ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 35 - Searching For Clues

"Hmm... no dice."

Kurt stood at the front door of the siblings house. He wrapped his hand with his shirt to try and open the door but much to his dismay it was locked

’Did the killers seriously lock the front door after killing the victims? I don’t know if I should call them thorough, courteous or foolish. Hopefully there’s a thing such as fingerprint scanning.

Also, didn’t anyone think to come and check in on them? This isn’t exactly a big neighbourhood.’

He looked around to see if anyone was watching him, but no. There’s not even a peep.

Deciding not to break the door down, he walked around the house to try and see if there was another way in. Luckily for him there was indeed a backdoor. Doubly so since it was unlocked.

’Jackpot. Guess they didn’t check the back.’

The door squealed as it opened slowly, revealing the kitchen room.

’Unwashed dishes: check, the rotting food lying on the counter: check, the heavy dust floating in the air: check. With all these signs, plus the eerie silence, I, Kurt Rossana, professional assassin and self-proclaimed room analyst, declare this kitchen officially abandoned.’

Kurt stood at a place where he had a full view of the kitchen and began taking pictures with his phone.

’20% battery should be enough, right?’

After he finished up in the kitchen, he went into the room in which he guessed where the whole altercation went down. The living room.

What he saw was something he was not expecting, due to how filthy the kitchen was, but it did linger at the back of his mind.

"What in the hell? It’s so... clean."

There were no signs of a struggle anywhere.

Before checking anything, he took some more pictures as he walked around the room and when he got to the front door he noticed something barely noticeable to the naked eye.

’They cleaned up well but apparently not well enough. These are scuff marks. Something heavy was dragged out of here. A body perhaps?’

He proceeded to take a close-up picture of the marks after which he looked closely from where they came from.

’Up the stairs, huh? Must be where the parents’ room is.’

thud CRASH!

The sound of something bumping and glass breaking could be heard from upstairs.

’Oh crap! Is someone here? Have they got wind of me and Dominik snooping around, and do they know that I’m here alone?’

Kurt turned full assassin mode as he quietly crept up the stairs. Like a thief in the night, he slowly made his way to the parents’ bedroom.

When he made it up the stairs, he peaked and saw that there were 3 sets of doors that led into different rooms. The scuff marks also disappeared which meant whatever was being dragged from the bottom of the stairs, was clearly being lifted up from the top.

’Now, let’s see...’

The first room was a bust.

’Just the bathroom. No unusual signs that immediately come to sight. Alright, next.’

He quickly took a few pictures and moved on.

The second room was the children’s room. There was a blue bed and a yellow bed with scattered toys lying on the ground. It was hard for Kurt to tell if any signs of a struggle could be seen since in his experience of breaking in homes, children’s rooms are always messy.

’I’ll take a couple pictures just in case.’

Once he was finished, he made his way to the final room.

’The sound must’ve come from that room. However, judging from how clean everything else was, I doubt I’ll find anything of note in there. But who knows. Maybe they slipped up and missed something.’

He very gently and slowly opened the door so as to not make a squeak and catch whoever’s inside by surprise.

However, as he expected, the room was clean. Too clean.

The room was not large. Only one couple sized bed and cupboard occupied the room. There was also one window which was suspiciously broken.

As he walked closer to the broken window, he felt a presence from behind him. He could feel its deadly eyes piercing through the back of his head but ignored it.

He waited for whatever it was to come closer and closer. Once it was close enough it suddenly moved quickly as if to attack him. Kurt just as quickly turned around and aimed his hand for where the human throat would be.

When he felt that he grabbed something he swiftly brought out his knife to swing for the kill. But what Kurt caught, however, sent a chilling relief throughout his body.

"Oh. It’s just you." He stopped his arm mid-swing and put the knife away.

*meow*

"How do you always seem to know where I am?" He asked the cat with a head tilt.

When he put the cat down, it started purring and rubbing itself on Kurt’s leg.

"Now now little guy, I’m a little busy at the moment but I’m nearly done. We can leave together once I’ve finished."

*meow*

The cat went to sit and wait at the door while Kurt began taking pictures and looking for clues.

’Wow. Can he actually understand me? What a smart cat.’

Kurt found nothing of note when looking around the room. The bed was made up, the floor was clean and nothing smelled off. The only thing out of place was the broken window.

’So this is what broke? Did the cat do this when he got in? But how? Can cats really break through windows like that? No, it can’t be...’

Kurt looked out the broken window to see how the cat got in exactly.

’There’s not even a support ledge for the cat to stand on. We’re also on the second floor. Did the cat somehow build enough momentum to launch himself through the window? No, it’s too high. Then again, this is a magical world. Is he a magical cat?’

"Hey, are you a magical cat?"

*meow?* The cat tilted his head.

"Hmm, thought so. But let me just check something real quick."

Kurt walked over and picked up the cat. He looked carefully at the condition of its fur and body to find any evidence that it was him who broke through the window.

’There’s nothing. No glass shards, no scratch marks. Just a bit of dirt which I’m guessing he got from all the roaming around he must be doing.’

He put the cat down and looked around the room one last time hoping to find something. He searched under the bed and found nothing. He looked inside the cupboard and found nothing. He practically scrutinised the floor for any more scuff marks but once again found nothing.

’So it had to have been the cat who broke through. The church members who were here really cleaned this room up well but for some reason there were visible marks at the front door.’

Kurt stood and looked out the window when a glimpse of light shone in his eye.

’Oh crap!’ He ducked under the window

Fwip

BANG! 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

A beam of light traveled from across the opposite house and shot right through the broken window and hit the wall, causing a hole to form.

’My head nearly exploded! Was that a sniper?! No. The hole is too big. Magic?! Dammit!’

Another was fired but this time it landed against the wall Kurt was covering behind of.

’Shit, I’m gonna get blown up if this continues. Luckily it didn’t break but I gotta move ASAP!’

Kurt readied himself to run out. He shifted slightly away from the breaking cover he hid behind and waited for one more shot.

Fwip

BANG!

The shot broke through the wall and Kurt quickly sprinted out the door.

"C’mon kitty, follow me!"

*meow!*

They both ran down the stairs and into the kitchen to leave through the back door.

Fwip

BANG!

"Whoa!" The shot just barely missed his foot.

Kurt looked at where the blasts were coming from when he saw someone standing by the opposite house firing through the window of the second floor.

"There!" He pointed, "Let’s get em’, kitty!"

*meow!*

The cat ran ahead of him and enveloped itself with magic. Afterwards it jumped all the way up and through the attackers window.

"What the hell! So you were a magic cat!" Kurt yelled as he ran to the house.

He barged through the front door and ran up the stairs to catch the perpetrator.

"Get off me you stupid little shit!"

*meow!* *Hissss!*

Kurt heard and ran to the sound of the struggle.

Inside the room he saw the cat clinging and scratching the perpetrators face who tried but couldn’t break free.

"Good job, kitty!"

Kurt ran up and swung his foot on the side of their head.

"Argh!" The kick caused the perpetrator to fall on their back, giving him the chance to mount and lock them in place.

"Get off me you crazy fuck!" The attacker flailed around but Kurt didn’t budge.

"Shh. Be quiet. Now let’s see who we got hiding under that hood, shall we?"

When Kurt took off the hood, he immediately recognised who it was.

"It’s you..."