By Day and by Night

Chapter 2- Questions

Sunday mornings were reserved for sleeping in at the Newman house. Adelae awoke to the hum of the intro music for the local news station drifting in from down the hall. She ambled into the living room to join her husband, yawning and stretching, rubbing her eyes before taking her place on the couch, where Varrin pulled her against his side.

A bright, polished newscaster sat behind his mahogany desk with a stack of paper before him, talking loudly with an over enthusiastc voice. "This dangerous attack has caused tension and a surge in the police force's determination to put an end to these self-proclaimed 'villains'. Their vigilante methods are putting lives at risk, and officials say that so far their targets, people in positions of power like our Mayor, do not appear to be chosen in any particular order. No further leads have been uncovered in this case."

"In other news, Validor orphanage received a very generous donation again last night. Here's Karen on-site with director Michelle. Karen?"

"Thank you, Wendy. Well folks, Director Michelle was pleasantly surprised to discover a large duffle bag filled with stacks of one hundred dollar bills stashed by the back door after midnight last night. After the authorities made a brief investigation concluding that the connection between the robbery last night at Imports Bank and the money donated anonymously could not be confirmed, the orphanage celebrated by ordering new shoes for each resident at Validor. Director Michelle would like to say a few words. Director?"

The camera panned slightly to the left to reveal an older woman with short brown-grey hair, with wrinkles around her face and decorating her hands. "Thank you Dear. I just want to say thank you to whoever did this. We've been struggling these past few months, and we are blessed to receive such a generous gift."

A small smile played across Adelae's lips. It vanished before Varrin could see it.

"It's strange," Varrin started. "A break-in at Imports bank last night, and a donation to an orphanage the next morning. This city never ceases to amaze me." He shook his head, smiling down at his wife, who tucked her face into his chest.

That evening passed uneventfully. Regardless, Adelae continued to grow in unease, suspicious of the calm and boring week. The police still had no new leads about the shooter, and Varrin gave a speech about the new healthcare initiative his counsel were working on putting to vote. Otherwise, the city stayed relatively pacified. The only thing worth mentioning on the news told the story of some playboy coming back into town after studying abroad for two years. Nikolas Radian, someone Adelae distrusted and liked to keep on her radar, hadn't done anything to warrant concern publicly so far. His father, Idger Radian however, Adelae did not like. As far as she was concerned, Idger was a manipulative businessman who could worm his way out of anything by putting pressure on the right people. He'd only once tried to put that pressure on Adelae, who had revealed in return her knowledge of some sensitive activities the man had been involved in, putting them at an impasse, and beginning the tentative understanding they had. He had been discovered to be the notorious villain called "Blunder" and publicly arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance at parole shortly after their arrangement had been established, around the time Nik had left the city two years ago. With that type, she thought cynically to herself, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Wednesday afternoon at a quarter to three, Adelae excused herself from her office, telling Gina at the front counter that she would be out of the office for a few hours. She walked the short distance to the Disidian Daily's main office and was greeted in a flurry by a receptionist, who walked her to Paul's office. 

The tiny cluttered cubicle that housed file-cabinets and crappy coffee smelled of cedarwood and a stale, sterile something that Adelae couldn't place. The bouncing golden curls of the tall, lanky man who had arranged this meeting caught her eye. She sat in the folding plastic chair opposite the desk in the cubicle space as Paul rushed around the corner, clenching a book and a file under his arm with two sloshing, steaming cups of coffee in his hands.