“I think you should leave,” he said. Asali stood from the bed with black tears rolling down her cheeks.  As she stepped out the door, silently sobbing, she asked one more time, “why?”. He didn’t even look at her. He just stood up and shut the door. Asali couldn’t understand. Jim was the sweetest man she knew. She was baffled by this change in attitude. How could he be so cold to her? They had been fine the past six months. Better than fine. They were great. Or so she thought. It made no sense. In shock, she walked to the small parking garage outside of the complex. She climbed into her silver Chevy Malibu that her dad bought her as a graduation present. She looked at her reflection in her rearview mirror.

As she stared at her puffy eyes and red nose she noticed a blonde woman with tall black heels walking in front of her car to the complex door. She stared at the familiar looking woman. Does the woman live there? Or has she seen her in the complex before while visiting Jim? Asali watched the woman go to the door and buzz 407. Jim’s apartment. At this point Asali wasn’t sad. She wasn’t going to waste more tears on Jim. She was going to get even. She put her car key in the ignition with probably too much force and buckled up. She maneuvered her way out of the parking garage and headed home.
She drove the twenty minutes to get back home and made it to her room. Luckily her parents were out. She knew they’d make her explain everything if they caught a glimpse of her red face. She paced around her carpet with questions racing in her mind. Why does she look familiar? How long had this been going on? How many girls? Am I not good enough? She started her research. Looking up the blonde woman on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. She spent an hour going through all of Jim's friends and followers looking for that familiar face. Nothing. Who was she? Asali figured her next step in the game plan would be to go to Jim’s apartment and watch for suspicious activity. She had watched enough NCIS and Criminal Minds to know what to do. She drove twenty minutes back to Jim's and parked in a different spot. A spot where her car could not be seen from Jim's fourth floor window.
There was no activity for an hour. She didn’t even know what to look for. She didn’t know what car the blonde woman came from or even which direction. But she still waited. She needed answers even if she had to get them the hard way. During hour two she called Jim’s cell phone. She knew he was home because his truck was still in the parking garage. Two rings then straight to voicemail. He pressed ignore. Damn, she thought. She waited. It was dark and she could only see a faint light in Jim’s window. She watched for shadows but couldn't see anything. Asali was pretty sure he’d or they’d be asleep by now. It was close to midnight and Jim was always one to go to bed early.
She turned her car on and decided to try again tomorrow. As she put her car into drive, she saw the apartment complex door open. She shut her car off quickly and watched. The woman from before stepped out. She seemed nervous. She looked around and then quickly made her way to a black car that Asali hadn’t noticed before. She got in and drove away. Asali followed. Turning her car back on and into drive. She followed the woman for a short six minute drive to an office building downtown. The building was dark except for a back light shining in the lobby and a bright glow coming from an office on one of the middle floors. The woman parked on the street in front and walked to the front glass door. It opened without a key. Asali let the woman get ahead before going up to the door herself. She looked in and saw the woman taking the stairs. Asali slowly walked into the building and went to the stairs as well. The blonde womans loud heels clacking on the stairs provided a great warning for Asali as to when the woman was going to stop. Asali followed the heels up to an open office floor.
A huge room full a cubicles with one or two separate offices. Asali heard talking coming from a cubicle in the back. It was two women. Asali assumed that one of them was the blonde woman from before. She tried to sneak as close as she could to hear just a little bit. A woman said something about getting it done and that it was in the trunk. What was? Asali thought. She heard two pairs of clacking heels start to walk. That was her warning to dash. Asali ran down the stairs as quietly as possible. Asali made it down and slipped out the front door that she came through. She ran to her car and got in. She took a breath and tried to relax. What was in the trunk? She thought again.
“What if it’s Jim’s body?” she thought outloud then pulled out her cell phone. She dialled 911 with shaky hands.
“Hello state your name, location and your emergency,” the dispatcher said.
“My name is Asali Divan. Im at 2565 at the corner of South and Main. There are two suspicious women here and there is something in their trunk.” Asali was terrified and she began to cry.
“Ma'am I need you to calm down. It’ll be okay. We will send officers to you right now” The calm voice said. “Stay on the phone with me.” Asali waited for the officers. Surprisingly the two women in the black car didn’t go anywhere. They stayed parked on the street right in front of her.. Two officers arrived and Asali got out of her car. The two officers introduced themselves as Officer Carter and Officer Jones.
“Please Officers” Asali said in a hushed tone. “Those women in the black car. I think they have my boyfriend in their trunk”
“Calm down Miss, we'll handle it,” Officer Jones said. The officers stepped up to the black car and knocked on the window. Asali heard a little bit of conversation and some mumbling. The officers asked the women to step out and they did. A tall slim brunette woman with glasses stepped out of the passenger seat. Then the blonde woman. She was shorter than Asali thought and older too. She didn’t say a word to the officer. She just looked directly at Asali. Her eyes were unforgettable.
“The trunk Ma'am” Officer Jones said. Without breaking eye contact, the blonde woman stepped to the trunk and lifted it open.