Without a price
Chapter 18
"Okay, it is as bad as you said." Lucky admitted, grimacing at the sight beforehand. While the smell of death had yet to come, Vincent's leftovers were pale, thin, and very sick looking. He wouldn't pass easily by as alive, as Lucky expected. He knew that lung cancer caused malfunctioning of the inside but never really believed that physically things would change that much. Boy was he wrong.
Emily said nothing in response, looking away and around the room. It was quite large but the dark red color that colored the walls in an attempt to make a sophisticated look made it seem otherwise. She had never liked the color herself. While she didn't go for the bright colors, neither would she go for the dark ones.
"Well," Lucky continued, "I suppose if we keep the lights off and make the room dark, I don't Baldwin will notice."
"If Baldwin needed to put on a light in order to murder someone, he wouldn't have got away with murder period. A light means someone is in the room and the perfect way to get caught." Emily replied, somewhat on the defensive due to the circumstances around her. She didn't even want to be in the house, much else where Vincent's body was. It was just too soon.
"True," Lucky agreed. "The smell is going to be a problem. Eventually, it is going to start decomposing. A candle could help I'm sure but that would give light. We're going to need one of those smelly objects that you plug into the wall. Less inconspicuous."
"And let me guess, you have one is in that bag of yours." Emily said her tone a bit condemning.
Lucky noticed but ignored it, giving where they were. Not the best of memories for her, he was sure. A chair was near the bed, and that he assumed was where Emily was when her uncle took his last breath. The pain was too raw, Lucky realized. By asking for her help, he was just splaying salt into the too open wound. The best thing he could do was get what he needed from Emily and let her leave.
"Okay, we need to close the curtains on the windows and tuck the blankets around him so he seems like he's just taking a short nap." Lucky instructed. Emily nodded, going for the curtains first. She took the window on the left side of the bed and he took the right. After that was done, they struggled to put the blankets around him more naturally. Vincent was tall, heavily built, and intimidating even after his passing.
Lucky looked around the room, searching for locations that policemen can hide. It would be too predictable to do the closet or bathroom but there was pieces of furniture around the room. The furniture was large too. If they put them near the ends of the wall, leaving enough room for a man to maneuver, any person was covered by the shadows of the furniture.
It took more effort to move it, as the furniture was made of a hard, heavy, sturdy wood that added to an already difficult task. By the time the dresser, night stand, a table, and a large bookcase were moved, they were both out of breath, exhausted by the effort. They left the room and went to the kitchen, where Lucky sat and asked Emily about the house.
"So there's four ways to enter the house: through the basement, kitchen, front door, and the backyard?" Lucky verified.
Emily nodded. "There used to be one on the side of the study but a brick wall replaced it because it was unneeded."
"We better have someone watching every door then. I don't think Baldwin will walk through the front door but I'm not taking any chances." Lucky explained. "The doors stationed around Vincent's room- do they squeak?"
"The doors are heavy like the wood the furniture was made of. With the carpet, they don't scrape across the floor but the hinges might be rusty. I can't recall if they have ever been changed or oiled." Emily responded.
Lucky stood up. "Do you happen to have some oil somewhere in the house?"
"If there is any, they'd be in the shed in the back." Emily tilted her head to the backyard. "The lock is probably so rusted though. I doubt the key would work but I'm sure you can pick the lock."
Lucky grinned at her, feeling the adrenaline run through him. "That was already the plan." Lucky took two steps to the kitchen door when he looked back at her. "There doesn't happen to be any rats in there right?"
Emily was not impressed with the question. "You are scared of rats but not the cop killer you are preparing a trap for?" Emily asked him incredulously.
"Have you seen their eyes in the dark? Its like two narrow red lights that watch you're every step and the worst thing is you know it." Lucky informed her, smiling when Emily chuckled slightly. Things were starting to look up.
"Just open the doors shine a light across it, and they will scramble run out of the area." Emily suggested as Lucky inclined his head, seeing the logic in that. He returned shortly with the oil, unharmed.
