After a week passed by with plain research assignments instead of political interviews, Alice sat in front of her office computer and typed her drafts speedily. I hope everything's alright with Mira. It must've been an extreme family emergency for her to not come to work for several days. I'm not used to being the only person in the office suite while Ace is out in the field.

Once her report was finished, she opened a web browser tab and began searching for her past articles from overseas. It's amazing how the default search engine here easily lists my articles in the top five results every time I search. The redhead crossed her fingers together and reread her works. Everything that happened in these articles is from overseas. Who would actually travel to each of these locations, take a photo, and write notes on the back?

Alice looked at the photos again. Maybe these are just stock photos found online. But who would do this to me? Someone with a vengeance? The only thing in common between all these cases is that I did the bulk of the fieldwork and subsequently published these articles. The cases aren't related to each other either. Should I ask Chan for help? I haven't talked to her at all ever since my plane landed. Or what if the reporter I met at Jesse Glenn's press conference did this? He seems to know a lot about me and Grandfather, but I don't know who he is at all.

Suddenly, there was an incoming video call request on her phone. "Hello? Marucho? Is something—"

Instead of getting any response, Alice saw her familiar agent friends standing with other coworkers while other staff placed a huge cake and other food on several tables. The blond director was offscreen, but his voice echoed around the room. "All the food for the morning shift is here! There will be more food for people working later shifts, which we will bring over much later."

This food must be for Employee Appreciation Day. I would've attended if not for Mira's emergency and my mystery package. Seeing that this looked like an accidental call, the redhead was about to hang up until someone's hair brushed up on the camera. "What's going on?"

"Alice, I'm sorry!" Runo backed away from the camera, in which the screen then went black before it later revealed the bluenette holding the camera in her hands. Everyone else behind Runo waved their hands. "I had to change the camera settings. I wish you were here! HR said that consultants are eligible for Employee Appreciation Day benefits too. We can save you some food, if you'd like."

"Are you sure? I don't want to make things awkward."

"Don't worry about it. I'll grab one of everything from the dining tables and put it all in a large takeout box. Oh wait—are we bothering you?! And you look paler than the last time I saw you."

"Not at all! I'm by myself at work today due to schedule conflicts and coworker emergencies. I've also been busy with interviewing some election candidates. All the work and nervousness are catching up to me."

Dan entered the screen while eating a hotdog. "Who do you think is the better candidate? Runo doesn't like any of them because they all paid for smear ads to attack the opponent."

"Well, I can't do anything about campaign commercials. I've never heard about Hydron Lyons or Jesse Glenn until recently, but I heard that Jesse is the incumbent running for reelection. He's definitely much better at answering questions and speaking in public."

Shun poured himself a glass of juice and he commented, "I don't like either one over the other, but I personally think that Hydron is relying too much on his parents' name to push his campaign. He's never served in an office at the local, city, or state level before. His father currently works in city hall, and his mother owns a renowned fashion business."

"I didn't know Hydron's mom ran a fashion business," the brunet commented.

"That's because his mother kept her maiden name, so people don't think they're related at first. And I should clarify that it's not really a 'fashion' business in the typical sense. His mother's company produces casual clothes, sportswear, accessories...you name it."

"Nothing to do with fast fashion, right?" the bluenette asked. "What about Jesse Glenn?"

Alice shook her head. "Nothing out of the ordinary for him. He's extremely experienced and not a stranger to politics at all."

"That just means he's desperate to climb up the political ladder. All this talk is making me hungry. We'll talk to you next time, Alice!"

"Enjoy your food!" The redhead reluctantly waved goodbye and hung up, only to get a text notification shortly afterwards. Shun wants to talk over the phone... I guess I can spare a few minutes. Alice dialed his number and waited. "Your text sounded urgent."

"Firstly, I wanted to apologize for the surprise video call while you're at work. That was Runo's idea. She really wanted you to be a part of the festivities, but I didn't want it to seem like we made you feel excluded while we get free food."

