Murder with Lace

Shots rang out jerking me awake. I squinted at the time, two thirty. I must have dozed off watching the late night movie. I got up from the couch, shut off the TV and tiptoed over to the door to peek out at the corridor, wondering what woke me. A man ran towards me with a blood splattered shirt carrying a gun. I closed the door quietly before he spotted me.

I dialed 911 and described what I saw. They asked for my apartment number and told me to stay put. Five minutes later I heard the police in the hallway, A knock on the door made me take a deep breath as I braced myself for the many questions. Opening the door I could see my neighbors all grouped together in the hallway talking. Two officers stood ready to ask their questions.

“May we come inside?” One officer asked me.

“Sure, please come in,” I stood aside as they entered and closed the door.

I answered all the questions they asked. I described the man as best as I remembered having only a glimpse to go on. They asked about the gun. All I could say was that it looked huge.

Satisfied with my answers the police officers left. Larry, my next door neighbor came over to me.

“What was that all about?” He asked.

“I called 911 after seeing a man running down the hall with a gun. Didn’t you hear a gunshot?” I asked Larry.

“No, I’m a sound sleeper but my son heard something and woke me,” Larry said. “When I heard all this commotion in the hallway I came out to investigate.”

The police questioned everyone, then told us to return to our apartments. Larry went back his and I decided to make myself some coffee. I went into the kitchen. I’ll never be able to get back to sleep now. I wonder what happened…

Another knock at the door made me jump. I opened the door and a officer stood there holding my calling card out in front of him. “I found this in the hallway.”

I felt my eyes open wider as I gazed at my card. It had blood splatters on it. My heart pounded in my chest as I thought about who had my card in this building. “Catherine Banks came to our law offices telling us about this stalker and asked for advice on what to do. Being a stripper, she got all kind of offers but ignored them or brushed them off. This one guy wasn’t too happy with her attitude and wouldn’t leave her alone. We told her to tell the police everything that he said and did. I gave her my card telling her to call me if he bothered her here. Is she alright?"

The police officer ignored my question making me get a bad feeling about what happened. “So you know Catherine Banks? For how long?”

“We’ve been friends for over a year now,” I stared at the officer. “She’s nineteen years old and wanted to finish college with the money she earned. Her interest in law is one of the reasons we became friends and it gradually developed into finding out we liked the same things. Is she alright?”

“Did she mention any relatives to you?” He asked. “We need to contact them.”

“No, she told me she was all alone,” I said, tears brimming in my eyes as I finally realized what this all meant.

He asked gently, “Will you make an identification at the morgue?” When he saw me nodding my head yes, he wrote down a time and handed it to me. I took it and he left.

I walked down the hallway towards her apartment rremembering her telling me, "I'll be staying with a friend tonight afterwork so don't worry about me." Shock set in when I watched one officer showing another her favorite lace teddy. They discussed it and then stuffed it into an evidence bag. I couldn't bear it any longer and ran back into my apartment. The last thing I heard as I slammed my door was a garbled radio message talking about someone being apprehended. I hope they caught the creep! Overcome with grief, I fell face-down on my bed and cried for the loss of a wonderful friend.

I arrived at the morgue on time. The mortician, Mr. Milano, guided me over to the drawer and pulled it out. He uncovered Catherine’s body making me gasp at what I saw. Her beautiful blond hair was all tangled, bruises were evident on her arms and her beautiful face showed signs of being severely beaten. She died fighting I hope she hurt him good! I turned away as tears overwhelmed me once more. I choked out, “It’s Catherine Banks.”


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