Chapter 18: The Morning After
Helga woke up the next morning in a bed that wasn't hers. She opened her eyes, it was just daybreak outside. She surveyed the room and then she suddenly remembered. Criminy, Sid! Speak of the devil, as soon as Helga thought that to herself Sid came out of bathroom shirtless with a towel wrapped around his waist. Oh no. Oh crap! She hoped she didn't give her lady parts up to Sid, the Kid! She wasn't even sure if he wasn't gross! No. No. No. No.
She let out a deep sigh. Things were moving too fast she felt. She wasn't even sure about him yet but she didn't mind kissing him. Hell, her hormones liked the kiss. Obviously a little too much. Helga ran a hand through her hair. It was tangled and messy and all over the place. Very reminiscent of sex hair. She sniffed her shirt. It even smelled like Sid's cologne.
"Oh God, we didn't. Did we?" Helga asked flustered.
"No Helga, we didn't. We spent the night talking and you fell asleep. I didn't want to wake you and I figured the bed would be much more comfortable than my couch. We didn't even sleep in the same room. I took the couch."
"Oh Thank God!" Helga sighed in relief.
"Oh thanks. Good to know I'm ugly," Sid exclaimed, "I'm going to get into the shower. I have to be at the station in a couple hours. Go back to sleep Beautiful."
Sid flashed her a smile before shutting the bathroom door.
After her mini heart attack she didn't want to awkwardly wait for Sid to exit the shower. She could check her work email or something productive. Sid wouldn't mind. She grabbed his laptop from the night stand, opened it, and to her surprise it was already on. When she opened it a screen that read Hillside Police Department Records. His username and password were still typed in. She couldn't could she? Technically she was breaking the law, but this could be the only time she could get concrete evidence. She hit the login button, glancing at the bathroom door to make sure Sid wasn't going to catch her. If memory served her correct he was a total germaphobe when they were younger. He'd be another 20 minutes in the shower at least.
Once logged in to Sid's account a log of only his notes came in.
Friday 12:44 AM: Shooting at Pembroke's Law Firm. All officers on call. Minor shot out. I received a small injury but no hospitalization needed. Assailant escaped but it is evident that Frankie George himself was the target. Possible revenge motivated? George stated on record he did not see the face of the person and he only was held at gunpoint for a few moments before we came.
Saturday 3:04 PM: Thorough search of Room 1214 conducted by my partner Berman and I. Search results are inconclusive. Prints came back clean with only Ms. Lloyd's coming up as the only hit in the room.
Saturday 5:03PM: Monitoring Eugene Horowitz again. He's a wreck. He can't even hold a cup without shaking. Still evidence of trauma from Ms. Lloyd's death. I'm still suspicious. He leaves his house everyday at 5:32PM on the dot. He and his assistant drive in two separate cars to a disclosed destination I have not discovered yet. Partner and I will swap monitoring duty every other day.
Sunday 12:11PM: Another sweep done for Room 1214. Results inconclusive.
Monday 1:04 PM: Search inconclusive.
Tuesday 12:30PM: Search inconclusive once again
Tuesday 4:45 PM: Suspicious of Horowitz' assistant. Did a background check on her and her records have been wiped from the system. Who did she know that's high enough to clean her records? Will monitor her more. Once again at 5:32 they leave in separate cars.
Wednesday 2:31PM: Search of room 1214 successful. Discovered under a dresser and hidden under carpet. New evidence obtained, documented and brought into the station. Rhonda's prints on inside and outside of envelope. Inside the envelop were 4 items which have been documented.
One note on an index card written in Rhonda's handwriting simply stating: Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love. Obviously significant. Must research further.
One report from DNA Diagnostic, siting a Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity test was performed at 9 weeks and ordered by Ms. Angelica White, possible pseudonym of Rhonda. Conclusion: In the case of the unborn fetus it is determined by DNA Diagnostics that Eugene Horowitz is excluded from being the biological father.
One copy of the Horowitz Inc statement of income from August 3, 2003- December 8, 2005. Must flag and cooperate with the IRS but it seems to not check out as far as numbers.
