The Drifter

C H A P T E R 0 7

C H A P T E R S E V E N
The First Rose

There was no activity in Aidan's house the subsequent morning.

And neither were any cars displayed on the driveway. All morning I had been checking to see whether I would be able to hand back Aidan's jacket to him, but with the lack of activity viewable from the house, it seemed futile to do so, so it remained on my chair at my desk. And then I was driving to work, hoping for results from Delia's laptop and the cracking of her passwords for her social media accounts.

And with the mingled expression of relief and optimism plastered on Mr Havens' face, I assumed I was in for good news. And before I could even sit down at my desk, good news I received.

"The password has been cracked," Mr Havens articulated happily. "She seems to have a liking towards Zac Efron," was all he supplied, along with raised eyebrows as I shrugged my bag off my shoulder and placed it on the desk in front of my keyboard for the computer, finally seating myself. "The digital forensics team are currently combing through her social media along with other members of this team and they will pass on any information to us. Can I confess something to you, Addison?"

Caught off-guard, I answered with a stuttered, "S – sure. Is there something I can help you with?"

An appreciative smile spread across his lips. "As a matter of fact, there is. We've all discussed this, and we feel it's necessary to keep you in the loop with the goings on with Delia as you knew her personally, and as you are on this team with us, we're briefing you on everything we discover. As soon as the information from her social media accounts return to us from the digital forensics team, all of us will go through it, and we hope you can provide us with insight for anything. Hopefully."

"I'd be honoured to," I replied, in awe with the knowledge that I would get to be aware of everything transpiring in the investigation, and shock that I had been working for my internship for roughly two weeks and I was becoming an integral part in the team, but for not the reasons I wanted to. Anything I could get, however, I would seize it. Then I can see how the newspaper, Creek Tales, will report the crimes and I can endeavour to emulate that style. To build on my knowledge and experience for college.

Mr Havens grinned, displaying a silver tooth in the back of his mouth. It was the first time I had noticed it as I don't think I've witnessed him grin so broadly. But he seemed grateful of my willingness to help, so I couldn't help but smile back at him.

It was after a few hours of adding more files into the current database before Mr Havens barged into the room with a folder in his hand, brandishing it to every employee present. But he was focused on Mr Jackman and I, gesturing to follow him back out of the room. Picking up my phone and locking my computer so no one could access my files (standard procedure to heed at West Creek Files), I followed Mr Jackman into a nearby room that consisted of only a desk and a large mirror. An interrogation room.

A chill swept over my body as I sat next to Mr Havens – he gestured to the seat next to him – as Mr Jackman perched opposite us. I had a feeling I was sitting closer to facilitate a better vantage point for looking through any potential evidence from her social media accounts. As he opened the folder, retrieving a wad of papers with images of screenshots, he glanced at me, a frown painting his face.

"Are you okay, Addison?" he asked.

My gaze flickered towards the one-way mirror. "Is anyone watching us?" Luckily Mr Havens was situated closest to the mirror as I don't think I could have handled being so close. Despite knowing I was on the good side of everything – predominantly the law in this case – it still unnerved me as I had never found myself in an interrogation room before.