You Belong to Me – 23

 

Once they were in the elevator, Officer Moore said, “I take it you didn’t call a security company like we suggested.”

 

“I did!” Corey protested. “The next morning. They came and set it up.”

 

“And you turned it on when you left this evening?”

 

“Of course. I’m not stupid.”

 

“I wasn’t implying you were, but sometimes people do forget. Especially when it’s new to them.”

 

“Well, I didn’t,” Corey told him adamantly as they got off the elevator.

 

“You wait here while we check things out,” Officer Turner told him.

 

Corey watched with a great deal of trepidation as the two officers, guns out and ready, approached the door to his apartment. Officer Moore stood to one side of it, while his partner eased the door further open with his foot and then cautiously stepped inside.

 

After a moment’s pause, Officer Turner said something Corey couldn’t hear, and Officer Moore went in. Corey waited impatiently, figuring they must be going through the apartment to make certain whoever had broken in wasn’t still there. Finally Officer Moore came out, beckoning for Corey to join him. The look on the man’s face told Corey all was not well.

 

He stepped into the apartment and gasped in horror. Officer Turner was kneeling beside a body. Corey knew the man had to be dead from the amount of blood pooling on the hardwood floor around his torso.

 

“Stay where you are,” Officer Moore said when Corey started to move closer. “Do you recognize him?”

 

Corey shook his head. “I….” He gulped. “I can’t see his face, so… no.” That was the truth because the victim’s head was turned toward the kitchen door. Still he had an awful feeling he did know who the man was from his build and the clubbing clothes he wore. “Can you… can I come around and….”

 

“No. We’ve called this in. A detective and the crime scene team are on their way. You have to stay right there so as not to contaminate the scene.”

 

“Do you… can you tell how long he’s been dead?”

 

“No. That’s for the medical examiner to determine.”

 

Corey turned away and went back into the hallway, trying desperately not to be sick. He sank down on his haunches and leaned against the wall, resting his head on his arms. Hearing footsteps, he looked up to find Officer Moore staring at him, a mixture of compassion and suspicion on his face.

 

“I didn’t kill him,” Corey spat out.

 

“I didn’t say you did,” the officer replied.

 

          “But you’re thinking it.”