Fake Daises and Real Soil

The click of the recorder made her flinch. She shifted in her seat as the detective across from her sat still in his. “Start from when you met him.”

“It was about a year and a half ago. Not too long after I moved in on the fifth floor.” The small woman kept her eyes on her hands in her lap. “He was standing outside his apartment, unlocking the door with a bunch of grocery bags in his hands. He was struggling with looking for the right key and holding all of his groceries. So, I asked if he needed help. He said ‘no’ so I kept walking but then as I got onto the elevator one of his bags ripped and spilt food all over the place. He cursed and threw the rest of his bags down. I stopped the elevator and helped him pick everything up.”

            “And when did you become friends?”

“I don’t know if you could consider us friends. I mean, we never hung out or anything. I don’t even know his name but we would smile at each other in the hall, I’d help him with his groceries, and I started to take his beanie, as a joke of course. He’d let me keep it overnight then in the morning I’d put it back on his head and walk with him down to the door. And we used the knock or tap code a lot. He used to take a broomstick and knock on his ceiling. I would sit on the floor and knock with my fist.”

            “Tap code?” The detective frowned.

“Yeah, um, the tap code is based on a Polybius square using a 5-5 grid of letters representing all the letters of the Latin alphabet, except for K, which is represented by C. The listener only needs to discriminate the timing of the taps to isolate letters. For example,” She reached out and placed her fist on the metal table, knocking lightly as she continued speaking, “W is five knocks…pause…two knocks. A is one knock…pause…another knock. T, four knocks…pause…four knocks. E, one knock…pause…five knocks. And R is four knocks…pause…two knocks. That spells out water. It’s a lot easier to use once you use it for a while. I used to have to have a cheat sheet he gave me. But now I can differentiate and knock out complete sentences without it.”

            “So, you two didn’t talk much?”

“Nothing beyond small talk but we didn’t have to.”

            “Tell us about the night he disappeared. The last time you saw him.”

“I took his beanie while passing him on my way to the elevator like I always do. He smirked at me and rolled his eyes. And I smiled and went to the elevator but…” She paused.

            “Go ahead. You can tell us.”

“His hair…” She paused again and sighed in destress, “I don’t even know if this is relevant to your case…”

            “Anything you noticed will be helpful. Go on.”

“His hair is a dark brown, almost black, but it was silver in spots it wasn’t before. He always seemed stressed out so it reminded me of when people tell you if you keep stressing your hair will turn grey? And he looked like he was ten years older. He had dark circles under his eyes and his skin was pale and he had more wrinkles. It reminded me of when I was a child and my sister and I would spend too long in the bathtub and our hands would get all prunie. And he looked almost like a ghost. I wanted to ask him if he was okay but he didn’t really like to talk about himself. Once, I was walking with him down to the front doors and his hand was bandaged and red like he was bleeding. I asked him if he was okay and offered to take him to the hospital. He got really upset and told me to mind my own business. So, I didn’t ask him about why he looked so…sick…because I didn’t want him to get upset with me.”

               “And that was the last time you saw him?”

“Yes, the next morning I took the elevator down to his floor to give him his beanie back and I saw the police tape across his open door. There were police officers everywhere and people were in the halls whispering to each other and talking to police. I was going to get back into the elevator but I didn’t want to look suspicious so I walked down the hall. I just meant to pass his apartment. I wasn’t even going to look up but it was like someone grabbed me and forced me to look into the apartment. That’s when I saw the blood and threw up all over the floor. I’m really sorry about that. I’m not usually so squeamish…I’m a criminal justice major…I’ve seen tons of fake crime scenes and analyzed them.”

            “Well, a preset crime scene is different from the real thing especially when it involves someone you care about, Miss Elkins.”

“Is he gone? Please, just be honest with me.” The detective was quiet for a moment.

 “The medical examiner estimated from the blood pooled on the floor and splattered on the walls that there was a total of three and a half liters of blood lost from his body. As you are a criminal justice major I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what that implies.”

“Are you sure it’s his blood? Maybe there was a struggle.”

            “The DNA test results confirms it is his blood and no other blood is present.”

“But…you didn’t find a body, right? So, he could still be…”

            “I’m sorry, Miss Elkins. You can go now. Thank you for your cooperation.” The detective stood up and gathered some papers from off the table.

“It was no problem. If you don’t mind me asking what’s his name? I know it must seem ridiculous for us to have lived next to each other for so long and not know each other’s names but that’s what happened and it always kept us at arm’s length…like we were still strangers. I would rather remember him as a friend.”

“Theo Morse.”

