Accueil / My Landlady Tried to Frame Me, but the Comments Saved Me / Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

Chapter 1

"Nina, sign Claire's move-out form for her."Linda Walsh, my landlady, stood outside the door and held the form out to me.Her other hand rested on a silver suitcase at her feet.It was a large case. A small padlock hung from the zipper, and a dark brown smear clung to the edge of the clasp.That smear of color was why I didn't dare reach for the paper.Linda pushed the form closer."She's already moved out. Her things are packed. All that's left is this signature."I didn't take it. "When did Claire move out?"Linda hesitated half a beat."Last night. She had a flight to catch and was in a rush. She didn't have time to tell you.""The day before yesterday, she told me her pay hadn't come through, that she couldn't afford the next three months' rent, and that she wanted to ask you for a few extra days."Linda pulled the paper back, and the politeness went out of her voice. "Then I don't know what to tell you. All I know is she told me she was done renting."More lines drifted across my

Chapter 2

Mrs. Boyd called after her. "Linda, what's that supposed to mean?"Linda straightened up and said, loudly, "Just a joke."She dragged the suitcase toward the elevator. This time she didn't ask for my help.The wheels caught and stuttered over the tiles.I held the door and didn't follow.The comments drifted past.[Follow her.][Not too close. Get it on video.][Don't take the elevator. From the stairwell you can see which floor she goes to.]I opened the camera and filmed her through the security door.The elevator doors closed. The numbers dropped from five to one, paused, then lit up at B1.My heart sank.There was a row of storage rooms in our basement.Most tenants didn't have keys. Only landlords and building management had access.I called Claire. Her phone was still off.Our last texts were from three days ago.Claire: Nina, I might be late tonight. The landlady says she's bringing people to see the place. It's annoying.I had written back: You haven't given notice, have you?S

Chapter 3

By the time the officers arrived, Linda was gone from the door.There were two of them, Officer Chandler and Officer Jennings.Chandler had me tell it from the beginning. After looking at my photo of the form, he asked, "She wanted you to sign in her place?""Yes. I didn't."Jennings glanced into the apartment. "Claire's things are still here?"I took them into the bedroom.Claire's bed was still unmade.An unopened sleep mask lay by the pillow. A half-finished cup of boba sat on the desk, gone sour.Her favorite white shirt hung in the closet.She wouldn't have left these behind.Chandler took photos and asked, "Where's Ms. Walsh now?""I don't know. She took the silver suitcase down to B1, then came back and pounded on my door."Jennings called building management.Hugh, the property manager, arrived sweating. "The basement cameras went out three days ago. They haven't been fixed."Chandler's pen stopped. "The day Claire went missing?"Hugh's voice grew less certain. "It's an old bui

Chapter 4

I was taken to the station to give a statement.Chandler sat across from me. "Tell me again what happened the night Claire disappeared."I gathered my thoughts. "A little after seven, we were both home. Claire was bringing in the laundry when Linda showed up with people who wanted to see the apartment. Claire still had two months left on her lease, so she asked why Linda hadn't given her any notice. Linda just said it was her apartment and she could show it to whoever she wanted."Chandler wrote as I spoke."Then I went to shower. When I came out, Claire wasn't there. I assumed she'd gone back to the bedroom. At 11, when I went to bed, she still hadn't come back. I called and texted her. Nothing."Chandler asked, "Where do you think she might have gone?""At the time, I thought she'd gone to see her ex, Kyle Chapman. They'd broken up, but he owed money to online lenders and kept pressuring her to take out loans for him. He'd come around and made scenes before."Chandler asked, "Ms. Wal

Chapter 5

Chandler reached for Linda's phone. She clutched it and wouldn't let go.Jennings said, "You just played evidence in this case in front of everyone. You need to hand it over."Linda tried to snatch it back. "That's private!"Mrs. Lane lunged at her."My daughter is gone, and you're talking about privacy?""Who says she's gone?" Linda roared back. "The police haven't said she's dead, and every one of you is already burying her?"Mrs. Lane's crying stopped. My head snapped up.Only then did Linda realize what she had let slip. She shut her mouth.Chandler seized on her slip at once. "Nobody here has said anything about death."Linda backpedaled. "It was just a figure of speech.""Come with us."Linda was taken into the interview room.Mrs. Lane sat on the bench with her face in her hands. The hand that had slapped me was still trembling.It was a long time before she looked up. "I'm sorry. When I heard Claire's voice, I lost my head. I shouldn't have hit you."I didn't answer.My phone b

