Chapter 4: Life or Death.

(Violet)

Violet looked at the figure into the distance. So she grabbed her things and placed it into the hidden crevasses of the living room, obscure from sight in front. She looked at the window and saw an old woman accompanying a young caretaker from her assumptions.

Violet opened the door, "Hello there." Violet greeted the old lady and her caretaker. "Is Louise at home?" The old lady questioned. She hesitantly nodded, "I'll go on check up on her." Violet was about to fetch her grandmother when she came out of her bedroom, in her finest clothes that she wore.

"Where are you guys doing?" Violet questioned. "Oh Violet, I forgot that Jolene and I are going to a party and will be coming back later tonight." Granny Lou hugged Jolene tightly in their, kissing both of their cheeks.

"I'll see you later Violet." She can only wave goodbye by this sudden unknown plans she is doing. Violet closed the door and she was all alone in the house. But this gave her some kind of real alone time in the house, so she got started doing the laundry and cleaning around the house. Sweeping the floors, moping the kitchen, and opening the windows to let fresh air in before she can make her lunch.

She looked around the fridge and saw some microwavable fettuccine alfredo to eat and she puts it on the microwave for around three minutes. Meanwhile, she examined the photographs on the walls and little tables that displayed them. Violet looked a photograph of her father, what a beautiful man that has ever graced in this cruel world, to be only taken the line of work as a police officer.

Violet's eyes welled a little bit just the thought of her father, "I miss you so much papa." She placed the portrait back to the table and heard the alarm of the microwave rings. She got up, grabbing the journal at hand and her laptop.

Violet opened the laptop, all the while eating her fettuccine. "Let's see who are you Edward George Dean." She softly spoke, typing his name on Google. And then it popped up with many names of that same names and linked to jobs and tinder dates. She can only sigh as she looked through many websites and at the point that it may be filled with viruses on her browser.

When she stumbled upon a website, People Erased From History. Violet clicked the website and searched up Edward's name and then popped everything in his biography but no picture in sight. She was very much impressed with the resume he has.

Edward George Dean.

-Born in March 14, 1894, Hampton, New York.

-Family immigrated to Ireland to find a better life, moving westward to Pennsylvania and started to make a more money from the oil industry, suspected to be more richer than the Rockefeller. They went back to New York to start a family there.

-He is the only child in the family, but at the age of 15, his parents died under mysterious circumstances.

-Inherited large sums of money and the oil business.

-Went to Eton College and by the age of 17, he went back to New York to continue in Xavier High School.

-Studied in Harvard University, double major in philosophy and political science, graduating only at the age of 21 on June 23, 1915.

-While studying law school, he entered the army in 1917 during WWI, at the age of 23. He took clerkship at a local law firm in the UK while stationed there, and almost at the end of the war, he passed his bar exams.

-Started his career both as a prosecutor and a detective at the same time in 1919.

Violet was very much impressed with Edward, thinking that he might be some kind of leak information guy back in the day. Now she has established the context of what he is like before, she opened up her journal and started to read the journal.

POV Althea

Time is of the essence and if Jennifer does not speak, the situation can only get deadly from there. I saw many detectives, including Edward, coming in and out of interrogation rooms, with nothing but a disappointed look on their faces. There was at one point, that I heard a loud bang from the interrogation rooms, which to her sounded like gunshots. Of course, it was the sound of slammed batons but it was still too scary in my memory.

Then there were lots of deliberations between old and much more experienced detectives. "This crazy woman can't talk!" They exclaimed. "What should we do?" They questioned, clueless as to what the next step would be. "Let me go talk to her again and I'll give her some kind of ultimatum." Edward suggested but they all scoffed at him, "do you think she would budge, I don't think she can talk." In the heat of the argument, I look between them and all the while tapping my shoes, just looking at how stupid this is. Looking at my clock and the time was 6:30 in the evening, it's been two hours since none of them had done anything to get anything from Jennifer and I am deathly hungry to be hearing them delegating this situation.

This was going on for far too long, making me stand up and straight walk over to them and into the interrogation room, knowing at the back of my head that I will be fired for my internship. The bags under her eyes mean that she didn't get enough sleep from the night of the murder I slammed the door as hard as I could, echoing to my ears. I looked at the window where senior detectives are yelling at me to get out of there but I am not yet done, surely I could get something out of her mouth when I am here. "You know why you are here?" She questioned. Jennifer was left speechless, her lips were quivering, speaking something in her mouth.

