Riley found out through one of his coworkers that Elise had gone out on a date with Daniel, one of the IT guys from the third floor. He was typing on his computer, waiting for a phone call, when Mike rolled his chair across the floor to his cubicle.
"Dude - you heard that Elise hooked up with Daniel last night?" Mike asked him. Riley stopped typing, and looked over at Mike, surprised.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I heard from the guys talking in the break room."
"Damn," Riley thought out loud. Mike laughed, before pushing off to roll back to his workspace.
It didn't surprise Riley that she had gone out on a date with Daniel, she was free to date whoever she wanted. He was a bit surprised that she hadn't told him, that he had to hear from someone else in the office.
Riley took out his bagged lunch from the fridge, and sat down at an empty table. He was working on his sandwich when Elise came into the room. Her face lit up as soon as she saw him, and sat across from him at the table.
"Hey Riley," She told him. "Do you know Daniel, the IT guy? We went out for a drink last night at a bar."
"Yeah, I know. Mike told me." Riley told her, handing her half of his sandwich.
"What do you think of him? Like, he seems nice enough." Elise smiled at him, taking a bite.
Riley shrugged. "Barely know him." He admitted. He'd only talked to him briefly a few times, and their conversations had all been work-related.
They moved onto other subjects after that, talking about various movies they'd seen and office gossip.
That night, Riley stayed up until two a.m reading up on a few conspiracy theories. His friend Andy, had emailed him a few links that he found of great interest. He pulled up one of the articles, scanning the page.
The article was about a family by the name of Gates who believed that a long-lost treasure was hidden somewhere in the United States. Apparently, the family had been searching for the treasure for many generations. They had been trying to decipher a clue given to them by Charles Carroll.
Riley thought the story was really interesting, although he didn't really think that treasure existed. If it did, wouldn't that family have found it after all this time? He sent an email to his friend, thanking him for the article.
Riley fired off another email before he went to bed, to the reporter that wrote the article. He told her how he was interested in the story, and was wondering if he could have more information on the Gates treasure.
Elise and Daniel started going steady that week, so Riley found himself with alot more spare time on his hands. He received an email from the reporter after a few days. She'd sent him a few scanned newspaper clippings from years ago, and included an email address for Ben Gates.
Riley printed off the articles and stuck them into his backpack. He hoped to show them to Elise at work the next time he saw her.