Image by Peter H from Pixabay
I dropped the journal as if I've been shot, the loud thump that ensued as it hit the floor seemingly reverberating in the enclosed space of the Director's Office, but what really caught my attention was the other person who stood before me.
“You're that child—aren't you? Napoleon Jourdain...”
Looking at Noel's sudden appearance in the room, I couldn't help but note that his usual carefree gaze had a solemn look to them now.
“What's important right now is that I should be keeping you safe, Cole—“ The instant I saw his hand coming towards me, I instinctively got hold of the paperweight left on the desk.
“Stop! Stay back!”, I adjusted the hefty object in my hand, I could make a run for it if I managed a good hit at him, “I—I don't know if.. I should trust you.. just yet...” I stammered out.
“Fair enough.” Noel raised both his hands to appease me, taking a couple steps back as if to show he really wasn't there to harm me.
Our few seconds of tense silence though was broken by the shrill ringing of my phone, it's amplified sound bouncing off the small office's walls as if signaling an emergency.
Come on, come on, pick up! I muttered a curse as Cole failed to answer my call yet again, the sardonic chuckle coming from my side only adding to my distress. “It's best that little miss bookworm doesn't come to the rescue like a meddling psychic I know.”
“Says the one who let herself get shot at!” Shifting her weight from my side, I took a moment's reprieve at seeing her wince before the smug look returned on her face.
“It's barely a graze. A lot less worse than that hit to the head you got pass Lee.” She wobbled at my side as I urged her to walk further away from the fire that was now slowly spreading from her father's office, smoke threatening to suffocate us—Knocking Lee out momentarily gave the two of us just enough time to get to safety.
I prayed it was still there as we both reached an alcove, feeling with my foot until the loose floorboard made itself known with its hollow sound—“Did your cards tell you that?” I heard her ask.
“Call it a lucky guess, like how I thought you playing Betty didn't suit you, right Linette?”
She made no excuses to hide the truth as I noticed how the smile she now gave me had a tinge of warmth mixed with regret, “It's about time someone asked about her..”
It happened too fast as Linette pushed me down the passageway that served as our childhood escape route from her father's restrictive villa, shocking me as she now sat there and chose to be left behind, placing the floorboard back in its place before I could even reach out to her, the last words she uttered accompanying me in the dark, “...Make sure you don't let her leave your side from now on.”
The blaring sirens from the fire trucks and police were a stark contrast to the quietness of the Director's Office, I stood there amidst the scorched chaos watching as the firemen worked their way past the charred edifice, remaining silent as I observed Noel—no, Inspector Napoleon Jourdain—lead a semi-conscious Lee into the hands of the police.
I looked away, finding myself uncomfortable with the hard look that stayed on those jade-green eyes—eyes that looked at the ensuing fire we stumbled upon earlier with such haunting sorrow and simmering rage—only to spot a familiar head of black ringlets among the steadily growing, nosy crowd of people, “Roe!”
I greeted her in an embrace, fearing there would have been more than just one casualty to this fire, but Roe remained in a daze even as I gave her space to breath, only then noticing the piece of paper clutched in her hand.
“She gave me this... I—I don't understand... why? Why she stayed behind..?”
Roe's eyes remained unseeing as I gently took the paper from her, mentally taking note of the numbers that were written there.. What were these—?
“Coordinates.” I almost jumped out of my skin at Noel's sudden exclamation from behind, glancing to see him looking at Roe as he asked, “You said someone stayed behind in that fire?”
Roe's muted nod was followed by the distant orders to thoroughly search the area once more, at this point, all I could do was take her hand in mine and ask the very thing we both needed answers to.
“Do you wanna know where these coordinates lead to?”
Links:
The Ink Well Weekly Fiction Prompt #13: 50 Imagination Ticklers
Prompt used: #6 What if that loose floorboard was actually a hidden passageway?
Author's note: Where it all began... My InkWell Story Map. It all began in The Ink Well Fast and Furious Festival and continues on The Ink Well Weekly Fiction Prompt. The final chapter is coming soon. Watch for it.