The next morning, James woke up feeling a whole lot better than he did the day before. Crying really helped, and he never shied away from crying when his mental health demanded that.

Even though he felt better,  he still felt kind of down but nothing more than his usual dose of down. He almost laughed at the fact that his default setting for as long as he knows has always been numb. He couldn't even imagine himself being happy. He had been sad for that long.

He reached for his phone on his nightstand and was surprised to see a text. It was from Dazzle. She asked if he was going to be at the cafe this morning. 
He decided he would be there because it was time for him to move on, and Dazzle was great. So he texted her back and told her that he would.

He got up, took a quick shower, and got dressed for his morning jog. This time, he didn't put on a podcast. He put on sad music.  Surprisingly,  it didn't make him feel worse.

After 2 hours, he entered the cafe and saw Dazzle and saw her attending to a customer. She looked like a ray of light. She looked so happy. He wondered if he was doing the right thing, he might end up dulling the light in her because of his own problems, and that was the last thing he would ever want to do to anyone.

He forced his legs to move towards her anyway despite his dark thoughts. He wasn't even halfway through the room when she recognised him and waved. She immediately left her station and came to him with what he presumed was his usual order.

This made him smile. They sat down at the table like last time.

"Hey," she said with a smile he believed could light up a room.

"Hey. How are you?"he responded with a smile he hoped held half as much life as hers did.

"I'm okay. "she paused,  "I would usually say 'and you', but I have a feeling that the answer is 'not so great'. I don't want to pry, but I hope you're okay. "

'Guess his smile wasn't that convincing then'

"Yeah, you're right. I don't feel that great. But I'll be okay. Thank you, "he said. The 'thank you' came from his heart.

He truly believed that no one could help him. He'd learnt that early in life. But it was always refreshing when people noticed and cared. It was a breath of fresh air.

They talked for a while. This time, he told her about himself. He was a detective transferred from Willynee for a case. He didn't feel the need to tell her the case. She might find out later, but he just didn't feel the need to tell her himself.

"James."She started, "Um, I don't know how you would feel about this, but would you like to go out sometime? "

"Yes," James said immediately. He didn't want to give himself time to start overthinking. He knew it was probably weird how he responded so quickly, though.

Even if she found it weird, she didn't show it. Instead, she beamed and told him she'd text him the details later.

James left feeling lighter than he'd felt when he woke up this morning.

.

.

"Hey, good morning," James said to Charlotte and Newt as he made his way to his office.

Charlotte immediately ran after him.

"Guess what I found out? Remember, the gardener said he wasn't around when the murder happened, that he travelled two days before and arrived a day after? Well, I was going through the records, and one of the residents said he was at her house just the day before the murder."

"Oh. Who's the resident?"James asked.

"An old lady, Mrs Nettles."Charlotte responded.

"Can we trust her word, though? "James said.

However,  before he could even complete his statement, Charlotte cut in, "That's the thing, I called her, and she confirmed it. Then I called the gardener,  pretended I was interested in something else, and got him to confirm the fact that he wasn't around. And he did. I recorded the call."

"Wow. This is a lot but also a little.  I don't know.  What should we do?"James responded.

"I think we should go check the surveillance footage at that time and see if Mrs Nettles is right. "Charlotte said.

"Alright," James said and picked up his phone to inform Mr Grunger that they would be stopping by today.

.

"If someone were coming to prune your roses, what time would you ask them to come?"James asked.

"In the evening. "Charlotte responded.

James started to laugh and then realised she was serious.

"Wait, you're serious. You're so weird."James said amidst chuckles.

His good mood was weird, but he knew why he was happy.

"So what's the right time?"Charlotte said, looking amused at James' teasing.

"I don't know, like afternoon."James said whilst chuckling again.

"I really don't care, but I'll start from around 11 am."Mr Grunger said, sounding extra bored.

When it was around 2 p.m., Jamie arrived. The woman's story was confirmed.

"Do you have like surveillance footage inside the houses?"Charlotte asked.

"No. We have to respect their privacy. "Mr Grunger responded.

"Let's go to the house again. Maybe we'll find something this time. Just like how you found something new on the file."James suggested.

"Yeah," Charlotte agreed.

They thanked Mr Grunger and left.

.

.

When they got to the house,  there were no officers on scene anymore. So it was a great time to be able to search very well.

James stayed downstairs while Charlotte went upstairs. No matter how great his mood was, it wasn't great enough for him to go upstairs. He would still feel overwhelmed.

He stayed downstairs exploring the house, trying to decipher how the killer made his way to her. Every time he was in her house, he always got vivid images of how the murder might have happened.

They had already cleared the sofas and tables and chairs. The living room was an empty space as if no one ever lived there. But someone did, and her life was forcefully taken from her.

"Hey, Anderson! I found something! "Charlotte shouted from upstairs.

Thank you all for your support. I appreciate you. Please comment and share your thoughts.

Tag for the chapter: encidinyy