"I know you want to say something to me, but you can talk to me, even though I arrested you and got yourself into this mess. And you almost tried to kill me there, so that's added to your record of assaulting an officer." My lips curved into a smirk and Jennifer now looked at me straight in the eyes, serious brown eyes that can light up the universe now bleak and dark as night. "Good, you are now willing to look at me in the eye, that's the first step," I said, crossing my arms now. "Why did you kick all of those tenants?" I questioned.

Jennifer's eyes are watering up, "I'm so sorry," she apologized, "My husband is threatening me, to give me all the money from the rent, and in exchange, he wants girls from the complex." I was confused, husband, she has a husband, how does this correlate to the case of two dead people? I began to ask myself a follow-up question about her husband when the door swing wide open and my eyes are met with Edward, as he yanked my hand out of the room. I looked up at him and his eyes are fueled by a mix of worry and anger. "What were you thinking?" He fumed. I looked at him in the eye, "Doing something that y'all are too slow to be doing, "I retorted back, the inner Midwestern girl came out of me, "I finally got something out of her mouth already, much quicker and less aggressive than all of you."

I let go of his grip and there wasn't much of a struggle. I closed the door again, using the chair to block the door and anyone coming in and stopping me again. "What question was I supposed to ask you," I rubbed my eyebrows together, "oh, I remember the murders from last night, Are they in anyway linked into this?"

Jennifer stayed silent for a moment, I knew that she wanted to talk. "I know you want to tell me, and I can understand that everything is on the line for you. The beautiful apartment that you have been maintaining for a very long time and everyone adores you, they don't want to lose that kind of privilege in an area like this." They were only silent again for only 20 minutes, and she was ready to unblock the chair from the door.

"The man is a customer," she softly said, "my husband, owns a brothel right around the corner." I stop in my tracks and looked at her. "The victim is a customer? Do you suppose you know his name?" I questioned. "I don't know him but there has been some hearsay that he is part of a gang." I was trying to form some kind of connection to what she has said to me, the male victim, could it be that he is considered to be collateral damage?

"How about the second victim, a naked woman, do you have any knowledge of her?" I questioned again. "Yes, her name is Irene Adamiak. She's a Polish immigrant and is a streetwalker, I tried to persuade her to not do it, but she refused to listen and said that is the only thing that would keep herself alive." Jennifer broke down in front of me, her hands on her hair and crying with her heart into it. She stood up and now kneeling on her knees, "I am ashamed for what I have done to myself, throw me to prison, curse me or kill me here, I don't deserve to live in this world!" I looked at the window and saw that detectives, shocked as I was. Jennifer continued to wail with all her might, yelling, "kill me."

Out of my instinct, I slapped Jennifer in the face, "Kill you just because you are ashamed for the murdered victims! You should not be ashamed, he should be." I pulled the despondent Jennifer up and looked her in the eyes. Of all the times that I had talked to, in every walking paths of life, I had never met a perfect woman disguise as despairing and broken. I saw demons in her eyes, tormenting her to keep the silence longer than it should be "He should be the one to be in jail, not you. Have you forgotten those honors when you built a place for women who are lost and cruel? You should be proud of the work you have done, don't let that vile husband of yours blind your judgment."

I wipe her tears off of Jennifer's sunken eyes, "This will be my last question, do you know where Alexandra maybe?" I leaned in her ear, "They took her and somewhere around the neighborhood ."

That was not the answer I was looking and I felt my conscious self about to fade. I unblock my chair and opened the door to see Edward still there. I walked past him, exiting out of the interrogation room, onwards to my desk. I sighed as I sat down, looking up at the ceiling. Five hours have passed since I last ate this morning, my vision started to become blurry, and felt that the room is spinning around her. I rest my head on the table and took a deep breath. "Althea," someone called my name out, and I did not want to lift my head to see who is calling me. "Althea, are you okay?" The voice seemed to be getting closer and it was Chelsea calling her name.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, getting up and stumbling a little. "God, I was asking people where were you and they said that you caught your landlady there and you have to be inside of that interrogation room for a very long time," She said, guiding me down the stairs, "everyone around here knows, so don't be surprised and you don't look too good."

I can only sigh, as she had her arms around my waist, supporting me. "I'm all good now." I comforted her, Chelsea hesitantly lets me go, while I stumbled a little, we managed to arrive at the nearest Italian diner around. She insisted that she should pay for the food since I was new to the job, well sort of new now. "So did you get anything from Mrs. Carter?" She questioned. "You know Chelsea, I can't disclose about the work," Althea whispered.