"Shun, it's completely fine. I was about to go insane from being the only person physically in the office right now. You had something important to ask me?"

"Sort of. Just checking in to see if everything is going well for you at work."

"This isn't the first time you've asked me that. I'm fine. I know you're worried about me getting hurt or injured again when I have my own field work, but every job has its risks. This is nothing compared to what I used to do."

"And are you content right now that you aren't doing exactly what you used to do?"

Alice paused to think about Shun's question. "I'm here now and plan to stay. I don't need to be an investigative journalist to make a difference in a developed country."

"I personally think your work in the past exceeds the achievements and expectations of today's law enforcement."

"That's because the places where my field assignments were located had almost no law and order at all."

"Which brings me back to my original question... If you like what you did in the past and felt that you were making a huge difference to the local communities, then why stay here—with all due respect—where your intellect isn't needed or fully utilized?"

"I... really don't know. I still need time to process everything that Grandfather left behind."

"Including the storage unit?"

Funny that Shun mentioned that, because the sandy blond reporter from city hall also said that same thing. "Yes, including that. I also feel that I can't just leave without seeing Lync Volan brought to justice for what he did to me."

"Understandable. Anyway, the short answer is that I do want you to stay, regardless of what career path you take."

"But why? I feel like I'm starting from scratch again. We're always too busy to meet up for anything without needing to take a day off."

"Maybe in a world with significantly less crime, then we wouldn't need to exhaust ourselves at work and can therefore have more personal time."

"Or how about let someone else do the work for you?"

That question sparked a thought in Shun's mind. It might not make a lot of sense now, but maybe there's a way to stay one step ahead of this so-called vigilante group. "I need to go. Marucho wants to hold an emergency meeting."

"Alright... Thanks for checking in on me, Shun. This definitely made me ponder about time management and possibly a newfound purpose in life."

"Glad I could help."

After hanging up, Alice clenched her phone tightly and stared blankly at her computer screen again. Regardless of where I live or work, I will not let anyone haunt me with my past.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"We have another BOLO update on Lync Volan!"

Marucho's most recent discovery prompted all relevant agents to join his abrupt meeting. Julie shared several videos on the meeting screen and explained. "Some traffic cameras captured an excellent view of Lync driving a vehicle with no plates towards an off-site storage center. We couldn't see every single storage unit he visited, but one of the more visible units is currently registered under someone named Shadow Prove."

Runo typed a few commands on her computer keyboard. "I don't have much information for this guy other than what's already on his driver's license. No current or recent occupations, either.

"There's no way he's legally unemployed," Dan argued.

Shun pulled up the location of the storage unit center and frowned. That's not far from Alice's grandfather's storage unit where she took me to last time. "Marucho, did you want us to check it out now?"

"Now is definitely better than later. These videos were recorded less than hour ago, and we haven't seen him exit yet. He might still be on the premises, assuming he didn't sneak away at a blind spot."

On their way out of the Department of Special Projects headquarters, the brunet commented, "How does Lync keep escaping every time we see him? I don't think he's on the premises anymore, but we should definitely still ask around if anyone saw him."

"I just know that we still have yet to press charges against him for attempted murder," his best friend replied.

The bluenette sighed. "That was one hell of a way to welcome her back after so many years. It feels like she doesn't want to stay because of that."

"You know as well as the rest of us that the entire city went through so many changes from high school graduation to now. Give her more time to catch up. Besides, she's still traumatized from that attempted murder. It won't go away until we arrest Lync."

All three field agents exited the parking lot and arrived at the storage unit center in fifteen minutes. After parking their vehicles along the sidewalk, the trio spoke with the manager to gain access to the premises. "Haven't we been here before?" Dan asked. "This place gives me déjà vu."

"We've been to the other side before," Shun replied. "I gave Alice a ride to the other side for her personal business, but it turns out that she was being followed by Casey Mortimer, who apparently worked with Rikimaru."

"That case felt like a long time ago..."

