24 - Thief in the Night

Petey trudged out of the subway car, hiking her backpack more firmly onto her shoulder.  Weary feet tiredly mounted the steps that would take her up to the street level and, thereby, home after a draining afternoon and evening at Dorothea Bongiovi’s house.

Stephanie had let loose with what seemed like a thousand more questions about Petey’s mundane prior existence – where, what and why.  Petey declined to answer them all.  In doing so, she quickly discovered that the girl’s inquisitive nature and blue eyes weren’t the only thing she inherited from her father.  Stephanie was seriously peeved by Petey's flat refusal to reveal any more information.

Fortunately, about that time, Dorothea had rejoined them to check the repair status.  Upon hearing the diagnosis, she gave Petey the go-ahead to do whatever necessary to fix it and, in the process, ended up spending quite some time talking with her.  The general gist of the conversation was Dorothea trying to decide whether she was a freak, or just dressed like one.  Petey wasn’t sure what the final verdict was, but crazily enough, she liked Jon’s ex-wife – and his daughter.

As for Stephanie, her mother’s presence must have been a reminder in etiquette, because her steady flow of prying inquiries came to an abrupt halt after that. 

The subsequent hours had been consumed with tracking down and procuring the replacement part, a quick installation – to the relief of both female Bongiovis – returning Tony’s SUV, tying up some loose ends at the studio and a long train and subway ride home. 

Nearly fourteen hours after she'd left home, it was now ten o’clock and her butt was dragging.  Even so, she couldn’t help but feel her awareness prickle as she crossed the intersection nearest her building.

Her interest over the mysterious Black Friday envelope had taken a few days to pique, but Petey finally caved in and opened it yesterday.  The contents?  Sort of what she’d been expecting, yet a little more… intense.

Darling,

I’m so disappointed in you. Did you actually think I would simply stand quietly by and be humiliated?  You were quite clever in covering your tracks, but my determination outweighs your cleverness.  The most prudent thing to do is give me what I want.  If you don’t?  Well, I certainly won’t have any qualms about taking it through whatever means necessary.  


You have my number, and I shall expect to hear from you sooner rather than later.  If you’re as smart as I know you to be, you won’t disappoint me again.  The repercussions will be quite ugly if you do.

He was a pompous ass, but he also didn’t like to be crossed.  His petty vindictiveness was infamous in her former life and she would prefer a confrontation.  And, really, what was the point when her well-placed insults flew uselessly over his head?  Yes, staying on her guard and out of his range was the wisest thing to do until she could get into her new apartment next week. 

In an effort to speed the relocation process along, she’d already moved the bulk of her personal things into a rented storage unit down the street.  Her reasoning was that, once she had her new key in hand, she could vanish from the current place much more quickly.    

Thinking of her amazing pink silk sofa gave Petey a feeling of melancholy.  She knew she was going to regret leaving her beloved furniture behind.  She’d spent weeks finding something that was uniquely ‘her’ when she'd first gotten the place, but hefting big pieces of furniture by herself just wasn’t practical.  She would have to make the most of it and delve into furniture shopping again.  Maybe she would find something even more 'her' this time around.  

Maybe purple this time.

The door to the building opened easily under her hand, and she slid inside with an inaudible sigh, feeling the tension seep out of her neck muscles.  An uneventful trip home was a good trip home.  A quick check of the mailbox found a couple of utility bills and some junk mail waiting, and she tucked them under her arm before climbing the stairs to the third floor.

The elevator at the new place will be nice after a long day like this.

She had mounted the last stair, slogged down the hallway and was almost to her door when the envelopes slid out from under her arm, fluttering to the hardwood floor.  With a huff, she leaned her backpack against the wall so that she could bend to retrieve them without giving herself a concussion. Petey was just straightening upright, the last envelope firmly back in her grasp, when something odd caught her eye.

The door to her apartment was ajar.  It had been locked tight when she left for work this morning.  She was sure of it.

Egad.  What do I do?

Wide cat eyes darted across the hall to Gavin’s closed door.  Did she dare knock and risk that whoever was in her apartment may overhear and attack them both?  Although, maybe there wasn’t anyone in her apartment at all.  Maybe she simply hadn’t pulled the door closed tightly enough.

Curses.

Standing there like a twit wasn’t getting anything accomplished.  If she didn’t take care of the situation, no one would. 

Inhaling deeply, Petey squared her shoulders with determination and sharply nudged the door open with one extended arm, while still remaining in the well-lit hall.  One eye on the open entryway, she sidled over and knocked loudly on Gavin’s door.  “Gavin, it’s Petey!  Are you home?”

It didn't take long for footsteps to echo from within, and seconds later she heard the locks clicking open.  Gavin cracked open his door his door with a curious smile.  “Hey Doll Face.  To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Chin tipping toward her apartment, Petey kept her voice low but spoke loud enough to herself over the loud thumping of her heart.  She was trying very hard to keep everything in perspective and maintain her calm. “I just got home and my door was open.  Could you stand here in the hall while I go in?  You know, in case someone tries to kill me or something?”

His overly handsome face blanched with shock at the blunt words and he clamped a hand onto her forearm, hissing,  “Jesus, honey, don’t go in there!  Come inside and let me call the cops.”

The last thing she needed was to have the police here.  That would be a bigger nightmare than delving into the unknown situation awaiting her inside.