"Aw come on now, I'll just have to say that it was pretty rough then," Chelsea answered the question, making me nod in agreement. She looked at the window. We got to know each other more and she isn't the ditzy girl that I came across in my life back in college and she told me some assumptions that I would be much softer when approaching these cases. "So you graduated from University at Albany and at the same time, a valedictorian in your class," Chelsea said, making Althea nodded, "you amaze me. Not only you are a cowgirl, wrangling cows in their places, knows how to shoot a gun, and very intelligent?! I'm so jealous of you!" I only laughed, "that's nothing too special about it, I bet you have much of a fun life." Chelsea scratch at the back of her neck, "not really, I grew up here all my life in New York City, my mom and dad are immigrants from Serbia and I am the oldest in the family. I have to be the one doing the work ever since my dad got pretty sick," She said, "but you know in life, we all struggle." Althea felt bad for having that side comment, emphasizing the word 'fun.'

"I should have not said that, I'm sorry for making that comment-" Chelsea put her hand to interrupt, "you don't have to say sorry Althea, that's the life you know. But sometimes, life can be a bit better when someone like Edward has been helping me out sometimes. Whenever I don't have the money to be paying the rent, he'll just give me the check and I'll just pay him back."

I was taken aback, of course, a charitable Edward? I never imagine him giving out money so freely. "I see your face has changed when we are talking about Edward," Chelsea smirked at me, and I can shoot her a serious gaze. "I am beyond annoyed, aside from his flirty personality of his and he's so cocky!" I exclaimed. "Oh come on, you have to get to know him first. I have that kind of prejudice when started working there last year, as he was also new to that work too, but somewhat experienced. Sure he had that playboy type of affair but once you got to know him, your perception will change." Chelsea explained. Of course, I refused to believe that the man she sees, is what he is what Chelsea is saying. They finished their late lunch and early dinner supposedly and they returned to the precinct. Upon entering, the camera boy, Philip Young, happened to bump into both of them. "Hello Chelsea and Hammerstein, where have you guys been?"

"Oh Philip, just went to get Althea here some food because she's hasn't eaten anything yet." She replied to Philip. "People around here have been buzzing around like a bee about you fighting Jennifer Carter and rushing to that interrogation room, no one has ever done that around here." I can only chuckle softly, and then Philip gave her an id photo and headed upstairs, saying goodbye to Chelsea once again.

I had kept myself occupied in the meantime, recalling the events of what happened yesterday. She looked over her notes and what are the clues might have the location of the supposed brothel. Looking up the ceiling, trying to get her thoughts in check. It seemed all hopeless that Alexandra would never be found, New York City has been recently becoming a populous city, and just being taken and asking people where she may be, seemed to be an arduous task, to begin with. All can I do is just close her eyes and sink herself into the deep of the abyss. Despite the chaos around me, I am meditating, and then she felt this itch, not a physical part but a gut itch feeling that she has been waiting for a very long time.

I can't seem to get her mind to remove from the creepy man that she encountered while looking for a place to live. Can it be that the creepy man is Jennifer's husband? He seemed to be the type of man who wore expensive clothes and has ornate rooms to be renting, despite the high price too. And that particular bargaining system that I thought was off about. I grab my bag and locked up all of my things in the drawer and was ready to go off the night when I was stopped by the figure of Edward George Dean. "Where are you heading to?" He questioned, stopping me dead in the tracks. "None of your business." I retorted back. I tried to walk off away from him but he blocked me off from getting out of the way. I felt my hands curling up into a fist and he can only smile like a mischievous devil he is. "Are you going to punch me my doll?" He questioned, making himself closer to me. I looked up to him and the light above us is having a definite moment with his eyes, a mix of golden-green and brown to them, it captures a woman in an instant. I relaxed my hand and softly pushed him aside, as I ascended down the stairs.

Once exiting out went around the neighborhood looking for the apartment that resembled the one I went in. My mind is constantly running the thought of Alexandra. What type of sicko would like to kidnap a little girl and bring her into the world of prostitution. I can only sigh and walking around more, a breakthrough into this work. It all seemed hopeless my memory is blurred despite the lamppost illuminating the enigmatic homes.

Then from a distance, I saw a middle-aged man with a supposedly younger woman along with her. I was curious if this is the place which she seeks and then the memory started to fill me up immediately and I was ready to storm inside the compound, when a force, pulled me in. "You know for someone knowledgeable and self-worth, you are pretty much entering a death trap." A husky voice whispered, tingled my back. I turned around to see that Edward was there. "You followed me here?!" I was fuming, not wanting anyone interfering with my investigation, especially him around. He can only chuckle, "what do you think? You walk in that situation, a brothel house which might be infested with henchmen, I think you have gone insane."

