"This apartment has a great view," the realator said with a bright smile. "It's only $1,500 a month and it's in walking distance to a subway!"
Bella looked out the large window that overlooked streets of people going about their day. They rushed to work, hurried to take their kids to school, or waved down a nearby taxi. It was a much different vibe than Quantico. While Quantico was quiet and dull, D.C. was bustling and loud. It was a big shift for Bella, she grew up in a small town just to move to another small town. Living in the city would take a lot of getting used to.
She imagined what living here would look like. There would be no memory of Owen here. No memory of the hell she suffered for almost 2 years. She would be able to move on and create new memories in this apartment, good memories. She was a new person and she wasn't going to let the memory of Owen stop her from being her best self.
"I'll take it," she said with barely any hesitation, turning back from the window.
"Really?" the realator said, raising her eyebrows. "That's great! It'll probably be about another two weeks before you can officially move in here."
Bella smiled, "That's fine! I just...I am just excited for change."
The realator gave a warm grin and nodded, "I'll go get the papers for you to sign."
With a smile and a 'thank you', Bella turned back and looked over her apartment. She could already see herself painting the walls yellow and adding her tall bookshelves to the office. She had more room in this apartment, more freedom to express herself and and buy more peonies to decorate the apartment with.
This felt like a breath of fresh air.
* * *
This case was making Bella's stomach churn. Someone was killing women, carving satanic symbols into them, and making them eat fingers. Everything about it chilled Bella to the core. No matter the amount of gruesome cases she worked on, some she would just never get over. Some cases still haunted her at night, the images of the mutilated bodies popping up in her head. She knew that this case was never going to leave her either.
"This can't be a group of rebellious teenagers, it's a serial killer," Emily said. "Considering what he did to the victim's fingers, a sadistic one."
"That, I wouldn't say just yet," Rossi injected.
Emily widened her eyes, "He cut off her fingers, and he made her eat them. If that isn't sadistic-."
"If it was, that's the only sign of sadism present in the crime."
"If he was purely a sadist, there would have been more signs of torture," Bella said, earning a nod from Rossi. "Do you think that maybe the fingers are a message? But, what message?"
