Ghost Kisses

Athazagoraphobia

"So let me get this straight," Etho sipped his coffee before he continued, "You met a ghost, you found out that ghost was murdered, you found secret messages about said murder, and you think that the murder had something to do with Scar?" He stared at me. I fidgeted with my sleeves.

"Yeah..." I stared at the ground and dug my nails into the edge of the couch. Etho thought for a moment, an annoyed look on his face.

"That's gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever heard." I cringed a bit. He didn't believe me.

"Etho, I swear it's true! Zedaph is real and-"

"No no no I'm not talking about that. I fully believe that he exists. I'm just saying that it's stupid to blame Scar."

"W-what?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He didn't think I was going crazy?

"Scar couldn't kill someone if he wanted to."

"But he has the files and-"

"And he's being framed. Simple as that." I stared at Etho, dumbfounded. He just continued to sip his coffee casually.

"Framed?" Etho nodded.

"The culprit stole his car right? It would make sense for them to also hide the files in his office then. If the car connects him to the case, then the files would frame him entirely, making Scar the number one suspect when he didn't do anything." I thought about that for a moment. It made a lot of sense actually. But I was still confused about something.

"Then what about the partnership logs? Why was Scar partnering with HTI?"

"You tell me. You've read the logs." I chuckled nervously.

"Actually I haven't. I thought the contents of them weren't important..." Etho sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.

"You had evidence right in front of you, and you chose to ignore it?"

"I didn't realize it was evidence!" I tried to defend myself, embarrassment clear in my tone. Etho didn't comment on it, instead choosing to just continue with his analysis.

"Well that's where you should look. Once you figure out why Scar was working with Hermitcore Tech, you'll be able to fully prove innocence. And who knows, it might have the key to more than you think. Maybe he was working on something regarding the secret project."

"You think?" Etho shrugged.

"It's possible." I stood up off the couch and headed for the door. I knew what I needed to do. There was more evidence! I had to read it! If it had any clues as to who killed Zed then I had to figure it out and-

Etho grabbed my arm.

"Where the heck do you think you're going?" I looked at him like he was an idiot. He gave me the same look.

"To find the logs? If they have evidence in them, I should look at them right away and-"

"It's two o'clock in the morning Tango."

"But the logs-"

"What good is reading them now gonna do? Zed's already been dead for years, and you look about halfway there too with the bags under your eyes. This isn't really a time sensitive matter." I froze. Etho was right. Something in me still tugged to go find the files though. I needed to solve the case. For Zedaph and Scar and Impulse. I needed to solve it. But then what?

I couldn't figure out why it was so vital for me to complete the mystery. Maybe I just wanted to prove it could be solved. But part of me also wondered if it was because I felt like I was prolonging the inevitable disappointment of not being able to solve it. Or even worse, the disappointment of Zed leaving when we did solve it.