The only sounds that could be heard in Clementine's house were the ticking of the grandfather clock and the gentle clink of spoons against bowls. There was a new tension in the air between Clementine and Paige, and both thought it was their own fault whilst still being angry at the other. Paige was the first to break the silence.
"Look, I'm sorry for... everything." Clementine's gaze fell to her bowl of soup, but Paige continued anyway. "I should have told you the truth, I just... I knew if I told you, you'd never look at me the same again."
"And I shouldn't have left you in Scetton." Clementine met Paige's eyes and they reached a mutual, unspoken understanding.
"I told you the truth so you might understand why I need to see what's inside the office -"
"Paige, no. Is that the only reason you came inside?"
"No," Paige lied. "but we need to talk about this. Properly."
"Fine. I'm not going to let you go in."
"Clementine, this - I know that you're hurting, and you're missing Michael. But keeping the truth locked away in that office is not going to change anything."
"Paige -"
"I know how much he meant to you, because he meant a lot to me too. But you have a choice to do the right thing here. Michael didn't. He didn't have a choice in being homeless, and he didn't have a choice in how he died. But you do! You have a choice to avenge him and stop the same thing happening to other people. Do you think he would have wanted anything else?"
"Paige..."
"Me and Michael, we promised to always help each other. Let me keep my promise."
"He deserves better, I know. But -"
"He deserves justice. Please, Clementine. Let's just finish what he started."
And after a long moment of hesitation, she finally complied. She took a ring of keys from the kitchen counter and led Paige up the stairs, hoping she was doing the right thing.
***
Walking into the office was somewhat anti-climactic; Paige had spent so long wishing to see what was inside this room, and it was just a desk, computer and cupboards layered in dust.
"Okay," Paige murmured, looking around. "I'm gonna look through those cupboards. Can you check the computer?"
Clementine nodded and Paige checked inside the cupboard, not needing to look very far to find what she was looking for.
"Clem! Over here, there's a safe."
Clementine helped her lift it out of the cupboard and they placed it on the desk. A heavy metal box locked with a four-digit code had to be what they were looking for.
"Do you know the code?" Paige asked. Clementine shook her head, gazing at the safe in wonder. She hadn't even known Michael had this safe, let alone known the code.
They continued searching the small room in hopes of finding a note of the number for the safe, but they had no such luck.
This number must have been so important to him that he knew he wouldn't forget it, Paige thought to herself.
She tried putting the date of Michael's birthday into the keypad, but nothing happened.
"Clementine," she said absent mindedly, "when's your birthday?"
"12th of June." she replied. "Why? You don't think -"
"Open sesame..." Paige muttered, cutting Clementine off as she heard a lock click. She reached inside and pulled out a thin wad of documents. "This is it."
She started sifting through the pile.
Birth certificate.
Bank statements.
Insurance documents.
"W - where is it?" Paige asked frantically as she finished searching through the pile. "This has nothing to do with X."
"Paige, we haven't looked through everything yet. We'll find something, don't worry."
But she did.
YOU ARE READING
X Marks the Spot
Mystery / Thriller"Realistically, the world is so much better at eradicating the good in the world than the evil. We live on a blighted star, which is full of so much beauty - but for every single good thing out there, there is a thousand bad things infinitely more p...
