Elementary, my dear Johnson

Kurt walked through the short entrance hall into the apartment proper, smiling to himself as he heard Jennifer’s footsteps close behind. He knew she wouldn’t be able to resist, the mystery of what had happened in this room was far stronger than any ethical reservations she might have. And, if they did find anything, Jennifer would be a hero for putting an end to Shawn’s evil hold on Victoria. No matter what anyone said, Kurt was certain that it was Shawn, not Dustin who was behind everything that had happened, and he also sure that this apartment, where he’d lost contact with Victoria, held the key to understanding what happened to her. Once they’d found something, they could easily fabricate a reason for being in the apartment. The smell of gas, a crying baby; Kurt was willing to lie his ass off if it meant getting Shawn out of their lives.

The hall led into a wide, open plan room. A kitchen area lined one wall to the left, the counters curving around into a breakfast bar area, stainless steel appliances and marble creating a clean and shiny appearance. Just beyond that, in the bottom corner, sat a circular dark wood dining table, with six matching chairs placed around it. All, but one, were neatly pushed in under the table, the lone anomaly sitting pulled out slightly and at an angle facing towards the wall. Beside the table two large white French doors led out to a balcony.

In the opposite corner, an ‘L’ shaped couch faced a wallpaper thin screen, adhered to the wall rather than hung or mounted. He might have mistaken it for a piece of pitch black art, were it not for the way light shimmered across the screen and a small, almost missable, red dot in the bottom right corner. Beneath it, a floating cabinet held a sound bar and nothing else. Between the couch and the TV, to one side, sat a single cushioned chair, and behind that, with enough space to swing a cue, the pool table.

As Kurt swept his eyes around the room again, he was struck by just how unlived in it seemed. It was true Shawn and Dustin had moved away, but if his father had kept this apartment, it seemed likely to Kurt that he’d have kept some of his possessions here. If someone had told him that this was a show model apartment to attract buyers, Kurt would have believed them. There was nothing to suggest that anyone had ever been here or would ever be here again. He frowned, wondering if Shawn actually had the good sense to clear out the apartment after he was done. He had hoped that Shawn’s arrogance might have led him to think that no one would ever come back to this place, but once again Shawn had seemingly played him for a fool.

“You check in here,” Jennifer suggested, Kurt jumping slightly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to look in the bedrooms.”

Kurt nodded, watching as the hot blonde ranger disappeared through one of the three doors around the room, the one closest to the pool table. Instinctively, his eyes fell to her toned, heart shaped ass impressing upon her trousers, stretching and straining the material. His gaze followed down her legs, watching her purposeful, poised strides, alluring and arousing by the very fact that her gait was confident and commanding despite being fully clothed. It was then that he noticed something. He creased his brow and hunched down, reaching out and touching the floor where Jennifer had been walking.

Deep scuff marks defaced the floor. Something here had been dragged or ground against the floor repeatedly causing groves to be etched out in the flooring. The rest of the floor was pristine except for this one area. Perhaps there had been some sort of struggle, but these didn’t look like shoe marks, and they were too wide to be made by anything thin and sharp, like a knife. It was more like something had been set there and moved back and forth repeatedly. So, maybe not a struggle…but sex. Had something been here upon which someone, Victoria and someone, had fucked?

Needing more context and information, Kurt rose from his squat and moved towards the pool table. He hadn’t initially expected the pool table to hold much answers, but it was the closest piece of furniture to the markings on the floor. It appeared to be in good condition, well looked after. All the balls were in the holes, and the cues hung on the wall behind it. As he walked along it’s length, tracing its edge with his fingers he noticed that one patch of the felt, on the edge where the cushion met the side rail, was darker than the rest.

The dark area formed an uneven semi-circle, looking like it had either dripped from above or ran down from the side. Probably just spilt cola, he assumed, or possibly…he was **** for any type of clue, so he bent over and pressed his nose to the cloth. A faint but familiar aroma of musky sweetness struck his nostrils. He stabbed out with his tongue, tasting it with just the tip and immediately recoiled. It tasted of chemicals, and soap and beneath, just a hint of Victoria’s juices. Victoria had definitely been fucked here.

Moving on from the pool table, he saw nothing of interest in the living area, and the French doors were locked. He crossed the room to the dining table, running a finger across the sleek, clean surface. As he passed, he glanced down at the lone chair, sitting out from the table. Across the centre spindles that formed the back of the chair, the wood looked lighter and cut into groves. Rather than sliced with something sharp, these marks appeared to be made by something sanding or rubbing down the wood. Rope might do that, if someone had been tied to the chair.

His heart racing, Kurt grabbed the chair and lifted it up, hoisting it in to the air and spinning it around and placing it upside down on the table. Looking closely at the bottom of the legs, he saw that the feet had cushioned pads, but they looked very worn and, in some places, eroded completely. Likely from being rubbed vigorously against the floor, such as by the pool table.

He was beginning to get some sense of what happened here. Someone had sex on the pool table and someone was tied to the chair, presumably made to watch. Knowing that Shawn had said that he wanted to teach Dustin a lesson, it sounded plausible that perhaps he tied up his little brother and made him watch as he had sex with Victoria. But that’s where his narrative broke down. Why would Victoria agree to have sex with Shawn and in front of her ex-boyfriend, no less?

Unless Victoria had believed what Shawn had said, that Dustin had set everything up. In an act of ****, perhaps she allowed Shawn to fuck her, just to prove a point to Dustin. But that didn’t sound like Victoria. Although, hadn’t she done something very similar when she’d allowed him to keep fucking her even when she knew Gavin was watching? Yet, Kurt knew there was something he was still missing. This didn’t explain why Victoria was still acting the way she was, and why she was sending pictures to a mystery number, though Kurt was all but 100% certain that ‘L’ was Shawn.

“Kurt!” Jennifer cried out. “You need to see this.”

Without question, Kurt dashed across the room, throwing himself into the bedroom, expecting that Jennifer had found another piece of the puzzle. Instead, he was greeted by a room even more bare that the one he’d been in. The king-sized bed had been stripped, nothing more than a frame and a mattress. The closet was open, empty hangers visible on the rail. The dresser and the drawers, the end tables, everything had been opened and nothing had been found. The bed room had been completely cleared of every single thing, as if someone had died there.

“Everything is empty. There’s nothing here,” Jennifer said, bowing her head with an exhale and looking into the open drawer at her feet. She pointed. “Except for that.”

Kurt stepped closer, leaning over and peering into the open drawer. Being in a drawer by itself, even though everything else had been cleared out, told Kurt that Shawn had wanted him to find it. He’d wanted Kurt to know. His eyes went wide, and swallowed hard as he saw the only thing Shawn had left behind.