Haunting-Adeline

Daya whips around, grabbing the bo le of Grey Goose si ng on the
counter. "This calls for a celebratory shot. We can finally bring jus ce to
Gigi. Even if Frank is dead, at least the world will know that he was a piece
of shit.”
I grin, a weird mix of emo on clogging my throat. I'm thrilled that we
solved her case. But I'm also sad. And I'm struggling to pin down why
exactly. This murder inves ga on consumed a large part of my life for the
past several months. And le ng it go almost feels like losing a small piece
of myself.
"We s ll don't know who hid the watch," I muse before taking the shot.
My face screws up from the taste. I don't care what anyone says. Alcohol
tastes like shit when it's not mixed with something. I will die on that hill.
But I do relish in the burn as it slides down my throat and se les in my
stomach, fire blooming and warming me from the inside out.
I scoot the shot glass back to her, signaling another.
Daya glances at me, and what looks like shame is clouded in her sage
eyes.
"What?" I ask flatly.
She points towards my refilled shot glass before shoo ng hers back. I
follow suit. This me it feels like this shot is to gain courage. For what,
apparently only Daya knows.
"So, I uh, Frank’s note wasn’t the only one I sent in," Daya starts,
hesita on prominent in her expression. Her hand li s to fiddle with her
nose ring, but she catches herself and twists her fingers together instead.
"Okay," I say, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. She's being weird. And not
the kind of weird that involves us taking our pants off and dancing to I'm a
Barbie Girl at three o'clock in the morning while drinking boxed wine.
That’s only happened once, but we both woke up the next morning with
regrets.
She sucks in a deep breath, and I'm tempted to tell her that we're
sharing the same oxygen—she's not going to find any par cles in there
that will give her superpowers and make her brave. I'd know, because I
want to run and hide from whatever she's about to say.
She picks up the manilla envelope and slides out two more pieces of
paper. Shoo ng one last glance my way, she sets down the documents and
we both read them over.