Deception

Chapter 8

    That night, Lee slept for more than her usual two hours. She felt secured knowing that someone was there with her even though Gabe had bunked himself on the living room couch. Lee argued that she should be the one sleeping on the couch because she was smaller and it would be too uncomfortable for Gabe because of his size.

    “No, I was the one who requested that you stay here. I can’t let you sleep on the couch,” he insisted.

    “But—”

    “No buts. You are my guest. And I will see to it that you receive the utmost comfort that I can offer,” he said in such a tone that Lee didn’t dare argue.

    “At least take your blanket and one of your pillows. I’ll just use the comforter,” she compromised.

    “Okay,” he said. Lee helped him arrange the beddings before bidding him good night. She hadn’t locked the bedroom, just in case Gabe would use the bathroom which was inside the bedroom. But she made sure that the windows were locked.

    Lee felt relaxed in the morning, too relaxed perhaps because she only had an hour and a half before her shift at the hospital starts. She immediately freshened up and went to the kitchen. Gabe was already cooking some breakfast.

    Wrapped in the comforter, she said, “Good morning.”

    Gabe gave her one of his genuine smiles and said replied, “Good morning, too. Sleep well?”

    “Surprisingly well, thank you. Ahm, I’m going back to my apartment,” she informed him.

    “Wait! Join me for breakfast?” he bit his lower lip, a nervous habit, Lee thought. Why would he be nervous in asking her? She was the one who should be nervous if she agreed to dine with this gorgeous man.

    “Ok. At least, I get to taste your cooking,” she said, eyeing the bacon, eggs, and fried rice. Her stomach suddenly grumbled in hunger.

    He chuckled and muttered under his breath, “Man, I could get used to this.”

    “What?”

    “What? Ahm, nothing. Let’s eat,” Gabe replied, realizing what he said earlier.

    They spent thirty minutes of eating, talking, and laughing. Unfortunately, they needed to clean up because of Lee’s work. But first, they decided to inspect Lee’s apartment for any break-in. On their way there, they saw Detective Garcia standing in front of room 201, her apartment.

    “Anton?” Lee asked, but then chastised herself for dropping the ‘detective’. But it was only fair, she supposed, because Lee permitted him to call her by her first name. Her gaze was met by Anton’s. She could see his shocked reaction as he inspected her. Ah s**t. She was barefoot and enveloped in Gabe’s comforter.

    “Where were you? I called your phone several times,” he said in a controlled voice but it was laced with worry and… anger?

    “I was at Gabe’s,” she said and remembered that Gabe was behind her. She spun around and saw that the other was eyeing the detective with such intensity that she hadn’t seen before.

    “Gabe, this is Detective Anton Garcia. He’s in charge of the investigation. Detective, this is Gabe Villaflor, my friend,” Lee introduced the two.

    As the two men shook hands, Lee could feel a different tension.

    Gabe eyed the detective and hoped that he was there for business and not for a social call with Lee. He didn’t know how deep his relations with Lee was, but they might be pretty close since Lee called him by his first name.

    On the other hand, Anton inspected him with curiosity. He could see that Gabe was in his sleeping attire, a T-shirt and sweat pants. What the heck, he was also barefoot. He also wondered how deep his relations with Lee go.

    “I think I saw you at the funeral,” Anton said to Gabe.

    “Oh? Yes, I was with Lee. But I don’t remember seeing you there,” Gabe replied. It was petty, but Gabe wanted the detective to realize his closeness to Lee.

    “Oh-kay. I don’t think this is a personal visit, detective?” Lee interrupted.

    “What’s stopping you from calling me Anton? You did earlier,” he teased. Lee laughed at this but then she became serious as the detective’s expression cooled.

    “You’re right. This isn't a personal visit. Shall we talk inside?” Anton said.

    Once inside the apartment, Lee left the two in the living room and went straight to the bedroom to change her clothes. She then went to the kitchen to some juice. All the while, she noticed the silence. Maybe the two men preferred not to converse, she thought.

    “Have some juice, detective, Gabe,” she offered to the two men.

    “Thank you,” Anton said.

    “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m still full from our breakfast,” Gabe replied to her. Petty. Petty. Petty. The word repeated on Gabe’s mind but he didn’t seem to care.

    Lee wasn't sure why Gabe was mentioning their whereabouts. Instead, she stirred the conversation. “So why did you call?” Lee asked the detective.

    “I was checking up on you because…” Anton paused, thinking of a better way to break the news, but ended up having none. “Ms. Morgan was brought to the hospital at around seven this morning. Her boyfriend called the precinct to report a hit and run.”

    “Oh god, Kris…” she gasped and covered her face.

    Gabe went to her side and gave her a hug. He knew Kris, of course. Since Eli was his brother’s ex, Gabe had met Kris on a few occasions.

    “According to Mr. Cortes, he and Ms. Morgan went out for their daily jog when they stopped by the diner to get some takeout breakfast. Kris stayed outside for fresh air while he bought their food. While doing so, there was a commotion outside of the diner and that’s when he learned of the incident,” Detective Garcia continued.

    “How is she?” Lee said as she finally calmed down.

    “She’s still in a coma since her head was hit pretty badly. She had a few broken bones. Otherwise, she was stable,” he said.

    Relief flooded Lee, knowing that Kris was alive: injured but alive.

    “After receiving the report, I immediately called you. But when you hadn’t replied to any of it, I thought that something might have happened to you,” the detective admitted.

    Lee saw the concern in his eyes. This melted her heart. “I’m sorry Anton; I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just that, I was in a hurry—” she stopped midsentence when memories of last night came back to her.

    Lee narrated to the detective what happened last night. Unknowingly, Lee also clarified that there was nothing going on between Gabe and her. The detective now knew why Lee was with Gabe last night, and somehow, he felt a little at ease.

    “No need for you to check on the CCTV and interview some residents,” Anton said to Gabe. “I’ll handle them.”

    Gabe’s jaw ticked but he nodded in agreement, anyway. He didn’t know if it was arrogance or if the detective was only doing his duty.

    “Thank you so much, Anton,” Lee said.

    “No problem. In the meantime, you can just call me if you found anything missing from your belongings. I have to investigate this; see if it’s connected with the murder or with the hit and run.”

    With that the detective left the two. Lee and Gabe inspected the apartment and saw that no one seemed to have barged in. They went on their separate ways after that because Lee had to prepare for work. Despite the terrible news, she didn't want to inconvenience Trina for another shift to fill hers in, so she decided to show up at work. Lee just decided to visit Kris while she was on duty, since Kris was confined at the hospital that she was working on.

    "I hope this is just a hit and run case. 'Cause if it's not, then we have a killer on the loose," she mumbled to herself.