Not If I Save You First

five | i spy

The man and woman in the picture were my parents on their wedding day.

No!

There's no possible way that my parents were friends with the Hawthorne's. I would've known that. My parents didn't have any friends. They had partners. They had associates. They had Grayson and me. No one else! Hell they even had enemies! 

I started searching through this woman's study in order to find anything else that involved my parents.

"Come on, Maya Hawthorne. I know the answers are in here!" I shouted.

Inconspicuously, I turned this woman's office upside down. I kept everything exactly where it was, but now I desperately needed answers.

I started rifling through the file cabinets to find anything with my parents' names on it. Vivian and Bruce Alderidge. Two names that would stand out to me. If my parents were Maya Hawthorne's favorite newlyweds back in the day, then there has to be more items including them.

After taking every certificate out of its frame, nothing proved to be useful.

None of the labels with names on them said Vivian or Bruce. Nothing with the name: Alderidge. 

I'm screwed!

My watch dinged. Archer would be home soon. He will be texting me within the next hour because he waits until his classes are done to text or call me.

"Fuck! Fuck your schedule Pumpkin King!" I shouted.

Now I have to sneak in another time and search William Hawthorne's office.

I took a picture with my phone of the picture of Maya and William Hawthorne, but I put the actually printed picture of my parents in my bag.

I wasn't leaving there without my parents.

🂧

I've never been happier today is Tuesday. Grayson and Thea have their date nights on Tuesday. It's something they've done since they started dating.

No one is allowed to see me right now. I'm three seconds away from going to a shooting range and releasing all my anger onto a target.

The picture laid on my bed in front of me. I've been staring at it since I got home. My seven of spades card was clenched between my palms.

It took me a few minutes to do something I haven't done since I was a toddler. I cried. Actually, crying doesn't describe it. I sobbed into my hands. My dad taught me that crying was a sign of weakness and vulnerability. It sounds overly sociopathic, but I didn't even cry when I found out my parents died. I remained silent, but I didn't cry. My dad would be disappointed in me if I cried over their deaths.

"Why me?" I asked myself. "Why does my family have to be meshed with the Hawthorne's?"

Composing myself, I needed to write everything down now. It was fresh in my brain.

Latest Assumptions:
-My parents could've been killed because they knew the Hawthorne's not because they were spies.
-The Hawthorne's could know about the classified files that got my parents killed.
-My parents were friends with Maya and William Hawthorne.
-Their friendship was hidden.

My assumptions mean nothing at this point.

Learning that my parents knew the Hawthorne's doesn't lead me to the killer.

Grayson and Thea were home, but the last thing I wanted was to see my brother.

I can't face him right now.