The Music of Souls, page 26
“How about some shooting practice?” Sebastian proposed and looked at Andrew.
“With a real gun?” I asked, shocked.
“Of course,” Sebastian laughed. “Don’t worry, you won’t be carrying one around all the time. It is really just for emergencies. I don’t think you did that before so maybe it’ll be interesting, too.”
I nodded but I wasn’t sure about it being interesting. And I really didn’t want to end up in an emergency situation where I might need a gun. But with my recent luck in life, who knew what might happen.
“That’s fine by me. If Ava is fine with it too, we could do that today,” Andrew said and looked at me, waiting for a response. Spending time alone with Andrew sounded too good to refuse so I agreed.
Andrew guided me to the police station basement. I could hear the sound of guns being fired from the stairs and the closer we got the louder it was. I was a bit nervous now. For some reason I didn’t want to make a fool of myself by messing this up.
“You will do fine,” Andrew said and smiled. Sometimes I really wondered whether he could actually read my mind or whether I was just an open book with all my emotions on display.
We entered the shooting range and the sheer noise of the guns being fired startled me. There were five other police officers practising shooting.
One of the men saw us enter and stopped.
“Do you want to have a go?” he asked. He looked like a nice person and had really beautiful bright green eyes.
“Yeah, but we don’t want to interrupt you,” Andrew said.
“Oh no, it’s alright. I was done anyway,” he said. “I am Oliver, by the way,” Oliver said to me and reached out his hand.
“Avalynn,” I said and shook it.
“Nice to meet you, Avalynn,” he said and held my hand just a bit longer than necessary. I smiled back at him, not feeling bothered by it. Andrew put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me towards the now empty shooting stall.
“Let’s get started then. See you around Oliver,” he said.
“Sure. Have fun. See you,” Oliver replied and smiled one last time before leaving the range.
“Okay, let’s start then,” Andrew said and dropped his arm. I didn’t even have time to question his odd behaviour because he immediately started to explain how to handle a gun and in the blink of an eye, I had headphones and safety goggles on and a gun in my hand. I stared at the end of the range and tried to focus on the point I was supposed to hit.
“Don’t worry, I am right behind you. Just keep a firm grip, we don’t want the gun to hit your face,” Andrew said. I couldn’t hear him all that well with the headphones on, but what he said was still audible enough. The thought of a gun hitting my face didn’t really calm me down that much.
“I am here,” Andrew said again, and I could feel his hand resting on my back. I breathed in and out a few times before focusing on the target and then I pulled the trigger. The strength of the gun surprised me, pushing me back a little. But with Andrew holding me in place, I didn’t really lose my balance.
“Wow,” I said, surprised. It actually wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. After a while I felt rather confident with my shooting and just when I was starting to enjoy it, Andrew made me stop.
“I think we should stop for today, good job,” he said.
“How did I do?” I asked.
“You did well for a first-time shooter,” he said and smiled. Even though I hadn’t ever wanted to hold a gun, let alone use it, I was feeling rather proud of myself.
“It wasn’t that bad right?” he asked when we walked back to the office.
“I had a good teacher,” I said, and he laughed.
“That must be the reason,” he said. I didn’t tell him how much that was the truth. Whenever Andrew was around, I felt like I could do anything. Those kinds of thoughts and feelings were starting to bother me. I didn’t know what it felt like to fall in love since I had never been in love before, but maybe this was what it felt like.
Andrew wasn’t ready to be in love with someone else yet, he was still clinging to Laura. Was I up to sharing him with someone who’d already left him? And would he even consider to be with me like that?
“How was it?” Sebastian asked with a grin when we got back to the office again. Almost as if he’d expected that it wouldn’t have been that bad.
“It went fine,” I said, reserved, and settled down on the couch again.
“She liked it,” Andrew said on a teasing voice.
“I knew it!” Sebastian said and I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t hold back a smile though.
“We should call it a day for today, I don’t think anything else will happen,” Ryan said, and we all agreed.
“Should we pick up something to eat on the way?” Sebastian proposed. I was actually really hungry, so that sounded like a great idea.
“Yes, let’s pick up some food,” Andrew said, and that’s what we did.
At home the window had actually been replaced. They really were fast workers at that company, or maybe the money they’d paid them was convincing them to be extra-quick about it. At least I could finally feel a bit safer now.
“Looks like nothing ever happened,” Ryan said and inspected the repaired window closely.
“Yeah, looks great,” Sebastian said.
“Are you okay to sleep in your own room again?” Andrew asked me in a low voice. I thought about that for a while. The window was fixed now, but we all knew how easy it would be for them to break in again.
“You can stay at my place again, I don’t mind,” Andrew said, and I didn’t know why, but it almost appeared to me like he actually wanted me to stay with him again. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but my stupid hormones were very happy with that idea and so I agreed to stay with him again.
“Would you feel up to another training session tomorrow?” Ryan asked after they’d inspected the window for a good ten minutes.
