The first thing I did when I arrived at Mrs. Wang's house was take a shower. My curly hair was a knotted mess because I had forgotten to wear my bonnet to sleep. I hadn't realized I was walking around with a bird's nest as hair all morning. I would take care of my knots once I was out of the shower.
Mrs. Wang was visibly distressed when she picked me up, but she also looked like she was trying really hard to appear at ease. It was like she didn't want anyone to know that her entire world was falling apart.
I felt the same way.
I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Angelica Wang's bathroom mirror was too foggy to show my reflection.
Her bathroom was clean and pristine just like she was. Everything was neat. Her hairbrush was the only thing out of place at the center of the counter, strands of her bottle blonde hair still stuck between the bristles. I grabbed the hairbrush and tossed it away into the first drawer. I didn't want to be reminded of her right now. Not after seeing my mother like that — like Angelica was.
The only reason I was using her shower was because the guest bedroom did not have its own and I was too awkward to go downstairs and face Mrs. Wang again.
I wanted to be by myself for now.
I spent nearly an hour trying to take care of my tangled curly hair. I thanked my past self for not forgetting to pack my hair products.
Soon, I was back in the guest room, after taking the bathroom door that led to the hallway to avoid Angelica's bedroom. I did not want to be given more reasons to cry today. I wasn't strong enough to handle all of that grief.
I met Angelica when we were in kindergarten. We used to go to the same elementary and secondary schools in Montreal, until she moved away in ninth grade. We were quite close. We even went to the same church, and our moms got really close.
Of course, Angelica and I weren't as enthusiastic as our mothers with the prospect of going to church. We would often skip the youth meetings together to wander around the city and come back just in time for our mothers to think we had attended them.
I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised that my mother was willing to move all the way to Saint-Eau in southern Quebec to take on this case. I hadn't been in contact with Angelica since she moved away, but our moms were constantly on the phone together. I mean, how could two widowed Mormon mothers do anything but get along?
I never would have guessed that I would be starting eleventh grade living with Mrs. Wang, while her daughter and my mother were in the afterlife together. Who knew what they were doing there, now? Was there even such a thing as the afterlife?
I liked to think that they were in a better place now.
"Ximena." Mrs. Wang's gentle voice surprised me. She was standing at the guest bedroom door, which I had left ajar. "Do you want to eat something?"
"I'm okay," I said, truthfully. The thought of ingesting something made me sick right now. "I think I need some fresh air."
Mrs. Wang nodded, looking at me empathetically. I knew she knew how I was feeling, to a certain extent – while I lost my mother, she lost a very good friend. And while I lost a childhood friend, she lost a daughter. But I did not feel mentally strong enough to mourn with her just yet.
"Do you need me to drive you anywhere? You don't have to go to school unless you want to," she said.
I had completely forgotten about that. Today was supposed to be my first day of school. I'd be a couple of hours late if I showed up now. I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself, so I shook that idea away.
"No, I don't think I'll go to school today. I just want to go for a walk," I said. Mrs. Wang nodded.
"Very well. Take all the time you need, dear," she said kindly.
Without another word, I grabbed my bag and left Mrs. Wang's house.
I didn't know where I was going. I barely even knew the town. The only place I knew how to get to was the grand park. A small trek in a nature would probably make me feel better, so the park was exactly where I headed off to.
It took exactly five minutes to reach the park, and it was exactly what you would expect. Paths going through green grass with trees on some sides. A playground for kids, with swings and water modules. There were picnic tables spread out across the park. Various types of flowers of different colours lined the trees and the pathways. It was a very beautiful park, and it was quite large as well.
I was surprised to see some teenagers loitering around the playground modules when I approached the area. I didn't want them to notice me, so I shimmied through the trees nearby to reach another path entirely.
That was a mistake.
Angelica Wang's memorial was right there.
This is where the piles of flowers and chocolate boxes and Justin Bieber CDs were located.
This is where she was murdered.
And yet, I couldn't help but approach it.
