My shoulder’s sagged. “You’re right. If that were the case, we would be going to Ld for no reason. It would be aplete waste of time.”


    Ava tapped one finger against her mouth, seemingly lost in thought. Then, her eyes brightened with excitement.


    My heart lifted with hope. “I know that look,” I said. “You have an idea.”


    A proud smile crossed her face. “I do.” She paused for dramatic effect.


    I rushed to her and grabbed her hands. “Well, don’t leave me hanging here. Tell me.”


    “We trick Chloe into telling us where his body is buried,” she said proudly. “Or even showing us.”


    I paused as I thought it over. “That’s so crazy it just might work.”


    ***


    “I’ll see you soon,” I told Ava as we parted ways outside my apartment building.


    We hugged and then went in opposite directions. Ava was headed to Celeste to finalize our ns, and I still had to go to work today. On the walk over, I tilted my face up to the morning sun, and I felt lighter than I’ve had for a long time. I knew that my improved mood had something to do with having an actual n to follow. I was a detailed oriented person, and I always felt better when there was a n.


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    But as I got closer to work, my anxiety spiked. After the weird mood and conversation with Alexanderst night, I wasn’t looking forward to spending the whole work day with him. But I was lucky. Alexander didn’te into the office all morning. I spent the day catching up on replying to emails and filing. For lunch, I had a piece of dry toast and an apple, afraid that anything more would upset my stomach.


    Alexander didn’te into the office until one in the afternoon. He seemed distracted and nodded at me when he walked past my desk. Then, he spent the rest of the day in his office with Gai. He didn’t give me any instructions, so I figured that I pretty much had a free day. Besides, I had stayedtest night, so I had earned an easy work day.


    At five, Alexander told me that I could go home. I jumped up and gathered my things. It was the first time in a long time that I was leaving work at a reasonable hour. I walked home, and on the way, I passed by the same twenty–four hour pharmacy that I had almost gone tost night. Richard had said that the medicine he had given was from Mike, so I wanted to rece it.


    Fifteen minutester, I walked out of the drugstore with stic bags full of stomach medicine. I bought even more than Richard had given me since I wanted to thank Mike for thinking ahead and having all that medicine on standby.


    Back at my apartment, I whipped up a quick dinner of chicken noodle soup and freshly baked buttered bread. After I ate and cleaned the kitchen, I went upstairs and knocked on Mike’s door.


    He opened it and when he saw me, his face broke into a kind smile. “Hi, Olivia. What’s up?”


    I handed him the shopping bags full of stomach pills. “I wanted to give you these.<i>” </i>


    Mike opened the bag, and a look of confusion came over his face when


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    he saw the contents. “Um, why are you giving me a bunch of medicine?”


    “Richard had given me some of your stomach pillsst night because I felt sick,” I exined. “I felt horrible. I couldn’t sleep. But your medicine saved me. I bought more to rece the medicine I had used.”


    Mike was still staring at me with confusion, but then realization came over his features, and he nodded. “Oh, that’s right. I remember Richarding herest night. You’ll have to excuse my poor memory. That’s what happens when you get old, you start forgetting things.” He chuckled good–naturedly and winked.


    “You’re not old,” I assured him.


    In the back of my mind, I was thinking how working for Alexander was physically and mentally exhausting. That was probably why Mike had forgotten about Richarding to himst night to ask for medicine. He had probably been half asleep at the time.


    “Come in,” Mike said, gesturing to me in his apartment. “Would you like a drink?”


    “I’m alright, thank you,” I replied. “I actually just finished…”


    But I trailed off. Alexander came out of one of the bedrooms, and the sight of him made my head spin. He was wearing a maroon colored robe, reading sses, and he had a ck,rge book in his hand. My boss’s dark hair was tousled, but that just made him even more attractive. What had Mike and Alexander been doing before I got here?


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