There was nothing worse than stagnation.
Her emotions had spluttered forth like an asterisk and she had walked those many paths - anticipation, horror, fear, resolution and now despair. She couldn't turn back on the promises she had made to herself now, but the assignment wasn't going anywhere, and her situation wasn't about to change either. Ash had hit a wall - hard.
Austin hated her. Heather had given up on her. She truly was at the tail-end of the hierarchy and failing in every sense of the word.
The worst part was, Heather was right. She had planned to throw away everything on a belief that was not sustainable within the Terrestrial Sphere - Austin Saunders could very well have murdered his girlfriend, and she was oblivious to whether or not that had been the case. She had taken her omniscience for granted and believed every word he had told her, as if a bell would ring out in the back of her mind if he happened to be lying. That being said, he had never explicitly affirmed or denied any involvement.
His grief could be anguish at the discovery of her body.
Whenever he was angry, it was because she was edging too close.
The possibilities whirred in her head, growing as affluent as free-flowing water, and all she could do was sit motionless and glassy-eyed as the doubts grew stronger and stronger.
He had told her his friends had suspected him. Steph had said the opposite. She hadn't believed either of them were untrustworthy, but one of them had been exaggerating or softening the blow. She felt Austin's take was more likely now that she acknowledged her own suspicions of him. Heather had planted one hell of a seed as a last-ditch attempt to get her back on track, and it was growing within her like a parasite.
"Tell me," Ash muttered.
"Sweetheart, I can't."
"Please."
Heather put down her coffee cup, with its vibrant pink stained rim, and peered across the table at Ash with a stern, albeit concerned, expression.
"I can't, and you know exactly why I can't," Heather said in exasperation. "You're a liability, Ash - plain and simple. If I give you free handouts of information, you'll blow the whole operation by revealing it where you shouldn't, and I'll have the First Sphere on my back about having to wipe the memories of my entire jurisdiction. I might end up getting demoted, and I've worked too bloody hard for too long. I'd rather go be Fallen."
Ash groaned and threw her head back. She was near tears.
The only way she was going to be able to figure any of this out was if she discovered the identity of the killer herself. The problem was, she was one individual without resources, and there was an entire police department of trained experts working in tandem to try and solve this. She threw her head down on the dining table. God, it was exhausting being this useless.
"Right, I'm going," Heather said, draining her coffee.
"You're going?" Ash echoed dismally into her arms.
"Yes - to work. Something you should also be doing, seeing as you have an active assignment, but if you're going to mope around instead, I suggest you take that bloody jacket to the dry cleaners - you've worn it nonstop for weeks now. You can wear one of my jackets in the meantime."
Ash raised her head from the dining table when she heard the door close with finality. She had been pestering Heather all night into the early hours for information and was suffering far more than her companion for it. Her eyelids were heavy and her brain fogged - it was probably why her thoughts were jerking to all these different extremes. Rather than get her jacket washed, it would probably be more productive for her to get some sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Fallen Ash
Fantasy* Complete * Book one in a series; can be read as a standalone. Austin has lost almost everything. On the day his girlfriend was declared missing, his whole life seemed to crumble - unable to face his family, or classmates, he has retreated further...