One dated and signed statement of protection against Frankie G. Xeroxed on the back of the document is the contract agreeing to marriage between Eugene and Lila. Noted: Signatures provided by Rhonda do not match between documents. One document has obviously been falsely forged.
Holy crap! This vital information! Rhonda's baby wasn't Eugene's. Horowitz' company has shady finances. Ambiguous quote AND forged legal documents. Rhonda must have been in pretty deep. Helga needed to track down this Frankie G.
"Helga," Sid startled her and caused her to jump as he came out of the shower with a towel around his waist. "What are you doing on my computer?
Helga quickly pulled up Facebook and logged out of his police account.
"Oh nothing Sidney. Just checking my Facebook page. Got bored with you basking in the shower for 40 minutes," Helga retorted flipping her bang from her eyes. She slammed his laptop shut and placed it back on the night stand.
"Next time please ask. There's confidential things on there. I could lose my job if information was leaked on my end. Anyway, I like being clean," Sid declared. He picked up a hair brush from his dresser and brushed his hair back gently. His chest was still glistening from his shower and the steam travelled out of the bathroom into the bedroom. Why was he so distracting?
"Yea so clean you wore a full germ suit to school for two days!"
"To this day I still don't like germs. If I investigate a gritty crime scene I shower for 40 minutes when I come home. I obsessively put on hand sanitizer. It's not nearly as bad as it was."
"Oh."
"If you want to hop in the shower you can while I get dressed. I'll drop you off at work if you want. I know you don't want to go home right now anyway."
"Thanks Sid."
"Take your time. Not in a rush to get to the department meeting today. Throw your clothes out here before you get in and I'll wash them for you. Clean towels and wash clothes are in there. I, um don't know what you like but I have my body wash you can use."
"Body wash? What are you, a fruitcake?" Helga joked getting out of the bed.
Helga walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Before she even stripped her clothes she already felt naked enough. What was it about Sid that made her feel so...not like herself? She never spent the night at a guy's house before. If she counted that one time she broke into the boarding house and climbed in the vents all night then she had once.
She let her clothes fall to the floor then threw her clothes out through the small cracked opening in the door. She stepped into the shower, still warm from Sid's time in there. She turned the water on extra hot. For some reason she felt so filthy and needed to feel the heat. She wet her wash cloth and squirted some of Sid's body wash on it. She sniffed and inhaled deeply. God, it smelled him. She began to lather herself in the soapy bubbles. Now she was going to smell like him all day now. As she let the warm water fall over her shoulders she was both hopeful and nervous for today to begin. She was going to track Frankie G down if that was the last thing she was able to do. Her body relaxed under the water, unfortunately the water couldn't wash away all her troubles.
~/~
Skyscrapers definitely looked a whole lot bigger from close up. Horowitz Inc. looked like a massive maze from the outside. Arnold stepped inside and gawked at the amount of people just in the lobby alone. There had to have been at least 100 people on this floor alone. He gulped, somewhat nervous from all the people. And he thought the club was packed during his work nights! This was nothing.
He walked over to the front desk and greeted the perky blonde sitting there with an inviting smile.
"Welcome to Horowitz Inc., where everyone can be born lucky. I'm Cecile, what can I help you with?"
"Um. I need to see Eugene. Is he here?"
Cecile seemed to think Arnold's question was quite funny because she gave a loud laugh right in front of his face.
"What's so funny?" Arnold asked curiously.
"Oh sir Mr. Horowitz is VERY busy. He isn't going to stop doing business for you. Now if you want we can make an appointment." She flipped through an extremely thick book, "Is April 15, 2045 good for you? That's his next opening."
Was this girl serious? He had to wait THIRTY years to have a meeting with his friend. This was ridiculous.
"Listen, can't you just call him or something? Tell him Arnold Shortman is here to see him. He knows me. We went to elementary school together."
Cecile rolled her eyes, "Okaaaaay but he probably won't see you. If I had a dollar for every time someone claimed they went to school with Mr. Horowitz I swear I'd be rich." She then picked up her phone and dialed the number. "Hello Mr. Horowitz. I have a err… Arnold Shortman here to see you. He claims he went to elementary school with you. Should I send him away?"
