Page 73 of Spark

“I know.” Silence hung around for a moment; the sound of Aurelio breathing deeply was all she could hear on his end.

“I don’t like involving cops.”

Mia laughed. “Duh. But this is a situation where they are needed.”

“If Dominick broke into your apartment, they aren’t going to find any evidence of him.”

“We don’t know who it was.” She refused to jump to conclusions.

“All signs point to it being him,” Aurelio said, the anger in his voice rising again.

“No,” she said calmly. “It could have been anyone; hell, it could have been Oliver.” The thought struck her and she was surprised at how easily she could believe it had been him. “Even if it was Dominick, maybe he did it before the pact was signed.”

“Hmm. That is possible, I guess. Or at least, he did not have time to call it off.”

“Exactly. We should let the cops do their job, take whatever evidence they can find, and I can report whatever was stolen. We can let things lie with Dominick.” She could see Aurelio's face in her mind as he contemplated her words.

“Fine.” It was a clipped response. “But next time something like this happens, don’t call the cops.”

“Aurelio.”

“I’m serious, Mia. Promise me.” Aurelio’s voice was hard, with an undertone of pleading bleeding through.

“Okay, I promise,” she relented; the argument was not worth the heartache.

“Thank you, beautiful.” The easiness was back in his tone, and it made Mia smile.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just shook up. All my stuff’s everywhere.”

“I’m sorry this happened.” He took a deep breath. “Soon, we won’t have to worry about any of it.”

“Thank god,” Mia muttered, playing with her skirt. She heard voices on the stairs and turned to see two uniformed officers. “Cops are here; I will call you later.”

“Love you,” Aurelio said quickly before hanging up.

She slid her phone back into her bag and smiled at the officers[HF21].

“Are you Mia?” one of them asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, is Detective Daniels with you?” She peeked past them to look at the stairs.

“Yeah, he is downstairs talking to that kid.” The officer took out a notepad. The other one moved to the door, sticking his head inside and looking around at the mess.

“I’m Officer Wilde, and that’s Officer Hooper.” Officer Wilde gave her a poliete smile and then clicked his pen open. “Could you please state your name for me please.”

“Oh, okay,” Mia said, giving the officer her name. she couldn’t help but wonder why Detective Daniels had stayed behind to talk with Mac. Maybe he remembered him from that day at the diner.

“Miss?” The officer asked, his partner slipping on a pair of gloves inside the apartment. Mia looked to him, mind reeling from everything going on. “Could you tell me what happened?” Officer Wilde inquired.

Mia took a deep breath and began explaining. She told him about coming home, getting the call from Janet, and running up to find the loft in its current state. As she spoke the Officer scribbled notes, his head nodding occasionally but otherwise he remained quiet. When Mia finished he took a moment to finish writing and then looked up at her.

“Janet lives where?” he said after a moment, watching Mia.

Mia pointed to the door behind her. The officer turned to look at the door as Mia spoke loudly.

“She is a very nosy neighbor,” Janet’s apartment slid open instantly.

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