Time
Day 4~ 10 A.M.
Location
Nikki’s Apartment, Entertainment District in Ominar
She didn't look to see if either Afua or Cortes was following her, she didn't give a damn either way. She had things to do, and while she didn't want Cortes hovering, she would still do the work regardless of his presence. She flopped herself down in the seat, pulled her cigarette case and lighter out and lit up as she dialed the newest number in her phone, waiting for Nikki to pick up. But she didn’t. It rang and rang and went to voicemail. “That’s odd,” she murmured, looking at her phone quizzically while she hung up before leaving a message. Nikki hadn’t seemed like the sort of person to just blow off work like this. At least not without calling to let someone know.
She sighed, tossing her phone down on the desk and starting to look for the personal files again, hoping there was a secondary contact number in there for her. Thankfully there was and she punched in the number for her babysitter, just to see if she’d heard anything from Nikki.
“Hello? Gooden residence, how may I help you?” Said an elderly woman’s voice on the other side of the phone, her tone weary and worried.
That was not a good tone at all. “Ah yeah, I'm looking for Nikki Patel, I'm her boss. You're listed here as ‘In Case of Emergency’ contact for her childcare. Have you heard from Nikki today? She was supposed to be here half an hour ago.”
“Last I heard of Nikki was early this morning. She mentioned she was aiming to stop by her apartment to pick up something then would call when she got there, I assumed she left and forgotten. Is she not there?” Mrs. Gooden asked as she paused, waiting for an answer.
Masha groaned a little and scrubbed at her neck with the hand not holding the cigarette. “No, she isn't and I haven't heard from her either. So you've not heard from her since when this morning?”
“Around,” the woman paused, likely checking something. In the background papers fluttered and were shuffled in her search before a young boy’s voice seemed to notice. He asked muffled questions which caused the woman to soothe his anxiety, then call for her husband who limped over with what sounded like a cane. Easily redirecting the young boy’s attention back to the living room, Ms. Gooden turned her attention back to Masha.
“Five this morning as she dropped her boy off. I do hope everything’s alright.”
“I'm sure everything is fine,” she replied, trying so very hard not to think about the sound of the boy's voice just then. “Probably got held up in traffic is all, left her phone at home too. If you hear from her, tell her to call work...or Masha. Either or. Thank you for your time.” And with that she hung up the phone, taking a long drag on her cigarette as she closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair.
“Afua,” she said without opening her eyes, knowing the woman was nearby and could hear her. “C’mere.”
“I am thinking you might be thinking the same thing as me?” Afua asked, her figure pulled off the door and glided over to stand beside Masha. She seemed unfazed by the news, possibly expecting it, while waiting for additional orders.
Masha opened bloodshot eyes to look up at the dark skinned woman. “Yes, we probably are thinking similarly.” She did not that she wasn't surprised either. And she cursed herself for not heeding Darius more if something bad really had happened to Nikki. “You have anymore little spies about her place you can check in with?”
“I left one or two, but I am out of range to ‘hear’ them. They had express orders to watch and listen, not protect. So if something did happen, I won’t know until I located one,” Afua stated, professionally, while she waited a moment before adding on more information.
“I can leave to check in to that, but keep in mind I need time to set up here as well. Especially if Cortes’ friends arrive to create trouble. The choice might be up to you, baas.”
Masha sighed, rubbing at her face again after snubbing out her smoke. “Fuck this shit,” she sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. “You stay here, I’ll figure out the Nikki thing, and if I don’t before you’re done, then you can go check on her.” As much as she liked Nikki, and as much as she was worried something might have happened to her, this was unfortunately the moment that she was going to have choose the needs of the many over the needs of the few. Even if the ‘many’ was mostly her. “It is way too early in the morning for this sort of drama.”
Afua chuckled quietly, “Spoken like a true baas.”
She moved to set up her little ‘pets’ while Masha went to address Nikki.
Masha left Afua to her devices and went about making a few more pressing phone calls than finding out what had happened to a wayward employee. Even if that wayward employee was a nice girl who she had slept with, and was interested in doing so again. Once she’d set up a time with a contractor and looked through what she needed to to advertise a few jobs to be filled outside of what Darius was going to loan her, she figured it was time enough to take a break and find out where Nikki was at.
