Post by TrulyFaith on Jan 21, 2007 0:53:32 GMT -5
It Runs In the Family
Chapter 1
‘The First Step’
Chapter 1
‘The First Step’
Tru jerked awake and sat up quickly in her bed. She looked at her clock; 10:32AM; just the time she woken up yesterday. Then, she looked at the calendar. It was yesterday.
“Oh great,” Tru said. “Annabelle Petreston.” She walked out of her apartment and headed towards the morgue. Half way there her cell phone rang.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hey! My favorite sister Tru!”
“Hi Harry,” Tru said.
“So do you want to come meet me down at the diner for some breakfast?” Harrison asked.
“No Harry I’m not giving you any money for the tracks.”
“Oh,” Harrison said. “One of those days?”
“Yup,” Tru answered. “It’s one of those days.” There was a silence as she continued to walk down the street.
“Well,” Harry said breaking the silence. “In that case… How can I help?” Tru was amazed.
“You’re not going to beg me for money, or go out and do it anyway?”
“Why?” Harrison asked. “Is that what I did yesterday?”
“Yeah, and you lost it all.” Tru told him. Harrison laughed. “So do you really want to help me, or not?” she asked.
“Sure.”
“Good,” Tru said walking through the doors of the morgue. “Come meet me at the morgue, and we’ll figure something out.”
“Okay,” Harrison said hanging up his phone.
“Oh hello Tru,” the friendly voice of Davis said. “What can I do for you this morning?”
“Annabelle Petreston,” she answered putting her jacket on a chair. Davis turned in his own chair and faced the computer. He typed in the name as he asked,
“How did she die yesterday?” Tru peered over his shoulder.
“Single bullet to the head in her apartment at approximately 7:37PM.” She answered.
“Ah, here we go,” Davis said “Annabelle Petreston, female, 27 years old, and she lives in 38 Oak Side Apartments.”
“That’s her,” Tru said observing the picture of the girl. “Can you get me a work address, or something? Maybe, a location of some sort?” Davis scrolled down the web page.
“Yeah,” he said when he found the work section. “She works at the clothing store just down the street from here.”
“Hey!” Harrison said as he came through the door. “How can I help?” Davis looked at Tru sadly.
“Oh,” he said. “Harrison is going to help? What do you want me to do?”
“Harry you come with me down the street to the clothing store,” Tru instructed. “Davis you hang tight here and I’ll call you if I need anything. Come on Harry let’s go.” Tru put on her coat again, threw her bag over her shoulder, and pulled Harrison out the door by his elbow.
They walked into the clothing store and stood by the counter top.
“May I help you?” The check out lady asked.
“Yeah,” Tru said. “I’m looking for an Annabelle Petreston. She’s about 5”6, blonde hair, and brown eyes?”
“Oh yeah!” the lady said. “Anna!” then she paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, but she doesn’t come in for another three hours.”
“Thank you,” Tru said and quickly waving her hand to the lady as her and Harrison walked outside the shop.
“What now?” Harry asked. Tru smiled.
“Here, you come into play.”
Back at Tru’s apartment, Tru dug an empty box out of her closet, and handed it to Harrison.
“What is this for?” he asked.
“I have an idea!” Harrison looked at her blankly. Tru dug back in her closet and got out a tape recorder. “You go to Annabelle’s apartment, and pretend like you are a delivery man at the wrong apartment.”
“Oh,” Harry said. “I get it. I make with the small talk, and see if I can get any information?”
“Exactly,” Tru said patting Harrison teasingly on the back.
Tru stood outside of the apartment building as Harrison took the box with the tape recorder in it inside up to Annabelle's apartment.
“Apartment number 38!” Tru yelled after him as he walked through the front doors.
Harrison knocked on the door and a pretty girl with blonde hair and brown eyes answered.
“Hi I have a package for Megan Jasine,” Harry said improvising for a name.
“I’m sorry, you must have the wrong apartment,” the girl said. Harrison pretended to look confused.
“Are you sure?” he asked. The girl smiled, and shook her head ‘yes’. “Well, what’s your name?”
“Annabelle,” she said. “Annabelle Petreston.” Harrison looked dumbly down at the box.
“Hmm…” he said. Annabelle pulled her hair behind her ears and smirked.
