Talia couldn't sleep all night. The deadline, the date, and the fact that she hired a thief were all weighing on her mind. She kept trying to convince herself that hiring him was for the greater good but that wasn't working. In her semi-conscious state, she did manage to figure out how the thief managed to avoid the cameras and get into the apartment, sort of. Something else was nagging at her but she was too tired to try to hold down that thought.
She stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen.
"'Morning," Elaine said.
"Good morning," Talia said. She gave Juniper food and water then fell into a chair at the table.
Her mother looked worried. "Bad night?"
"Yes." Talia rested her head on the table. "I have a date today." She could feel her mother relax. Nerves for a first date was far better than high or low blood sugar.
"It will be fine and you'll be at the mall. If you start feeling sick you can call me or Mrs Wilson and we'll be there in less than five minutes."
"I feel sick now."
She had just over twenty-four hours until the meeting. Would Cypher come through?
"Eat some breakfast. I want you to be too full to eat any more calzones from Nicolai," Elaine said.
"You already told him not to bring any."
"Yes but teenage boys aren't known for listening to the parents of the girl they like."
"This one is. He insists he doesn't want to get on your bad side so he won't bring anymore," Talia said.
"Now I really like Nicolai. He's a smart kid," Elaine said, smiling. "But you still need to eat something."
Talia raised her head. "Could you make waffles for me?"
Elaine glanced at the clock. "Yeah. I think I have time for that. Berries or chocolate chip?"
"One of each."
"Coming right up."
Talia watched as her mother mixed the batter for the waffles.
"It isn't that I don't want you to eat things you enjoy," Elaine said.
"I know. We have a game plan that's working and you don't want another hospital visit apart from check-ups. Doesn't mean I like it," Talia said.
Elaine poured the batter into the waffle maker. "I already told Mrs Wilson that you like burritos and calzones and she says she'll try to make it work with the plan we have right now."
"I know."
"That doesn't mean you can't ever have them from him if that's what you want. Just don't make it a habit."
Talia perked up. "Really?"
Elaine nodded. "But, and this is a huge but, I have to know when and it can't be more than once a week."
"Yes!"
Elaine chuckled. "Moderation Talia. That's the key. Don't over do it. I also want to know ingredients."
"Nicolai says his mother makes them from a recipe every time."
"Why don't you ask him for it and we give it a try when your father comes back this weekend?"
"I'll send him a text now," Talia said. She sent a quick text to Nicolai asking him for the recipe.
Elaine slid a plate with waffles covered in condensed milk to Talia. "Eat quickly. I'll drop you to school before I go to the office."
Talia dug in. Her phone beeped. It was a message from Nicolai. She handed it to her mother.
"He just sent it to me."
Elaine read it. "We have all the ingredients and the instructions look simple enough. We can definitely make this work."
******
"You're in a good mood," Nicolai said when he saw her.
"Yep. My calzone ban has been lifted, with conditions of course," Talia said.
"That was fast."
"Yes but I can only have them once a week and she has to know when."
"Seems fair. So, when do you want me to bring you one?" he asked.
"Well, I've already used up my quota for this week."
"Next week then."
She nodded. "Maybe. Enough talk about food. Let's do some work," Talia said.
"Sure."
Her phone beeped twice. "Maya and Hadley won't be coming. They have a Geography field trip today."
"Right. I heard about that." Nicolai reached into his bag and took out a notebook. "I was trying to work out this question last night but I couldn't get the answer."
"Let me see."
Talia went through the question with him then gave him one to try one his own. No matter how she looked at him, she just couldn't think of him as a thief. Maybe she was just grasping at straws.
She kept checking her phone the entire day hoping for a message from either Jigsaw or Cypher. She couldn't stay still in the cafeteria.
"Talia," Miranda called. "Earth to Talia."
Talia shook her head. "Sorry. I just have a lot on my mind."
"She must still be nervous about her date today," Carter said.
Talia nodded. That was part of the reason, just not the biggest reason.
"Where's Nicolai?" Miranda asked. "I thought you told him to meet us here."
"I did." Carter looked around the room. "Maybe I should go see if someone got to him."
"No. He's right there," Talia said.
He'd just walked into the room. She decided to take her mind off her other problems and do what her mother told her to. She looked around the room to see what the reaction from the others were like.
Nicolai's entrance didn't go unnoticed, not that it was much of a surprise. She was surprised at how they were looking at him. She saw a freshman blush when he passed by her table. She saw a boy from his Physics class look away and mutter something while he stabbed at his food. One girl did move out of his way as if she was afraid of him but when he passed her, the expression on her face was not one of fear.
Was Nicolai actually liked by people? How had she not noticed that before?
The most impressive part was that Nicolai didn't seem to notice them either. He ignored every single one of them, not in a stuck up way as if he thought they were beneath him, but as if he came in the cafeteria to do something and nothing was going to distract him. Had he always looked like that?
If she had been convinced earlier that everyone hated him for some unknown reason, then what did Nicolai think the reason for him being bullied was? Everyone knew he was being harassed but no one did anything. Even she did nothing at first until it was happening right in front of her.
Talia looked down at her food unable to hold his eye contact any longer.
He sat at the table next to her, as far away from Miranda and Carter as he could.
"Are we making this a habit now?" he asked.
"You'd rather go back to your old routine? I'm sure Davis wouldn't mind," Carter said. He pointed to a table in the corner where Davis and his friends were glaring at Nicolai. It was too far away for Talia to figure out if they were jealous or not.
Nicolai shrugged. "Well, I guess this might be better."
"Might?" Miranda asked.
"Well, they don't start feeling my muscles out of the blue and hug me for no reason," Nicolai said.
"Hugs are better than punches or kicks," Talia said. She was still confused as to what she just witnessed. She picked at the food in her container.
"Hey, I've been thinking about something since last night. You look nothing like your mother," Nicolai said.
"That isn't surprising considering I'm adopted," Talia said.
"You're adopted?" Nicolai asked.
"You didn't know that?" Miranda asked.
"I thought everyone knew that," Carter said.
"I don't make a habit of digging into people's past without their permission," Nicolai said. His eyes never left Talia's. "Your parents smother you so much I thought they were your real parents."
"They are my real parents. They just had nothing to do with my birth," Talia said.
Her phone beeped again. It was a message from Jigsaw.
Jigsaw: I found your thief on another video. It's from the park.
Jigsaw sent her a few videos.
"I have to take this outside and give Juniper some water," Talia said. "I'll be back soon." She left the cafeteria and went out far enough for no one to overhear or see anything.
Talia plugged in her earbuds and pressed play. Craig Rogers was there, as well as the two men she'd seen the day before at the museum. They were almost out of the frame. A dark, hooded figure appeared with a tube container on his back. He really was wearing goggles. She couldn't hear what they were saying but she did see when the men started running after him.
She played the next clip. The men chased the hooded man, she was sure the thief was a man now, to the edge of the park. The thief tried to climb over the fence but just as he was about to jumped down to the other side, one of the men grabbed his leg and pulled and the thief fell off and landed chest first on the rail below.
Talia closed the video and turned off her phone. She didn't need to see anymore.
Jigsaw: You're looking for someone with a nasty bruise on their chest. That should narrow things down a bit. I can look some more to see if I get any closeups of his face.
Ted Lawson: Don't bother. I know who the thief is.