
"Yes, I'm not sure I could even tell you when any of these were taken. It was just a surprise. Do you know what he gave me for Christmas last year?"
Austin tilted his head to ask her a silent question before answering. "No, he wouldn't tell me. Why?"
Ally just shook her head. "You'll see soon enough, when we get moved in together. It will have to wait until then."
He wanted to continue this conversation, but Dez must have finally annoyed Trish enough for her to hurt him because he squealed from the other room, "Trish, you're so mean."
Ally rolled her eyes and hurried out to protect Dez from the wrath of Trish and to ask the detectives if it was alright for them to leave.
"Thank you, we have several people to talk to and things to check on, but we will keep you and your wife updated as well as we can. You have our numbers if you have any questions for us," Lieutenant Halley said as he watched Austin lock his music room again and the four friends exit the apartment, Austin carrying his bag and a guitar. "Please remember that this is still a crime scene and if you need to retrieve anything else let us know, we'll come with you."
"Thank you so much for all your help," Ally said softly.
