The Shadow

Part 3

A few days later I arrived at Cafe Nero with a man from work named Will. Lunch used to be the only times I would see Nina so I ended up thinking about her a lot more at this time of day. I was reminiscing about her with Will, who had only met her a few times but was very sympathetic and who stopped me getting too upset before we had to return to work. Today we were discussing the young baby Nina had recently adopted who had now not only lost both her birth parents but also one of her adoptive mothers. This made me think of Sally and remember the strange events from a few days ago.

"I don't know how Sally's coping," I babbled. "I don't think she's handling it too well. I had the weirdest conversation with her the other day. She wants to investigate Nina's death, like we're in a Scooby-Doo cartoon. I thought she was joking before but she's really trying to convince me now."

To my surprise, Will replied "You never know, it could be fun. This might be Sally's weird way of grieving - everyone has one. Maybe we wouldn't actually solve Nina's murder but it could help her - and you - to work through it. Plus it would be something to do other than spiral into depression, which I have seen happen many times when someone's loved one passes away." His eyes lit up. "Besides, wouldn't it be amazing if we did hunt down the bitch that killed her?"

I hadn't expected this at all. Will was usually so level-headed and rational. Although he did make a good argument, and he looked so excited about it. Maybe he was closer to Nina than I had realised, or maybe this was a much better idea than I had originally thought and him (being the logical one) pointing that out meant we had to put this plan into action.Ten minutes later I found myself calling Sally and confirming I would join her with the amateur investigation. She was overjoyed that I had 'got Will on board' too - this is what I told her. When I arrived at work the next morning Will had recruited 3 more people named Janet, Patrick and Dmitri. The group was complete.