She grabbed her bag and headed out to the main part of the club again. It was still pretty dead, but it was still the morning. There was time for it to pick up some. Spotting Cortes, still at the bar, she rolled her eyes some. She thought about telling him where she was going, or at least lying about a lunch meeting. But she didn't say anything other than a “I'll be back in bit,” said to the room as a whole really.
He didn't reply and she headed out to Nikki’s apartment to check in on her, working the whole time on setting things up and press pricing things out as she rode in the back of a cab. Every time she finished something she tried calling or texting her again, but there was still no answer. She headed up to her apartment once they'd reached the building, only half paying attention to what was going on around her, distracted with work plans.
When Masha got to the apartment door, she would notice something very unsettling. The door had signs of forced entry. Small scratches around the keyholes could easily be seen upon examination and when she touched it, the door would eerily swing wide open. Inside things were toppled across the floor, even when Rex had assure them both things were going to be cleaned up, as the trail lead to the bedroom. A few hand prints of blood stained the walls hinting toward something terrible.
She stood in the doorway, looking in on the mess and letting her eyes travel the whole of the space until she saw the blood on the walls. There was no denial that something had happened, but there was some denial that Nikki might be fully gone. There was a moment of hesitation though, if the cops had been called for whatever reason, and she was found in there, then they’d have to ask questions. But she had an alibi, there had been very little time that she wasn’t somewhere with someone last night. And if her prints were in the apartment, she’d gone home with her a few nights ago so that was in her favor too, because people had seen her go home with Nikki. Once all that was covered in a few seconds in her mind, she came into the apartment slowly, avoiding stepping on anything if she could.
“Nikki?” she called as she came in, hoping for some sort of answer. “Nikki, it’s Masha. Nikki?” She went towards the bedroom, even with no reply from the other woman. She had seen plenty of dead bodies in her time, if she found Nikki like that, she’d be fine. Well she’d be angry, so very angry, but otherwise fine. “Nikki…” she said one more time as she nudged the bedroom door open more and took a look inside to see just how angry she was going to get to be.
The bedroom was in the worse state. It was obvious Nikki had given a last ditch effort to survive or take someone down with her. The bedside tables were tossed about in dismay, feathers from a ripped bed littered the room and more. Half hidden by an empty bookcase, two human feet were peering from underneath its fallen form.
“Nikki?” Masha said as she came in at last, seeing the feet she finally rushed forward. She wasn’t the praying type, but she did send out thoughts to the universe that she was alright, that the room looked worse than it really was. Dropping her bag, she started to move the bookshelf, but it was a little difficult for her being so small and not very strong really.
The woman jerked and tried to ball up. She yelped in pain as her leg appeared to have a dark, swelling lump on side where possibly the bone was broken. The leg was no longer straight but slanted unnaturally, the muscles more limp. She struggled to speak through puffed lips for Masha to get away from her. It was obvious she couldn’t see who was trying to save through the blackened and sealed shut eyes, her face appeared to be smacked about repeatedly.
“It’s Masha,” she said with a cooing shushing noise. The state of her body only made her angry, though she hid it well. She didn’t put her hands on her, she knew better than that. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to get some help. Just be calm. You’re safe now.” She reached into her bag once she had bookshelf out of the way, and pulled her phone out and called for an ambulance while she tried to calm Nikki more.
In less than an hour, the ambulance arrived and carefully load up Nikki into the vehicle. Several police cars also had arrived on premise. One officer, OCPD, Detective Peterson, edged out of his car and walked casually toward Masha. His eyes narrowed on the woman before he entered the crime scene which had been taped off from civilians. Masha hadn’t been allowed to leave until she had been questioned due to her being first on the scene.
A younger man popped up beside her and made a small request, “Ma’am, could you please follow me? We need to ask you some questions about the scene and why you were there.”
Masha had sent a text to Afua to let her know what had happened and that she wasn’t going to be coming back soon. She had watched with real concern as they had taken Nikki and put her on a stretcher and rolled her away. She looked over and blinked at the young man, nodding her head some and followed as he lead her over.