Chapter 6

Claire's phone had been in the water. The tech team worked on it all night and recovered some of the data.The next morning Chandler called me in. "Take a look at this."On the screen was a shaky video filmed from a low angle. Claire must have been filming with the phone hidden in her hand.In it, Linda stood in the doorway of our living room. "I told you, I'm selling this place. You're out by the end of the month."Claire was almost shouting. "The lease runs through December. If you throw us out now, you owe us our deposit and two months' rent."Linda scoffed. "A girl from out of town, and you think you're going to take me to court?""I'll call the police and report you to the rental platform. Bring one more person to see this place, and I'll post everything online: the illegal partitions, the tax evasion, the deposits you keep."Linda pointed at the camera. "Claire, don't push your luck."She reached for the phone.The image went wild.Then Claire was shouting. "What are you doing? L

Chapter 7

The day Claire's autopsy results came back, it rained hard.Chandler gave no details. Mrs. Lane came out leaning on the wall. After a few steps, she suddenly grabbed my hand. "Claire didn't die from the fall. She suffocated."Her nails dug into the back of my hand. "The medical examiner said she was still breathing when she was put in the suitcase. She was in there a long time."Rain hammered the metal awning over the station door, fast and dull.All I could think about was whether Claire had knocked like that too, over and over, when she was shut inside the suitcase.Linda soon changed her story. She admitted that Claire had only been unconscious after the fall, and that she had heard movement inside the suitcase. She had been afraid Claire would wake up and report her, so she dragged the case down to the basement anyway.She cried as she insisted, "I was terrified. I didn't want her to die. If I'd known she was alive, I would have saved her."Mrs. Lane picked up a paper cup from the

Chapter 8

The drive held more than a dozen videos Claire had filmed in secret.The earliest videos showed the illegal conversion and overcharging. Linda had cut a three-bedroom apartment into six units without leaving a fire escape route, tampered with the meter, and charged double for utilities.Several others showed Linda arguing with tenants during apartment viewings.The most important one was from the night Claire disappeared.The phone must have been set low on the bookshelf. The camera looked up into the living room.Linda stood in the living room, pointing at Claire. "Go ahead and report me. See if the platform believes you over me."Claire said, "I've already sent everything to the city housing department."Linda froze. "You sent it? Take it back!""I can't."Linda lunged for her phone. In the struggle Claire hit the shoe cabinet and went down.She was still moving, holding the back of her head, trying to sit up. "I'm calling the police."Linda stood panting for a few seconds. Then she

Chapter 9

In the visiting room, Linda had lost weight. Her hair was plastered to her scalp and her face was gray.The moment she saw Mrs. Lane, she pressed herself against the glass, crying. "Mrs. Lane."Mrs. Lane sat down. I sat beside her.Seeing me there, Linda paused before she spoke. "Mrs. Lane, I'm sorry."Mrs. Lane said nothing."I really didn't mean to. I lost my head for a moment. Claire was so stubborn. She was going to report me, and I would have lost the apartment I spent half my life paying for."Mrs. Lane only said, "So you killed her."Linda slapped the table, her handcuffs rattling. "I didn't want to kill her! I just wanted her to stop shouting. I never thought it would end like this.""She was alive when you put her in that suitcase."Linda looked away at once."I didn't know."I reminded her. "The lid moved." Linda whipped around to me. "Shut up!"The guard rapped on the glass. Linda didn't dare hit the table again. She turned back to Mrs. Lane and begged, "Mrs. Lane, you're a

Chapter 10

The day I moved out, Mrs. Lane came to see me off with boxes of homemade pastries. "For the road."She watched the movers load the last box onto the truck."Don't rent an illegally subdivided place again. And if anything happens, don't be afraid to call the police." I nodded.She took a set of keys out of her bag.Claire's.The pink kitten keychain was worn."This is for you."I didn't dare take it. She pressed the keys into my hand."It isn't a keepsake. It's a reminder. From now on, no matter who asks you to sign for someone else, carry someone else's things, or take responsibility for someone else, don't do it."I closed my hand around the keys. The kitten dug into my palm. "I'll remember."Mrs. Lane looked up at the building."I took Claire's ashes home yesterday."My throat tightened. "She probably didn't like it here.""She didn't. She always complained about the damp. Said the laundry never dried when it rained."Mrs. Lane managed a smile."I put her next to her father. He died

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