Dead Breath
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“Is your job in a casino hotel worth it? By the way, you still haven’t said what you were doing there?! Mireya looked at her suspiciously, “This is not… what is connected with…?”
“No, no.” Leandra waved her hand, “Nothing like that.”
Mireya breathed a sigh of relief, but her tension returned instantly. “But it was something illegal?”
“Why did you decide so?”
“Otherwise, why should you be silent about it?”
Leandra fell silent for a couple of seconds. “There were people who illegally worked as hackers for jealous guys or girlfriends. It was almost like a hobby.”
Mireya spread her arms, “Well, if you say so.” She suddenly caught herself thinking that she was almost not interested in everything that happened to… perhaps still her friend for the entire time of their remoteness.
“Do you want something to drink?” Leandra said, smiling too sweetly.
Mireya felt a slight irritation. “A water?”
While Leandra was pouring mineral water into a glass, Mireya distracted her cell phone, checking the message she had just received from her boss: “There was a technical error. Please, send me the results of your work over the past three days. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
“Here,” Leandra handed a glass of water to Mireya.
Mireya put her cell phone aside and took a couple of sips, once again seeing Leandra’s typical overly cute look.
“Probably, I should go – I have unresolved problems at work,” Mireya said, putting her glass on the wooden table. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
Leandra smiled slightly, for a second panic flashed in her eyes, but Mireya was too distracted to notice it. Her cell phone ringtone shattered the silence between them. Mireya looked at its screen again. “I have to answer the call.”
Leandra nodded.
Mireya came out into the hotel corridor and moved away from Leandra’s room. She didn’t want her to ask questions about her work, her personal life and her life in general. It was too late.
After finishing the conversation with Rick, Mireya returned to the door of room 247, but after pushing it she realized that the room was locked. She knocked on but got no answer. “Hey?” Leandra, what the hell?” She said and again, she received no answer. Mireya wearily lowered her head and hit the wall with her palm. “If you don’t want to see me, you could tell me about it face to face. This is so stupid”, she snorted, “Goodbye, Leandra”, Mireya pressed the elevator button and after leaving the hotel, she disappeared into the night city…
… The Sun’s rays passed through the window, burning her face … Mireya opened her eyes. Being in her downtown skyscraper apartment, she tried to remember how and when she got home, but the last thing she remembered was walking into the hotel’s elevator after she visited Leandra. There was nothing more. She got up and looked around – three empty cups of coffee from a local coffee shop were on the coffee table next to her open laptop; the check next to them showed she had bought a refreshing drink within half an hour while she arrived at the hotel. How could she forget about this?
Mireya checked her laptop – she sent the archives of her work, which Rick asked, also she started working on a new project, but she didn’t remember at all how she did all of this, there was just a blackout. It dawned on her… Leandra. Leandra gave her water; she probably mixed some kind of a sleeping pill with a side effect. At least it was the only one explanation.
The sound of her cell phone ringing pulled her out of her thoughts. She took it out of her jacket pocket and looked at the display. “Leandra Calling”. Right now, she had no desire to talk to her, but she wanted an answer to the main question – why did she come back? But there was no point in talking about it on the phone, and after giving herself a few minutes to recover, Mireya took her backpack and jacket and left the house.
After taking a taxi, she returned to the hotel where Leandra was staying in. Passing the reception and tourists with a large number of suitcases, she entered the familiar elevator, smelling a slight smell of tobacco in it. The door opened, she went out and froze… The door to Leandra’s room was open, several police officers were working inside and two others were standing outside, not letting in strangers. What the hell happened here?
Under the cold gaze of these two officers, she looked inside and saw a girl she knew. “Adrianna?”
Adrianna Hale was a detective and Mireya’s and friend for quite some time – their fathers were investigators for the Chicago Police Force until their families moved to Los Angeles. But the presence of Adrianna made Mireya feel trembling in her body and growing excitement – Detective Hale was investigating the murders.
Hearing Mireya’s voice, Adrianna turned around and having said something to her colleagues, she approached her. “Mireya? You already know?”
“What about?” Mireya involuntarily took a step back.
“Let’s step away, okay?” Adrianna put her hand on Mireya’s shoulder, and they walked to the window at the end of the corridor.
Adrianna tried to find words. “I’m sorry to say that. I don’t know if you were still friends. But it’s always hard to lose someone who was your friend once. Mireya…” She slowed down. “Leandra was killed last night.”
Mireya froze. But she did not feel the expected shock, but still tears dripped down from her eyes. “How did it happen?”
“Someone strangled her.” Adrianna answered. “Our people are checking her room, but… All the fingerprints were deliberately erased, so the killer obviously tried to cover up the tracks.”
“Wait…” Mireya raised her hand. “Someone called me from her cell phone this morning. I thought she wanted to talk, and I came here. I didn’t know that she…”
“Her cell was stolen, but we will try to track where the incoming call came from.” Adrianna said. “Tell me, when did she return?”
Adrianna knew Leandra from the beginning of her friendship with Mireya, but they almost didn’t communicate with each other – different interests, different opinions, and even a mutual friend couldn’t make them at least “just friends”.