"Candied" Lies 3: What's to be found

“You did what!?” CJ yelled.The room echoed with her potentially tenor voice. It was cracked, broken, just like her. The room went dead silent afterwards, so quiet that CJ could hear her racing heart.The old man didn’t even flinch. As though her scream were calming music, he stayed calm and simply kept holding the photo out, like he was offering cookies to a little girl.The policeman stepped forward, his hand on his taser. “Sir, please take a few steps back.”“Of course, officer. The further away, the clearer the sight. Explains why you had to be so far away to notice your family was gone,” he said, with a smile on his face.CJ, on the other hand, was shaking—not out of fear, but out of rage.Meanwhile:Tom was back at the office, door locked, windows shut, cooling systems maxed out, lights dimmed. He believed this was his ultimate thinking environment; the one way he could reach a flow state.His hand was hovering over the page.You’re going to write something tonight that would get you killed.He wanted to believe it was bait, prisoner mind games, but it all made too much sense to be false.He flipped back, reading every flagged line. He only flagged the ones that threatened his life, of course. Typical Tom.Every fact he’d written down wasn’t public record. He looked at the time: 11:27 p.m.He needed to do some digging, and he had to do it fast. He was going to have to go through the station’s records, which he needed permission to access. He’d have to wait until morning.But if what he found was connected to the case, waiting until morning would cost him his only lead.He left the sign on the door that read DO NOT DISTURB and locked it. He didn’t want anyone looking for him, especially Nancy; his obsessed colleague.Actually, “obsessed” didn’t quite cover it.Nancy was a young woman, his boss’s secretary. She was so obsessed with him that she’d cook meals for him and pack them in coolers that looked like they cost her a whole week’s wages. She’d clean his office and leave notes with her number and doodles that were supposed to be cute and attractive.She’d been doing this for weeks now, and not once had Tom not burned those notes while smoking.She’d bring him coffee he hadn’t asked for, often accompanied by fresh bread. She’d always notice whenever he skipped lunch and stay behind whenever he worked overtime.All her methods had been failing recently, so she began adopting more carnal methods.Tom was sure she was still around, so he quietly tiptoed down towards the door at the end of the hallway, with a stealth he only manifested during missions.He got to the records room.It was locked.“Damn it!”Just then, a very strong scent filled the air. He thought it was supposed to be perfume, but it smelled like an aromatic concoction.A shadow appeared behind him as he struggled with the door.Tom prayed and hoped it wasn’t Nancy.But then, who else could it be?“What are you looking for, oh handsome lad? What do you need?”Tom did not want to look back, but that would also mean he’d stay there until they both turned to dust.Nancy would never let him be.He finally turned around, only to see her in a short, fitted skirt, a pair of heels, a white revealing shirt, a pink hair tie, and heavy makeup.“Yup. Turning to dust would’ve been better,” Tom said out loud without meaning to.“I’m sorry, what?” Nancy said, trying to comprehend what he’d just said.“Never mind.”Tom was about to walk away, but Nancy called out:“I could get you the keys… in exchange for something, of course.”The last thing he wanted was to work with the woman he’d spent so much time avoiding, but he was running out of time.He glanced at his watch.11:50 p.m.He then thought about how much time he needed to even find the relevant files. That station had a particularly low level of organization.He had no choice.“What do you want?”“That sounded very… umm…”“Make it snappy before I change my mind.”“You’re the one who needs the favor, so you will treat me with respect, okay?”Tom was shocked she spoke like that. He wasn’t expecting that reply.She was human, of course, just like him, and she was right.“Fine,” he mumbled.“You will go on a date with me,” she said, almost emotionlessly.She knew his weakness, and she was exploiting it like any other fed-up person would.Tom couldn’t refuse.He made a deal with her: Friday, 6:30 p.m. sharp.A few minutes later, she arrived, jingling the keys in her hand like they were a McLaren’s.She threw him the keys, waved, and left.He was on his own now.The door creaked open, and years’ worth of spiderwebs fell on him. The dust sent him into a five-minute sneezing marathon.A part of him was expecting Nancy to hand him a tissue, but she’d gotten what she wanted. She was nowhere to be found.After a few minutes of blind searching, he found the light switch.He flipped it, and the lights flickered on.

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