"I can handle myself, why don't you run back now okay." I persuaded. But he didn't listen, instead of untying his necktie lower and unbuttoning two buttons of his shirt. "Give me something red." He demanded, taking me by surprise. "Something red?" I questioned. "Your lipstick." He said. I opened her bag and hesitatingly giving a lipstick and put a little bit on his neck, cheek, and finally in his expensive shirt, "gotta look the part when you are going to a brothel." My eyes only widened that they are only going inside the apartment. I didn't want Edward to be part of this, but now there is no turning back now, so I untied her tight chignon down to a silky straight hair down, as the wind swayed through in between.

I try to get into the persona of a flirtatious prostitute, who unfortunately does not want a detective coworker to be on this and all the while trying to infiltrate a brothel house. They both giggled, trying to be more convincing when they are walking by the guards of the place. "My Mr. Dean, don't be all touchy on me." I giggled, feeling fake for doing this. Edward went along with it despite the devastating acting that she displayed. "That is the worse flirting that I have ever experienced," he whispered to my ear, "and I usually go to a more clean gentleman's club like this." Althea rolled her eyes, "you're a disgusting man," and lets go of his hand off my shoulder once there are no more guards around. I took out her gun from the little clutch and slowly ascending the stairs.

I knew that I was treading with fire here, one small noise and everything would be compromised, taken in and she might become a prostitute and Edward would be killed on the line. Slowly going up the stairs and saw that one guard upstairs and muffling crying sounds. Edward again put his arms around me now and pretended to look for rooms to be doing something behind the doors. All of the sudden, I rushed up to him and tried to subdue him from not yelling down the stairs. "Be a good boy and you won't get hurt," I whispered into his ear, pointing a gun on his head. Edward put all of his weight on this scrawny boy on the wall and while she tried to manipulate the lock to open up. And when she successfully opened it up, little Alexandra sprang up and hugged me tightly into her arms.

"Are you okay Alexandra? Did they hurt you in any way?" I questioned, caressing her face. She was far too scared to answer back, so she carried her and walked out of the room. Edward got up and my eyes widened. "Edward," She hits him in the arm, "we're fucked now!" Then the deep steps started to take speed and they all ran up the stairs, now this is a life and death situation that they are now experiencing.

Adrenaline kicked in for me, holding Alexandra with all my heart. Then reaching the rooftop deck and there is no other way to get ourselves out of there. We both looked at each other and as they heard steps coming up the stairs now. There was no other choice, so I pray to God that I do not regret the choice. Both closed our eyes and jumped down to what may be the last time I will be in this world. Then I felt something soft in my bum and I don't know if this is a good thing or not? I opened my eyes, "Althea look up the sky." Alexandra's voice whispered. She looked up at the sky and white feathers started to fall up above.

I picked up the feather from the ground, the second occurrence of feathers falling. I look at my right and Edward is on the ground ailing a little bit. "You okay?" I questioned extending her hand for him to get up. "I'm a fine doll, I've experienced more falls than this doll." He held my hand and got up, now running away from the scene, heading to his car. The night was coming very quickly and it was that hell was unleashed into the darkness. Alexandra fell asleep into my arms and headed back to the apartment complex.

Tenants from the afternoon all disappeared now and I got out of the car and rushed inside. Susan was sitting down and weeping away and when she looked up to Althea, she was much too overjoyed to see Alexandra. Tears started to flow down in her eyes and she tightly embracing and kiss, "my baby, you are here with me." My heart warmed up, just by seeing her mother and a daughter together again, it overjoys me too much. "Althea and that man right there are the ones of saved me," Alexandra said. Susan can only smile and gave me a big hug.

"So what about the apartment complex?" I questioned. "Well they are keeping it, but the problem is that we don't have a landlord to keep tabs and the payments with tenants around," Susan explained, "and we have been explaining around here that the perfect person to do it would be might be you." Althea was for sure shocked by the answer, really her?

"I don't know Susan. It might interfere with my work and everything else going on, this is too much of a work for me to be doing this." I objected. "Then who would do it then? Surely you are much qualified to do so." Susan retorted back.

Me and Susan had a small argument going back and forth, until the corner of the eye that Edward is coming in. "What is going on here ladies? Need something to sort out here." Susan can look from top to bottom in a state he is in and realizing the state is he in. "Well, we are talking about who will take over in the meantime as a landlord around here." She explained.

