“But I didn’t do anything…”
“Chrys, my reasoning is simple. We will look for the trigger too, of course. We’ll work together on this. But you will be the face of the investigation. It should help the others’ perception of you and you’ll be doing your task. It’s a win-win situation. That’s why I had your name removed from the schedule. You should only focus on this from now on.”
Li stands up. “That’s your second task. No compromises. If you don’t want to get involved, then fine. You don’t have to, but I won’t give you any other task.”
“I still want to do the tasks, Li,” I say.
“Good. Then if anyone won’t cooperate with your investigation, let me know and I’ll handle it. Good day.”
She goes into her office from the side door, without giving me a chance to say anything more.
I stay in the room staring out the window at that peaceful little garden.
I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to face the camp.
Chapter 14
“So what do you want to do next?” Ron asks as she cuts her chicken up into pieces.
By the time she and Giselle got home, Iris had already finished preparing baked barbecue chicken and mac and cheese. She kept them warm in the oven until they came back.
“I don’t know,” Giselle says and then eats a huge spoonful of mac and cheese with a piece of chicken on top. Giselle has a way of eating that makes it seem like she hasn’t eaten in a long time. “Do you think it’s worth it to keep checking out where you saw them? Took us hours just to walk there, and it didn’t seem like many people have been around there in a while.”
“You’re right,” Ron says, seeing Giselle nod slightly at that. Ron noticed Giselle likes hearing those kinds of words and being asked her opinion on things. “It’d take a long time to investigate with just the two of us, even if we split up. Plus, as you said, the forest there seemed pretty wild. Do you think one of them has a gift that helps them cover their tracks or something? Like, maybe they can make the plants grow back and not seem stepped on.”
Giselle nods again, more pronounced this time. “You know what? That’s probably what it is.”
“Maybe we should get some more help,” Ron says.
“I don’t know,” Giselle says. “You didn’t seem to want help the day before.”
“A lot of people in this town are searching, right?” Iris says, making both Ron and Giselle look over her way, having forgotten she was there. “But everyone seems to be doing it on their own or in small groups. That might not be the most effective way.”
“Yeah and we all work on our own because everyone here has trust issues,” Giselle says.
“I think Ron is right,” Iris says. “Maybe if you talk to Carl and the boys—”
Giselle’s eyes narrow. She stands up and walks down the hall.
Ron expects to hear the door slam, but it doesn’t. Giselle closes it quietly, which is more unnerving to Ron. It means she was wrong about Giselle. Ron read her to be the kind of person with big, explosive emotions. She likes that kind of person because they’re easier to manipulate. On the other hand, people with quiet restraint are fascinating in their own way. People like Chrys. Ron enjoyed trying to figure Chrys out. But Ron doesn’t need a puzzle right now.
Iris is still sitting at the table, but she’s not eating anymore. She has her hands in her lap, staring at Giselle’s unfinished plate. This is also quite the puzzle. She figured Iris to be the kind of person who would chase after Giselle.
“Um,” Ron says, “is Giselle angry?”
“Yes,” Iris says.
“Shouldn’t you go talk to her?”
“She doesn’t talk when she’s angry. She doesn’t listen either. So there’s no point.”
Iris gets up and takes Giselle’s plate to the kitchen sink. She sits back down and resumes eating, but at a much slower pace than before, and she had already been eating really slowly.
“Do you mind if I ask why exactly she’s angry?” Ron says.
“She probably feels like we’re ganging up on her,” Iris says. “That’s not what I intended…”
Well, at least Ron was right about something. Giselle likes to be right, and she likes to be in charge.
“Anyway,” Iris says, “I’ll talk to her a bit later. She doesn’t stay angry long.”
“What will you say to her?” Ron asks.
Iris sets down her fork. “Do you mind being the bad guy?”
“In what way?”
Ron sets down her fork too, since she’s done eating now, but Iris still has a lot of food on her plate when she gets up and brings both Ron and her own plate to the kitchen.
“I’ll wash the dishes,” Ron says.
“Don’t worry about it. I like doing it,” Iris says, her back to Ron. She turns on the faucet. “I honestly think it’s best if we get more people involved but it’s also best if Giselle knows I’m on her side. So, ya know, ya could just… go ask other people for help. It’s not like ya need Giselle’s permission. It is your intel after all.”
“And what will you tell Giselle when she finds out?”
“That I didn’t know anything about it, of course.”
“So you’re going to lie to her?”
“Lying isn’t bad if it’s for the greater good.”
Ron stares at Iris’s back as she washes the dishes. She really is turning out to be quite the puzzle too.
“Okay, well,” Ron says, “I’m just going to go for a little after-dinner walk. Don’t mind me.”
“Enjoy your walk,” Iris says.
Ron gets up and goes out the door. She pauses at the top of the stairs to drink in the cool summer air. She takes the flip phone out of her pocket and opens it. She looks at it for a while, willing a phone call or text