“No."  She shook her ponytails vehemently, eyes never veering from the darkened portal of her apartment.  "No cops.  Just… please stand here while I go in and check things out.”

His bony hand went from lightly holding her forearm to gripping it and placing Petey resolutely behind him with a sigh of resignation.  “I might be a pansy, but I still have cojones.  If you insist on going in there, at least let me go first.”

Fingertips of relief trickled down her spine.  She firmly believed she could do anything, but once in a while it was nice if she didn’t have to.  Not confronting a psychopathic burglar alone was in the very nice column.

Acutely aware of each sound they made, Petey and Gavin slunk stealthily across the hall and over the threshold of Petey’s apartment.  Gavin didn’t make much of a visual impact in the darkened room as he eased in, dressed casually in dark jeans and a black sweater.

“Hey dumbass, if you’re still in here I advise you to get the hell out.  I have a .38 special and a pissed off Doberman across the hall, and I’m not afraid to use them!”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Petey had to fight the urge to snicker.  Sternly curbing her amusement in favor of caution, her hand slid past Gavin’s ribcage to curl around the doorjamb and flick on the light switch.  Two pairs of eyes darted into every corner and shadow of the living room and kitchenette, but there was no intruder, only chaos.

Her pretty pink sofa, cushions and all, had been shredded, their stuffing spilling to the floor in a faux snowdrift.  The brocade chair had suffered the same fate and both lamps were knocked askew, the fringe on the shades hanging drunkenly where they had been ripped.  The coffee table was on its side and her super-deluxe treadmill had been effectively gutted.  Even the belt was sliced to ribbons.

Despair filled Petey’s chest and Poe’s “The Raven” paraded through her mind in a desperate attempt to control the panic those rose unbidden in her throat.

“Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.”

“Bedroom?” Gavin intruded in a low voice. 

Mutely, she pointed to the doorway on the opposite end of the kitchenette.

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token…”

Still mindful of the sound of their footsteps, particularly Petey’s boots, they tiptoed across the linoleum to the open bedroom doorway.  This time, Gavin’s hand was the one curling around the doorjamb to find the light, and the room was instantly illuminated.

Once again, there was no intruder, only the havoc he’d wreaked before going on his merry way.  The mattress and pink silk bedding had been viciously carved open, reminiscent of the living room furniture, and dresser drawers had been brutally upended.  The sparse remaining contents of the closet were strewn haphazardly around the room until socks mingled with panties, shoes with bras and t-shirts with sheets. 

Petey didn’t know she owned so much ‘stuff’ until she saw it slung all around her in a tempest of pink and black.

“Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.”

Gavin’s long finger pointed toward the other doorway in the room – the one that led to her black and white tiled bathroom - indicating his intent to go in.  At her nod, three long strides of his legs had the last light in the place blazing brightly, and she saw his shoulders sag with relief.

“It’s all clear but, sweet Liza Minelli, that scared two lifetimes outta me,” he exclaimed, dramatically fanning a hand in front of his face.  He slowly turned, scowling at the ‘décor’ with a wrinkled nose.  “Well, except for the mess.  But that can be taken care of tomorrow.”  Grabbing her by the elbow, he ushered her firmly from the room.  “You can’t stay here tonight girlfriend.  Come over to my place.  We’ll call the cops and you can crash on my couch.  I’ll even fix you a stiff drink, cause honey, you sure look like you could use one.”

“Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore –

Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'”

They were just about to step into the hall when Petey’s faculties returned and she dug in her heels.  “No,” she repeated her earlier mandate.  “No cops.  And while I appreciate the offer, I don’t think I want to sleep quite so close to the scene of the crime, as it were.  It's creepy knowing I'm that close to home, but that it's nothing like the home I left this morning.”

She silently twirled in the middle of her living room floor in an effort to take an abbreviated account of her belongings before stalking back to the bedroom and doing the same thing.  She heard Gavin’s voice, but her recitation and inventory dulled it to a faint buzzing.  Tally finally complete, she crammed a handful of clothing and toiletries into a duffel bag and worked her way back through the mess to find Gavin with his feet planted wide in the hallway, arms peevishly crossed .  “Uh, hello?  Talking here.  Why don’t you want to call the cops?  I know it’s not likely, but they could help recover some of your stuff.”

“I didn’t see anything missing,” she mumbled, extinguishing the light and plunging the room back into darkness.  The door slammed with a little more force than was strictly necessary, but she thought she could be forgiven considering the circumstances.   Sweeping up her backpack to add to the duffel bag on her shoulder, Petey looked up at him with a pained grimace.  “I’m sorry.  I know it doesn’t make any sense, but that’s the way I want it.”

“No it doesn’t make any more sense than Antonio Banderas being straight,” he agreed with a flamboyant flip of his wrist.  “But you’re a big girl.  If that’s what you want, who am I to tell you any different?  I’m just the stylish neighbor.  But can I be nosy enough to ask where you’re going to go?”

She impulsively wrapped her arms around his slender waist in a quick hug.  “Thank you, Gavin.  I’ll either check into a hotel or stay with a friend who lives nearby.  Don’t think a thing about it.”

He grinned wryly, giving her cheek a gentle pat.  “There’s a good possibility of that, Doll Face.  I won't be thinking about much of anything after I go in and swallow two Valium and a shot of Jack.”