She slugged out of the interrogation room and down the hall of the police station. Her hands were shaking and she could feel the lump in her throat growing larger with every step she took. As she entered the lobby, she smiled slightly at three somber looking men sitting nearby. Her immediate thought was that they must have been friends of Theo’s. Theo. His name was Theo. He looked like a Theo, or what she thought one would look like. How could she spend almost two years without knowing his name? What kind of friends were they? Friends knew things about each other. Back home she had plenty of friends and they were all very close to her but here in Pittsburgh he was her only friend. She didn’t even know if he considered them friends"and now she would never know.

Time must have slipped away from her while she was lost inside her own head, because before she knew it she was walking into the lobby of her apartment building. A butterscotch-headed girl smiled up at her from behind the concierge desk. “How you holding up?”

            “Fine, thanks.” She walked slowly up to the desk and smiled.

“Really, I’m okay.” The girl’s smile soon shifted into a frown.

            “Pennie.”

Pennie propped her elbows up on the desk and rested her chin on her fists.

            “Katie.” Katie rolled her eyes and turned to the shelves of mail behind her, running her finger across each name printed neatly at the bottom of each box. She rested her finger under the name Penelope Elkins.

            “No mail.” She spun around back to Pennie with a smile. “Again.”

“Thank you.” Pennie returned the smile and headed for the elevator past the desk on her left. Katie waved and sighed in return.

On her way up to the top floor, Pennie had more time to get lost inside her own head. She thought about how distraught and tired Theo had looked the last time she saw him and how maybe if she had asked him if he was okay or at least paid more attention she might have been able to make a difference"maybe he’d still be here.

Pennie avoided the fourth floor all together and instead took the elevator to the top floor where she made the long walk down to end of the hall to her apartment. She shivered and rubbed the goose bumps that covered her arms. As she stepped into her apartment the air seemed to chill even more. This had only happened on occasion when she was around Theo or walking past his apartment. She had always thought it was strange"growing up, all her friends talked about how man must have built-in heaters or something because they were always warm. And from the many times Pennie had fallen asleep on her brother’s shoulder on car rides or on the couch she knew this to be a true fact. But Theo was always cold, or rather the space around him was. It was like he emanated cold. And now that same cold air filled her apartment. Like she didn’t miss him enough. She plopped down on her old, worn recliner and tussled with the lever to the kick stand, finally wrestling it free.

             She didn’t remember turning on the television or slipping off to sleep but next thing Pennie knew she was being awoken by a loud knock at her door. Her sleepy eyes fluttered open and adjusted to the sudden darkness. Pennie blinked a few times and squinted up at the clock on the wall. 7:00"it was later than she remembered it being. Who would be knocking on her door? She didn’t have any friends here really. None that knew where she lived or would come knocking at her door anyway. Could it be the police? But she’d told them everything she knew. Maybe they had a break in the case"maybe they found Theo! She swung her legs down quickly, locking in the kick stand with a loud click. She stumbled, groggy, to the door and stood on her tip toes to peer down through the peephole. Her heart sank when she opened her door to find no one on the other side. She looked up and down the hall but it was empty. With a sigh of disappointment she closed the door and proceeded to turn on the rest of the lights in the apartment, all the while wondering who could have knocked. She fell back into her recliner and as a she did the same loud knock returned. She slowly walked over to the door and peered through the peephole, no one to be seen. But as she peered down into the hall the knock came again. Pennie soon realized the knocking wasn’t at the door but from down below. Theo’s apartment…but Theo was gone and she watched the police seal his apartment. What was worse was the knocking was following the tap code. Knocking against her floor was a welcoming sound before but now it was heart wrenching. Pennie was a mess of emotions"she was angry that someone might be down in Theo’s apartment, overjoyed because it could always be Theo telling her he’s safe…maybe she had dreamt the ordeal. It seemed a little impossible but then again so did someone murdering Theo. She had to find out.

Without thinking, Pennie snatched up her keys and barged into the hall. She hurried over to the elevator, her heart beating loudly in her ears. She waited impatiently for the elevator to reach the next floor, squeezing through the doors before they could fully open, Pennie marched up to Theo’s door. His door was closed now and decorated with police tape. What was she doing? She was sure the door was locked and if she was caught disturbing a crime scene she could be charged with a Class A Misdemeanor"she could spend up to a year in jail and pay a fine up to $2,000. What would she even say if she was caught?

