The wind was blowing lightly and the town was quiet on that cold night. Freya was trudging along the path to a grocery store, but paused when she heard a shout.
"Hey!" She looked around and her gaze rested on Luke, who was jogging towards her from the side.
"Freya, I am glad I caught you here." Luke told her with a dazzling smile after he reached her.
"Hi, I haven't seen you since the day of the town's party." She smiled back and pushed her hands into the pockets of her jacket to warm them up. She was also glad to see him, she has thought of him more than once since the party.
"True, I wanted to get your number, but I had an emergency at home, so I had to leave early, and I didn't get a chance to get it."
"What makes you think that I will give you my number so easily?" She wanted to give it to him, but she had to tease him first.
"Because I'm a funny guy." She burst out laughing and he joined her.
"Alright, funny guy. I will give it to you." He gave her his phone for her to punch in her number, and he saved it.
"Why are going to a grocery store at 9pm? You know, there has been some kidnappings in this town recently."
"I am out of tomato sauce and eggs, and I need them to make dinner." She gestured for him to follow her as she entered the grocery store.
"You need to start shopping early then." She glanced at him with raised eyebrows as she picked up a canned sauce from one of the shelves.
"What brought you out tonight?"
"I was waiting for the tow truck that I called after my car broke down a few blocks away from here when I saw you coming here, and I actually live on the next street." Freya didn't see that coming and was surprised.
"Isn't that your neighbor, Dr. David?" Luke asked looking at Dr. David who was standing behind Freya looking at some canned meat. She whirled around and saw him looking at her, he moved his gaze to the shelf in front of him and picked up a can of meat.
"Yes, that's him. What a coincidence meeting him here." Freya's heart pounded in her ears as she wondered whether he found out she was the one that broke into his house three days ago and was following her.
"Let's move to the fresh food aisle." She walked to the aisle with Luke by her side. She turned around to see if Dr. David followed her, but he didn't.
"Is there something up with you and him? You became tense since you saw him." Luke looked concerned. He glanced back at Dr. David then at Freya.
"I don't trust him, he has something to hide." She told him picking some eggs from the crates.
"I think so too, he has always looked suspicious to me. He also has a weird relationship with the Chairwoman, Clara Wilde. You may think it's a romantic one, but it isn't. They're always talking to each other in low tones and meeting where they think people won't notice, but this is a small town and people talk."
She didn't find what he said surprising because she thought that there was something off about Clara since she first met her. She may be his accomplice in kidnappings those people.
"You can't hide in a small town, that's for sure." She shook her head and tried changing the subject because she didn't want to tell Luke about what she found at Dr. David's house yet.
"Did you grow up here?"
"Yes, I've lived here all my life."
Freya was sat at her cubicle, reading through a case file on her computer. It was about a divorced husband and wife fighting a custody battle for their only son. She worked at a small law firm, The Law in another town called Willow, and was currently one of the top lawyers there.
"Freya, I want you to stop working on your current case and start working on a new one with a transfer from The Winners." Freya's boss and the firm's owner, Lydia told her as she stood in front of her cubicle with her hands gripping it. Although Lydia was strict with the rules, she also tries to be friendly and to interact with her employees, and that made them like her.
"The transfer, Gwen Walters is waiting in my office. Come with me now to meet her."
"Alright, but who will take on this case, I got it this morning." Freya gestured to the computer as she stood up from her seat and followed Lydia to her office.
"Don't worry, Alan will take care of it."
"As I've told you both earlier, you will be working on a case together." Lydia addressed Freya and Gwen after they entered her office.
"The case is about a murder. A middle-aged man, Nathan Brady was murdered in his home two days ago. He has a wife, but he is also having an affair with his younger coworker. The suspects are his wife, his girlfriend, his girlfriend's brother, and a male coworker. His wife, Nora Thorn has been accused of killing him, she has hired us to find the murderer and clear her name."
She passed them each a copy of the case file. "Here is the basic information on Mr. Brady, the rest of the information on him will be sent to your computer."
Gwen gasped when she saw the picture in her copy of the file.
"He is Percy's dad." She turned through the rest of the pages as Freya watched her carefully.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope he rests in peace." She placed her hand on her arm in a comforting gesture.
"The girlfriend's brother is James. How did he get wrapped in all this?" Gwen showed Freya James's picture inside the file.
"Now, I need you two to do your best on this case because Ms. Thorn paid good money to have her name cleared."
There was a knock on Lydia's office door. "Come in."
Her secretary, Ethan entered with Clara Wilde.