“No. I thought so…but, no.” Seyla turned back to the officer.
“It looks like they came in from the window,” the officer explained, pointing to the row of windows facing the alleyway between her place and a quaint, small-scale photography shop. “It’s the only place damaged. That, along with these shoe tread marks, tells me they had a tough time getting through it.”
“What did they take? Any idea?” Jax asked.
“Kind of a neat burglar.” Matt leaned his crutches against a black side table and eased into a high-back chair at the mahogany table. “Is it wrong to wish they’d stolen that hideous afghan you made?” He winked at Seyla.
Leave it to Matt to coax a smile out of her in the worst of times. “Ha-ha, Matt. My therapist told me to take on a new hobby. She didn’t say I had to be good at it.” She narrowed her eyes at him. To Jax, she said, “My laptop and iPad are gone. Other than that, everything seems to be here, so far.” With lagging steps, she explored the apartment, cataloging her things in her mind. Lastly, she checked on the cats. Their fear and confusion pricked at her heart. After soothing them with chin scratches, she reluctantly shut them in the room again and stood stock-still at the end of the hall. Her emotions flitted back and forth, unsure whether to land on relief, fear, sorrow, or disbelief.
Funny how most of her belongings remained untouched, yet she considered her apartment destroyed. A heavy, foreign feeling weighed down the air, making her uncomfortable in her own home.
What had happened to her life? She hadn’t felt this unsafe since—
“Anything else missing, ma’am?” the police officer asked after she returned to the living room.
“No,” Seyla answered. Her stomach churned, made worse by an overwhelming desire to scrub every inch of the place. She closed her eyes, focused on suppressing the geyser of emotions spurting up inside her. Her hand grabbed hold of her opal necklace and held tight while the officers rattled off more information.
Once they left, an awkward silence fell over the group.
“Are you gonna be okay here tonight?” Jax asked.
“No way is she staying here,” Matt answered for her. He faced Seyla. “Do you want to go to your parents’ place or my parents’ house?”
“I don’t know,” Seyla answered, crossing the kitchen to get some milk from the refrigerator. Numbness set in. Why was this happening? “Want any?” she asked them.
“No,” they answered in unison.
Seyla took a sip. The cup she touched to her lips felt tainted. Even the milk tasted different. She checked the expiration date, but it was fine. Would she ever feel like this foreign presence was gone? Like this had once again become her safe, secure home? An invisible, yet palpable, dingy film stained the entire place, reminiscent of her apartment in college after subletting it to a chain smoker.
She sank into a chair at the table and finished off the glass while Jax told Matt about the odd message on Allen’s phone.
“So you think this Allen guy purposely didn’t go in with you? How would he know you’d need to go back in?”
“I don’t know,” Seyla admitted. “But he was standing right where the door was located to get in there, and most people would assume I’d double check that the tunnel doors were open. Yeah, he could have arranged it. Or it’s merely an odd coincidence. I don’t know.” She scratched the side of her neck.
“I haven’t heard back yet about Allen’s and Travis’ military records. But several people could be involved. Until I knowmore, be extremely careful. I wouldn’t go into dangerous situations unless it’s with a friend you can trust,” Jax said.
Seyla cleared her throat, suddenly feeling warm. “I wonder if Travis knows Allen.” She cleared her throat again. The air seemed thick. Would she ever feel at home here again? She rubbed her hands up and down her crossed arms. Cleared her throat again. Coughed. Wheezed. And then it dawned on her. “Oh no.” She jumped to her feet and ran for her purse.
“What’s wrong?” both men asked.
She was sucking in air like a clogged vacuum, her airway constricting into a balled fist. She dumped the contents of the purse on a side table. “Where is it?!” Panicked, she locked gazes with Matt.
Understanding dawned in his eyes. He made an effort to hop to her, then signaled to Jax. “Get her epinephrine pen! It’s in the purse! She’s having an allergic reaction!”
Seyla heard him rifling through it as she slid to the hardwood floor.
“It’s not here!” Jax shouted.
Seyla’s airway narrowed until it allowed only enough oxygen to fit through a straw. Darkness edged into her peripheral vision, gaining more and more territory until only formless shapes and shadows remained visible.
Jax’s voice sounded further away when he called out, “Matt, does she have any other ones?!”
“Check the medicine cabinet. Someone must have used shrimp in the food tonight. She’s allergic to it.” Suddenly, Matt sat beside her, holding her hand. “Seyla, did you eat something with shrimp in it? Seyla, look at me! Stay with me!”
Seyla felt herself drifting, disconnecting, and unable to get any air past her swollen tongue. White-hot pain punched her leg. After that, her world faded to black, coated with a suffocating layer of silence.
CHAPTER SIX