Living Within The Unknown

Chapter 5 Investigation

Camille was awakened by a solid knock on the door. She felt over next to her and Corey wasn’t there. Panic set in. She knew something was wrong she could feel it deep down in her soul. Before she even opened the door she knew.

She grabbed her robe and wrapped it around her body. She slowly opened up the door. Two uniformed officers were standing in front of her. One was holding out his hand with Corey’s wallet and car keys handing them to her.

“Mrs. Thompson,” One of them started, “We’re sorry to inform you that your husband was found dead an hour ago in your home. I am truly sorry for your loss. It appears from the corners examination and the witnesses on the property that it was murder. We will be doing a full on investigation into this I promise and we’ll be in touch.”

She just stood there in front of them with a dazed look of misbelief on her face. The tears were already starting to stream, but she didn’t care. She just collapsed to the ground. The cops turned and shut the door behind them. They knew the only thing that they could do for her now is find the man or men that murdered her husband. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and began to sob rocking back and forth. Back and forth. What will she do he was her soul mate. She would never let him die inside as long as she was alive he would live threw her and all that she accomplishes he accomplishes too. Oh God she thought this hurts so bad she felt as though her heart had been ripped from her chest and her wholes insides had been shaken to the core. She looked up at the ceiling. What am I going to do? She whispered. What am I going to do? She just rolled over onto the floor in fetal position and continued to rock. Somehow the rocking seemed to comfort her. She must have relaxed because she found herself opening her eyes after a good long two hours. She felt like she was waking up from a nightmare. The only way she knew it had been two hours is that she looked at the clock on the wall the minute she awoke from the knock. 4:00 a.m. They were so young they had the rest of their lives ahead of them they were just getting started barely 25. She and Corey were high school sweethearts. The one’s everyone was envious over. Everyone knew who they were as a couple and everyone wanted to be them.

They had been married 7 years and were putting down roots here to start a family. They were finally ready. “It’s not fair,” she screamed out. “It’s not fair. How could you take him from me? How?”

She didn’t want to but she forced herself up off the floor and went to get her cell phone. First things first she thought. I need to call Donna to let in the moving company to deliver the furniture I’ll just let her decorate it how she sees fit. Next, mom and dad, Oh I don’t know if I can make it through that call but I have to so they don’t see it on the news. Corey was like a son to them the one they never had and they were the parents that helped to ease the pain and make him feel loved for the ones he lost.

After breaking all the bad news and setting up appointments she decided to pick out an outfit for the day and get in the shower. She could still hear him saying you go start the water and I’ll meet you in there. Then he’d light their morning cigarette and they would share it and then she would go start the water and he would join right after. This had been their morning routine for the last 7 years.

Opened up the shower door and reached inside to turn the knobs and then stopped. She can’t do this not today. I’ll just take a Jacuzzi bath later this evening and call it good. She would have that morning cigarette. She lit it up and took a long drag for the both of them. You know she said out loud and into the air we’ve always been able to feel what each other is feeling. So from time to time, maybe more, I’ll be talking to you and calling on you for help with whatever situation has me at a standstill or maybe I just want to chat. I’ll expect you to be there wide eyed and bushy tailed. Do you understand me Corey? I mean it anytime. Now that we got that straight I’m going to get dressed and start my day.

She got in her Camaro rolled down the windows and blasted that radio. Her favorite Miranda Lambert was on. She sang and she drove all the way to Cypress Hill. When she entered she found Donna in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the staff.

Meanwhile she had cops crawling all over the premises their bedroom still had the yellow tape marking off the crime scene. They had assured her that they would have all their printing and evidence gathering wrapped up by the evening hours. They had come in early so that they could dust for prints and get as much of the house covered as they could before the mover’s arrived with the whole other house they were bringing to replenish this one. Of course this house is 20 times bigger than the one in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They were just bringing the things they couldn’t live without and then they were going to furnish the place together room by room. She could feel that gut wrenching feeling again but she just pulled it back in and decided that since she missed her shower this morning that a dip in the pool would be a good thing at around noon. It was still a long way until then so what to do to keep her busy and her mind occupied. Out back of the house were the most beautiful gardens with paths made of stone to walk on with flowers of all kinds you name it and she probably had it in her garden. Water falls coming out of the side walls of the house. Ponds with exotic fish in them.

llShe thought she would go put on her most comfortable pair of cotton overalls and tie her long curly hair with a scarf. Put on some light make-up and go for a walk in the garden. There was also plenty of seating so she thought she might catch up on some reading. She had 2 different novels that she had been wanting to start but could just never find the time. I guess her schedule just freed up. Even though her thoughts were enthusiastic she was having a hard time convincing her body that this was the case. Oh come on Camille you can do this. Now she was already resorting to Pep talking herself. She could already feel the crazy sinking in and he hadn’t even been gone a day.

When she stepped out into the light it pierced her eyes and she realized she was going to need sunglasses. When she went back in Kara was at the table with Chief Justice, Donna was in another room with an FBI Agent, and Shawnee was in the adjacent room with another officer. They all looked over at her from different areas if they could see it through her eyes it looked rather comical. She ran up the banister staircase two stairs at a time grabbed her sunglasses and back down the way she came. She was back in her garden in a flash. As she walked around she figured the cops would be out at the stables next just trying to get a clue as to what took place here last night other than the obvious.

Her mind had been doing some figuring of its own. The way she seen it, which may be way off the mark, was that someone had been scoping out the house knowing the ins and outs of the place first

Then all it took was the missing links, us. The new homeowners. This was a high profile case just because of who we are. Hotel Guerue’s. We give to multiple huge charities each year. Everyone in town knew we were coming. The hotel had been going through its change for months. We had even been in and out of town several times in just the past 2 weeks. The one thing the robbers didn’t count on was that someone would actually be in the home that night. It being a surprise that just elevated the situation from burglary to murder. In 2.0 seconds. The saddest part about it was there wasn’t but a handful of things they could have gotten away with anyway because everything that was worth the money they thought they were going to get off this heist was locked up good and tight in the hotel vault so Corey lost his life for nothing. They took away her lifeline, her friend, and the love of her life.

There were absolutely at this point in the investigation no leads because no one seen a thing. She was starting to get that nauseous feeling just playing it over and over in her head like a broken record.

She actually stopped and physically smelled the roses. There were pink ones, red and orange mixed, and even blue ones. It was colorful everywhere you looked. She just stood in the middle and let it envelop her the smells the sounds of the waterfalls and then all of a sudden this calm feeling washed over her from her head to the tips of her toes and she couldn’t tell you how but she knew right then everything was going to be alright. It was like Corey was sending a message from above. She grabbed she embraced it and she went to her fold out lawn chair and picked up a book.

Officer Hale walked back to where she was to let her know that they got everything that they needed from the house and that they would be leaving soon. He told her they would let her know if anything changes and if she notices anything at all even the tiniest little detail that they might have missed to call them and let them know. She told him thank you and to have a nice day.