Jewel pouted, but Alex had a point, so she said, “Be careful.”
“I know. Don’t worry.” Alex got himself a car and drove to the place he tailed those men the night before, but before he could get close, he saw a few police cars surrounding the area. Curious about what had happened, he got out of the car and asked around. “What happened?”
“Someone died, I think,” said a man. Shocked, Alex asked, “Who? A man or a woman?” “A woman,” the man said. Alex felt a lot relieved hearing that. As long as it’s not Damian. If he’s dead, a lot of leads are going to go cold.
The cops led two men and a woman out eventually, but their heads were covered in black cloth. Alex wasn’t sure if Damian was inside. It’d been years since he saw him, so Damian might have changed. And then a corpse was taken out. A white cloth covered it, keeping the victim’s face from being seen.
The group of people were taken to the cars, and the cops left. But… Even including the corpse, there were only four of them, not five. Is Damian not here?
Once the cops were gone, the crowd made some small talk and left. Alex stopped the guy who talked to him earlier and handed a cigarette over. ‘Are you a local, cowboy?”
“Yes.” The man pointed at a nearby house.. “That’s my home over there.” Hmm, not far from where the corpse was found. “You must know this family well, then.”
The man leaned over and lit up his cigarette with Alex’s lighter. “Not really. Barely seen them at all. But they’ve been here for a long time, sol found some patterns. They usually leave home in the afternoon, and sometimes they’d stay out for a few days. Nocturnal creatures if you ask me.”
Alex nodded. “Those people were not a family, were they?” The man chortled. He said matter-of-factly, ‘Of course not. Those women were there to have some fun. They bring back different women every time. Sometimes they come home with one, sometimes two, sometimes more.”
I see. “So, there are three men inside then?” The man said, “Yeah. This place used to be home to two Criecian women. One died, and then the men moved in a while later.”
Surprised, Alex asked, ‘Criecian women? And a pair of them?” For some reason, it reminded him of Jewel and Helena.”
“Yes. Most people wouldn’t even rent this place because of its past, but the men didn’t care. Been here for nearly ten years too.”
Hurriedly, Alex asked, “Do you know the name of the woman who died?”
“No. Someone you know?” Alex lied, “I’m here to look for someone. This is the address they gave me, but they’re not here. You said someone died here, so I wonder if that might be my friend. Do you still remember what they look like?”
“Not exactly. They don’t come out much, so I barely saw them. Only from afar too, but I thought they were beautiful.”
Alex asked, “Do you remember how old they were? Were they sisters or mother and daughter?”
“The latter, I think.”
Visibly excited, Alex quickly whipped out a wallet containing Jewel’s earlier photo, and he handed it over quickly. “Was one of them this woman?”