Apparently Eugene had hung up on her and didn't even answer the question. Arnold could hear the dial tone from the receiver.
"I told you he isn't going -
Before Cecile could get her snarky sentence out there was Eugene Horowitz coming out of one of the four elevators. He looked… good. No longer did he resemble the timid and defenseless kid. He actually had muscles and was tall. Even his red hair was slicked back and not wild like it used to be. His suit was neat and his designer shoes looked freshly shined that morning. He clearly spent a lot of time on his physical appearance. Something that Arnold couldn't see himself doing. Money had done him well. How could a guy who had such bad luck in the past, get this lucky?
Eugene came up and gave Arnold a nice bear hug, "Arnold, my man! I haven't seen you since the funeral. What brings you here?"
The hug surprised him because even he and Gerald didn't hug and they were best friends. The hug lasted far too long and Eugene was holding on just a little bit too close for his comfort. Arnold wiggled out of the hug faster than he could even blink.
"Hehe hello Eugene. I came to talk to you. Can we go to your office or something?"
"Of course, of course. Anything for my old friend Arnold." Eugene said placing a hand on Arnold's shoulder. He shrugged it off and made sure he didn't walk so close next to Eugene. His touchy-feeliness made him feel weird. Frankly, he didn't want Eugene to touch him again. Ever.
The duo made their way to the elevator. Arnold didn't really know what to say to Eugene. What was he supposed to say: "Oh you look good for a guy who lost his girlfriend." or maybe "Hey, I'm dating your right hand woman and I'd love to know if I should be suspicious of her" or "Hey, stop touching me I don't like that and it;s weird". The answer was none of the above.
"You have a nice place here. Lots of people and a big building." Arnold spoke as the number 58 lit up above the door.
"We have over 3000 employees here going in and out everyday. It's a pretty normal day."
The elevator stopped and the doors flung open. Arnold trailed behind Eugene and he lead him to his office. Eugene shut the door behind them.
"Your office is huge! It's the size of entire apartment. How'd you get so wealthy?"
"I'm Jewish, Arnold. I'm naturally good with money," Eugene laughed at his own joke and then continued speaking. "So what is it that you need?"
"First of all I'm sorry about interrupting your business. I know it may seem weird but I wanted to ask you about Lila. If you don't know we've been dating and she said some things about you that I just can't shake."
"She's only my secretary if that's the issue. Lila definitely isn't my type Arnold." Eugene seemed to be telling the truth. A question seemed to pop up in his mind: What exactly was Eugene's type then if Lila wasn't his type? Now that he thought about it he was a little shocked to find out he and Rhonda had been together because he had never seen Eugene with a girl before, even in high school. Maybe, he was just a late bloomer.
"No, no it's nothing like that. She just said you two had a 'special relationship'. I just want to know if -"
Eugene interrupted, "If she's crazy? She's just extremely faithful to the company and not to mention very nice. She believed in me and this company when no one else did and remained loyal to me. We do have a special connection but it's a business one. I give you my word."
Arnold was actually going to say "if she's seeing anyone else", but Eugene seemed to think he was going to ask something in a total different direction. Someone usually insinuating that another person was crazy was usually meant they had seen the crazy firsthand.
"Right," Somehow both him and Lila had the same forced and vague story. Something was going on with them that didn't seem authentic in the slightest. Arnold just nodded, hoping Eugene wouldn't see the skepticism on his face. "I also want to apologize for how Helga acted at the funeral party. She's really sorry."
Eugene replied,"No worries. Just keep her away from me. You on the other hand are welcome to come see me anytime."
Something about the way Eugene said that last sentence made Arnold cringe. Something was off with both him and Lila. Everything was way too perfect and way too rehearsed for him. Maybe Helga was right.
"Thanks for easing my mind about Lila. I don't want to keep you from your job." Arnold stood up to leave. "I'm really sorry about Rhonda and the baby Eugene."
"Yea, me too," Eugene responded coldly while biting his lip.
Arnold felt the weight roll off his shoulders. Now that he was away from Eugene's watchful eye he had to talk to Helga soon.
Author's Note: What do you guys think?