Re: 401; 2:05
Nina's eyes snapped open, quick and alert, and she rolled off of her mattress and padded out of her room. It was dark, but the air was uneasy, like when she knew there was a hit out on her but she didn't know where it was coming from yet. Her hand had found her gun before she had even fully gotten up, and she pointed it loosely at the ground as her eyes darted around the apartment, taking in the stillness. She picked up a baggy black shirt from where it had been laid over a chair and slipped it on over her sports bra, intending to venture into the hallway just to check things. Something gave her pause, however, and she slipped back into her room and pulled out an old baseball cap, which she felt compelled to tuck her entire ponytail up into. As she crept towards the door, she caught a glimpse of the reflection of the room in the darkness of the window. It was-- just that. The reflection of the room. Nina wasn't there.
Checking the hallway was suddenly pushed down her list of priorities. Nina took two steps towards the window, scanning it for any signs of her reflection and already compiling a list of possible explanations. The city lights were bright. It was possible that they were shining in just the wrong place, but Nina ruled it out after taking another step and seeing the dim outline of the front door that should have been directly behind her. Narrowing her eyes at the window, she stalked over to the wall and flicked on the light switch. There she was again. She flicked the light switch on and off two more times, testing her hastily developed theory. Each time, her reflection disappeared when the room became dim again.
Well. That could be useful.
Nina immediately knew what she was going to use whatever this was for. If this meant she was crazy, she was dead anyway and it wouldn't matter if she was wrong and got caught. She gathered two knives, gloves, and a set of lockpicks, palmed one of the knives, and slipped the rest of it into the pockets of her sweatpants. The gun she tucked into the back of its holster, where it was covered by her shirt. She kept to the side of the hallway as she padded lightly towards the stairs. By checking back through forum posts, she had found out that Inspector Luthur lived in apartment #401, and that was exactly where she headed.
The fourth floor was silent and empty when she arrived, and Nina slipped her gloves out of her pocket and onto her hands and set to work on the lock. Leave no trace, that was the goal, the plan. She needed to get inside, she needed food, she needed money--
No, that wasn't right. That wasn't right at all. Nina's hands stilled for a moment around the lock. All she needed was information. To see if the Inspector was really who he said he was, to see if he was a threat. That was all.
Nina carefully turned her lockpicks and the lock clicked. She opened the door and stepped into the apartment, noting the dim light and the absence of her appearance in the window again. At first, it seemed like there was no furniture in the room, but a heartbeat later, she spotted it shoved up against the walls, creating a large empty area in the center. An arena? Something had taken place here that had required space. Deciding to secure the apartment first, she turned around to shut the door. And stopped. There were notes. All over the back of the door, little things about the building and its occupants. Clippings too, about the deaths, the tenants, and little trivial incidents that had occurred over the years. The first one she spotted had the number 1002 written across the top. Vaughn, E's sister, Dangerous, Assault. That was the woman who had accused the girl who had posted from 1007 of being insane.
Oh, the Inspector was doing research. This was too good. Nina didn't care about most of the things Luther had deemed to be of consequence, but she did search until she found the note that had the room number 305 written on it. He had marked her as new and then written Nina, but that was all.
She smiled, empty and predatory. Good. A quick scan of the rest of the residents showed that he had marked P3 to keep a watch on. D2 was marked up as well, someone named Max's name was underlined. These were people he mistrusted, people she should watch for as well.