WARNING! This story is for adult readers. It includes violence, delicate themes, sex and drugs. Each reference to real people or facts is purely random. The photos of the actresses are related to the virtual cast of the characters, used only for making the story more appealing.

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Shadows on skyscrapers

1
Our life


Her ability to amaze me was incredible. I knew that coming back home every night, she wasn’t going to be there. 
Obviously, I am sarcastic.
She was almost never there.
So, I came in. I checked that she wasn’t home, and I went out again. So, I was not going to think about anything.
But walking along Manhattan’s desolated alleys was making me even more thoughtful.
I risked being robbed several times. For a woman walking alone, robbery is the least, after all.
Rarely, like tonight, I found her waiting for me: naked in bed, under fresh sheets and with my pillow in her arms.
“Where have you been?” I hate that ironic and challenging tone, almost annoying, while she’s adding a sly and irresistible smile.
“And you?” I don’t get an answer.
It’s one of those moments she’s not even letting me undress by myself, I find her in front of me, with the white sheet wrapped around her body, on the line of her breasts, contrasting with her black hair, to watch her dropping it on the floor a second later.
“So? Should I undress you, Ruby?”
Her arms around my neck and her dark eyes looking at my lips, are softening my defenses. However, she doesn’t deserve my attentions.
“You can’t do that all the time…what perfume is this? It’s not yours.” I know her smell, and what she’s used to wear to be even more desirable.
“Would you stop questioning me? Enjoy the moment…” She’s trying to kiss me, I can feel her soft hair on my chest. I’m almost falling for it when I decide to test her.
“You smell like a man, Diana. You stink like one of those pigs you work for, just to say.” It isn’t true: I’m lying, but she doesn’t know it.
Her arms are now leaving me. So, the warmth of her breathe. Then, a quick pain on my cheek.
I try not to lose my control, when I strongly grab her wrist, her hand that just slapped me.
“Let me go, Ruby! I shouldn’t have come home tonight. I didn’t come here to get humiliated by you again!”
“Humiliating you? Me? You’re kidding me, right?”
“If you don’t like what I am, we can end it here!”
“I don’t like what you have become, it’s different!”
“I was always like this.”
“Don’t say bullshits, you know you’re saying a pile of bullshits!”
“I always had a tendency for addictions…if it wasn’t like this, I could not have stayed with you.”
“Easy to turn it against me!”
“Why? Do you want to convince me that it’s not like that?”
She thinks she’s addicted to me…she thinks that! Her! Do you understand?
I cherish such a beautiful memory of our first date, that my breath breaks when I think about it, but at the same time I feel anger and nausea, as if my love for her has drained all I had from me, when I realized I loved her.
She doesn’t speak anymore.
She wears my shirt, that I left on a chair last night, and buttons it only in the middle. But it is when I see her lifting her long hair, that I understand what she is about to do.
“Diana…please…”
“Why not? I have nothing to do here anymore.”
She walks to the bed, sitting on it, and opens the drawer of the night table.
She is taking it…she is taking that shit out…!
If I only try to get close to her and drop that shit to the floor, I already know that it would all end in crap. We arrived at the point of violence.
So, I watch her…watch that thing that rises from her nose to her brain, and that is taking her away from me…

