previous chapter: Abetment [6]: 1.6: 2083, May 8th, Saturday. 21:35
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Ellie looks around in the hallway. The individual apartments here are locked, but for some reason, the front door is just open. Anyone can walk in. This is far from safe.
She looks through the mailboxes to see in what apartment the target lives. After searching for a bit, she discovers he lives on the first floor. That is easy, then she doesn’t need to do so many stairs.
She walks up a single flight of stairs and checks out the lock on the apartment’s door. Clearly cyber tech. Nice.
She taps the lock once with her metal fingers, and the lock opens with a loud click. Beautiful. All the locks are compatible. Cybertech was a mistake.
Ellie smiles. Sophia would probably use a crowbar. That works just as well, but the advantage of doing it this way is that the lock can be closed again afterwards, leaving no trace of her being heard.
She looks around in the small apartment. There must be something somewhere that she can use as blackmail. Where would the target store sensitive data? In a bedroom safe?
Ellie walks deeper into the apartment and sees the bedroom door is propped open. A big cross of yellow tape blocks her way into the bedroom. Right. The bedroom was the murder scene. How could she forget?
Ellie contemplates slipping through the police tape when she hears a muffled sobbing. Is someone still here? How? She checks her tracker. The target seems to be still at the police station. Probably pestering the police into wrapping up the case as soon as possible. Ellie didn’t blame him. If she was in his shoes, she wouldn’t want the police looking too close either.
Ellie listens attentively. There is definitely sobbing coming from the second bedroom. And it doesn’t sound like a man sobbing. It sounds like the sobbing of a young child.
Ellie sighs. If there was still a child here, she should leave. She really cannot get caught. Then again, did the target leave his daughter here alone? What is wrong with him?
Ellie curses internally. She never was able to resist a child in peril. She slowly opens the door of the bedroom.
The bedroom is quite small, fitting only a single bed and a closet. In the bed, she spots a six-year-old girl, illuminated by the streetlights shining through the window. She is sitting against the wall, hugging a giant green stuffed rhino tightly. She is sobbing silently.
Ellie carefully walks towards her, and sits next to her on the bed. The girl doesn’t even seem to notice she is there.
Ellie breaks the silence. “Hello, I am Ellie, what is your name?”
The little girl looks up and wipes away her tears. As she does that, Ellie notices she has red spatters on her face. It looks awfully like dried blood. And it is not limited to her face either. Ellie also spots spatters of blood on her pyjamas.
“My name is Heather.” the girl whispers.
“And what is your Rhino’s name?” Ellie asks.
“Her name is Abada. She is a Whooly Rhinoceros.” Heather says.
“A Whooly Rhinoceros huh.”
“Yes,” Heather says. “they are extinct now, but during the ice age, they roamed the earth.”
Ellie laughs. “I didn’t know that.” As she speaks, she notices more than only blood spatters. The child has bruising on her neck and on her arms.
“Darling, are you hurt?” Ellie asks. Heather shakes her head.
“Wanna share why you were crying earlier?” Ellie asks.
Heather hangs her head. “Dad told me to never tell anyone.”
Ellie clenches her fist. She has heard these exact words before.
“It’s ok if you don’t wanna tell me. Let’s go to the bathroom and clean up your face.”
Heather follows Ellie to the bathroom, Ellie finds a washing cloth in the closet below the sink and carefully cleans Heather’s face. Heather barely reacts and is still holding her stuffed rhino in her arms.
“Is Mommy gonna be ok?” Heather suddenly asks.
Ellie is taken aback, unsure how she should answer.
“Daddy said Mommy is never coming back, cause Mommy doesn’t love me, and doesn’t want to see me anymore. But I think Mommy is hurt. And she is in danger.”
What the fuck did Ellie just hear. She can’t believe her eyes.
“I am sure your Mommy loves you,” Ellie says. She feels a lump in her own throat.
Heather hugs Ellie tightly. “I don’t wanna stay here. Alone. With my dad. He is mean.”
Ellie is silent. She contemplates her options. Or if she is honest with herself, she already knows what she will decide. So she decides to just spit it out.
“You and Abada can come live with me if you want.”
Heather’s face displays a smile for the first time. “Really?”
Ellie sighs. She is going to regret this. But she is definitely not letting this girl behind with her abusive dad.
“Of course. Let me help you pack.”
next chapter: Abetment [8]: 1.8: 2083, May 8th, Saturday. 22:05
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