"She destroyed a dinosaur skeleton."
"How do you know she did it?" Xeno asked.
"All the signs pointed to her. She was working overtime late at night when it happened; she was the only one in the museum at the time. At least, that's what they thought. They realised it wasn't her because she provided some kind of camera evidence. Something from her home, after she got questioned by the security. It was serious; they got the police involved and everything."
"Then why do you think it was her?" Asked Xeno, perplexed.
"I never said I thought it was her." He replied. "I just said that I didn't frame her. And that she got what was coming to her." His eye twitched. It was as if the man was being deliberately confusing. Haiden raised his hand, which was acknowledged by Mr. Crossley.
"How long has Ms. Pepper worked here, then? She couldn't have been more than my age when she started, so how come she's the head of the museum now?"
"She's my age now, so she would have been.. Twenty-three when we started. She inherited the building from her father. Honestly, don't you know anything about the museum's history?" Mr. Crossley replied. Xeno was surprised- Mrs. Pepper didn't look young, but he wouldn't have guessed she was.. fifty-three?. She looked closer to her early forties, late thirties. "Anyway, Doctor Aruda came up to me, furious, and broke up with me then and there. Apparently, She'd been told I had been the one to frame her, and she wasn't having any of it. Didn't even let me explain myself. So we got in a row, and both said some things that we shouldn't, some.. choice words that I won`t repeat, and exaggerated some things to our departments. We haven't talked since." He paused for a second, as if to let his words sink in.
"Is that where the whole inter-department feud comes from? Like how the Astronomy department hates the Palaeontology department? No offense." He added, glancing at Haiden.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure, anyway. I say good riddance if she's willing to believe someone else over her boyfriend. I still don't know where she got the idea that I framed her."
"Then who actually broke the fossil?" Haiden piped up, confused.
"Nobody knows." The man replied. "If you had to ask me, I'd say that it was Dr. Carmazan. She started acting strangely after the fact."
Xeno was in shock. He couldn't believe all that had happened to Aruda, and he hadn't told him. When they made up, he would have a lot to tell her. And Dr. Carmazan? She was next on their list to interview anyway. He thought for a second, remembering why they were there.
"Do you have any proof that you were at home on the day of the party?" He asked. "And an alibi for where you were during the day?"
"After Aruda got sacked, I got paranoid. I have house cameras. I've got footage of me coming home and staying there, dated and everything." He folded his arms, his face morphing into a sneer.
"And during the day?" Xeno asked.
"Look at the shifts. I was in a meeting for half the day, and was filing paperwork for the rest of it."
Mr. Crossley looked at the clock. "My, has it been an hour already? Goodbye, Haiden. I enjoyed our little.. catch-up." He said, with disdain in his voice. As he was walking towards the door, he turned to the pair of them, most of the disdain in his voice gone. "My best advice to the pair of you is this. Investigate this silly thing all you want, and throw yourselves into your careers, but don't let it impede what really matters to you." It seemed like he was saying it more for his own sake than for either of them.
His words struck a chord with Xeno- his own father had often prioritised work over his relationships with his family andfriends, and that wasn't a pattern he'd like to fall into, despite his ambition.
After he had left, he looked back at Haiden, who seemed to be on the verge of tears. He didn't know what to say. After a brief pause, He put his hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes, trying his best to comfort him.
"It's alright. he's probably angry at you now, but I'm sure he'll come round." He smiled in a manner that he hoped would convey his sympathy.
Haiden wiped his eyes, steeling his resolve. "It's not that. I really respected him before. I didn't expect that he'd be so.. vile about all of this. If I hadn't had the foresight to record our conversation, you could have lost your job."
"Thank you for that, by the way. It was a really clever idea." He hesitated. "You're really clever." Haiden laughed under his breath, cracking a weak smile. He was cheering up.
Xeno began to think. "Would you want to hang out this weekend? We could go to the aquarium." He realised it would be ridiculously short notice, given that it was already Friday.
Haiden looked at him, confused. "What aquarium?"
"The one in Kent, my dad used to take me. It's about twenty minutes away by car. It'd make a nice change of scene from Octavia's cafe, and we could.. talk about all the clues we've found out today?" He found himself willing Haiden to say yes. He hoped he didn't appear desperate as he felt. For some reason, he really wanted Haiden there with him tomorrow.
He looked away in thought for a second before looking back at him. "I'm free tomorrow, I'd absolutely love to go to theaquarium with you." He said, smiling. "You're right; it would be nice to get a change of scenery. I haven't been out in ages."
Suddenly, Haiden looked at the clock, and froze. He cursed under his breath, which surprised Xeno.
"I'm late to help my friend with the display!" He exclaimed, getting out of his seat. "I completely forgot about it, what with everything that's going on. I'm really sorry; I have to go."
Haiden ran for the door before turning to him..
"I'm sorry I keep leaving like this. I'm completely free on Saturday, I won't have my slow cooker on like last time, I promise." And with that, Xeno was alone in his office again. That was twice now in the last two or three weeks. He didn't care, though.
