Did you do this?
Myra stepped out into the backyard, and into the air thick with the salivating smell of roast meat.
And although it was still bright and early in the morning, the empty bottles of alcohol were beginning to pile up.
She discreetly looked around but did not see the Professor. She had suspected he left immediately.
She had a suspicion that he would be unable to look his friends in the eye after what they had done.
Did the man have a double personality then? How could he be a black sheep and a saint at the same time?
“Hey. You got through to him?” Atlas turned when he saw her.
She felt a stab of guilt as she looked into his eyes.
“No,” She said, looking away. If she was going to start lying to everyone from now on, she had to make sure she did not do so unnecessarily.
Her lies had to be for important things only.
He was looking at her with concern now, and she knew he might attempt to hug her.
She took a step back.
She had not become so morally bankrupt. There was still only so far she could go.
“Are you OK?” Atlas asked, his eyes showing a hint of surprise at the way she was acting.
“No. I don’t feel well.”
“Oh.” Atlas closed the distance between them. “We'd better get you back to your room to rest then. Do you need anything?”
“I’d rather go home.”
He stopped, “Home? Everyone will be here till the end of today.” He smiled, “And everyone is eager to form a friendship with the woman who shot down a charging grizzly bear.”
“Maybe another time.” She smiled awkwardly.
“That means you’ll go out with me again?” His eyes were bright and excited, and she wondered whether she truly deserved all the bad things that had happened to her so far, because deep within she was also not a good person.
Before she could think of a response that would not give him false hope but also not hurt him, she saw Lica marching angrily towards them.
She frowned.
She did not want anything to disturb this new peace she carried around, and was desperate to protect it from anyone that might crush it.
Atlas followed the direction of her eyes, and he too frowned.
“Come say hi to my parents before you leave.”
“Another time,” she said, and he stopped now, his brows raised in confusion.
But she could not face his parents, especially his mother. It would be like facing her mother after she had done something wrong as a child.
She took his hand and squeezed it. “I’ll find my way home,” She said,
“What? I brought you here.”
“If the maid is desperate to get back to work, you should let her.” Lica stopped before them, looking at Myra with a condescending grin. “That’s enough luxury for one day..”
Myra looked at her and let her eyes fall to her feet.
She frowned. Lica's shoes were similar to the ones she had on, similar to the prints she had found.
She looked up again.
That was still weak evidence, especially when the bullet did not match the young woman’s hunting gun.
She suddenly did not want to stay in this enemy camp for one more minute.
Someone here did not mind murdering her. It was most likely Lica, but since she was not sure, everyone was a suspect in her eyes.
She turned to Atlas and saw he wanted to argue further that she stay, but Lica placed her hand on his chest at that moment, “Let her go. I have to talk to you about something anyway.”
Myra chuckled and turned around even as she heard Atlas push Lica off behind her.
She hurried out, her purse around her shoulder.
Her head was bent on her phone, booking a ride on her way down the driveway, when she heard the horn go off.
She looked up, nervous that it was Atlas.
But a man dressed in a chauffeur’s uniform got down and nodded at her. “Mr Quill asked to drop you home.”
“Oh,” she said, hesitated a little and got in the backseat.
She leaned her head against the window, relieved that she would have some quiet time to think before she got home.
But even when she was less than thirty minutes away from the billionaire complex, she still did not have any more answers to all her life troubles than she had before she got into the car.
But at least she still had that peace with her.
Peace that made her want to sleep, what would be her first good sleep in two weeks.
But as soon as she stepped down from the car, her phone began to ring.
She nodded at the driver and watched him drive away as she pulled her phone out of her purse.
“Did you do this?” Her father’s voice came in loud from the other end of the phone.
Myra froze.
Did the man have some type of hidden gadget on her? Had he tapped her phone?
“What?”
“Come to the Precinct, now.”
“But it’s bright out and anyone from this complex could see me there,” she whispered into the phone.
“I don’t care. It cannot get worse than this.”
“What happened?” She was genuinely confused.
“I am tempted to ask you where you have been, but I would not bring myself so low. If you had sent in your report I should know your every move.”
“This is the second day in a row I would demand your report.” Her father went on in his rant and Myra took the phone off her ear to send Greg a text without hanging up.
She placed the phone against her ear and caught the last of her father’s words, “..wear a mask and scarf if you have to, but I want you in my office at this minute.”
Then the call ended before she could get another word in.
Her phone vibrated that same minute.
It was a response from Greg about what had her father so worked up, and the more she read, the more she smiled.