Chapter 9.
Upon arriving home, it was almost dark outside, lights from many of the apartment building windows shown through the windows, a few were open with their curtains flowing in and out of the window with the slight breeze that carried with it a cool dampness. Officer Blake wasn't anywhere to be seen, but there was a young attractive female officer walking around the building entrance. Justin leaped up the apartment building steps taking 3 steps at a time. The young woman stopped him before he could reach for the door knob.
"Do you live here?" She said rather flatly.
"Yes, I'm Justin Justice. There was a break in in our apartment this morning. That's why you're here, isn't it?"
"Affirmative. Officer Blake's shift ended, so I've taken his place." She looked him over somewhat suspiciously, "He had nothing out of the ordinary to report, but I've been assigned to patrol this area on foot for the night."
"Great. I know my Mom will rest more easy knowing someone is on the watch tonight."
With that he entered the building and leaped up the steps to the second floor taking 3 steps at a time. As he walked down the corridor, he had an urge to see if Marty had gotten home yet, so when he came to Marty's apartment door, he knocked a couple of times. There was no answer. Just out of curiosity, he tried the door and found it was unlocked, so he slowly opened the door.
"Marty, are you here?" He called out as he stuck is head into the barely opened doorway. There was a light on in the bathroom, but the rest of the apartment was dark, so he came in and closed the door behind himself.
"Marty? Its me, Justin." He looked around and slowly approached the open door of the lit bathroom. There was no one there, but the sink faucet was dripping onto the sink which was almost over flowing with water. Justin looked closer to find a white t-shirt covered with blood stains was being soaked in the sink.
"Holy shit!" He stepped back a step in shock at the sight of the blood stained t-shirt, turned and rushed back out of the apartment.
- - -
"Mom, I'm home!" Justin called as he entered their apartment. He could smell food cooking and heard his Mom humming a melody as she was cooking in the kitchen. "I'll take this trash out." He sat the bag which contained the phone and paperwork on the little table next to the doorway, then picked up the 3 trash bags, sat them in the hallway for a moment while he closed the apartment door. The bags were heavy with their contents, so he had to shift his grip a few times so the plastic bag didn't cut off his circulation as he gripped them firmly in his hands. He headed down the back steps of the apartment building where the trash dumpsters were lined up against a delapidated wooden fence that separated the area from the back are of apartment building next door. He opened the dumpster lid, then threw each bag in one at a time. He heard a shriek as one of the bags hit a rat that had been scavenging food from the dumpster. He slammed the lid shut then headed back into the building. Before he opened the door, he stood on the back stoop and looked around and up at the buildings which were on the other side of the wide alley way. He was looking for a window from which the picture in his pocket might have been taken. From that angle, he really couldn't see much more than the lights shining through the windows. After a short while, the opened the door and returned to his apartment.
When Justin entered their apartment, Cindy was just coming out of the kitchen. "Dinner's ready dear, go get washed up so we can eat."
And so he did, he washed his hands and face, and combed his hair. He hung the hand towel on the towel rack before turning off the bathroom light and heading back to the kitchen.
"I got a little surprise for you Mom." Justin held the bag behind his back as he entered the kitchen.
Cindy was already seated at the kitchen table serving herself with some of the food she'd prepared. "Oh? What is it?" she looked up from the serving bowl of mashed potatoes.
Justin handed her the bag. "The cell phone plan I got gave me an extra phone and number for only a dollar more so now you have a phone too!" he was excited and showed it in his voice and actions. "Isn't that great?"
She removed the box containing the new cell phone from the bag and looked it over, "This is wonderful. I'm glad we finally have a phone once again."
So, as they sat there and ate together, Justin told her about how to use the cell phone. He also showed her how to enter phone numbers into the phone's phone book by entering his cell phone number into the phone book. They were both excited like children on Christmas morning playing with their new toys. He removed the phone battery charger kit from the bag, placed it on the counter next to the digital clock and plugged it in. He placed his own phone in the charger rack before setting down to finish his meal.
After the meal was over, he helped clear the table and helped do the dishes. He dried the dishes as Cindy handed them to him after having rinsed them in the warm flowing water. She hummed a random melody as she washed the dishes. Occasionally, she brushed the hair out of her eyes out of habit without even thinking about doing it.
With the dishes done, the kitchen back in order, they both went into the living room where they both sat on the sofa. Cindy had started another sewing project, so busied herself with that while Justin found a magazine he'd not read before and thumbed through it looking for something interesting to read.
"In going through your room, I found a nasty paperback book on the floor." Cindy didn't look at him as she spoke, "Where in the world did you get such a book?"
