Dear Mr. Alvarsson

chapter eleven

Growden rushed into Lily Anne's shop with his briefcase and laptop hugged tightly to his chest. His eyes looked about wildly until they landed on Miss Polson in the same booth from before on the back right. The woman looked normal as ever, though he noted she'd changed her nail polish to a baby pink and had opted not to put any makeup on this morning. Her dark afro was well kept and her face was level as she caught sight of him. Growden suspected she had lowered her expectations of him drastically since their first meeting and really he couldn't blame her for doing so.

He slid into the booth in front of her and briefly acknowledged that the woman had ordered her coffee the exact same way on both occasions they had been there. Black, no cream, no sugar. When he was slightly less frantic looking, Secoiya spoke to him.

"What is it that you wanted to tell me about?"

The young man pulled out a small notepad from his briefcase and flicked to a set of chicken scratch notes that had been scribbled. The pad was a small, yellowing rectangle and unassuming by first glance. After skimming the pad with focused eyes, he looked back up at the woman and nodded.

"Well, for starters, Miss Alvarsson has a lover."

Secoiya wasn't very surprised by the information, though Adriel had never mentioned anything of the sort before. Asia was not the sort to disclose personal matters for no reason, even Adriel had said such of her.

"Right then, who is it?"

Growden nodded in thought as he continued his analysis.

"Well judging from the manner of clothes on their side of the closet, it's either a very effeminate man, or Miss Alvarsson is in a relationship with a woman."

Secoiya quirked a brow slightly and nodded for the man to go on.

"However I haven't seen the woman at any point, she hasn't been to their apartment any time in the last week though it is obvious they both live there together. Perhaps they had an argument and are currently estranged? I can't be sure."

Secoiya's eyes darkened as she flipped the piece of information around in her head. Sure, an argument which temporarily separated the two was a sound conclusion but her intuitions had her thinking that the matter was much darker. Afterall, she knew Melkior Alvarsson well enough to know that any sort of vulnerability was able to be used as an advantage and as much as she hated the idea- that matter didn't apply any less to his own children. Still, she sensed the young man wasn't finished and eyed him to let him know she was still listening.

"Oh- there's one more matter you'll want to know of."

Secoiya nodded, waiting. Hardly a soul had entered Lily Anne's this particular morning, either because there was a light rain in the forecast or because it was the middle of the work week and an odd sort of time. Miss Patima sat behind the counter, slowly filling out her wordsearch and Mr.Duboir was nowhere to be seen.

"I copied all of the files from her computer onto this hard drive."

He held up the small silver drive in his hand so she could see it and the woman's eyes glistened with a newfound excitement. He had already given her a better understanding of Asia's current situation and the possible issues she was facing but perhaps the key to whatever was going on in the Alvarsson family as a whole would be revealed directly in the drive the young man held between his fingers.

Secoiya felt a deep relief fill her at the potential for some sort of clarity and she let out a slow breath of air.

"That's brilliant, actually. Have you gone through the files yet?"

Growden shook his head, the mess of brown curls flopping about. He tucked the drive into his briefcase and then turned back to the older woman.

"Haven't got the chance yet, but I can start as soon as you'd like. What do you think so far? Not what you were looking for, ma'am?"

Secoiya smiled at the boy and shook her head.

"Dear, you've far surpassed my expectations. How about we have breakfast and discuss the matter of your receiving a bonus?"

Growden's eyes widened with mild surprise before he quickly nodded. Perhaps things were looking up for the both of them.

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Author's Note: Growden is such a golden retriever.

Comment Question: What type of magic do you think is coolest?