Duskwood: And Beyond

35. First Piece of the Puzzle

ORYN

I invited Ashton inside. He refused at first but I reminded him that he owed me an explanation. He sat on the couch but he was constantly checking outside. I made some coffee for us both before taking a seat next to him.

"So... How did you know Amy?" I began.

"Well, we five years ago in Colville. She was traveling and someone stole her camera. She came to the station."

"And you kept in touch?"

He paused for a second. I could see that this was hard for him. I was good at reading people and I felt like Amy meant something to him. 

"Oryn... I am sorry for making you uncomfortable. I am also sorry about lying. But I can't talk about this... Not now." his voice was shaking slightly.

"I understand. But when you feel ready, I want to know." I understood how hard it was to talk about something like this. I decided not to push him.

While drinking our coffee, we discussed how to handle Hannah. He asked me to not tell the others. I agreed. He said he would look into it. He excused himself after finishing his cup. 

Jake arrived shortly after. Anabelle was staying with Phil as she told me, and Lilly and Jessy were staying with Dan to catch up. I was relieved that Lilly wasn't home. I told Jake about Ashton and Hannah. I also told him that I promised Ashton to not tell anyone. He told me he would not talk to him about it.

"Hey Oryn, can you find out who is selling the flowers around? Our culprit is probably planting them somewhere. If we can find out who is selling them, we might find his identity." Jake explained. 

Part of me wanted to focus on Hannah and Ashton but another part of me was happy that we were a team again. We were back to how it was with Richy. I nodded and we went to sleep.

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Jake was already gone when I woke up. I decided to get on with my work. I started searching for the flowers and I noticed that the Flower Bar was bringing specially ordered seeds. I texted Jake about it and informed him that I would be checking it out. 

Since our car was with Anabelle, I had to call a taxi. On the bright side, I got to inspect the surrounding. That was when I noticed Ashton and Hannah. They were having a heated argument in a secluded place. It was not hard to see them but they were making sure no one was hearing them. Hannah rushed off as Ashton was saying something. I took out my little notepad and wrote a reminder to call Ashton about it. 

I entered the Flower Bar, and the smell of fresh flowers surrounded me. It was refreshing and exciting to be around such smells and so many colors. I started to look around when an elderly man approached me. I told him that I was looking for some Purple Columbine.

"They sure are popular nowadays. They are very rare and they don't look good in bouquets. I can order some seeds for you?" he smiled. 

"Yes, some seeds would be great. Who else ordered them by the way?" I tried to ask as naturally as possible.

He paused before answering.

"Well, I had a young gentleman come in some time ago. He ordered some seeds as well. I don't think he was from around here."

I smiled and decided not to ask too many questions. People usually refused to answer when ı pushed them too hard. I knew that from my newspaper experiences. He excused himself to pick up his order book from the back. I took the opportunity to take his payment book. I looked through it and took some pictures of the recent pages.

He wrote my order and I decided to return home to view the images. 

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Hello everyone, 

I apologize for keeping this chapter short. I have been absent for a while because I had been dealing with some health issues. I am doing better now but it might take me some time to return. Hopefully, I will manage to upload weekly from now on. 

Thank you so much for reading :)

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