2
Two years before oblivion


“What do we have here?”
“Firearm murder, detective” from his tone, the cop didn’t seem so sure. 
“Get off and let me see!”
The boy on the ground had a bullet hole in his chest, but some white lather mixed with blood on his mouth’s sides.
“Firearm, huhn?”
“Detective, I…”
The discussion was interrupted by a car, stopping there.
“Who informed the press?”
“I don’t…”
“Sure, you don’t know anything.”
A woman got off the car, she was very attractive, tall, with long hair. On her forties, but she looked younger.
Dressed in leather, with an open coat and a white shirt that didn’t leave space to imagination.
Behind her, there were a couple of photographers.
“Ruby Evans, my pleasure” the woman shook her hand to the detective, who however did not reply with the same courtesy.
“Diana Bitton. And I can assure you that it’s not a pleasure. Here we have a dead boy, he was just 15.”
“Could you tell me something more about this boy?”
“What can I say? Without ID, as the three others before him.”
Diana closed the zip of the cloth containing the dead body, then she waved to one of the cops, as a sign that he could take it away.
“Poor kid…can you imagine the cause of death?”
“Do you think I am a pathologist or a coroner? What seems clear, for now, is that the firearm hole is only an expedient.”
“What exactly do you mean?”
Diana got irritated by the question, getting in front of the journalist, at a few centimeters from her face.
“Listen to me carefully, Miss Evans, this is your chance to get a scoop and climb a step towards a glorious career, but for me this is very different! Now, please get off!” She tried to get away hitting the other with her shoulder, but Ruby grabbed her arm.
For a second, Diana was breathless: it was a firm but soft touch, at the same time.
“I warn you, take your hands off me! Do you know that I could place a bullet in one of your vital spots?”
Ruby let go, she was amused and fascinated at the same time, then she took a business card from her bag.
“Call me when you’re more reasonable. I know you will.”
Diana was very surprised by Ruby’s calm reaction, despite her rough tones, so she got the card with arrogance, almost ripping it off the journalist’s hand, and she walked away quickly.

The next morning, Ruby entered her office very early. She was the first, so she could dedicate part of her time to something she couldn’t take out of her head: Diana’s reaction, totally weird and out of place. It takes very little for a journalist to light the fire of curiosity, but Ruby could feel that behind it there was more, much more than the annoyance of a cop towards her category. The intention was to search information about Diana: a detective should be used to this kind of things, no? Why didn’t it seem like that? She started to search in the archive, all the articles she could find about the murders of last years, but everything was normal, apart from one thing: the homicides linked to kids have all been assigned to Diana. Not satisfied, she decided to search only her last name: “Bitton”.
What she found froze her blood, but she could not think clearly, because her phone started ringing: it was a number not saved in the phone list. 
“Hello?”
“Miss Evans? This is Diana…Diana Bitton.”
Ruby didn’t think Diana could call her, she believed it was a vain attempt, but she also was feeling very far from the reason why she left her number to the detective.
“Good morning, Miss Bitton, how can I…”
“Can we see each other?” she cut short.
“Well, I…”
“I’ll wait for you outside of the office at 8PM” the call ended. 

3
Awakening in abandonment


“What is this mess…? Damn…” I thought I set the alarm clock at 8AM, but it was ringing earlier. The technology and I don’t understand each other, sometimes.
I take the phone and I set again the alarm, putting it in silence mode, then I throw it on the night table.
I’m feeling totally stoned. I fell asleep crying, with Diana next to me, completely high…but…
“Diana…? Fuck! Fuck!”
She left. She waited that I was asleep to go out.
“Damn stupid!”
I am tired feeling helpless, and I am tired of letting her do what she wants. I am tired to reject her because I’m disgusted by what she does and with who. I want to go out and search for her, but I’m also phisically tired.
I am always late at work, if I wasn’t delivering my articles barely in time, I would have been fired a long time ago. I’m eating mostly crackers and yogurt, the only edible food that I’m able to find in the vending machine under my building. I have no time and will to cook my food. I don’t even remember the last time I cooked something, not even when Diana did. In the kitchen there is nothing out of place, and the dishes are full of dust.
This apartment is very different compared to the day we rent it. It was clean and fresh. Not only because we were used to clean it perfectly. It was a mirror of what we were and of what we have lost with time.
It was full of light, and each corner spoke of us and our love. Now the shutters are always lowered, a hostile twilight comes in, nothing romantic; the air is heavy, only changed when we lay the clothes to dry. Sun is not coming in from the windows, and in our lives.
Making this trip back in time, to what we were, doesn’t help in getting up and going searching for her. There are still some hours, after all, so I decide to close my eyes and rest as much as could allow me to go to work lucid enough. But sleep is gone, I’m only feeling that tiredness that doesn’t allow me to sleep.
I notice my phone flashing with the corner of my eye, and it seems her name is blinking on the display.
First, she goes away and then calls? Die!
Fuck! Even if the phone is not ringing, that continuous flash is bothering me, so I decide to pick up.
“What do you want?”
“Love, I had an accident.”
Since when she restarted calling me “love”, exactly? I didn’t think drugs made people sour or sweet in the blink of an eye.
An accident…should I really believe it?
“Please…I don’t even know where I am…”
“Send me your position…fuck, Diana!”
And now she starts crying like a fountain and I am not able to understand anything of what she says, between sobs and her voice mixed with alcohol.
I perfectly know by now each phase of this delirium.
“Diana, do you remember how to send me your position through the gps? Do you remember when we met the first time, and we couldn’t find each other?”
“Y-y-y-es, I remember…”
“Ok, good girl. Now put the speakerphone, so you can free your hands.”
Luckily, she calms down and sends me her damn position.
Let’s see…Central Park!
Ok, thought worse than that!
“Did you get it?”
“Yes. Don’t move, I’m coming.”

