Before he could ask him what his "Plan B" was, the door swung open.
And there he was.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE:
Mr. Crossley looked about fifty-five, near enough Aruda's age. He was a relatively short, slim man, with a shaved head and a wiry brown beard that went down to the middle of his chest. He wore a plain white shirt and jeans. Despite Xeno's prejudice against him, he didn't seem threatening. He wondered whether Aruda had unfairly judged him.
"Haiden? Who's.. this?" Mr. Crossley gestured vaguely to him. He felt the hair on the back of his neck prickling. Even if they were from "warring" departments, that was no excuse to be rude.
"Henry.." Haiden began, immediately humanising him by using his first name. Doctor Aruda never let Xeno use her first name, Kiara, though he suspected that was in part to show off her doctorate. "We just wanted to ask you some questions." he continued, gesturing for the older man to sit down. "Where were you before the party last month?"
"Which one?" Mr. Crossley asked, giving him a dry look. When he didn't laugh, he sat up straighter.
"All right, I went home. I didn't go out again until just before the party had started. Why? And don't tell me you were ,"just curious." I wanna know." He began shifting uncomfortably in his seat, clearly unable to come up with an answer. Xeno didn't see any harm in telling the man.
"We're trying to see who destroyed Steve. Who half-sawed the bars, or whatever they did to make it drop, I mean. Haiden didn't really suspect you, but you were on the list of people without alibis."
He realised the implications of what he had said as soon as it came out of his mouth. It was clear that he suspected the man, as hard as he tried to hide it. Mr. Crossley sat back in his chair, thinking for a moment, looking at Xeno with a mixture of annoyance and boredom.
"And why were you suspicious of me then?" he asked.
Suddenly, a wave of rage crashed over him, and he couldn't help but say:
"I don't know, why did you frame Doctor Aruda? Fifteen years ago?"
Haiden went pale, his eyes widening. But the most extreme reaction came from Mr. Crossley, who almost fell out of his chair at the accusation.
Before Haiden could smooth over the situation, the man blurted out: "She got what was coming to her, trust me. Whoever tried to frame her was much more successful at it than I have been. And besides, what gave you the right to talk to me like that? I'm the head of palaeontology, you know. I could pull some strings and have you sacked."
Xeno froze in terror, unable to speak. The man was right; he was far higher ranking than him, being both a senior member and a head of a department. And without proof that he was actually worth questioning, it would be Haiden and his word against a high-ranking museum employee- the head of palaeontology, no less.
There was an awkward silence, with Mr. Crossley smiling smugly at him, clearly knowing he had the upper hand. Suddenly,Haiden stood up. "You just basically admitted you did, though. Pull strings to get her sacked, I mean."
"Says who?" asked Mr. Crossley, with mock concern.
Haiden held up his phone, showing that he had been recording the whole conversation since Xeno had sat down. It was Mr. Crossley's turn to freeze. "You said that "You have been" trying?" I'm sure Ms. Pepper wouldn't like to hear that.
Xeno realised he had leverage now. If Doctor Aruda wasn't going to tell him about what had happened, he was going to get the information out of him. "Tell me everything about what happened fifteen years ago, or else. I want to know why you framed Aruda. Tell me and I won't tell anyone else what you did. He hoped his lie was convincing- he'd more than certainly tell everyone what Crossley had done if there was even a slight chance he was at fault.
It sounded meaner than he meant, but he was still furious at himself for how he had treated Aruda earlier, and was redirecting the anger at Mr. Crossley.
Crossley looked desperately at Haiden, who looked away, clearly conflicted. Finally, he turned back towards Xeno. "First of all, I didn't frame her."
"I'll be the judge of that." He said. Crossley sat back in his chair.
"It all started about thirty years ago. Doctor Aruda, Ms. Pepper and I had just graduated university, and Ms. Pepper invited us to work at the museum she'd just inherited. The three of us were quite close, actually. Fifteen years later, Aruda and I had just gotten into a relationship, and everything seemed to be going well, until-"
"You dated her?!" Xeno cut in. "She never told me she'd dated anyone. To be honest, I thought she never wanted to."
Mr. Crossley looked hurt. "She doesn't even talk about me? Not at all?" He dropped his smug exterior for a moment before refocusing. "So we started a little prank war, just me and her. We'd seen it online on Facebook. We got some of our friends to join in too; it was a friendly thing."
"How come it changed?" Haiden inquired, clearly interested. That was the first thing he had said in a while, it was clear he wasn't enjoying the confrontation.
"I'm getting to it." Crossley said, clearly annoyed at getting repeatedly interrupted. It seemed that he was glad to have an excuse to tell this story; it had clearly weighed on him.
"Well, I suppose she had a bad day, or maybe she just wasn't thinking right, but she destroyed something quite precious to us." He sat back in his chair, his arms folded.
"What was it?" Xeno leaned forward, cocking his head slightly. He'd never heard of anything like this in his time at the museum.
