By Day and by Night

Chapter 4- Disaster Relief

An urgent news report flashed onto the screen that evening while Varrin and Adelae ate dinner. The reporter announced that there'd been an explosion at the home of an unnamed CEO, and that there were no leads thus far as to was behind the attack, nor how extensive the damage was. They only suspected that it may be linked to the previous attacks that week, at which they also mentioned "the Mayor and his wife," though at this point their commentary sounded more like conjecture. They ended the news update by flashing a phone number across the screen that anyone with information could use. 

The news footage showed a mansion engulfed in flames with firefighters on the scene. Adelae cringed. Apparently they'd found one body so far, charred beyond recognition, and were still searching for the rest.

"That the Campos' House." Varrin murmured to Adelae. "I got a call about that ten minutes ago."

Adelae stiffened, momentarily surprised that her husband recognized the house of the Campos family. "Mm." She replied, her throat suddenly feeling tight. Varrin hugged her close against his side, unsuspecting that the pain in her voice was the result of possibly losing a colleague rather than compassion for the friends and family of the deceased.

Adelae's eyes unfocused from the TV. Were any of her suspects prone to arson or known to have an affinity for explosions? Or did this add suspects to her list?

****

The following afternoon, a notification on her phone alerted her to another news report. She opened it immediately, unmuting the update.

"Authorities are now confirming that the charred remains of the fire have been identified as Leo Campos, the owner of the property and CEO of Disidian Pharmaceutical. The family of the victim is being treated at Lancaster Hospital for minor burns and is unavailable for comment. The cause of the explosion is still unknown."

Adelae turned her eyes away from the screen and back to the laptop before her. Leo had many valuable resources at his disposal, and last she'd heard he couldn't die. Some sort of early experimentation with the Miracle Pill had gone wrong— making him heal from any wound. Either he had a friend in the morgue that helped him come up with a false corpse so he could fake his own death and disappear, or this assassin knew how to kill him. Adelae shuddered at the thought. If Leo wasn't safe with his advanced healing abilities, no one would be.

Adelae realized she'd been staring at the same screen, the same paragraph for the last five minutes. She pushed the laptop away from herself in frustration. A little red light lit up on the office phone on the corner of her desk. Adelae pressed the intercom button with her off-hand, looking down at her still-wrapped arm. "Yes, Brenna?"

The receptionist sounded hassled, "There's a Mr. Howell here to see you? I've called security, he's insistent-"

Adelae closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "It's alright, I've been expecting him. Send him up please."

"Oh— uh, okay." Click.

Adelae smoothed her skirt and slowly pulled her laptop back towards her. She crossed her ankles and folded her hands in front of her as well as she could with the bandaging, the practiced image of poise.

Connor burst in breathlessly. His glasses sat askew on his face with dark bags visible underneath, one pant leg slightly turned up and his jacket was open and wrinkled. Words poured out of his mouth before he'd come to a complete stop. "Have you seen the news?"

"Yes. Close the door, please."

Her demeanor confused him. "Then you know Mr. Campos is-"

"Yes. The door?"