4
Secrets


Ruby went out of the office at 7.30PM, it was raining and she didn’t absolutely want to be late.
Diana had been hermetic and hurried on the phone, so she thought that such kind of woman was optimizing time, it was definitely the case of going out earlier.
She placed the handle of the umbrella under her arm, in a way that she could take out a hand mirror and check that make up and hair were ok, then she sprayed some perfume on the neck’s sides and on her wrists, finally she took her phone to spend the time before the meeting.
She thought of waiting near the building, so she could be easily found, but something didn’t go in the way planned, since at 8PM Diana had not arrived yet, and her phone started ringing.
“May I know where you are located?” she asked, annoyed.
“Exactly out of the building, in front of the entrance.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, may I know in which place you are? Please send me your position.”
“Ok…”
Ruby burst out laughing.
“Detective Bitton, I work for the New York Times, you have taken a completely wrong road!”
“Shit..! I’m really sorry!”
“Don’t worry, I will wait here, unfortunately my car is broken, otherwise I’d have reached you.”
“But with this weather, you could…” Ruby anticipated her and cut short.
“I don’t really like waiting alone in pubs and shops, I prefer staying here. I’ll be waiting.”

Diana arrived with her Ford near the Times building, then she parked.
The thick rain and the wipers didn’t allow a clear view, and while she was trying to spot Ruby, she heard someone knocking at the passenger’s window: it was her.
Diana waved at Ruby to get in the car, and she quickly closed her umbrella and got in. Despite the long waiting and the crappy weather, the journalist smiled at her.
“In the end, we made it!”
“Yes, I’m so sorry…my head is somewhere else, it was not my intention to have you waiting so long…”
“No problem, now I’m here, all for you! What did you want to talk about?”
“Well, I…”
Diana looked embarrassed for Ruby’s sentence, and the fresh perfume and the woman’s blue eyes distracted her for some moments, then she regained her focus and looked at her with a gently questioning glance.
“Do you want…” she immediately corrected herself “…Would you like to eat something?”

