Cantrell: The Early Years, Part Five

Violated!  a Cantrell: The Early Years, Part Five Update

Wednesday a thunderstorm watered the whole of New Old Henford. Lightning strikes came fast and furious. Kayleigh found herself on edge with each loud, echoing crack of nature. She jumped, in fact. Erik had gone off to a photoshoot followed by a concert. She wished he was here. The house was larger, or so it seemed, when she was here by herself. Besides all that, she had a terrible cold.  Just days before her wedding and she felt miserable. 

Hearing the front door open, she jumped again. She was sitting at the desk in the office, just off of the dining room.  “Erik? Erik, honey, is that you?” she called out.
“Yeah, give me a minute, I’m soaking wet,” he said as he went into the laundry room. Stripping down, he grabbed a robe from the hook and placed his saturated things into the washer. Kayleigh entered the room, just as he was securing the ties on the robe. She hugged him. “Four days from now and you won’t have to hide from me.” Erik kissed her forehead.

“I think we need to settle on a cake design, don’t you? I know things get done pretty instantaneously, these days, but why cause others the stress?”
“You’re always so thoughtful toward others. It’s one of the many things I love about you.”
“You should put that cold to bed, don’t you think? The sooner we get to the end of this week, the happier we’ll both be. Sunday is the day.”
“First day of Fall . . . Can’t get here soon enough. Goodnight.”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Their strategy was to practice the dance, lightly. Over rehearsing brought its own trouble. So come the morning, the happy couple headed over to Windenburg to the disco.  They sought the early hours so they could practice without too much interference.  Today, they weren’t as lucky as other mornings. Erik began to suspect an employee let it slip that the couple were here often in the very early hours.  A crowd headed into the dance hall, just as Erik and Kayleigh arrived.  

They practiced the last portion of the dance, which was the most difficult part of it.  Then they switched to the Group wedding dance, which was simply a lot of fun. 

“Hey, are you ready for some breakfast, I hope? I’m famished about now,” Erik said.
“Me, too.”
“Let’s head over to the Kozy Kitchen, then.”

Happily, the couple slipped through the crowd and out of the Discotheque. Jumping into the Hovercraft, Erik expertly navigated them over to NewCrest. The restaurant was truly small in size, but they had good food. Kayleigh was excited to try out a new place.

Erik requested a table once they entered. Kayleigh gazed around, enjoying the beautiful pastels of the wallpaper.

They put in their breakfast order. In a short time, two steaming plates of food were placed before them. Erik sampled his Latte and then dove into his breakfast scramble.  “Is it supposed to taste like this?” Kayleigh asked as she sampled hers.
“No, it isn’t. This is the worst scramble I’ve ever had in this place or elsewhere. Please excuse me for a moment. I really hate to do this, but how are they to know the food is inferior, if nobody points it out?”  With that, He grabbed his less than half-eaten breakfast, walked across the short span to where a waiter was busy tending another table.

“I am really sorry to complain, something I’m not really given to do, but I just have to say something,” the Rocker began. “I can’t eat this.”

“So, what’s wrong with it?” the Server asked. 
“It’s gross, that’s what’s wrong with it. We’re talking thumbs down kinda gross. I think the meat has gone bad or something. It tastes off.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that, sir. I’ll just take this off of your tab.”
“That won’t be necessary, just please tell the chef it was inferior. Perhaps, that will entice them to do a better job next time.”
“Can I get you something else?”
“I don’t think so. I lost my appetite.”

“Honey, come on,” Erik said, as he paid the tab and the two returned to their home in New Old Henford. The morning was bright, and dry, which pleased both of them.   They stepped into the house and Erik gave her a look. “Something is off. Do you smell that smell?”
“You mean that mixture of body odor and urine? Look, there’s almost the remains of a green swirl of stench, do you see it?”
“Why don’t you go out back, just in case somebody is still here.”

Kayleigh went around to the backyard to check on the chickens and the horses. She brushed coats and cleaned hooves, while she waited for Erik to give her the all-clear. Worried that their home had been invaded, violated. She also worried for Erik as he might stumble upon whoever had walked into their home for whatever purpose. Worried Erik would be injured should the interloper try to fight their way out.

Then she heard Erik give a full-throated scream. This wasn’t like his signature scream he would often add to a song. The audience loved it when he did that. No, this was more of Erik being very angry, or even horrified, which was rare for him. What is wrong? She had thought for a moment, that today would be the right time for her to take a ride on Speckles. Dropping the reigns she ran full-bore into the house.

“Erik, Erik, where are you and what’s wrong? Honey are you all right?” She finally heard his call from upstairs. “Call 9-1-1, the police. We’ve been robbed!”

Hurrying up the long staircase, she reached the top at last. “What? What was taken? Oh, don’t tell me I’m afraid to know.”
Opening the door to his music room, he gestured her inward. “Look, just look. I just didn't think this day could get any worse.”
The scene that met her eyes, was the four short shelves above the upright piano. One was empty. “Oh, no. Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. It was here yesterday. I know because I took the time to carefully dust them.”

“Yes, my Best New Artist Accolade is gone.”
“I called the police as you asked.” They heard a loud bang on the front door and went down to let them in.”

“I’m Lieutenant Sherlock and this is Sergeant Watson.”
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” Erik said.
“Wait, you’re . . .”
“Watson, really, so please tell us what happened.”
 “I’m Erik Cantrell, this is my fiancée, Kayleigh Golden. We went out for a bit this morning. Early. We stopped for a bite to eat, and we just got back to realize somebody has been in our house.”

“So besides things being slightly out of order, did you find anything was missing?”
“Yes,” Erik said, slowly. “It bothers me that it bothers me. It’s just a thing, and we can’t take things with us. But it represents so much of my hard work.”

“How much is it worth?” Sgt. Watson asked.
“It’s invaluable,” Kayleigh said.

“It’s not the cost of the thing,” Erik said. “I worked hard on my music and was recognized for my efforts. There’s no monetary value to that. It’s more sentimental. A thing I hoped to leave as my family’s legacy. I’m hoping you can find it and get it back to me. Yeah, I could probably ask the Academy to replace it, but it won’t be the same as the original. It’s silly I know, but I feel violated by this.”
“Erik, did you see this?” Kayleigh said. She held open the door to their gaming room to the right of the front door.  Erik popped his head in, and the two exchanged glances, “Remington,” they chorused.

“Who’s this Remington?” Sherlock said, making a note in his little black pad.
“He’s an obsessed fan of mine. We have a sorta love-hate relationship right now. He’s leaning more toward hating me, I’m afraid.”
“It would be just like him to do this out of spite,” Kayleigh said. “Here, take a look,” she said, gesturing the police to have a look

“What is that?”
“A plate of Ambrosia. We see it as a Calling Card. Left behind to let us know he was here,” Erik explained.
“Now, that’s intimidating. We’ll get on this right away,” the Lt. said.  
“Yeah, can we get some extra surveillance on the street by chance? Sometimes I have to be away for an evening. I’m no longer comfortable leaving Kayleigh here by herself.”
“Absolutely.” Sherlock said.
“Can I get your autograph, please?” Watson said, all giddy.

“Certainly. Happy to.”

All for now. Thanks for reading!