Edward was deep in thought there, before he said, "I know someone who can offer a job as a landlady here."

Both were taken by surprise, "what?! A person that we don't already know." Edward can only shrug, "well you don't want to take the job as landlady and Susan doesn't and the only logical thing to do is just get a new one."

I sighed in frustration, "look, some of them here is pretty much in need of money and we are just afraid that she might make the prices go up for all of us here-" Edward interrupted me, "I will take it upon myself to do the interviews and looking over her background. Suppose if she gets the job, that's when everyone in this place would be the judge if she is fit for this role. Think of it as a bargain here."

"Can we think about it first, I mean we never had anyone offer that kind. Gives us three days or much early to get our final say in it." Susan explained, making Edward nod in approval, "my offer still stands, call me when you reach an answer."

Edward gave his card, number, and address, and walked out of the foyer, both have a lot of thinking into this. They all went up the stairs in silence, until Alexandra, "Mommy that man is Althea's boyfriend."

My eyes widened in surprise, "what?! Oh no, that's just a co-worker, nothing too special there." Susan can only laugh at what Alexandra said. "Well can you explain about that lipstick mark on that shirt, neck, and his cheek there?" Susan questioned and the ever so confident Althea replied, "it was used for a cohort operation... where Alexandra was taken."

I couldn't give the full details of the roundabouts that they did, as she would've been enraged by Jennifer and her husband, and the second thought that there would be a big chance that she would've leaked it somewhere. They all said their goodbyes and headed back to their complex.

I got my keys out and entered the door, to see a white box and a purple ribbon tied up. There laid an envelope, the smell of roses and jasmines bewitch me. Looking at the back, it had the name of Palumba. I opened the wax sealed letter and there was a letter written, slowly opened it and it read something like this.

"You were very good at what you do, marveling I must say." It started, "but if you want to succeed in that path you choose for yourself, well you must be more tactical and control that temper of yours. Your impulsive attitude that you have, that will only lead you to the trail of trouble and danger for you. I cannot reveal myself to you, but maybe someday, I will. For now, enjoy my little gift, after all, you deserve it for what you have done mi tesara." And it was signed as "Your Protector."

I was left dumbfounded by the mysterious letter and is cautious about what is inside the box. Slowly untying the box and when opening up, it revealed a mulberry purple dress and two boxes underneath it. She opened the big velvet black box up, to reveal a white strand and drop earring pearls, and another small box opened up to revealed to be the most beautiful purple shade of gemstone that has ever place in a ring.

I placed it on my right middle finger and it dazzled brighter than the last. I was thinking that it may be Edward sending me this gift, but I completely removed the thought when I read the sentence, mi tesara. But then, the smell came back into her scent, following the smell again to her bedroom window. I didn't see the mysterious figure from the light post.

My heart started to beat faster, "Am I going crazy?" My mind can only race in anticipation, I can't get rid of this scent in my mind like a drug, waiting to be addicted. I blinked my eyes and there he was again, standing near the light post, taking a puff from his cigarettes. "Hey, you!" I called out. The mysterious figure looked up and tilted the hat on me and just walked away from my sight . "Hey come back here!" I yelled back but he was gone immediately. Could I be hallucinating? After all, it was almost midnight, what else did I see that night.

(Violet)

"My treasure." Violet muttered. She closed the letter and placed it back to the envelop. Now she figured out that she now knows who Edward is and it is adding up to the mystery writer. Night was coming in quickly and she started to close windows around and she is getting the box to rummage again to find the contents, detailed in the journal.

Violet didn't find the mulberry dress that was given to the mystery man, but did find the same strand and drop earring pearls in still intact and the purple ring. Just like the journal, it had the most beautiful shade of purple that has ever unearth in this world. Even though there that the artificial light can show off it's beauty, it can only dazzle more and more. Violet tried on the pearl strand necklace, wrapping it around the neck and placing the drop earring in her ears.

Violet looked at herself in the mirror and felt like that she is living the life of the 1920s. Now there was something inside of her, an awakening of some sort. Uncovering of a life of a woman, that she was never informed of or told by anything.

Then she has this plan in her mind to get to know her great grandmother more in depth, not relying on the story that as her first account. She can only think which schools that she would have to go to and also go to the local library to get extra information.

Violet checked the perimeters of the home, eating a small dinner and getting herself to bed. Tomorrow is a new day to learn and unravel a history.