“Do you want to come in?” she asked. “You look cold.” Harry smiled and walked through the door.
“Thanks!” he said. Annabelle closed the door and Harrison looked around. It was a very well decorated apartment, and it was very well kept.
“I don’t think I got your name,” Annabelle said.
“Oh,” Harry said extending his arm. “Harrison Davies.” Anna shook his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. Harry sat down on a couch.
“Do you have time to stay?" Annabelle asked. “Because I could make you some hot chocolate!”
“Oh yeah,” Harrison said. “This is my last delivery for the day… and now I can’t deliver it because I have the wrong address!” Annabelle pulled out a pot and filled it with water, clicking on the stove. “The only thing I have to worry about is my sister waiting outside.” Annabelle came over and sat next to him on the couch.
“Oh she can come up here!” she said. “Do you want to give her a call?” she pointed towards the phone.
“Oh no,” Harry said. “She’s okay, you’re too kind!” Anna smiled.
“Oh please!” she said. “It’s freezing out there!” Harrison shook his head.
“Alright,” he pulled out his cell phone, and dialed Tru’s number.
Tru heard her phone ringing, and reached her cold hands into her purse.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hey sis!” Harrison said. “I was just delivering that last package, and the wrong address was on it!”
“What are you playing at?” Tru asked with a laugh.
“Well it turns out I’m in a Miss Annabelle Petreston’s apartment and she invited me in for some hot chocolate.”
“Did you get any information?” Tru asked. Harrison jerked and looked at Annabelle to see if she had heard that, but she was in the kitchen getting the hot chocolate set up.
“Not yet,” he whispered. Then, he brought his voice up so that Anna could hear him. “But I told her that my favorite sister was outside, and she invited you to come up for hot chocolate too. Are you in?” He asked. “Room number 38.”
“I’ll be there shortly,” Tru said.
Annabelle was bringing the mugs of hot chocolate to the living room right as Tru knocked on the door. She set the tray down and opened it up.
“Hello!” she said instructing Tru to come in.
“Hi, thank you for letting me come up here!” Tru said taking a peek around. The first thing she noticed was a bunch of pictures around the room.
“It’s no problem!” Anna said. “I wouldn’t want to be left out in the cold.” Tru smiled and Harrison stood up.
“Tru this is Annabelle, Annabelle this is my sister Tru.” Annabelle waved at Tru, and Harrison sat back down on the couch.
“Hot chocolate?” Annabelle asked. Tru and Harrison were both polite and took one. Tru took a seat next to Harrison and Annabelle sat down in a large chair.
“So, Annabelle,” Tru said. “Has everything been… okay lately?” Annabelle perked up in a negative way.
“What do you mean?” she said with a semi fake laugh. Harrison looked beside him and picked up a picture that was sitting on the end table. There was Annabelle, and another young man.
“Who is this?” he asked before Tru could answer Annabelle’s question. Annabelle quickly hopped out of her seat and took the picture away from Harry.
“It’s my ex-fiancé,” she said. She put the picture face down on the other small table next to her.
“Awe,” Tru said. “What happened?” Annabelle looked up.
“I don’t know,” she whined a little. “It’s just that… he would come home at least twice a week drunk, and when he was drunk, he wasn’t the kind of drunk that you would want to be around.”
“How so?” Harrison asked.
“Well,” Anna said. “He would get physically abusive, and I didn’t want to live with a man like that… so we broke up, and he wasn’t too happy with that.” It was quiet for a while and Tru immediately thought that he was the killer.
“Well nobody would want to live with a man like that!” she said. “Has he been giving you trouble lately?” Annabelle shook her head ‘yes’. “What’s his name?”
“Jason Dalker,” she answered. Then, she jerked and looked at her watch. “Oh my god,” she said. “I’ve got to start getting ready for work!” Tru knew that her work didn’t start for a while and that Annabelle wanted them to leave, but she had all of the information that she wanted and hopped out of her seat.
“Thank you for everything,” she said as she dragged Harrison out of the door. They began to walk down the hall and waved Anna a goodbye.
A man watched Tru and Harrison leave the apartment, and hid his face. Once they were out of site he walked up to Annabelle’s room. He held a pizza in his hand and knocked on the door. Anna opened the door and looked at him.
“Pizza delivery,” he said.