While humming a song, Valentine entered the hacienda's courtyard and passing by the fountain, he walked towards the canteen and the terrace beyond. Dressed in nothing but a T-shirt and gym shorts, carrying a towel over his shoulder and wearing flip-flops, he had goose bumps and someone else wouldn't have said no to a sweatshirt but not him. He thought that the mountains' morning freshness was invigorating and even encouraged him to do some exercise before work or after when he was on night shift. Finishing crossing the canteen, he went out on the upper patio and descended the stairs while continuing to whistle cheerfully. A few more seconds and he would be in the pool…

But as he got downstairs, he was surprised to see Jocelyn lying on one of the deckchairs, seeming to be sleeping soundly while a group of white-faced capuchins was busy around the patio, making Valentine roll his eyes. It was not uncommon for the monkeys to come down from their trees and walk around, and sometimes inside, the hacienda whenever there was hardly anyone in the vicinity. Many thought they were cute when they first saw them, but like many other monkeys, capuchins were thieves, acting when people weren't looking, and the cooks hated them while everyone living on the estate had been instructed to lock up behind them if they didn't want to have their bedrooms ransacked by monkeys in search of food. Those before Valentine's eyes drank the water from the swimming pool, had fun running after each other at its edge or playing on the deckchairs while one inspected Jocelyn a little too closely from the guard's perspective. Said monkey was a stride away from her deckchair and looking at her neck. Suddenly, it jumped on the deckchair but just as he was about to pilfer the chain, Valentine clapped his hands loudly, stopping it dead in its tracks.

"Hey!" he shouted.

All the Capuchins froze and turned to him, before scampering away, running towards the trees between the residence and the neighbouring paddocks and letting out barks and coughing-like sounds.

Awakened by the noise, Jocelyn shifted in her deckchair, moaned and asked:

"Owen… what time is it?"

She opened her eyes, noticed first that the sun had risen and then noticed that Valentine was there. When she saw his towel and flip-flops, she knew it had to be a little after seven, when he sometimes swam lengths in the pool.

"Valentine. Is it morning already?"

He replied with a nod. Having a headache, she put a hand on her forehead.

"You're alright?" He inquired as he moved closer.

"Owen and I were drinking. I felt tired all of a sudden, I laid down and fell asleep straight away. Have you seen him?"

"No."

"He left like that? He could have at least brought me back inside. What a boor."

"There were Capuchins. One of them almost stole your chain."

She wanted to sit on the side of the deckchair, but seeing shards of glass at the base of the small table near it, Valentine warned her:

"Careful. There is a broken glass. One of them must have knocked it over."

Jocelyn looked down and saw the broken glass, the one Owen had been drinking from. She sighed and shifted in order to not put her feet on the shards. She then looked at the small table, where her glass and the candle remained. And nothing else.

Nothing else?!

She got up to take a better look and there was indeed nothing else. A feel of worry took over her and she crouched down to look frantically under and around the small table, making sure to put her knees and hands on safe spots. At that moment, she saw that the bottle of wine had been put under her deckchair and that it was empty, but her concerns were about something else.

"Jocelyn?" The guard asked.

"My wedding ring!" She exclaimed in a panicked voice. "I put it on the table. Those damn monkeys stole it!"

"Hey, we'll find it," he assured her in a calm, soothing voice. "They went that way," he added, pointing to the line of trees near the fences. "I'll look under the trees."

"Thank you, Valentine.

He then walked around the pool and went into the bushes in search of the lost wedding ring. On the other side of the pool, Austin had just come down the stairs and was walking towards Jocelyn. The ACU commander noticed that she was dishevelled and looked like death warmed up.

"Joel," she greeted him.

When he saw the bottle of wine, Austin's face frowned, his arms crossed, and his mouth let out a sigh.

"Jocelyn. Did you get drunk again?" he asked, not without annoyance.

"I only had one drink," she said defensively. "And when I fell asleep, that bottle was far from empty," she assured him.

"And who emptied it and put it there? The Capuchins? You were with Grady? Where is he?" the ACU commander asked, his tone growing more inquisitive.

"I don't know. Maybe he preferred to not wake me and went back to his room."

Austin then grabbed the remaining glass and held it up to his nose.

"Maybe this, maybe that… You're just lucky you didn't get eaten," he pointed out while sniffing the glass' interior.

As he smelled nothing particular but alcohol, the commander put the glass back on the table.

"Do I need to remind you that one of the Homalocephale was killed by a jaguar a few months ago?" he added.

"Come on. He couldn't have left me like that if he was aware of that kind of danger."

"I'm not sure of anything, but his attitude and that of Mrs. Dearing have been rather strange these past few days. We have to watch them closely. If I were you, I would make sure everything is in order in your office."

He then changed the subject of conversation.

"Wheatley and his men will land in the afternoon," he informed her. "They are expected at Alajuela's base. The convoy should arrive here at the end of the day."

"Okay, thanks Joel."

"Jocelyn. Have a shower and put on some new clothes. If you're still in that state when Wheatley will arrive, I'm afraid he'll interpret it as another mockery from InGen. We have to make sure he's well received.

Jocelyn nodded weakly and looked towards the trees.