“I heard someone knocking so instead of calling the police like any smart person would do I decided to investigate for myself in the hopes of finding Theo, a broomstick in his hand, smiling at me completely unharmed.” She stared at the elevator and considered turning back, but something was holding her there so she turned the knob. To her surprise the door was unlocked. It slowly creeped open and a gust of cold air exploded from the apartment. Pennie shuttered and ducked under the police tape, closing the door behind her. The apartment was bare except for an old couch and small plasma television. The blood pooled on the floors and smeared across the walls were perfectly preserved. Little yellow number markers were placed around each individual blood puddle and splatter. Pennie gagged and covered her nose. The room smelt of iron and another awful smell she couldn’t quite place. The only light in the room was the moon light that shined brightly through the large windows on the far wall. To her left was an open kitchen area and a pitch black hallway. Pennie sighed and watched her breath materialize in front of her.

What did she think she’d find here? Theo unharmed and excited to see her despite her just breaking into his apartment? She shook her head and turned back to the door when she heard the knock again. This time she knew exactly where it emanated from. Down the dark hallway to her right she could hear the loud knocking get louder and louder and more urgent. In her hasty adventure down to Theo’s apartment she hadn’t had time to realize what words the tapping had been making out. Now she could easily identify what the words were. Words she never expected Theo to knock"‘help me’. Before she could think, Pennie was at the closed-door at the end of the hall and slowly turned the door knob, cringing at the click. The knocking seized. Pennie thought her heart might give out before she even pushed the door open. The room was bare just like the living room except for an unmade bed in the corner and a bouquet of perfect Daisies placed in a large, square glass stained vase in the center of the room. As Pennie approached the vase of flowers and knelt next to it she realized the Daisies were fake. Why would fake flowers be put into such a beautiful vase? She frowned and inspected the vase of fake flowers closer. The vase was filled with real soil. But why fill a vase with fake flowers full of soil? The bigger question was why was it placed in the center of a pretty much empty room? Pennie rubbed her eyes and stood up. Obviously this trip was in vain. Maybe she was hearing things"going crazy over a man she didn’t even know the name of until now. It was possible"at this point anything was. She turned and headed for the door when a loud crashing sound like glass shattering rang in Pennie’s ears. She spun around to see a small wooden box surrounded by a mess of broken glass, soil, and fake flowers. She stood frozen in place, unable to move. How did it break? There was no one else in the room but her. She finally willed her legs to move slowly up to the box. She knelt and carefully picked it up, turning it in her hands. The wooden box looked more like an old book and it was bare"absent of any symbols or engravings save a small lock on the side. She took her phone from her pocket and shined the light on the lock"it was different from most keyholes"no key she had ever seen could fit a lock like this.

“Just shut the door behind you. We’ll be quiet and no one will ever know we were here.” Pennie jumped at the sound of a man’s voice down the hall. She held tight to the box and quickly hid under the small bed, pulling the blanket over the edge so she was hidden from sight. She could hear footsteps coming down the hall and see the light of a flashlight. Pennie held her breathe as three pairs of feet stepped into the room.

            “Same old Theo. He never was one for luxuries like a nightstand or dresser.” A sudden weight on top of the bed made Pennie let out a small gasp.

“What was that?”

            “What was what?” No one answered the man’s question and silence followed. Finally the man sighed.

            “Never mind. Let’s go get the equipment.” The weight above Pennie was relieved and she could hear three sets of footsteps exit the room and fade away down the hall. She waited for what seemed like hours, too afraid to move, until finally she pulled herself out from under the bed. She creeped up to the open door and peered down the hall. Empty. She had to hurry"they could be back up at any moment. She bolted down the hall and slipped out of the apartment"box still in hand. The hall was empty"for now. She hurried to the elevator and slipped inside, letting out a deep sigh"she was safe.

Reviews

[Robert Parlange]

Very good. I like the way the scene began in the interrogation room. It was a good hook and added suspense from the very beginning. The reader gathers information just like the detectives and we slowly learn of the “incident.” The mysterious Theo is intriguing and the relationship with Pennine is well thought out.

You handle dialogue well. It didn't look forced and information was delivered naturally.

There was mystery and suspense throughout the chapter and it didn't sag as it went along.

Good ending and offers more of a mystery as to what and who was Theo.

Keep writing this. You have a gift.

Only one suggestion. It wouldn't hurt the story to give some description of the interrogation room and to describe the reactions of the interviewers. Think of every episode of “Law and Order,” ever.

Nice detail of the tap code. Did you serve time in a maximum security prison? Hey, it's OK; I don't judge.

[WhyYesIamaMoonchild]

Thank you very much forbthis awesome review! I will definitely add more detail to the interrogation room and such. I was thinking of doing that before but wasn't quite sure of how to go about it. I watch A LOT of Law and Order so maybe I'll take your advice and think of the episodes in order to help me write more detail. And as for the maximum security prison...I'm only 19 so not yet but it could happen. XD I just do A LOT of research. XD lol