Orion stared at her.
She didn't stare back. She stayed silent, looking at the door while her heart thumped louder than the silence.
"What is," His words paused after every word, his voice a mix of judgement and denial, "going on with you guys?"
He didn't wait for her answer, however.
He snatched away the picture that Sameul had handed her, making her gasp.
His jaw dropped. "Why a garden? Secret meet? HUH?! Oh wait. OH WAIT YOU LOVE GARDENS!" He frowned and looked at her questioningly. "Are you guys...falling for—"
"NO!" She snapped then cleared her throat. "I meant, no, why would you say that?" A subtle scowl appeared on her face as her nose wrinkled. "Also, give that back", she said as she snatched the picture.
"Oh no way, there's no way. Why did he pat your head and gave you a specific thing that you like? Why did you go speechless? What was he doing with you to know all that? What was he doing before he came to me?" He blurted out in one breath.
"I don't know why he patted me." She shrugged carelessly. "Perhaps, he's just one of those flirty guys."
"How did he know you love gardening; you love gardens?"
"Well we were talking in the kitch—"
"With Aunt? Right?" His interruption made Wren annoyed.
Wren sighed. "Well no, not with aun—"
"ALONE?!"
"Alone."
He had a horrified face while she had an expressionless one, with a subtle wrinkle between her eyebrows.
"SO YOU GUYS WERE ALONE", he repeated as a lot of thoughts flooded into his mind. He tried to talk out the necessary things as he calmed himself a little. "So, you two, were alone, spending time with your sweet talks, before I did the work. Wren, don't forget we have a murderer roaming in the town. You don't want to be alone with one of our suspects, do you?"
Her jaw clenched with frustration.
"You were literally a sloth until I SENT you a client! So, you have no right to suspect anything that happened when you were asleep! I know that face and I know what you are thinking. Well snap out of those thoughts because I actually invited him inside for a reason."
She took a deep breath before continuing. "I invited him; I investigated him. And I," her control on her anger slipped, "WAS THE ONE WHO GOT YOUR LAZY UNEMPLOYED ASS A CLIENT!" She felt all her emotions slipping. She remembered every moment since the morning and felt a tingle in her eye.
"You don't know the pressure", she spoke as her voice gradually decreased and she pressed her eyes before the tears came out, "you don't know the pressure I am in." She said as the thought of the mysterious note in the morning lingered in her mind. She took a deep breath as she stayed composed.
"What kind of investigations did you do?" He asked slowly. Hearing the question, a small proud smile drew on her face.
"Glad you finally asked. First, I made him come through the soil wet from the night's dew. And here's the print he made." She reached out for the drawing in her pocket. "You will see that it neither matches to the murderer's print that you showed last night, nor does it match the other print of the innocent. He was wearing complete different shoes than yesterday."
She smiled. "This did not help me to know if he was the Dolv or not. So, I ran another test. I threw a knife-"
"YOU THREW WHAT?" He snapped, horrified. Was his sister a murderer too, he couldn't help but think.
"I threw a knife. The hilt was aimed towards him to ensure he wouldn't get hurt. I threw by holding the blade so got this cut here." She demonstrated her bandaged hand. "He caught it, which raised my suspicion by his skill because a normal civilian would have dodged or shouted."
Orion facepalmed. "So, when you felt he is the Dolv, you sent him to me?"
She rolled her eyes at his ungratefulness. Why do I work so hard for him?
"The opposite actually. I was surprised when he ran to me to see if my hand was okay. He was scared of me getting a scar. His eyes didn't lie. He really was worried. And you should've seen his face when I finally showed him my wound, hah! That's not a murderer's reaction, I thought to myself. So, when he finally seemed safe for you, I sent him upstairs WITHOUT HAVING HIM STEP INSIDE THE CORRIDOR. I made sure he didn't see the interior for I didn't want him to memorise the place, in case he was a Dolv and he decided to break in some day."
She smiled with satisfaction. "See, I was correct too. You guys were alone and he didn't do anything bad. So, Sameul isn't a Dolv. And so, our suspects narrows down only to the maroon guy. And like that, I solved the case with zero risk."
Orion facepalmed again, this time shaking his head sideways with a low groan. "So stupid..." He muttered then looked at her.
"You are so stupid. Murderer doesn't only count the Dolv. Also, a RS agent calculates their moves and leaves no evidence. It is very plausible of Sameul being a RS agent too. Which—"
He paused with widened eyes. "Which also makes sense of him being attracted to you..."
"Wha–" She frowned.
"He is attracted to you. The way you worked so smartly, so unpredictabilly, he was bound to be attracted. The Red Scorpion is bound to be attracted."
...
Both stared at each other in silence until Wren finally broke the silence with a akward chuckle in denial.
"First a Dolv, then a RS agent. What will Sameul become n-next?" Her voice shook.
Her face became pale as all her worries returned. He did seem to understand the trick of not letting him come inside the halls.
She gulped. "Am I going to die?"
He shook his head. "Of course not. These are all but assumptions."
The two siblings nodded to each other.
A lot of worries came over her mind. Orion could she how her eyes suddenly stared blankly, as if her mind was elsewhere. He broke the silence. "I think..."
He paused for a moment. "I think, you will have to maintain a low profile just like me. You know, I actually didn't even try, when I was talking to Sameul. All I said was I might be able to do with enough time. I gave him no other hints."
She nodded. "Thanks..."
"Mhm."
She turned around, ready to go when Orion suddenly called out, "Are you sure you want to keep that guy's picture?"
She gave a tired smile. "Oh Sameul? Do you have something to do with the picture?"
"There might be some clues or messages, you know? Maybe even some toxic."
She stayed silent. She didn't like to suspect Sam that harshly. What if he was just a normal guy that liked her in the end?
"Fine..."
Orion took it from her in a swift then first took a smell. Then he held up the picture to the afternoon sunlight. Then he took it to his table and started doing some stuff that Wren couldn't understand.
He frowned as he realized it was just a gift. He didn't want his suspect to give his sister gifts.
"Sooo?" Wren asked worriedly. Orion shrugged.
"I don't know. I will need time. Keep it with me and go."
Wren suddenly felt something. She smirked.
Ohhh someone being protective. Ehh ok, there's no loss.
She shrugged happily.
"If it's safe, give it back to me at night~" She teased, giving him a deadline. His nostrils flared up.