Chapter 109- Investigation

Arabella Toussaint:

I held my breath and watched Lucien, standing in the doorway for a moment, looking at my sleeping body with a slight frown as if he was trying to make sense of something. Eventually, he shook his head, stepped back, and quietly closed the door.

I stayed where I was as he walked away. Now what?

Once he disappeared down the hallway, I turned toward my room and reached for the doorknob. My fingers closed around nothing. I frowned and tried again, this time watching my hand carefully. My fingers went straight through the knob as if there was nothing there except air.

What the hell?

I had touched the curtain in Queen Theodora’s room, so why couldn’t I touch this? I placed my palm against the door, but couldn’t feel the hard surface beneath my hand. It simply disappeared through the wood.

No way.

I hesitated for a second before stepping forward, expecting my face to hit the door. Instead, there was no resistance at all. I walked straight through it and got into my room.

This was too much for my brain to handle. I looked at myself sleeping on the bed and then down at the body I was somehow standing in. Before I could make sense of either, dizziness hit me. My vision blurred, my eyes rolled back, and the last thing I heard was a dull thud before everything went black.

I think I fainted.

***

My phone was ringing somewhere close to my head.

I groaned and blindly moved my hand over the bed until my fingers found it. My eyelids felt too heavy to open. I squinted at the bright screen and managed to make out Maya’s name.

Urgh. Why was she calling me this early?

I accepted the call and pressed the phone against my ear without bothering to lift my head from the pillow.

"Arabella? Hey, is that you?" Maya’s voice came through immediately. "I was waiting for your call. You said you’d call me today. Is everything okay?"

"Maya... I’m too tired... can’t open my eyes ..." My voice was muffled against the pillow. I was too sleepy to answer her.

"Ara?" Her voice grew more concerned. "Are you still sleeping? You never slept this late. You sound half dead, girl!"

This time, I didn’t answer. My brain was taking its sweet time waking up, and Maya continued asking questions while I lay there with my eyes barely open.

And then my eyes flew open, and I shot upright, immediately looking toward the spot beside the door where I remembered collapsing last night.

Maya was still talking loudly through the phone, asking me if I was all right. I closed my eyes for a second and brought the phone back to my ear. "Hey, Maya, can we talk later?"

"Just tell me you’re okay, Arabella. You’re freaking me out."

"I’m fine, Maya." I rubbed my eyes and tried to gather my thoughts. "What time is it, by the way?"

"What time is it?" she repeated in disbelief. "Are you serious? It’s two in the afternoon!"

That got my attention immediately, making me wide awake. "W... what?" Maya kept talking, but I pulled the phone away from my ear and checked the time on the phone screen.

2:07 p.m.

She was right. I had slept until two in the afternoon.

I was usually up early, no matter how tired I was. I threw the covers aside and got out of bed while Maya’s voice continued coming from the phone.

"Maya. Sweetie! I’ll call you back, okay? I promise." I ended the call before she could start with another round of questions.

Last night came back to me again. Was all of that just some crazy dream? Did any of that actually happen last night?

***

By the time I came out of the bathroom, I was finally feeling more like myself. I picked up my phone from the bed and found a message.

Be at the Warrior’s Café for lunch. I know you probably missed your breakfast.

Bradley.

I smiled. After missing breakfast, I was starving. I quickly grabbed my things and headed out of the room.

***

When I reached the Warrior’s Café, Bradley was already sitting at one of the tables near the window with a file open in front of him. His coffee looked half-finished, so he had probably been waiting for a while.

"Hello." I dropped into the chair opposite him.

Bradley looked up from the file and smiled. "Hey. Slept well?"

"Yeah." I nodded and reached for the glass of water waiting on the table.

Yes, Bradley. I slept well, except I had an out-of-body experience last night.

Our food arrived soon after, and I immediately reached for my pepperoni pizza slice. The Warrior’s Café was much quieter than yesterday. In fact, the entire building seemed almost deserted.

"Where is everyone?" I asked after taking a bite from my pizza.

"Training grounds." Bradley moved his file out of the way to make room for his plate. "Most of the warriors won’t be back until evening."

Apart from the Omega behind the counter, we practically had the café to ourselves.

Bradley returned to his file between bites, occasionally making a note in the margin. I tried reading it upside down until he noticed and turned it away from me. I gave him an innocent look and went back to my fries.

For a while, we talked about nothing important. He complained about the amount of paperwork waiting for him, and I told him running a café required a lot of effort.

That thought reminded me of something else I had been considering since yesterday. "Umm, Bradley. I want to go somewhere."

Bradley picked up his Coke and pulled the tab open with a soft click. "Where?"

"The club Anika visited the night before she died." That got his attention as he put his fork down and looked at me.

I had been thinking about Victor ever since my visit to Blackthorn. My father still wouldn’t tell me where he was, and sitting around waiting for him to appear magically wasn’t getting me anywhere.

"If Victor really killed her, someone must have seen something that night." I picked up another fry. "There were people around her." Bradley remained quiet, which I took as permission to continue.

"I know you people already investigated everything, but I want to go through it again myself. I want to check whatever camera footage is still available and see the place where she was last seen. Maybe someone still works there who remembers her, or maybe there’s something you people overlooked."

Three years was a long time. Employees changed, memories faded, and whatever evidence had once been there was probably long gone. I had to start somewhere.

Bradley stayed quiet for a moment, clearly thinking it over. Then he picked up his fork again. "Let me see what I can arrange." That was enough for now.

I picked up my pizza slice again, and the conversation eventually moved on to other casual things. Neither of us noticed the café door opening.

I was listening to Bradley while reaching for my drink when the empty chair beside me moved. Someone pulled it out and sat down. I turned my head and found Lucien settling into the chair beside me.