~|Hour Later at OCPD Station|~
Masha was escorted through the OCPD’s station, past several officers busy with cold cases, complaints, and additional paper work. Several older detectives moved about to either haul suspects into cells in the back or interrogate them in the windowless rooms. There seemed to be a struggle in one as several officers rose and promptly rushed toward it, upon spying the opened the door Masha could glimpse a strange Licenti growl then send some sort of energy forward that caused the police to crumble. The door popped shut once more blocking the scene from her view, but it seemed the authorities had things under control because the sounds quieted in a few moments.
The young man seemed unfazed by the scene while he showed her to one of the rooms. Walls made of concrete and windowless, it was pretty clear it was designed to create discomfort and isolation from the outside world. He pointed to the seat, “Would you like anything to drink or eat?”
She shook her head and sat herself down in the indicated chair. “I’m fine right now, thank you.” What she really could use was something that they couldn’t provide her. So she just said no.
“Alright, give me a moment while I retrieve Officer Peterson. When the questions are done, I’m sure you’ll be free to go,” The man said then quickly walked out. What followed was several moment of uncomfortable and likely purposely extended waiting. The main sound was the clock ticking down within the room, counting the seconds into minutes before the grey haired man from before entered.
In his hand was a manilla folder that he flopped down and took a seat in front of Masha. He didn’t take long until he addressed her, “So, Ms….?”
She sighed and pulled her license out. It was just easier than having to spell out her Russian name to them. “I go by Masha though, if you care,” she said sounding only mildly annoyed at having to wait.
“Alright, Ms. Vor-ee-vola. As you know, you were found at the scene of the assault. What were you doing there? Did you see anyone attack Ms. Patel or leave the scene?” Peterson mistakenly mispronounce Masha’s last name but didn’t seem he would bother to wait until she corrected him or even cared. His focus was on what happened within that apartment.
Masha cringed at the way he said her name but didn’t even bother to correct him, even if he’d given her the time. He didn’t seem like the type to care all that much. “I didn’t see anyone but Nikki,” she said with a sigh. “I was there because I’m her boss and her friend and she didn’t come into work this morning so I was checking up on her. She’d expressed some concern over people who frequented the bar she works at.” None of that was really a lie, and she didn’t want to get into having slept with Nikki, because then they’d expect they were dating, and they weren’t. She wouldn't deny it, but she wasn’t going to bring it up just then. Friends was the best description for them.
“How long have you two had a working relationship? Ms. Patel worked at the One Night in Hell bar according to her records, and last I knew it was owned by a Mr. Matthews. Not a Ms. Vor-ee-vola.”
“It’s only been a few days,” she answered. “I just offical took over this morning. But we’ve known each other a few days. We talked a good deal in that time though.”
“Do you have idea over who might have intentions to hurt the victim?”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. She might have some hints as to who, but there was no way she could say that to him without giving away more than she should probably know. “She’d mentioned some thugs hanging about, making things difficult.”
“Has she described these thugs to you? Have you ever seen them? I feel I must remind you, purposely withholding information is an offense against the law and you can be held accountable for it,” Peterson said as he reached for the coffee he brought in and sipped it.
“I don't know if I saw them. She didn't physically describe them. We were somewhat focused on other things the last we spoke. I suppose I could have, but I don't know if I'd be able to pick them out either.”
“Other things?” Peterson’s right brow arched in question, a clear hint to elaborate over that. His figure leaned back into his chair as he looked a bit harder at Masha.
Masha smirked, chuckling knowingly. “Yes, other things,” she murmured, not at all embarrassed by what he asked or what she answered. She wasn’t ashamed of her choices. “We slept together. At the time that was more important than quizzing her about how the thugs looked.”
“I suppose until now,” Peterson stated in a somber tone and pulled out a notepad, his hand scribbled something in nearly illegible handwriting. He then turned back to her as someone came through the doorway. It was the younger officer again bad he leaned in and whispered something in Peterson’s ear, the older man leaned for a moment then nodded.
“I believe that will be all Ms. Vor-ee-vola. Please remained within the city until the in investigation has been complete as you maybe called in for additional questioning. Officer Jenkins will show you the exit,” ending the conversation, Peterson rose from his chair and collected his papers before leaving the room.
Jenkins scratched the back of his neck then gestured for Masha to rise and follow him, “This way please, Ma’am.”
Masha raised a dark eyebrow but nodded her head. She had no intention of leaving the city anyways. Standing, she followed the younger man out of the station, calling up a cab to get her back to the club so she could start to deal with all of this properly.