"Marucho closed the case because Wardington Police took over, and we had no leads afterwards." The raven-haired agent followed the GPS on his phone to where Lync was last seen on camera. "We're no longer at the typical rental storage units anymore. Right in front of us is literally a warehouse, just like where we found Rikimaru during—"

"Doors are open," Runo noted while placing a finger over her lips. "I hear talking."

The trio advanced silently until they saw the backs of two people as they talked and opened wooden crates. The silver-haired male handed something to his bluenette partner. "It looks like we got our shipment early, Mylene."

"Don't even think about redistributing the goods earlier than scheduled, Shadow. We ship these back out according to schedule. 'Hard to get' is the way this whole business plays."

"Clearly, you play hard to get in more ways than one."

Dan began typing on his phone. "Our local database doesn't have any profiles of women named 'Mylene' with blue hair."

"Maybe she dyed her hair blue," Runo complained.

Meanwhile, Shun cut open a cardboard box to see its contents. "This box has several fake purses. At least we now know that Shadow Prove has an illegal side job."

"How did you already know that these are fakes?" the other two agents asked.

"The logos are almost a match to name brands but not quite the same thing. The inside stitch work also looks very unnatural. Nine of ten counterfeit purses are made using severely underpaid labor, if not using kids already." Suddenly, he put the purse back into the box and looked around the corner. "Where did Mylene and Shadow go? They were just here. We weren't even speaking loudly at all."

Dan loaded his Glock pistol. "When I see fake goods, I arrest people." He rushed forward to the wooden crate where the two suspects were standing and screamed. "This is DSP! Shadow Prove, put your hands up!" After a moment of silence, a wooden crate suddenly fell from a tall stack, but the brunet agent dodged in time. "Can you get any more original than that?"

The crate broke into pieces as wooden scraps and random clothes flew everywhere. Shadow jumped out from above and fired his own gun. "Mylene, what do we do? These are law enforcement agents! How did they find us?"

"You must've left the door open, idiot!" The bluenette accomplice stepped out from behind another tall stack to shoot at Shun and Runo. "You'd better let the boss know that you caused this mess."

"Fine, have it your way!" The silver-haired criminal stopped shooting and ran off to another exit on the other side of the warehouse space.

Meanwhile, Runo hid behind some boxes to call headquarters while Dan and Mylene continued their gunfight. "Marucho, I have bad news. We arrived at the warehouse in question, but Shadow Prove and his associate Mylene began shooting at us."

"No sign of Lync at all?"

"The site manager basically said that as long as anyone can enter a designated code at the front gate, then they don't need to check in with a staff member. I think Lync came inside using Shadow's assigned gate code, but we haven't seen Lync so far."

"What's everyone else doing now? I'll perform an expanded search on this 'Mylene' in the meantime."

Before replying, the bluenette agent stepped out and took a shot at the female perpetrator, who was jumping from one box tower to another when she got hit. "I think I just shot Mylene. Dan will arrest her. As for Shun..." She looked around and saw him running off in the other direction. "Where are you going?!"

"Chasing after Shadow so I can ask about Lync!"

Runo sighed and helped the brunet with arresting Mylene. "Either way, we'll need backup because we just found counterfeit purses. There might be more."

"Backup will be here soon," the blond director reassured. "One of you should follow Shun. Who knows where Shadow will go?"

"Got it."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Unbeknownst to them, Alice was on the other side of the premises for personal business. She applied petroleum jelly all over the rusty lock on her grandfather's public storage unit before inserting the key. I haven't been here since someone almost tried to me the last time I was here. Here goes nothing...

The shackle popped out smoothly, allowing her to remove the padlock. The horizontal security gates opened first, followed by the rolling steel door going up.After letting her ears recover, Alice stepped inside and turned on the lights. What drew her attention immediately was a metal filing cabinet with three drawers. She opened the top drawer and found many sheets of paper inside. These are all newspaper clippings from a couple months before Grandfather passed away. What was he doing with this?

