troubled | e.d.

five

tessa

"tess, sweetie?" mary-anne asks, breaking me from my focus on the pendulum on her desk.

"yeah, what?"

"run these records down to your father, would you? i have to be in here in case of a call," she mutters, pushing some papers in my hands and sitting back down in her office chair.

"got it," i nod and start to head my way out.

i haven't been able to dig up a lot more on ethan recently, which makes me believe that what's in that file is all i'll ever know.

that is, unless i ask him.

but i don't think i'll be doing that anytime soon.

i practically skip down the halls, happy that today is finally a nice, breezy day that's doesn't feel like it's going to suffocate me when i step outside.

my father's door is partially closed, making me furrow my eyebrows. he never closes it.

the small crack of space beckons me to come closer and listen to the muffled voices that can be heard through it.

"your best interest right now is to lay low, do as i say, and don't get involved anymore, okay dolan?"

dolan. he's talking to ethan.

"fine," i hear him sigh. "but what if she—"

"no what ifs. your sister is fine. she's safe. but because of her, you could've faced jail time."

"it's not her fault," i hear his harsh voice say. "she was the victim. it was his fault that i'm here."

his sister? he has a sister? who's "he"?

"look, i get it, okay?" i hear my dad's reasoning voice come out, the one he uses with difficult clients. "you were protecting her. but right now she doesn't need any more protecting. so focus on yourself and stay out of trouble, dammit."

"i am staying out of trouble, richard!" i hear him exclaim desperately. "that's why i'm here."

"don't ruin this for yourself, ethan."

"what if they find out about the—"

"shh. no. your case is closed. stop discussing it."

"i'm just saying, it could be reopened at any moment if the wrong person steps forward."

i gasp a little, and i hear silence settle in the room. i quietly clap my hand over my mouth and curse myself for blowing my cover.

"hello?" i hear my father call out.

i gingerly push open the door, an innocent smile on my face as i walk in and avoid ethan's eyes.
"these are records that mary-anne wants you to look over."

"tessa," his voice is low, warning. "did you hear anything that we were just discussing?"

i quickly shake my head. too quickly.
"no. i didn't."

a relived look floods my dad's features, and he nods. "okay, thank you. that will be all."

turning around, i accidentally meet ethan's eyes.
they're sharp and narrowed. he knows i was lying. he knows i heard all of it.

i quickly shuffle out, staring at my shoes until i'm certain time out of sight.

but i leave with a sense of wondering.
what did ethan do? it has to be something with assault, because he mentioned protecting his sister.

my mind flickers to the key ring my father carries in his pocket. it has the key to every single file cabinet in this building, even the most confidential ones.

if i could steal it, find ethan's file, and figure out what he did, i could be totally at rest from trying to piece it together myself.

but he never lets go of that key ring.
and the only one who has duplicates is daryl.

daryl, that's it!

before i can even think of a plan of action, i'm already speeding towards his office on the other wing of the building.

when i get there, i check to see if he's on a phone call by peeking my head through the door. when i see that he's not, i enter fully.

"tess!" he exclaims. "what a nice surprise. what's up?"

"i need um..." i stumble, trying to rack my brain.

he raises his eyebrows.

"i need the keys to the vending machine."

"oh? why?"

"my snickers bar got stuck in there," i lie off rather quickly. "and i... really need it."

"okay, well," he sighs, looking at the clock. "i'm expecting a call at any moment. can it wait?"

"you can just give me the key?" i offer.

a shot in the dark.

he narrows his eyes at me like he's trying to read into my weird behavior. then, with a slow hand, he reaches for the keys around his belt loop.

"can i trust you?"

"you've known me for 18 years. i'm your goddaughter."

"okay, fine," he throws the ring in my direction, and i catch it gracefully. "but bring it back in ten minutes."

i try not to look to relived as i thank him, and immediately flee down the hall and into a supply closet where i know i'll be alone.

the cabinets are ultimately organized by crime, and if my suspicions are correct, i can find the exact key i need, take it off the ring, and he won't ever notice.

i fumble around with them in the dim closet.

i skip past the ones with the small labels such as robbery, hit and run, murder in the third degree, stolen property, and vandalism.

i finally find the one i'm looking for.

assault/assault with weapon.

i say a quick thank you to the sky and slip the key off the ring and into my bra before exiting the closet quietly and quickly. to make it more believable, i stop by the vending machine and grab buy a snickers bar.

when i get back to daryl's office, he's on a call, but smiles at me and hold out his hand. i throw the keys into it, and he mouths, get it?

i hold up the snickers bar triumphantly, and he gives me a little fist pump.

but little does he— or anyone— know...

i have bigger things.