item of food out of my cupboards. Dried pasta, flour, sugar, coffee, rice bags had been sliced open and dumped without ceremony onto the counters. It looked like they had cleared out the fridge, dumping most of the food in the sink.
Behind me, in the living room, they had slit every pillow and every couch cushion open with a knife and pulled out the stuffing. A foot of white fluff now covered the floor of the room. They had taken every painting off the wall, flipped them around and sliced the backs open. Black powder smudges showed how they had tried to lift fingerprints.
I walked down the hallway towards my bedroom. They had pulled every single item of clothing out of my closet and dumped it in piles on the floor. In my bathroom, they had squeezed my toothpaste into the sink, and a pile of shaving cream billowed like a soft cloud on the top of my counter.
I swallowed the bile that rose in the back of my throat. Anger flowed through my veins. I felt violated, and that made me want to rage. I wanted to hit. I wanted to maim and destroy.
“Mica?” Krista called.
It took me a moment, but I swallowed all those emotions down until nothing remained on the surface. Off the ice, emotion control was something I specialized in. The only place where I let myself act on my emotions was the rink.
I walked back out to the kitchen. The second time I saw my kitchen was no less shocking than the first time.
“Holy fucking hell.” Krista’s eyes were wide as she looked around. Charlie stood behind her, holding a pile of files. Her face was white and her expression filled with sadness as she looked around.
“Welcome, ladies.” I smiled, acting like I didn’t give a shit. “Anyone need a drink?”
Two sets of shocked eyes turned towards me. I stepped over a barstool that lay on its side and pulled open my freezer drawer. To my surprise, the cops had left the unopened vodka bottle alone.
I lifted it up. “Surprised they didn’t dump this out of spite.”
“They destroyed your place.” Krista, who normally remained emotionless, sounded devastated.
“Seems that way.” I found three shot glasses in the cupboard and lined them up on the counter. Without asking if either of them would join me, I filled each shot glass.
“Mica, we need to talk,” Krista tried.
“Come here.” I motioned with my head. “Have a drink first.”
She stepped forward. I looked over her head at Charlie, who stood off to the side, her big brown eyes on my face. I wondered if she could see how I really felt inside.
“You too, Charlie. Get in here,” I said in a light tone.
She stepped up to the counter, set the files down and picked up her shot glass. Her honey-blonde hair was coming out of her messy braid.
“To life.” I raised my glass before tossing back the burning liquid. After drinking all night with Andrusha, and operating on an empty stomach, no food and limited sleep, my body almost rebelled against the shot.
Krista did her shot and then went into work mode.
“Want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
I watched as Charlie sniffed her shot and then gingerly put it to her lips. She tipped her head back and for a second I thought she might cough. She swallowed the entire shot, but her big brown eyes watered.
“Want another?” I asked.
Her eyes met mine, and she shook her head. For no other reason, than to see if she’d drink it, I poured her another shot.
Krista snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Petrov. Focus.”
I pulled my attention away from Charlie and looked at Krista. “I was playing poker with a friend.”
“Which friend?”
“His name is Andrusha Sokolov, and I grew up with him. I almost never see him, but we get together and hang out once in a while.”
“And?” Her voice was impatient. Out of my peripheral, I could see Charlie lift her shot glass and toss it back. I don’t know why that impressed me, but it did.
“And his place of establishment got busted. I was sleeping off my hangover in his office when the police raided the place early yesterday morning.”
“For fuck’s sake, Mica.” Krista looked pissed. “Do I even want to know what kind of establishment he runs?”
For the first time in my life, I lied to Krista. “As far as I know, he runs a mineral oil shipping business. Anything else he does, I