Good point.“Actually, I’m feeling a bit out of it. Tell Lardon to cover for me, I’ll start at noon.”
“Sure thing.”
Aiden turned the TV off and went to his bedroom. He crawled out of his suit, tossing it on the floor. Next time he played detective on deserted asteroids, he wasn’t going to do it in a suit. He hoped there would be no next time though as he didn’t think he could take much more of this without growing addicted to his anxiety meds.
Snatching the bottle of water from his nightstand, he dragged his stiff body to the bathroom and settled in for a much-needed soak. Lemon-raspberry was his choice of salts this time, the refreshing zing of citrus ticking his nostrils pleasantly. However, he didn’t let himself get too comfortable since he knew he would likely fall asleep and wouldn’t wake up until the morning.
Once his body let out some of the tension, he drained the tub. He considered bleaching his hair as the copper color was starting to come back, but in the end, he couldn’t be bothered. There wasn’t much of a point anymore. He didn’t need to shave either as the laser treatment he’d done before he’d started the Horizons’ job had taken care of the few patches of facial hair he could grow, so he moved onto his supplements next. He came up short of them.
Had he run out already? But he’d just opened them last week.
Thinking he’d taken them with him on his trip, he returned to the bedroom and rummaged through his bag, grunting when he didn’t find them.Where were they?Confused, he went to the bathroom again and moved everything from the second shelf to the counter, thinking he might have placed the package with iron-rich pills inside one of the other supplements. That wasn’t the case either.
He was about to slam the cabinet’s door shut and punch the sink counter when he saw the pills staring at him from thethirdshelf, next to the supplies of salts and shower gels. This wasn’t where he normally kept them.
“Why the fuck are you there?” he grumbled, snatching them and knocking off a few of the salt sachets.
Shit. He really needed a break. From this, from everything. He was struggling to keep focused. He forgot things. Even just thinking was becoming hard. He hadn’t sleptproperly in more than a week and the adrenaline and caffeine in his system were the only reasons he could even still stand. He really thought he’d handled things relatively well, but since Darren’s confession two nights ago, he’d been mostly out of it. Hell, he didn’t even remember how he’d gotten here from the spaceport. Taxi? Public transport? Had he walked?
Whatever, it didn’t matter. He still had unfinished business with Darren and everything else could wait until he took care of that.
Aiden dried himself off after taking the supplements and two sleeping pills, and then he passed out as soon as he slipped under the covers.
Starting the workday at noon was a little strange. Unfortunately, the extra hours of sleep had done little for Aiden’s body and mind, leaving him just as tired and irritated. He was struggling to keep it together, his nerves even more on edge as the elevator reached the prison’s floor. He passed the checkpoint, greeting the guards there, and entered the staff room. Lardon was sitting at the table nursing a coffee instead of waiting for Aiden in the warden’s office.
“Warden Kesley, good afternoon!” the man jumped up from the chair and greeted him.
Aiden narrowed his eyes. “Good afternoon, Lardon. I expected to find you in my office. Didn’t Nigel relay my message?”
“He did, he did. I spent most of the morning uploading the logs like you asked, so that’s mostly taken care of.”
“Mostof the morning?” Aiden echoed back, starting the coffee machine.
Since he’d slept in, he planned to stop by PI Deverson’s office after work. He also needed to call Rick, but that could wait until the evening.
“Yeah, warden. Some guy showed up. Sent me away saying he’ll wait for you in your office…”
Some guy?“Did he say who he was?”
“Nah, but he had one of those golden access cards, so he must’ve been dispatched centrally. Didn’t strike me as someone who was here for an inspection, though.” Lardon shrugged, then mimicked straightening a necktie. “Suit looked too expensive.”
Aiden offered a polite smile. He grabbed his cup of coffee, thanked Lardon, and headed to his office. The gates to the cellblock were down and he could hear excited yells from the field, a giveaway that most of the inmates were currently outside. He found the door to his office open, so he knocked lightly and just walked in.
“Good after—” He froze, his heart hammering wild as he took in the man sat in his chair, who did indeed wear a ridiculously expensive suit.
“Hello, Aiden. It’s been a while,” Marcus DuLaurent said, looking up from the folder with documents he was holding.
He placed it on the desk carefully and smiled, though it didn’t reach his icy blue eyes. They were a different color than Claudia’s amber-gold, but they had the same shape, slightly upturned and hooded. His regal nose and the curve of his brow were also things Claudia had inherited, but the rest she’d taken from her mother.
Aiden winced internally at the use of his first name but didn’t correct Marcus. Didn’t dare to, his entire body already on high alert.Why was Claudia’s father here? Why now?Aiden had been so careful… his fake IDshould’ve made it impossible for anyone to track him down. The ‘real’ Aiden was back on Earth, living in a small cottage in the middle of nowhere.
“Marcus… What are you doing here?”
Marcus reclined back into the chair and pointed at the couch. When Aiden sat down, he steepled his fingers together and said, “I found out you’d left Mars a while back. Moved back to Earth?” He opened his cigar box and lit one, offering it to Aiden. Upon Aiden’s refusal, he went ahead and took a puff. “I really thought you’d decided tofinallymove on. To let Claudia rest in peace. AidenKesley.”
Aiden flinched, cold shivers running down his spine. His breathing hitched. He opened his mouth, ready with an excuse, but Marcus lifted one hand, silencing him.
“You used a fake ID to get a job you should’ve never been given. Why? Why go to such lengths?” He took another puff, frowned. “It pains me to see you like this. So obsessed with… chasing after a deranged man because you… What? You believe he can give you closure? Is that it? You’ve always thought there was more to Claudia’s death, I am well aware of that, but the truth is that there never was. I’ve told you that many times. I understand not trusting the authorities or the police for whatever reason, but I am her father, for fuck’s sake. Do you think I didn’t want this man dead as much as you did?”
