Suddenly, he noticed something. "Wait, why does this say that Dr. Aruda and Mr. Crossley can't be together?" He asked, perplexed.
"I'm not sure," Jess replied. "That's not a new thing; it's been like that for years."
As he puzzled over it, he realised there was a solution that would put both him and Dr. Aruda on break at the same time for all of this week and the next. Even better, the opening was tomorrow. "Hey, what about this?" he asked, showing Jess the completed, colour-coded spreadsheet.
"Thank you." She replied. "This looks all right, I'll work out the rest if that's all you were here for." As he turned to leave, Jess stopped him. "Good luck. Not just with the talk, but with your whole investigation thing." She seemed slightly friendlier than earlier, Xeno thought, though he could just be imagining things.
"Thank you, goodbye." He tried to be calm, but his mind was racing. He sent Haiden a text about their new list of suspects- Mr. Crossley, Dr. Carmazan, and Dr. Aruda, as well as the vital clue that Aruda and Crossley couldn't be timetabled together. He thought he might as well bite the bullet if they were going to ask the three of them eventually. After all, if they only had three suspects, it couldn't take more than a week or two to get through them all, right?
He'd try Aruda first.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
The next day, sitting in his office, he glanced at the clock. Twelve-forty. She'd be here any minute now. How could he even phrase it? "Oh hey, I'm not accusing you or anything, but I'm pretty sure you might have destroyed museum property and endangered our department?" It seemed ridiculous to Xeno. Still, he could be pretty certain that she'd visit him in his office, she often did when they were both free.
Still, as the clock ticked down and he waited in his office, he couldn't piece together what he wanted to say without coming off as rude or awkward. By the end of the half hour, his only advice to himself was to ask her offhanded questions.
Suddenly, the door to his office swung open. Aruda was here.
As she entered, he noticed she seemed affected by the prank war. Strands of her usually flawless grey-streaked jet black hair escaped her neat bun and lazed across her head, and her usually bright eyes looked more sullen than usual. There was no way that she was guilty, surely.
"Xeno?" she asked tentatively, "Are you alright? You seem to be thinking about something." Her brows furrowed in concern.
He brushed it off. "No, I'm fine, just.. thinking about everything that's going on."
"I've missed you." Aruda said with a smile. "It feels like we haven't talked in a while." She paused, considering her next words carefully. "You really should make up with Jess, you know. She won't show it, but I'm sure she misses you, too."
"I was just going to ask you something, out of pure curiosity." He began, changing the subject.
"I'm listening." Replied Aruda.
"I'm only curious. Where were you before the work party started?" He leaned back slightly in his chair, hoping that the relaxed change in his demeanour would make this feel slightly less like an interrogation.
"The last one? It's been a couple of weeks, I can barely remember.." she said.
"Please try." He replied, with perhaps more than a slight edge of desperation in his voice.
"Well, all right." She said, eyeing him suspiciously. "I think I went home to prepare, then came in fashionably late, like I usually do. Why?"
"Is there anyone who knows where you were?" He was grasping at straws now, but he had to be thorough if he was going to accuse anyone
"Xeno, stop it. You're acting strangely. I don't like it, if you're implying what I think you are." She leant forwards, looking at him over her half-moon glasses.
"Aruda, please, this is important." He urged.
"Fine. I've got my home security cameras if you really don't believe me." She said coldly.
He was taken aback by her sudden hostility. "No, it's really not like that. I only meant to-"
Aruda's expression was annoyed bordering on angry as she looked at him, and Xeno could almost swear he saw her bottomlip quivering. She began, "You know, they asked me questions like this, back when I got framed last time. If it weren't for my home security cameras, they would've fired me. After all I've given to this place. The raise wasn't worth it, Xeno."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know." He said honestly. "Who framed you?"
"So many questions today." She responded, clearly still upset. "If you must know, I'm pretty sure who it was. But I never got any proof, and it would've looked too suspicious after my near miss with getting sacked." She became closed off, leaving Xeno with even more questions. He decided to limit himself to just the one; he didn't want to put his friend through any more interrogation.
"Who do you think framed you?"
She looked at him seriously. "Crossley." She stated, almost spitting both syllables. She said it with such sincerity that it almost seemed to Xeno that she was one hundred percent certain that it was he who had framed her; and everyone else was ridiculous for even suggesting anything else. "Will that be all?" She asked.