They put it on the hinges and figured out how the doors could be angled so that no one would know that people were hiding behind the doors. A wide range of angles was available for such purposes because the thick, heavy wood the doors were made of.
"How steep is the roof?" Lucky asked, after they were done with that.
"Way too steep for a man to hide on and not be seen. You're going to have to stick to the ground, second floor, and maybe the third floor." Emily told him, seeing where he was going.
Lucky cracked a smile, seeing that while being here bothered Emily, it was helping in the tiny bit of ways. Emily usually could see behind his questions, with the exception of the last couple of days, which led him to believe that she was on the way to healing. Which then left him to believe the worst part was last night, when everything really shrunk in. Before, Emily pushed it away and decided to deal with it when she thought she could but last night was the unexpected time to do so, leading to a breakdown. Seeing this, Lucky believed it could only get better at this point.
Lucky looked around, mentally checking the to-do list he had. He did everything he could to make the trap seem less obvious but a check in with his boss maybe just be necessary. Even he wasn't perfect and may not have considered some things.
"I think we're good then. I need to call my boss and see if I missed something though. But if all is fine, we can leave and I can take you back to my apartment." Lucky explained.
Emily nodded numbly, following him down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Sam was winging her hands, trying to calm down her nerves. She had hoped being around her calmly sleeping daughter would have helped but it only made her even more nervous. After all, Eleanor would be affected by this choice of hers too. As she decided not to think too far ahead in that respect, Sam left Eleanor to continue her afternoon nap, which only left her to pace her small apartment nervously and wait for Jason to come a knocking.
She felt foolish being the one to make the first move but it was her fault they broke up in the first place too. After losing Lila, she wasn't thinking straight, felt so insecure and as a result threw away the one good thing she had in her life. If anything, it had to be her to strike up the conversation. That didn't make the guilt go away though. People told her admitting her mistake and trying to fix them would grind the guilt away but so far the guilt only grew.
She jumped when a knock sounded on the door. With every step towards the door, her feet felt like lead, reluctant to lead her into rejection. If that happened, however, it would be justice served. She opened the door and put on an inviting expression. She invited him in and closed the door.
She cleared her throat, in order for her to allow the words she wanted to say came out. "Eleanor is sleeping soundly upstairs. She's fed and changed so she shouldn't have any reason to interrupt us." Sam said to reassure herself more than him.
Jason nodded to that. "So what did you want to talk about?" He asked, looking at Sam, expecting.
"Us, or I guess the lack of." Sam introduced, winging her fingers once more. "When I said it was over previously, I felt uncertain about everything. I just lost my daughter and I didn't know how to deal with that so I just pushed everyone away, including you even though you were trying to help me."
Jason had a blank expression on his face, seeing that coming probably. "And I'm not saying that was right, because it wasn't. I'm sure I wasn't the only one in pain." Sam paused after saying this, trying to get to her point now. Rambling would not help. "But now, I realize all these things. Eleanor will never take the place of Lila and I never expected her to but she's taught me a lot. The least lesson being that some things are not meant to be and obviously Lila wasn't."
"Some things are meant to be though and maybe we are one of them. I never really gave our relationship a chance to show that though but I'm hoping that a second chance might." Sam risked a glance at Jason who was looking at her critically. "Not that I deserve it or anything or will do anything drastic if you disagree. I'd completely understand if you felt differently." She'd understand and be heart broken but she'd move on and deal with it somehow if worse comes to worse. "What do you think?"
Jason wasn't sure how to respond to that. He saw this discussion coming of course and he did indeed miss her but he didn't know if that was enough. "I think that I need to think about it and get back to you." He answered, which was a partial blow to Sam's hopes but knew that it could go either way and that was better than a straight "no" for sure.
Sam nodded, "That's a good idea." Sam conceded. After Jason left, she went back upstairs and glanced at her daughter. She had awoken and was reaching for the rattle near the side of the crib. Picking up both, she handed Eleanor the rattle who promptly shook it and smiled, enjoying the sound it made.
Sam gave a watery smile. She may have lost Jason but she started a new job Monday and Eleanor was still with her, so overall things were finally looking up.