“We don’t have to go to the basement, we could use the garden. Maybe go swimming?” Sebastian proposed when I hesitated to answer.
“Sounds good,” I answered. I always hated to work out, but having started it, I kind of felt like doing more of it. Maybe that’s why people got addicted to working out.
“Okay, let’s meet in the morning then and we can do some training outside. The weather is going to be great,” Sebastian said.
After that we went own different ways. Andrew and I watched a movie before going to sleep, this time he slipped into bed next to me without saying a word. It almost was like a silent agreement. I had been the one to propose that we could stay in the same bed in the first place, but this time I felt actually nervous to have him around.
“Is this alright for you?” he asked all of a sudden.
“Is what alright for me?” I asked back.
“All of this,” he said.
“You mean that we sleep like this? Yes, that’s what I proposed yesterday, remember?” I said and rolled over to look at him.
“It’s just that-” he said and peeked at me sideways. He seemed a bit nervous himself now.
“It’s just what?” I asked.
“Well. You are a woman and I am a man,” he said.
“Yes, obviously. Andrew, just get to the point,” I said.
“Usually you don’t just sleep in the same bed with the opposite gender, except when they are like childhood friends or in a relationship,” he said. I stared at him, wondering why he was bringing this up now.
“So you think this isn’t normal,” I concluded, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“I can sleep on the couch if it’s bothering you,” I said and sat up.
“No, stay. It’s not bothering me, quite the opposite actually,” he said a bit shyly. I looked at this face and he avoided my gaze. His cheeks were red now, almost as if he was embarrassed.
“The opposite?” I whispered. I didn’t want to push him because he was obviously uncomfortable, but I had to know what he was actually feeling.
“I like it and I feel bad about it,” he admitted and sighed.
“Why are you feeling bad about it?” I asked.
“Because it only has been such a short time since Laura left, and now I am sleeping in the same bed with you and I like it. And I feel like I shouldn’t,” he said. He was speaking so quickly, I had trouble understanding everything he said. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
“Just forget about Laura, Andrew. She left you and you have every right to do whatever you like without feeling bad about it,” I said.
“But I still love her,” he said, staring into my eyes this time, not dropping his gaze. My stomach contracted at his words, but I tried to remain neutral. I didn’t want to make this about me.
“And you can still love her. You were together for years. I doubt your love for her will disappear from one day to the next,” I said. He was the one squeezing my hand now, almost as if he wanted to comfort me. But why would he need to comfort me? He was the one needing comfort.
“But how do you feel about it?” he whispered. I stared at him, my thoughts running a hundred miles an hour.
“I don’t know, Andrew. I don’t know how to put it into words,” I said after a while.
“Try, please,” he said, and I sighed.
“I don’t know what I feel about it. I just know that I want to stay close to you, that I want to comfort you and help you. I want to see you smile and see you being happy again,” I answered. He sat up now too, caressing my cheek carefully. I didn’t even know I had wanted this kind of touch from him until he gave it to me.
“But I still love her,” he said again.
“I don’t care,” I replied and then his lips landed on mine, just kissing me lightly. Before I realised what was happening, he had already retreated with a shy smile.
“Sleep well, Ava,” he said and laid back down.
“Sleep well,” I whispered, still shocked about what had just happened. I rolled over and couldn’t stop grinning like a retard.
The next morning, I woke up before Andrew again. Today he wasn’t talking in his dreams and I was relieved about that. I wanted to have good memories about what had happened yesterday and hearing him chanting Laura’s name in his sleep would give it a bad aftertaste.
I went downstairs to my room and put on a bikini to get ready for the training session. It was still early, but I thought I could do some swimming to warm up.
I moved outside and saw something swimming in the pool from afar. I came a bit closer and realised that there was a person in the pool, not moving, face down in the water. I screamed and rushed towards the pool, jumping in without hesitation. I grabbed the person, who seemed to be a woman, and I had a hard time pulling her to side of the pool.
“What’s wrong?” I heard Ryan shout from inside the house and soon after he came running out.
“Help me!” I shouted and he rushed to the pool to drag the woman out of the water. Her face was very pale and slightly blue, and I was sure she wasn’t breathing anymore. Ryan laid her down on the floor and performed CPR, even though we both knew she was quite dead.
Andrew was the next one to rush out.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I don’t know. There was a dead woman in the pool,” I answered, my teeth chattering. I hadn’t come out of the water yet and I was shivering.
“Sebastian, call an ambulance!” Andrew shouted towards the house and picked up the towel I’d dropped on the floor. “And Ava, get out of the water!”
I did as he told me. He wrapped the towel around me and held me close. Sebastian came out as well, still talking to the ambulance service.
“Why is this happening?” I said, more to myself than to anyone else.
“It will be fine,” Andrew said, running his hand up and down my back to calm me down. Why did something awful have to happen whenever I felt really happy in my life? Couldn’t it just all be fine for a while? Without people dying all around me?
