Page 18 of Whiskey & Wreckage

Silence.

Then I frown. “Why do you sound out of breath?”

Another pause. Longer this time.

“…Have you ever changed your locks?”

I blink. “Come again?”

“The maintenance guy said he wouldn’t be able to do it for a few days,” she says, like this is completely reasonable. “So I made him give me the supplies and told him I’d handle it myself.”

“Oh my God.”

“I watched a YouTube video!” she defends, huffing. “It looked super easy. Now I’m sitting in a pile of screws, the deadbolt is in pieces, and I may or may not have stabbed the wall.”

“Step away from the door,” I mutter, already reaching for my keys.

“I’m fine,” she insists. “Totally fine. Just… possibly one wrong twist away from accidentally booby-trapping the hallway.”

“Poppy.”

“What?”

“Stay put. I’m coming over.”

“You don’t even know where I live.”

I’m already halfway out the door. “Wanna bet?”

There’s a pause. “You’re such a stalker.”

“I’m a private investigator,” I remind her.

“Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that.” She hangs up, but not before I hear the tiniest trace of a smile in her voice.

And yeah,I’m already in my truck.

By the time I pull into her complex, I’m equal parts irritated and… amused. Mostly amused, but I’m trying really hard to suppress that part because it’ll only encourage her.

I knock. No answer.

I knock again. “Poppy, open the door before you end up on the six o’clock news.”

A second later, the door cracks open two inches. Her face peeks out, flushed and a little sweaty, hair wild like she’s been in battle. Because apparently, she has. “I told you I had it handled,” she says defensively.

I raise an eyebrow. “You’re bleeding.”

“I nicked my finger. It’s barely a scratch.”

“There’s a Band-Aid hanging off your pinky.”

“It adds character.”

I don’t respond. I just push the door the rest of the way open and step inside.

It’s… a scene.

The floor is covered in tools and hardware. Screws, washers, a manual she clearly didn’t read, and what I’m pretty sure used to be the original deadbolt, now in three pieces. A YouTube tutorial is still playing on her laptop, paused at a step that she clearly skipped five steps ago.

---