Chapter 58 Ch. 35.1
Ivanna arrived at the office the next morning earlier than most of the others. It had been a while she had, but she was used to it by now and actually loved the way the newsroom looked half-asleep in the morning, with papers stacked unevenly on desks and half-finished coffee cups sitting beside keyboards. The hum of the air conditioner filled the room. She slipped her bag onto the back of her chair and sat, opening her laptop. She hadn’t even gotten the screen awake when she heard her name.
“Ivanna,” her editor called from his office.
She stood quickly, brushing her palms against her skirt before walking toward him. He was already leaning against his desk, a folder in hand.
“So,” he said, flipping the folder shut. “What did you get out of going to Riverbend?”
She folded her arms loosely and took a breath. “Not much. One of the staff I spoke to didn’t even remember what I was asking her. The manager was polite but didn’t offer anything useful. The police haven’t found anything either. No guest has checked into that room for weeks. The last one was about three weeks ago.”
Her editor raised his brows a little. “And you’re sure you went over everything?”
“I did,” she said, nodding. She lowered her hands to her sides. “I checked the room myself. If there was anything worth finding, I’m sure the police would have picked it up already. I didn’t see anything. They reviewed the camera footage too, but it showed nothing.”
“Well,” he said, tilting his head as if weighing her words. “Not too unique then. But I hope you’ve written a captivating piece. We have to get it out before anyone else runs it. There's a press conference with the police department in charge, so most stations won't be publishing anything until after that.
“Of course,” she said quickly. “I already sent you the manuscript before I came in today.”
His mouth curved into a small smile. He put the folder down and rested his hands on the desk. “Good. Then we’ll publish it immediately.”
She nodded, forcing a small smile. “Alright.”
He waved his hand, motioning toward the door. “Go on, get settled.”
She turned and walked out, heading back to her desk. She switched on her laptop again, the screen glowing in front of her. She should have felt relief, knowing her article was about to go live, but instead, something tugged at her. There was this faint ache in her chest, like she had left something out.
She stared at her desk for a while, drumming her nails lightly against the wood. The article was written. She knew she’d put everything down, so why did she feel like something was missing? She shook her head, leaning back in her chair.
Maybe she was overthinking it. Still, she couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she had written something better than what she had just told her editor, and for some reason, she couldn’t remember what that was.
She sighed and ran a hand down her face, deciding to distract herself by clearing out her inbox. Messages from sources, promotions, newsletters she didn't remember singing up for, all waiting. She pushed through some of them, replying where she needed to, but her mind kept circling back.
She opened a blank tab, staring at it for a while before pulling up her phone. She had been putting it off, but maybe she should actually take the whole psychiatry thing seriously.
She scrolled through her contacts, searching for Dr. Howard’s number. She frowned when it wasn’t there.
“Right,” she muttered to herself. She hadn’t saved it.
She leaned back, chewing on her lip, then opened her notes app instead. That was where she had jotted it down.
Her thumb slid across the screen as she searched, but her eyes caught something that made her freeze. There, in the middle of her notes, was a title.
“Ethan × Riverbend.”
Her brows knitted together. She tapped it open.
Ethan was cleared of drugs meaning vampire rumours could either be false or real. Boss says to drop the Ethan Moreau case and gave a new one about a cleaning staff drained of blood.
Her heart began pounding heavily as she didn’t remember typing that.
Footage is corrupted, no guest in the room for three weeks, but Ethan Moreau key holder I saw on a TikTok video was found in the room.
She swallowed hard.
The TikTok video was from last week, so it means he didn’t lose the key holder until recently.
Her hand trembled a little as she scrolled further.
Cases are probably connected and draining her of blood confirms the suspicion around vampire rumours.
She leaned back in her chair, staring at the screen. She didn’t remember writing one word of it. Yet the words looked like hers, the phrasing and the shorthand was her style of jotting down important things.
Her other hand came up, pressing against her forehead. She couldn’t remember this. She couldn’t remember writing it, she couldn’t remember ever thinking about Ethan like this, but here it was, in black and white.