*Ding dong, ding dong* Karen quickly went downstairs to open the door for the anonymous person who was ringing the doorbell early in the morning. "Yes?" she asked as she opened the door. "Anneliese?!"

"Good morning, mother!" Anneliese embraced her mother tightly.

"What are you doing here and at seven in the morning?"

"I wanted to see you guys first thing as I woke up, and I wanted it to be the same for you guys."

"Who's at the door, Karen?" Gabriel came down the stairs with his glasses on. "Anneliese?!"

"Hi, father! Happy to see me?" she asked.

"Anneliese, it's too early for this," her stepfather replied as he rubbed his face.

"Darling, you know we work really late into the night. It's a Sunday today. It's our one chance to sleep in late," her mother stated.

"Okay, okay. Fine. I'll come back at nine. You'll be awake by nine, right?" she asked, and her mother nodded lazily. "Wait, let me use the bathroom real quick." She rushed to the bathroom, and her parents returned to their room to sleep again.

As soon as she heard their footsteps retreat and the door close, she sprang into action. She quietly entered the study and went through all the drawers, perusing all the papers carefully yet quickly without messing anything up.

Suddenly, she heard the closing of her parents' bedroom door, and she quickly put the papers back in the organized manner they were in, slipped out of the study, and pretended like she just came out of the bathroom by shutting the door, which she left open in case one of them were to come downstairs again. "Anneliese, you're still here?" her stepfather asked, noticing her presence.

"Yeah, I was using the bathroom. Maybe don't go in there for a while," she said.

"Anneliese, I've lived with you for thirteen years," her stepfather stated.

"Yeah, but this time it's really bad!"

"I doubt it's that bad." He started going.

"I think I hate some bad papaya this morning!" she exclaimed.

He thought for a while and said, "On second thought, maybe I'll wait it out. Also, why do you have the door closed? Let the air disperse! Better yet, turn the ventilation on!"

"Right! I'll turn it on right now." She opened the door and turned the ventilation on. Her stepfather went back upstairs, and she tiptoed towards the study.

"Ah, Anneliese," he called out, and she quickly backed away to stand by the staircase.

"Mhm, yeah?" She nodded her head.

"Open the bathroom window as well," he said.

"Yes, I'm on it!" she exclaimed, and he returned to his bedroom. She let out a quiet sigh of relief and slipped into the study again. She went through more papers and found a news article from Boston Global on the downfall of NR Corporation and the sudden rise of Mormont Enterprises. She skimmed through it and saw a sentence pointing out the suspicions that Mormont Enterprises' sudden rise was related to NR Corporation's demise.

There was another article under the one she was looking at. Most of the information was similar; however, the part with the suspicions was no longer there. 'Did Gabriel ask them to edit it out?' thought Anneliese. She took photos of both the articles and placed them back where they belong. 'If I was able to find something like this, that means there's certainly more to be found. The thing I'm wondering is why he'd keep this...'

As she thought about it, she noticed a red flickering light in one of the decorative plants placed on the table by the wall. She went closer to check it out, and it turned out to be a tiny camera. 'They set a camera here?! Have they finally started to suspect me?' She plucked it out from the soil and put it in her pocket.

She looked at her watch and realized it was almost time for her father to come down again to use the bathroom. She quickly opened the bathroom door and sprayed fart spray a few times to create a believable setup for the lie. 'I knew this would come in handy.' Then she quietly left the house.

Gabriel went downstairs a few minutes later and entered the bathroom. "Oh, she was not kidding, and she forgot to open the window! No wonder!" He opened the window and closed the door.

. . .

"Come on! Pick up the phone," Anneliese said as she bit her nail.

"Hello?" Archer said from the other end of the phone.

"Archer, meet me at Sunhill mall now! It's very important." A few minutes later, he arrived to see Anneliese and Clarissa seated on a bench inside the mall.

"Hi, I see Clarissa is here as well," he said.

"I guess I'm not welcome in this discussion," Clarissa commented.

"Yes, she's a part of this too," Anneliese replied to his statement.

"Thank you!"

"I found something in my father's study," she stated.

"You went and searched even after I told you not to?" he asked, his brows knitted together.

"Yes because this is for me too! I need to know the truth, and I will find it myself!" she said sternly.

He looked at her for a while then gave up and sighed. "What did you find?"

