Читать книгу The Seventeen - Joel Arcanjo - Страница 18

Chapter 9

Lex opened the door of Bella’s new place. She rushed inside excitedly. Her mouth hit the floor the moment she saw the view. She was high enough up that she could see most of New York but not high enough to feel any vertigo as she looked out. It was beautiful. With the sun shining in, the walls were an almost blinding white. On each wall was a different painting. She assumed none would be valuable but it did give the place a little more character than most modern apartments in this style. The floor matched the kitchen countertops. Both were made of black marble. Warm in the summer as it absorbed sunlight and cold in the winter. She shuddered as she pictured herself walking barefoot across the floor on a snowy winter evening. The apartment was open plan with the bedroom on the left and the lounge and kitchen area to the right.

She veered off to the right to see the main lounge area. Against one wall was a long L-shaped black leather sofa. It didn’t look very comfortable but she was sure it was. An apartment this nice wouldn’t skimp on an essential item. The sofa was her work station. Many a drunken case had been solved on hers. Next to the sofa was a fragile looking table predominantly made of glass. The legs were a similar shimmering black marble to the floors. It had clearly been carefully picked out. Just off the right was an empty bookshelf that had been cleared for her library. It was just about big enough.

The kitchen wasn’t big but it was more than adequate seeing as her kitchen had been roommates with her bathroom. She checked the cupboards. They were stocked with brand new pans, chopping knives and cutlery. Now she didn’t have any reason to bring her old worn-out kitchen equipment. Everything was electrical, no gas. She preferred it that way. Much easier to clean. There were a few things she needed to change about the place but they were mainly stylistic qualms. Nothing to do with the functionality of the place.

She turned back and slowly stepped towards the windows admiring the view. She was now living a buzzing, lively metropolitan dream. She had always wanted to live in a place like this. Modern, spacious and exquisite. It felt like this was the apartment she had visualized since she was a little kid. For her, it was perfect.

She ran from room to room admiring her dream home. She felt like a teenage girl at her favorite boy band’s concert. There was a giant king bed in the bedroom. She wasted no time jumping head first into the sheets. The bed caught her comfortably. She could have stayed there all day long. But she had to check out everything else.

She had saved the best until last. The bathroom. She paced over and heard the squeak of her shoes on the marble as she turned into the only closed area in the apartment. She was not disappointed by what she found. It had a giant hot tub. A hot tub so big it could comfortably fit two or three normal sized hot tubs. She couldn’t wait to use this. In fact, she would kick Lex out now so she could.

The whole time Lex followed her laughing at the look on her face. She stared at him with immense gratitude in her eyes. “I don’t know how to thank you for this Lex. This...this is my dream home,” she stuttered. She very nearly began crying right there but managed to choke back the tears.

Lex spoke softly. “I need your help Belle. I want to find who really killed this girl. She wasn’t exactly my favorite person in the world but whoever killed her has something against me and I want to find out what. Will you help me?”

“How can I say no after what you’ve done for me? Of course I will help.”

“Great. I can tell you want to test-drive the hot tub so I’ll get out of your way. Dinner at eight?” he asked hopefully.

“That would be lovely.”

“I’ll come and pick you up about ten to then, OK?”

“Sounds great.” It did sound great. As he closed the door she let out one long sigh. This was her new home. She couldn’t be happier.

She bolted the door. Returned to the bathroom and turned the tub on. She wondered, just wondered if....Yes! They had stocked the fridge. She was set for a week. More importantly there was a bottle of champagne. Very fitting given the day she had just been through. By then the tub was half full, so she undressed quickly and hopped in with her glass and bottle of champagne. She got comfortable and breathed a hefty sigh. She took a large gulp of her drink and eased deeper into the bubbles. She hadn’t thought she’d be here when she got out of her tiny bed this morning to make breakfast in her kitchthroom. There was only one thought in her mind as she sunk under the warm water. An eventful day and hopefully an equally eventful night.