Esther watched James leave before she headed straight to the records room, where all the records were kept of information and every instance in which information had been given out. She looked through the records of the latter until she found the one she was looking for.

Date: 4th May 2012

Information: CLASSIFIED

Agents Given To:

Esther was about to read the list of names when she sensed someone come into the doorway of the records room, even though she had her back to the door. When she turned, she found this to be correct: her partner was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded. "Whatcha doin'?" he asked.

"I have to solve this one, Zero," Esther said, turning back to the record, but her eyes became fixed on the window frame in front of her. "It won't leave me. Now that Bannister's brought it up again, it won't leave me alone. I have to solve it. For Isaac."

Zero came further into the room and knelt beside Esther. "You really loved Isaac, didn't you?"

"Of course." Esther didn't think of questioning or challenging Zero's rather obvious query. "He literally made me the person I am today. Even if we hadn't been romantically involved, I would have said I loved him. He was…well…he was basically the perfect guy. And I know people say they don't exist, but Isaac really was perfect."

"I see."

Zero looked down at the floor. He felt disappointed; if he had been hoping for a chance to be with Esther, it was gone now. Isaac had been "the perfect guy" and Zero was just a dull, unheroic, sometimes cantankerous agent. If given the chance, he would cherish Esther and care for her always, but he couldn't compete with "the perfect guy", even if he was dead. He wished Isaac had never existed. Perhaps then Zero would have had a chance.

Then Zero scolded himself for thinking ill of Isaac. He had helped make Esther into…well…Esther. In fact, according to her own story, Esther would never have even joined BOWCA without him. Then Zero would definitely never have even MET Esther, and just for knowing her, he was grateful.

"So you want to figure out who killed Isaac," Zero stated. "And who really leaked the information."

"If they're the same person," muttered Esther ominously as she looked back down at the file.

Agents Given To:

Stephen Bush

Ferb Fletcher

Maria Robinson

Isaac Brandt

Bev Fredson

James Williams

Esther stared at the list. "Seriously? Stephen was given the secrets and not me?"

"Focus, Esther." Zero scanned the list too. "They're all higher ranking than you."

"Who's Bev Fredson?" asked Esther, frowning. "I don't think I've heard of her."

"We can discount her."

Esther was taken aback at how quickly Zero said that. "Really? What makes you so sure?"

"She was suspended before she received the information. Something about tax fraud. Her name was still put on the list because she was intended to have received the information but she never actually got it."

"Great," sighed Esther. "So now the traitor's one of our friends? Stephen, Robin, Ferb, or James?"

"It appears so," Zero said reluctantly. "I don't like it either, but it's our only option if we're discounting the possibility that Isaac did it."

Esther glared at him. "Isaac did NOT leak those secrets, Zero!"

"I-I mean…it's our only option since we're discounting the possibility that Isaac did it."

"Thank you."

As Esther narrowed her eyes at the piece of paper, reading it through again, Zero was struck once more by how beautiful she was. Her blue eyes were focused yet full of beauty, and her long, smooth brown hair was hanging loose next to her face as she scanned the record.

Say something, Zero, said a voice in the back of his mind. Compliment her eyes or her hair or her beauty. Something. Say something!

"Your focus is admirable."

"My focus is admirable?" Esther repeated incredulously. "What does that even mean?"

You idiot.

"I j-just meant that your dedication to solving this case is very…" He searched for a suitable adjective that would not insult or patronise her. "…admirable," he finished lamely. "The way you're solving this case, four years from when it was opened, because it involves your husband and you want him to have closure so you're refusing to let it go—not that I think you should let it go, of course, it involves your husband—n-not just involves him, it's his m-murder case, and I can't stop talking, please help."

Esther giggled, to Zero's surprise. "Thank you for staying with me. I really appreciate it."

"It's okay," Zero said. "Perhaps we should look at bank account records? See if there are any large deposits."

"What?"

"Well, you said the person who leaked the information received money for it. We should check the bank accounts of those four people and see if there are any sudden large additions."

"That's a great idea!" Esther hugged Zero tightly, which took him aback, but he hugged her back.

As they moved apart, Esther looked into Zero's eyes and found herself being psychologically moved. Zero was helping her solve the case of her dead husband, which would not be a mentally easy case to solve for either of them. Even though Isaac had been Esther's husband, Esther knew that Zero had feelings for her, and she was surprised to realise that she was okay with this.

Zero awkwardly took out his iPad. His fingers flying across the screen, it only took him a few minutes to find the necessary information.

"Here's Robin's bank record. Absolutely normal." He handed the tablet to her.

Esther went through Bev's record just in case, and then Ferb's. Both of them were clear, but on both James's and Stephen's, there was a large cash deposit of ten thousand pounds and twenty thousand pounds respectively. Neither seemed like enough to gain for selling information, but it was definitely unusual for two fairly-low-paid BOWCA agents to suddenly receive amounts of money that high. She hated to even think it, but it was likely that either Stephen or James was the one who leaked the information.

"I need a break from this," Esther sighed, wiping her forehead with the back of her fingers. "It's been so stressful at work since that mission yesterday."

"Was it really yesterday?" asked Zero, surprised.

"It's now early morning, so yeah it was yesterday," Esther replied, yawning. "Remember we had fish and chips for late lunch?"

"Yeah." Zero's stomach rumbled right at that moment. It had always had great timing. "I could go for some food. D-do you want to get some breakfast?"

"Only if it's a date," teased Esther.

Zero's eyes widened. "R-really?"

Esther abandoned the joking manner and became serious. She nodded. "Yes, Zero. It's time to stop avoiding it and just give it a try. That's if you're willing. Are you?"

A beam spread across Zero's face. "Esther, there's nothing I would be more willing to do."