She took out her phone and showed the pictures of the articles. "I'm sure that Gabriel made the editor take down the comment with suspicions."

"They really tried their best to make it a perfect crime," Clarissa remarked. "How could they?! Did they think they could just hide and change everything and be able to commit a crime without being punished by law?! Wrong choice, jerks!"

"Calm down, Clarissa. You're being too loud."

"Sorry." She put a finger over her mouth.

"Let's add this to our evidence," Archer said.

"That's it?" Anneliese asked.

"What?" He looked at her, confused.

"No, 'Good job?' I had to make up a whole scenario to try and get this."

"And what was the scenario?"

"Nothing you need to know about..." she replied, embarrassed.

He watched her cute reaction and smiled. "Good job, Anneliese." He petted her head. His voice was soft and soothing, and his touch was warm and gentle. Even after he stopped, she could still feel his touch lingering on the top of her head, and her face felt hot. He watched as her face got redder and redder by the minute, and he couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face again.

"Whatever's going on here needs to stop," Clarissa said, getting both of their attentions. "You guys are making me feel as single as a Pringle."

"Ah, right! I almost forgot!" Anneliese took out the tiny camera and showed it to him. "I found this hidden in a plant in the study. I think they're getting suspicious of me."

"So you did get caught?!" he asked.

"No, not really. If you empty the memory, then it's like I was never there." She gave a cheeky smile.

He sighed. "You'll have to be more careful from now on. Okay?" She nodded her head. "I'll give this back to you in about an hour. Let's meet back here again later."

"Nice! We can shop while we wait, Anne!" Clarissa exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry, Clare. I have something else to take care of. Maybe next time?"

"Why'd you call me here? I just listened," she asked with a pout.

"Because we might need you in the near future."

"Alright, I'll go home then. See you guys tomorrow." They all left, and Anneliese headed to her father's apartment complex.

"Good morning, Mrs. Moor!" She greeted the landlady.

"Good morning, dear! What brings you here? Another letter?" Mrs. Moor asked.

"Ah, no. I'm going to write one." Mrs. Moor handed her paper and a pen.

Dear father,

          The issue is halfway solved. Soon I will be able to let you in on the secret! Also, remember that guy with the icy blue eyes? I think I like him... This is your one chance to help me with heart troubles for the first time in sixteen years! I will wait for your advice.

Your daughter,
Anneliese

She chuckled as she reread her letter. She sealed it in an envelope and gave it to Mrs. Moor. Then, she returned to Sunhill mall to wait for Archer. 'I should get him a thank you gift in these last twenty minutes I have,' thought Anneliese. She went to a store and searched for something that caught her eye. After a few minutes, she returned to the bench happily.

"Anneliese, you're already here," Archer said as he walked up to her. "Here's the camera. I cleared everything, so it should be fine now."

"Ah, thank you, Archer." She took the camera back and put it in her pocket. "Here, this is a gift to show my gratitude for all your help." She handed him the bag.

"Oh, no. You don't need to give me anything!" He handed it back to her.

"Archer, I want to give it to you. Please accept it." She held it in front of him.

"Fine, I'll take it." He took it and smiled.

"Um, I'm going to go put the camera back now." She tried to suppress a smile as she left.

'She really surprises me every time,' thought Archer. She returned to her parents' house and put the camera into its original place without any of them noticing.

Back at Archer's house, he set everything down and sat on the couch, tired. He had worked on emptying the camera for an hour just because Anneliese asked. What she didn't know was that due to the size of the camera, there was no way there was a memory card in it, so he had to hack into Gabriel's computer to delete the recording of her.

He cracked his neck and sighed then remembered the gift she gave him. He got up to get the bag and opened the box inside it to reveal a black tie with white specks all over it as if tainted by snow. There was a card as well; it read:

To Archer,

          This tie caught my eye the most. When I saw the white specks, the first thing that came to my mind was snow. I think it suits the weather we're about to have. I heard the first snowfall will be in a few weeks. I hope to see you wearing this tie at least once before we go our separate ways as I know you will go back to your old life after everything's been solved. Let's continue to work hard together and regain justice!

From Anneliese

He chuckled at her last statement, but he frowned when he thought back to her saying they will go separate ways after everything's been solved. "Silly girl. Don't you know we can at least..still be...friends?" He rested his head on the couch and covered his face with the card.