She slams her hands down on the table surface, her chair scraping against the floor as she immediately stands up,

putting her hands on her waist with the exact look of a mother who is about to drill some sense into her child’s head. I inwardly snicker.

"I cannot believe you right now! I thought you have gone past being lovesick and pathetically romantic?" Her eyes are narrowed as she seethes. They feel like the sight of a rifle aimed at me. "You really love heartbreak tears don’t you?" She is taking this a lot more seriously than I thought. I thank goodness and my lucky stars that it’s a joke. Otherwise I would be choking on my own breath right now from how she is scolding me. "It’s a joke! I didn’t forgive him. I’m not that stupid." I say with a mouthful of potatoes. The mad glint in her eyes softens only just a little.

"Are you sure?"

The chiming tone of the doorbell, along with a series of pounding raps on the door interrupts me making to answer. Is that. . . . knocking? Annie and I both look in the direction of the noise and then at each other, stiffening with tension. The knock says urgent and unfamiliar. We never even have visitors much more to even have that kind of knock on our door. Annie asks if I was expecting someone, I told her no and also ask her the same thing. She doesn’t either. Opening the door, I see two men. One holds up the badge in his wallet directly in front of my eyes. Confirming me and Annie’s earlier assumption of who they might be. My breath holds when I see it.

"FBI agent. . . detective Jerome." He introduces himself in a crisp, cold professional tone. Are you by any chance, Anita Roxy? If yes, we would like to ask you a few questions."

"I am Annie Roxy. What are you guys doing at my doorstep?" Annie comes on strong with her foxy charm energy and pushes me aside to fill the doorframe and face the officers. I can swear they were distracted by her even though I did not really see their faces, because they were silent for a few seconds like they had momentarily forgot how to speak. "Sorry for the disturbance Miss Annie Roxy." See that? They are even apologizing. This is the time when the phrase ’beauty is not everything’ can be argued. "We just want to ask you a few questions." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Annie ask, "Regarding what?"

"By our information, you are acquainted with Nate Knightley is that correct?"

"Yes, that’s correct." I mentally applaud her for acting and replying so coolly. I wouldn’t be able to do that. Lying is a necessary talent. No one would believe that she is the man’s killer. "I don’t know if you’ve heard Miss Roxy—"

"Annie." She cuts in. "Just call me Annie. Miss Roxy sounds too formal, don’t you agree?"

They sounded so happy to comply with that. "Can we talk about it inside, or somewhere else?"

"Hmmm. I was thinking about heading out before you guys came. But we can talk here if that’s what you want."

"Who was that person who answered just now?" God, why are they asking about me now? I fret.

"She is my friend. We live here together. I can’t live alone you see." Her tone tells me she is flashing them one of her killer smiles right now.

"It’s understandable. I used to have that too." All of their professionalism as detectives have all disappeared into the air like thin smoke. They chose to come inside. I knew they wouldn’t fully suggest going elsewhere. It would be stupid and completely unprofessional of them as detectives. They wouldn’t pass up on observing a crime scene for any boobs no matter how seductive.

Hold up! They don’t know that this is crime scene. Right! Get it together! I am not much of tongue slipper anyway.

Annie asks if they would like juic but they said they’d prefer water so here I am getting it.

If only I was witch who could make cauldrons of magic portions and elixirs. I would have made one that would make them forget why they came here. I take the two glasses to them. One asks how long we have been friends for, I answer seven years. They say we must really know much about each other.

"Don’t get wrong ideas. We are not lovers. I’m not gay." I wanted to smack Annie on her head for saying that. It is so unnecessary. Then the actual questioning began. "How acquainted are you with Mr Knightley?"

"I would say deeply. We were more than acquaintances." She answers truthfully.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I’m sorry. Why are questioning me about him. What is going on?"

"I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Mr Knightley has been completely MIA."

Annie stutters, "W-What does that mean?"

"He has been missing for a while now. His wife and daughter are really worried."

"What?" Annie half-yells with shock and surprise in her tone. "Why would he go missing? That can’t be right."

I too try to act a little surprise by the news.

"According to what his wife told us, he had come here to see you. That had been the reason he travelled over."

"Did you guys come here from New Jersey?" Annie suddenly asks.

"Yes. Why?"

"That means you would be going back?" Annie would now officially be on the short list of people who questions back detectives.

"Yes."

She goes on to correct. "Then tell that woman to get her facts checked and straight. He did not travel over because of me. We met by accident and reunited. It is ridiculous to say that he travelled here all because of me."

Annie does an applaudable job in being cool and playing unaware to the newsbreak of Nate’s disappearance and the fact that they know everything aout how her and Nate were lovers before. She even sheds a few tears and becomes really solemn. Asking them to do all they can to find him. And then switching to being in denial that he is not really missing and that he must be safe somewhere. They also questioned me on what I know about him and I maintain a clear narrative that sticks to Annie’s.

The fact that he had come here could not be denied. She admits that they hooked up, pointing out severally that love wasn’t a crime. And that she does not know of him after that. The two had left without suspecting a single thing.

*****ONE WEEK LATER*****

GWENETH

I am on my bed staring at the ceiling and counting sheep. It does not work to put me to sleep like it always does before because my head is heavy with contradicting thoughts.

They are jumbled up like too much clothes forced to fit into an already full luggage.

My brother being sick and the detectives coming to our apartment to see Annie is not as

terrifying as what happened after that. I I push back the covers and get up from the bed. I was careful to not wake Annie who is sleeping on the other side of the bed and snoring. I take her laptop and go to the sitting room. I open the laptop, placing it on the table.

I sit crossed-legged on the floor facing it. I pull up an email that says I should come tomorrow for an interview.

Not tomorrow, later today since it’s already 1am. I resume staring at it like it is a death sentence the way I have been doing for days now after Harriet Yates told me the terrifying news of how she submitted my application on my behalf to Crimson Group as a potential for the job position of the president’s personal secretary. She had nosily went behind my back to do that. It might seem like a really good deed and that she is looking out for me but it is not. I badly wanted to scream at her when she told me. Being laid off was not as bad as this.

It might as well just be a death sentence because it means I will be seeing him again. Working with him if it goes well.

It was the payday at work nearly a week ago and something dreadful had come along with my monthly salary.

I was the very first to be laid off. Harriet had announced what she had done like it was good news.

I cannot rule out that it is though.

Harriet knew that me being fired from Bill and Julie’s Co would be like the end of a corporate life for me because I did not have a great standard certification like Laurel, Raymond and the others. Which is why she had gone out of her way like that to recommend me as a potential secretary to Calyx Lamont.

She said she put in a good word for me with his assistant and that I would most likely get the job as a personal secretary to him which is a problem to me as much as it is a solution because Calyx is my nightmare. I wonder if he knows about me being recommended. Life is so ridiculous. Pushing me back to someone I had ran away from.