Ryan kept doing CPR until the ambulance arrived, even though Sebastian told him several times to stop. But he just wouldn’t listen. The paramedics could only pronounce her dead and once again the police came to our house, asking questions. Apparently, the woman was the person responsible for cleaning the pool. She would come twice a week, early in the morning, to do her work and leave again. I had never seen or heard of her before, even though I was sleeping so close to the pool – the windows were practically soundproof.
“Do you have cameras around the pool area?” a police officer asked.
“Yes, we do, actually,” Sebastian said.
“Mind if we take a look?” the officer asked.
“I am curious, too. Let’s go to the living room,” Sebastian said, and we all trooped in. I was hoping to see something that would help us with the case this time. Something to get us closer to these people. Yet another innocent person had died.
Sebastian turned on the television and started to play the recording at around 4 AM. At 5 AM the woman came and began her cleaning. Just thirty minutes later a man walked towards her. We weren’t able to see her face, but she probably talked to him. He moved closer to her and hit her once. She fell to the ground, apparently unconscious. The man looked really strong and buffed and she was a tiny person, I wasn’t surprised that she’d passed out from that punch. To my surprise he slid her in the pool carefully, pushing her head under water for a few minutes, before staring up, right into the camera. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses; aside from that he hadn’t covered his features. We couldn’t hear any sound, but the words he was saying towards the camera were loud and clear regardless.
“We can see you,” he said, and I dropped to the floor like a wet rag. This was all my fault. I really had brought danger to their house. They were watching me, and I was sure they would get their hands on me soon.
Chapter 23
I didn’t even realise that the police had left the house. I was sitting on the couch and stared into space, wondering where exactly I had gone wrong in my life. Why were people dying all around me?
“Ava,” Andrew said and pulled me closer. I leaned into him and enjoyed his warmth for a moment. But being close to him now caused me to go into panic mode. What if something happened to him or to Sebastian or Ryan? How could I live with that if they were going to die because of me?
“This isn’t your fault,” Sebastian said for the third time now.
“Whose fault is it then?” I asked crossly. How could they be this oblivious to the situation? Even if they were trying to make me feel better, this wasn’t helping. I didn’t want to lie to myself.
“These people are criminals, Ava. It appears that you happen to be next on their list. They do this all the time,” Sebastian said.
“But if I wasn’t staying here, your pool cleaning woman wouldn’t be dead,” I said, and Sebastian sighed.
“Avalynn, stop this self-pitying. This didn’t happen because of you, it happened because there are people out there who are ready to kill anyone,” Sebastian said. I knew that Sebastian just wanted to make me stop blaming myself, but did he really have to word it like that?
“I am not pitying myself,” I replied.
“Yes, you are. We all know that it’s hard on you, Ava, but we need you to focus right now. We have to be on high alert and make sure nothing is going to happen to us or the people close to us,” Sebastian said.
“I know,” I said in a low voice. I knew it, but I felt so weak and powerless. I just wanted to hide under a blanket and forget about the world.
“You were so eager to solve this case, don’t let what happened knock you off course. That’s their only goal, they want you to drop your guard,” Sebastian said, and I nodded.
“Just take today off to calm down and let things settle, and tomorrow we will continue with our investigation,” Ryan said. I was surprised that he was proposing that, I’d expected him to be the one to push a person to the limit. But he looked rather done with today as well, he was a lot paler than usual.
“Was it the same person?” I asked Sebastian when he was about to leave the room.
“Yes. And he was the one writing that message,” he said.
“Are the others looking for him now?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Yes, they will use the video footage to find him now. That’s probably the most effective evidence we’ve had for this case in a while,” Sebastian said.
“Isn’t that a bit obvious though? I mean, using the same man twice and even letting us see his face,” I said.
“They never hid their faces before, either, especially since they use some kind of makeup to hide their true identity,” Sebastian said.
“But this time he looked the same?” I asked.
“He didn’t hide,” Sebastian said and frowned, almost as if he only just realised that this was different to all the other clues they’d had before. “I have to go and check some things.”
“I will join you,” Ryan said and hurried after Sebastian who had left the house quickly.
“What do you think is he up to?” I asked Andrew.
“Probably checking the database to look for that man himself now,” Andrew answered, and I nodded. We sat on the couch for a while without saying anything. I suddenly felt nervous to be alone with him. Especially now that I remembered that kiss last night, I still wondered if that even actually happened. I touched my lips and could have sworn I could still feel the light sensation of Andrew’s lips on them.
“I should take a shower. I feel a bit itchy from the chlorine,” I said, needing some time to myself before I ended up doing something I might regret.
“Okay, do that,” he said and smiled. “Want to watch a movie later?”
“Yes, sure,” I said and left the room; I felt his eyes on me until I was out of sight. I quickly ran up the stairs and into his apartment as if it was the most natural thing to do. Then I realised that of course I could have taken a shower downstairs too. It felt awkward to go back down though, so I just took a shower in his apartment. Not to mention that I hadn’t even taken any clothes up with me. It really was too late to go downstairs now; I was already done showering.
