Unravel // Van McCann

10. God-Awful Lawn Ornament

Two weeks later...

A lot happened the last two weeks. Ada was stable and moved out of the ICU so she could begin rehabilitation. She's been bed-bound for so many days she must remember how to use her motor functions. She became physically weaker but her cognitive functions have largely remained the same. She was the same person albeit more forgetful and it was hard for her to focus.

Once she was well enough, her daughter asked what happened but she couldn't remember. It was as if that day was wiped from her memory. She asked why she was in the hospital and was surprised to learn she hit her head and needed surgery.

Georgia was downright busy. As soon as she knew her mother was fine, she took the opportunity to go back to California to sort things out. She formally withdrew from university citing family and health reasons and now she's back in California packing all her things into a rental truck to drive back to Washington. It takes a few days to drive so I reckon it'll be a while before she's back. In the meantime, she asked that I help if anything urgent came up.

I hadn't reminded Georgia, but when my supervisor called to provide updates on her case, they talked about cancelling it. She had more important things to worry about and was afraid she wouldn't be able to foot the bill due to medical expenses incurred. She was hurting financially and I understood. That didn't stop me from being gutted about it. In the meantime, I was told to type my report to give to Georgia at my earliest convenience. I was dragging my feet on it because submitting this report means that I'm officially done with the case when I really wasn't mentally. I was still attached, wondering why Megan decided to stay in this woman's house in the first place.

After the cancellation, my supervisor gave me two days off to prepare for my next case which was—you guessed it—another fucking infidelity case. I almost considered putting in my two weeks' notice but Bondy convinced me otherwise.

"What're you doing? If you're gonna quit, at least find another job before leaving!" he hissed.

But he doesn't understand. I actually don't mind quitting without a job lined up. I've been working for years now and have quite a bit of money saved so I could live comfortably while I looked for my next job. The thing with work is there's no escape from it. Everyone needs money in order to survive to the point we forget to take care of ourselves and forget to enjoy life. If I quit, I could've done some traveling and gone home to visit family. Yes, I understand that having a job doesn't stop me from doing this but it's different when you don't have any responsibilities to come back to. It's a different kind of freedom.

Meanwhile, Theo has been busy since his case now includes finding Megan. Once Megan's parents were informed of their findings, this caused a public uproar and the family made another plea for Megan to come home. I watched their plea but couldn't sit through the whole thing. It was hard to see how emotionally distraught they were; they were in tears begging for their daughter to come home. It's been over a week since they played the plea across all news stations and I was surprised she hadn't been spotted yet. Where on earth is she if she hasn't come back to Ada's house yet?

That leads me to another thing. I was secretly hoping Megan would come back once it was apparent Georgia was no longer occupying the house. But it's not like Georgia was there anyway. She spent most of her day at the hospital by her mum's side. Some nights she'd sleep at the hospital and every other day, she'd come home to check on things. She didn't say if she noticed anything out of the ordinary but she was too tired to even care. Now that she's been gone for five days, I wondered if Megan came back. Surely she must wonder how Ada is doing?

-

I was sat in the car with the windows rolled down waiting for Mr. Melbourne to leave work. I was conducting surveillance after interviewing his wife who suspects he's cheating on her. She's noticed a recent uptick in late nights spent at work. This has never happened before so she suspects he's cheating. When asked about the late nights, he said he was given a huge project that has a strict deadline, but when she asked for details, he waved her off. While that's not enough proof to show that he's cheating on her, that is enough to raise suspicion. She has two children so I understand her worry. She's basically caring for their children on her own with a father who wasn't around to help.