Page 70 of No Cap

I didn’t find any.

Not even the homeless man I’d seen earlier in the day was around.

Stuffing my phone and keys in my pocket and locking the truck with the button on the side of the door, I headed for the front of the building.

I was angry to see that the light there was out.

I was even angrier to find out that the door wasn’t pulled all the way close, leaving the entire building open to whomever wanted to get in.

The hallways were even darker, the stairwell like a cave.

By the time I made it up the multiple flights of stairs to her floor, my anger was only barely under control.

Tonight’s murder had been exhausting.

A twenty-year-old girl, who went to UNT—University of North Texas—had been out for a jog when she’d twisted her ankle and had been forced to stop at a gas station frequented by some gang members who thought it was their ‘home turf.’

After the girl called her friends for a ride, she stayed on the phone with them, and was hovering right inside the gas station door, when the altercation had broken out.

According to the friend who’d heard it all, a couple had been fighting loudly, and a few of the angry words had been directed at the friend. When she’d started to defend herself, an altercation broke out, and the phone was dropped.

From there, the woman didn’t know what happened.

But the girl was found about an hour later behind the building, stuffed inside a black garbage bag from the gas station.

Cameras were conveniently down at that moment in time, and the worker, who saw nothing, was definitely hiding something.

Then again, they always did when the gang was involved. It was safer to lie to the cops than it was to admit to any wrongdoing on the gang’s part. Otherwise, they’d wind up dead.

Needless to say, I was frustrated as fuck before I’d even arrived here. Now even more so, seeing how freakin’ unsafe it was for anyone to live here, let alone a highly attractive, young woman.

Shoving one hand into my pocket, I contemplated knocking, and was just turning around to leave when the door opened.

“Are you going to come in here, or what?”

I turned slowly, the soft glow of her apartment making a halo around her body as she stood in her door, welcoming me inside.

“Why are you up?” I asked as I turned but didn’t make a move to come inside.

She shrugged, the small smile falling from her face.

“A lot happened today,” she admitted. “My brain doesn’t like to shut off sometimes.”

I could feel her on that.

There were many nights I lay awake, contemplating life.

I took a step forward, but still didn’t go inside.

“If I go in there…”

“I know what’s going to happen, and I consent one hundred and thirty-one percent.” She smiled.

Goddamn, that smile could cause wars.

“And you’re sure you’re okay with that?” I asked. “You know I’m not an easy man.”

That’s when she laughed, full on belly laughed.

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