I lead Scott up the stairs and open the front door. The marble foyer with its gold inlay has always been beautiful to me. It was one of the reasons I chose the building. Now it feels cold. I don't stop at the mailboxes like I usually do, I just keep moving toward theelevator.
“This is a nice spot,” Scott says quietly, just after the door clangs shut. I just nod. It is a nicebuilding.
Mr. Guerra must have been waiting by his peephole for me because he springs out of his own door the moment we walk byit.
“Lizabeta! Oh mydear.”
“I’m okay,” tellhim.
“The police left not too long ago. They told me to give you this. Hold on.” He ducks back into his apartment and is back a second later. He hands me a piece of yellow card stock. It’s a flyer for BIOCLEANNYC. They offer on the spot crime scene clean up, 24/7/365. My insurance may even coverit.
“They were here all day?” I ask. I glance down the hall and see the crime scene tape plastered across my door. So much for the info I left with Detective Cohill. Guess it's too much to ask for the cops to give you a ring when they finish tearing your lifeapart.
“Yes. I tried to listen. They called it a smash and stab. I am so glad you are okay, mydear.”
“Thanks. I’m just gonna…” I nod down the hall. He nods back in understanding before he eyes Scott. There’s no need to introducethem.
We head down to my door and Scott rips the tape off the walls. There's fingerprint dust everywhere. I try the knob and my door opens. A small part of my brain asks the question. Did I leave my apartment unlocked the day before? Did I unknowingly let that manin?
Scott stops me before I walk in. “Where's the lightswitch?”
“Just there on the left.” He reaches around me and the lights come on. Then he steps inside. After a few moments, he turns back and waves me in. “Comeon.”
I walk into my apartment and there's two things I notice immediately. It's only been twenty-four hours, and it feels like I've been gone too long. There's an emptiness, that feeling when you come back from vacation and your place is too cold and stale, but this is different. There's proof of a police presence everywhere. And there'sblood.
“I’m gonna—you want me to take some pictures? Like of everything. I smell a half assjob.”
“Yeah sure. I can't stay here tonight. Not until they cleanup.”
“Let me see thatcard.”
I hand him the BIOCLEANNYC card. “Yeah, go grab some of your clothes and we’ll get out of here. We’ll call these people in the morning and you can stay at my place until they finishup.
“Okay,” I say. My voice soundshollow.
I step around the other side of the counter and pick up my purse and all of my stuff that’s still on the floor. I head into my bedroom. The second I get in there I freeze. My brain just stops working. I don’t know how long I’m standing there before I hear Scott say my name. And I don’t know how long I go on ignoring him before he steps into my bedroom behindme.
“Hey. Everything okay inhere?”
“No.” I turn to him. I can’t really see his whole face, just the side of it, illuminated by the light coming from my kitchen. “I take back what Isaid.”
“Yeah?”
“Please. Get me the fuck out ofhere.”
“Let's go. Come on. We’ll go to myapartment.”
“No, I mean like I need to get out of the city. I need to be away from all ofthis.”
“Okay,” he says. “Let'sgo.”
* * *
It takesScott several tries to get me to hand over my spare keys, but he assures me that he’ll get someone to take care of the clean up. It’s New York after all. If you can get anything and everything delivered twenty-four hours a day, he can hire someone to hand my keys off to the folks at BIOCLEANNYC and make sure they get them back into my hands. No one else will get into my place. It’ll be okay. What finally convinces me is the reminder that when the BIOCLEANNYC team is done, I can change my locks. I give him my spare set of keys. I pack some things. Actually I grab as many articles of clothing as I can shove into my large leather duffle bag, while Scott grabs what I tell him to get out of my bathroom and then wego.
We catch a cab to the garage where he keeps a Mercedes SUV that I didn’t know he had and an hour later we’re on the FDR making our way out of the city. I call Brooklyn. She answers right away even though it’s close to midnight and she is serious about her sleep during trial. I tell her I'm safe. I tell her that I'm not leaving the state, that’ll be safe and I’ll let her know more when I can. She tells me she'll message the girls. Tell them not to ask me any questions. I tell her I love her. She says she loves metoo.
After I hang up, Scott doesn't even bother with small talk. He turns up the radio and focuses on the road. His classic rock is blasting so loud I'm sure there's no way I'll be able to sleep, but eventually, my eyesclose.