The Dark Ghosts

78. Toxic

Melanie's POV

My hands trembled as I stood in front of what used to be my old house, now almost falling to the ground due to the bomb and fire initiated last time we were here. My eyes went to its left, where Mrs Taylor's house was, and saw her peeking through the curtains. I took a deep breath and gave her the stink eye, internally rolling my eyes while remembering how she knew there was a bomb inside yet didn't say anything, risking mine and my partner's lives. Saying I felt betrayed would be an understatement.

The woman quickly closed the curtains when she saw me looking; however, she still had the decency of giving me an apologetic look. Ignoring it, I turned to look back at the house just to spot Alec's men coming out of it holding a few boxes on their hands.

"Are those all?" Alec questioned them while Nathan and Hunter started carrying them inside the cars.

"Yes, sir," they answered in sync.

"Thank you," Bianca thanked them as I gave them a grateful, small smile accompanied by a nod.

"Let's go," Sadie whispered in my ear, giving me a squeeze on the shoulder and a tiny smile which I returned.

I flashed one last glance at the house, feeling nostalgic. Probably it was that this time I really felt I wasn't ever coming back here, or maybe it was both the good and bad memories it brought, or it might be the fact that I was the only Parks that had lived in this house and was still alive. That was ironic, really. When I was younger, I always thought I was the odd one in the family, the one whose story would end up in early tragedy, and now it's my dad, mom and sister who are... gone.

Heaving a sigh, I turned around and headed to the car, getting into the backseat. Maddie, who was in charge of driving the car I was in, shot me a quick glance probably to check how I was and then sped off, leaving me in my own thoughts.

~Flashback~

"H-how?" I stuttered, my mind still processing the words that left my friend's mouth and ignoring the stares I was receiving, even though they were making me somewhat nervous.

"By what you said your mother told you, these tapes must contain some important and confidential information, something they did not want to come into light or at least to be known by the wrong kind of people. What would make most sense in order for that to not happen would be hiding them. And what a better place than your own house?" David explained, thankfully switching all of the attention to him.

"But a bomb exploded there..." Nathan trailed off seeming quite confused, as well as the rest of us.

"I remember that when we went to Mel's house, there was a door that seemed to lead to a basement. That was a basement, right?" Sadie started and I nodded at her question, making her continue. "Your mother mentioned the tapes knowing quite well about the bomb, she worked for Angelo after all and must have been updated about everything that was going on, especially if it involved her own house. But what I was trying to say was that the bomb issue happened before your mother spoke to you, meaning that the tapes should be intact today. And, after some calculations of the bomb's shock waves and the radio of expansion, we've discovered that if it didn't really harm any neighbor's house, then it shouldn't have damaged the basement."

"Are you suggesting they are in there?" Alec questioned.

"We're not sure, but it's a possibility," she concluded.

"I'm not trying to underrate your investigation but how do you know if it's really in there? I mean, there are plenty other sites they could hide the tapes," Audrey wondered.