Under the Altswood Sky (The Altswood Saga #2)

Chapter 14 - Illusion

Chapter 14 - Illusion

I squinted up at the sky, barely able to keep my eyes open even under the shade of the heavy tree.

"Come on, Douglas," I muttered to myself. "You couldn't have grabbed me an umbrella?"

I was probably asking too much. At least he had gotten me out.

They had confiscated my phone at the station, so I was stumbling around in the heavy rain without a single clue to what time it was. I could barely see three feet in front of me, never mind make sense of my surroundings.

With only the vaguest idea of the direction that Joshua's house was in, I continued picking through the forest until a road with palm trees down the middle came into view. I crouched low, squinting to see what I thought was yellow police tape circling the perimeter of Joshua's house.

"Right," I muttered, spitting the rainwater from my mouth. "How do I do this?"

I could only see a single police car parked on the roadside, but the wind was blowing so fiercely that I didn't trust my own vision. Still, I didn't think anyone would be hidden around the back of the house. At this point, I doubted that the police cared if anyone snuck into the crime scene. They had all the photos and evidence they needed for analysis, and no extra manpower to spare.

I emerged from the forest, holding a hand over my forehead to keep the rain off my face. I hoped the officer inside the car wouldn't notice how strange it was that I didn't have an umbrella.

Thankfully, I ran past without notice, and headed not towards Joshua's house, since the officer would surely notice, but the neighbour's. Praying that they wouldn't glance out the window right at that second, I snuck around the house and into the back.

"If I didn't have any valid charges to be pressed against me before," I muttered, "I sure do now."

I stuck my foot on a small nook in the fence that separated the neighbouring backyard from Joshua's. With two hands wrapped around the top, I swung myself over and landed on both feet, narrowly avoiding a muddy ditch.

I was on the back porch of Joshua's house within a few strides, taking shelter from the rain. Then, I hovered on the steps, trying to figure out how to approach this. I needed to get in and see my alleged handwriting again, but two problems were arising. One, the entrances would be undoubtedly locked, and two—

I looked down at myself, sighing.

Two, I looked like I had just taken a shower and then rolled around the mud with my clothes on.

"Only one way to solve this."

I shrugged out of Gabriel's sopping wet jacket, leaving it a clump on the back porch. My shoes came off too, socks and all, so I wouldn't track mud over the beige carpet. Glancing around and ensuring the yard was empty, I struggled out of my pants, wrung them dry, then shoved them back on again. I shook my legs, checking if they would still splatter water. This was as good as it was going to get.

I was certain that any moment now, police sirens would sound and I would be seen trespassing on a crime scene, but even as I slinked over to the nearest window and pressed my nose against the glass, the only raging noise was the storm.

"Kitchen?" I muttered.

I gave the window an experimental push, not expecting anything to happen.

It shook under my fingers, already loosened.

"Oh?" I muttered.

It looked like the window was held by a small latch, a metal buckle that had been carelessly hooked onto only a small section of the wooden frame. I slid my fingers around the pane, and with all my strength, gave it a monstrous tug.