The Lover’s Lie | Chapter Two |

Instructions

My alarm wakes me up, showing 5:30am. I have to be at the headquarters bright and early. I change into a simple black tee and jean shorts. Looking at my reflection in the mirror, my piercing gray eyes stare straight back at me. I was going to crack the case, I knew for sure. Snapping back to reality, I make my usual breakfast of avocado toast. Then, I lace up my high-tops and head out the door. “Name?” asks the security guard posted in front of the building. “Evelyn Jones.” I reply. The headquarters - or detective agency, if you use the actual name - needed security because we have a ton of top secret things that couldn’t be released to the public eye. That’s the reason we use aliases, so it would be harder to be compromised. After clicking a few keys on his laptop, he says, “You’re free to go through.” Once I get to the building, I head towards the technology department on the third floor. Drew had texted me late last night about something that they found. The floor was alive with talking and the clicking of keyboards throughout the room. I make my way to my office. When I open the door, I find someone already there, and that someone is Rayni Salas. The head of the tech department. Mrs. Salas turns around at the sound of the door clicking shut. “Ah, Miss Jones, I have important information on your case. Come, sit.” Doing what I am told, I sit at my desk, and motion to the armchairs opposite me. I can practically feel that this is going to be big. “Well, Mr. Drew intercepted yet another message last night. It had a date and time - approximately four weeks from now - as well as a place.” She shifts in her seat, then finishes explaining. “It said to meet at ‘The Warehouse’ in our county. Unfortunately, we have more than twenty different buildings that they could be referring to.” I take a moment to let that sink in, then fold my hands on my lap, and ask. “So we have to search more than twenty buildings?” She nods grimly, leaning back. “Well, I suppose we could rule out the ones that are in business.” She thinks. “But that still leaves about 13-14 warehouses.” It did make sense to rule those out, as it would make it easier to solve. I clear my throat, then tell what to do. “Give me a list of all the warehouses in the county. Then, I want you to send two people to take a look around each of the abandoned buildings. They’ll look at night, then respond to me.” All she does after that is nods once, and leaves the room. Only mere minutes after she left, Rayni emails me a list of the potential places. I pull up a map of the area, and begin mapping them out.

Notes & Credits