Bayview Physician Charged with Illegal Prescribing and Fraud

Two Men Arrested for Operating Fast Fashion Child Labor Sweatshop

Ghost Guns Uncovered in Several Basements in Suburban Neighborhood

The reporter took a seat on a cardboard box. Just reading these articles makes me want to faint. The lights aren't very bright either. This is an awful storage unit.

"How's your recreational reading coming along?"

Alice gasped and jumped off the box before turning around to meet the speaker. "You're the reporter that kept interrupting me during Jesse Glenn's city hall interview! How did you find me here? Are you stalking me?"

"That's the least of your problems, and I realized that I never introduced myself. I'm the Joe Brown that keeps asking interviewees all the difficult questions on camera." He threw a business card at Alice, who caught it swiftly. "But you must know what I mean, now that you read those newspaper articles."

"You're the one that send me that package of photographs with handwritten notes?"

"Don't jump to conclusions yet. Do you know why or how your grandfather died?"

"It was—" Alice paused after realizing that she couldn't remember the details of the top of her head. After scrolling through her phone, she answered, "The hospital report said his cause of death was a myocardial infarction." Instead, Joe shook his head as the redhead watched in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Out of all people, I think you would've been more suspicious of a sudden death like that. A myocardial infarction is a heart attack. Your grandfather actually died from cardiac arrest."

"What makes you say that?"

"I've seen this trick so many times before. Someone injects a huge dose of succinylcholine without your knowledge. After a few minutes, your heart completely stops. The hospital can tell you whatever they want just to sign off a death certificate, but the real autopsy would reveal cardiac arrest. But succinylcholine has a short half-life, so I wouldn't be surprised if no one found it."

"How...?!" Alice took a deep breath to gather her thoughts after hearing everything that Joe said. "How do you know this? How do I know that you didn't do it?"

"Before I answer that, do you know what he was doing prior to the unfortunate event?"

"I was told that he was running an errand in downtown."

"He was doing his own investigation of an important matter. Then he found a lead, but it turned out to be a trap that got him killed."

"Investigating what? These newspaper articles?" The redhead looked down at the papers in her hands. "What was he even doing?"

"Think back about how long you've lived and worked overseas without coming home. Do you think you know everything? I do have one compliment, though—you definitely inherited Doctor Michael's skills and traits."

That prompted Alice to look up with stern eyes.

"Your grandfather worked part-time at his usual internet service provider company while also working part-time on his investigative journalism tasks. I assume you never knew about the second part."

"Wait... so he's been doing what I've been doing? Actually no, I've been doing what he's doing! I don't even know what's happening..."

Then Joe lowered his voice and spoke calmly. "I know this isn't an easy proposal, but if you want to avenge his death—murder, to be exact—then I might be able to help you."

"But why should I believe you? You know a lot about me and my grandfather, but I don't know anything about you. You could be feeding me with lies."

"If you're still upset about me stealing your time to ask questions at the city hall press conference, then I completely understand. I didn't know how else to get your attention because I knew you'd go back to work immediately once the crowd disbanded. If you don't want my help in solving your grandfather's murder, then at least let me help you find Lync—"

"You know about Lync Volan too?! Who are you?!"

Suddenly, rapid footsteps echoed in the distance as tall shadows appeared on the ground. In a split second, a silver-haired man dashed forward. Alice tried to close the horizontal security gate first, but then let go after hearing a gunshot. To her misfortune, the bullet lodged in the metal track. The running man sprinted forward, grabbed the redhead by her clavicle, and stood behind her. His left hand held her in a chokehold while pressing a switchblade against her neck. His right hand held a pistol aimed at the direction where he originally came from. "Drop your weapon, or the girl dies!"

The next person to appear was none other than Shun, who held his pistol with both hands aimed at Shadow. However, he wasn't expecting to see the redhead journalist at all. "Alice?!"

"Just shoot him!" she begged. "This isn't the first time we've been in this situation!"

And to no one's surprise, Joe had left the premises without a trace.