There was a framed picture of her, bottle blonde and beaming, probably hand-picked by her mother. She wore a cheerleader outfit, which didn't surprise me. I noticed a few notes left in the flowers around her picture. The most prominent notes read: I miss you.
I missed her too.
After taking a very deep breath, I left the park. I walked around for a good thirty minutes before I headed back to Mrs. Wang's place. I tried not to think about anything as I walked around. Thinking hurt my brain.
It was almost noon when I got back. I still wasn't hungry, though I knew I needed to eat.
There were more shoes left at the entrance. Men's shoes. Two pairs to be precise. They were fancy-looking shoes The type of shoes men with money would wear. I heard some voices coming from the living room. Mrs. Wang was speaking with some mysterious men.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to be seen, or not, but then Mrs. Wang called me over: "Ximena! There are some people here to see you."
My chest twisted in a knot. I wasn't very fond of strangers, and I didn't know what this was about, so I reluctantly followed Mrs. Wang's voice into the living room.
They were two of the cleanest men I had ever seen. Their hair was perfectly groomed, their beards perfectly shaved, and their suits perfectly tailored. Everything about these men screamed perfection. They even had an air of benevolence and humbleness to them.
"You're Miss Macedo, correct?" the first man said. He was ginger with bright green eyes.
"We're here from La Sureté du Québec. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" The second man was blonde with piercing blue eyes.
"Sure…" I said, though I wasn't really in the mood to do so.
"We understand that the event you just witnessed is very traumatizing, but we will need you to tell us everything that happened in exact details. This will be very necessary to go forward with the investigation," the blonde man said.
"Please, take a seat," the ginger one added, gesturing at one of the couches with his hand. I did so without protest. "Mrs. Wang, if you will please excuse us."
"Of course. Take all the time you need."
The detectives (that's what they were, right?) waited until Mrs. Wang was out of earshot before taking a seat on the couch diagonally from mine.
"I'm Detective Reed," the blonde man said. "And this is Detective Kennedy," he motioned at the ginger man. "We will be taking over your mother's case after this morning's very unfortunate incident."
Unfortunate was one way to put it.
"We apologize for the choice of words, Miss Macedo. Though, admittedly there is hardly a delicate way to speak of this matter," Detective Reed added. It was almost as if he were reading my mind.
Both detectives smiled sympathetically at me, before looking down at their notes.
"Now, if you please, with the best of your abilities, recount exactly what happened this morning," Detective Reed said politely.
While the blonde detective was doing all the talking, the ginger one was writing down all the notes. I told them everything that happened, and any detail I thought could be important. They listened intently but asked many questions.
"Tell me more about that cat. When did it appear?"
"Well, I first met her when I moved into town, a few weeks ago, I guess. She didn't stay with me until last night."
"And how did she look like?" Detective Reed pressed on.
My brow furrowed. Why were they so hung up on a cat? Do they really think of her as a suspect? That would be ridiculous.
"The small details matter, Miss Macedo. Perhaps this cat belongs to someone else who was at the crime scene." Again, it was as if they were reading my mind, though I had to admit, I wore my feelings on my face most of the time.
"Well, she was a black tabby cat with green eyes," I told them simply.
"Anything else about her that may have stood out?"
"I don't know. She behaved like a cat. Nothing out of the ordinary," I said with a shrug.
"Thank you. That will be all the questions we have for today," Detective Reed said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. "If you remember anything else or if anything strange happens, you can reach out to us directly through this number here."
"We thank you for you cooperation Miss Macedo. We understand that it is very difficult to go through the questioning process. You were a good sport," Detective Kennedy spoke for the first time in a while. He tucked his notepad in his breast pocket and stood up along with his co-worker.
"Yeah. No problem," I said because I didn't really know what else to say.
"Take very good care of yourself, Miss Macedo," Detective Kennedy added as the two headed for the exit.
When they were finally gone, I slouched into the couch and looked up at the ceiling, wondering how the hell I was ever going to feel okay again.