The fast-food Diana took Ruby was very far from the Times offices. It was a place full of teenagers, who were paying, waiting their turn, and then eating with hunger.
Ruby couldn’t help but notice that Diana was looking at them interested.
“Why are we here, exactly? Maybe this is the moment to speak about it.”
“I’m investigating in this area. The kid we have found dead the other day had a receipt coming from this place in his pocket, and some dollars.”
“Has the autopsy been done?”
“Yes, but there was no trace of food in his stomach, and he was found one hour after going out of here.”
“So, he has taken food away.”
“Exactly.”
“Probably it was not even for him…”
“Most probably. Even because there was nothing in the surroundings. I think he was taken to the place he has been found and he didn’t go there on his feet.”
Diana seemed really worried, beyond the simple investigation work, and Ruby could feel it.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Ok…” the woman was nipping a hamburger.
“What is troubling you, for real? Don’t tell me it’s because there are kids involved. You always witness such cases, even worse than that, crueler. You’re used to…I believe, please correct me if I’m wrong, that you might be personally involved in this case…”
The last sentence made Diana losing her control, she could not swallow, since the bite got stuck in her windpipe, preventing her to breathe: Ruby, realizing the severity of the whole situation, jumped towards the woman and started making the Heimlich maneuver, until she made her spitting the piece of food.
“Diana, are you ok?”
“Yes…now yes…I’m…I’m okay…”
As if it was the most natural thing in the world, the woman tightened Ruby.
“Take me away from here…”

After setting the navigator, she placed herself in the driver’s seat in Diana’s car, who was asleep for most part of the ride, with her head against the window. Now she looked extremely fragile, and she was sure the woman was weak for real: she couldn’t see her as the know-it-all and grouchy cop of their first meeting.
She wanted to talk to her, understand what happened, some terrible thing that was making her feel so bad, deepen what she knew about her, something she still was not aware of.
Her research had given only one vague result, that was not satisfying her enough. She knew that the core of what she was searching for had been expertly and deliberately hidden by the police.
Those thoughts were soon replaced by a feeling of tenderness, when she briefly glanced Diana’s face, who was now deeply asleep. She wasn’t feeling as Ruby Evans anymore, the journalist always chasing the truth, but only as a woman absorbed by another human’s anxiety.

The navigator warned that they have arrived at destination, Diana’s house, and Ruby tried to park the car gently.
“Diana? Diana, please, wake up…” she shook her shoulder lightly.
The woman saw Ruby sitting in the driver’s place and she could not understand for a second, then rationalized the situation.
“Fuck…”
“Ok, I think I have only to call a taxi now…let’s talk tomorrow!” she smiled.
“No…no. It’ so late. We are very far from your office, they will drain your money for nothing. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to work.”
“It’s not the case of bothering you.”
“No problem, come in.”

Diana’s apartment was humble but cozy. What was standing out, above all, were the several bookshelves in different places and the dim lights coming from some wall lamps, that seemed hiding the surroundings.
Ruby noticed that some frames were placed upside down and the living room was messy but in a “tidy” way: on the couch there were some clothes badly folded, but surely clean, on the small table beside there was a glass half-full of wine and a notebook with many printed sheets on top.
“I’m very sorry for the mess, really. I didn’t think I had guests.” She smiled with bitterness.
Diana was cleaning the couch, and Ruby went closer to help her, noticing that some clothes surely could not belong to the woman.
“I’m taking these.” Diana rushed, almost running towards one of the bedrooms with the door almost closed, to suddenly freeze and make her way towards her bedroom. Ruby noticed that immediately, but preferred not testing the ground, for the moment.
“Well…it seems clear to me that I’m not welcome here, despite your invitation.”
Diana turned to Ruby with the clothes still in her hands.
“You could even stop with all these compliments and be less formal.”
“Then tell me what happened to you!”
“Why, don’t you know? You surely did your research, am I wrong?”
“Are you kidding me? What do you think I could find?”
“Even too much!” Diana lightly pushed Ruby, turning on her back, but couldn’t go too far because the woman knocked against the bedroom door, opening it.
What appeared in front of her was clearly a teenager room.
“Who’s living with you? Or better, lived?”
Diana dropped the clothes on the floor, unwilling, then she put her hands on her face: she was crying silently. She didn’t want to look weak to who, in the end, was only a stranger.
“My Noa…”
“So, she was the first victim found near Central Park…she was your daughter…”

TO BE CONTINUED…