The man on the other side of the counter stared at the picture on Nina's phone while a young girl walked by behind him, boxes in her arms and a curious look in her brown eyes. The man's dark eyes swept over every feature of the man on the image, taking it in and running the face through his mind. Nina stood by, patiently waiting and watching for any reaction that might surface on his face.

"Yeah, he came by here," the man finally said. He handed Nina back her phone with a hand roughened by years of work. "He was standing outside, waiting for the bus. It was really coming down that night so I didn't mind him hiding from the rain up in the front. Didn't say anything though, just stood there until the bus came."

"Do you remember the approximate time he spent standing outside?" Nina asked, only to receive a shrug from the stout man.

"Couldn't say, just remember it was sometime past six." He raised a hand to scratch at his stubbled chin, a thoughtful look on his face.

"It was nearly seven."

Both Nina and the man she'd been talking to looked over to the young woman who'd spoken, the same one who'd walked past just a minute earlier. If the faded red apron she wore was anything to go by, she also worked at the mini market Fearnley had stood outside of. Though she'd peered at Fearnley's picture when Nina had shown it to the other man, but hadn't said anything at first.

"The news was ending and they were about to play that one show with the vampires. The one you always make fun of," she went on once she'd gotten their attention. She pointed up at the dusty television set up on one corner behind the counter. On the screen, an advertisement showed a woman driving past the woods. The image of trees covered in leaves of red and gold flashed briefly through Nina's mind.

The thought was gone in an instant, like a phantom pain one couldn't be sure was even there. Nina shook it off, focused on the moment.

"Oh yeah," the man agreed after a moment of thought, seemingly failing to notice Nina's momentary lapse in attention. Nina jotted down the time she was given and turned to the young girl.

"Did you talk to him, by any chance?" She received a nod from the girl.

"Asked him if he wanted to come in while he waited for the bus. It was freezing that night. He thanked me, then said he didn't want to be a bother, and then I had to get back to work. A while later I looked back and he was gone."

"Did either of you see him leave?" They shook their heads.

"The bus is usually on time. Should have been here 'round seven," the man said. Nina nodded, made a note of the time the bus usually arrived and looked back up at the two employees.

Curiosity was splayed across their faces, questions about Nina's purpose just barely held back. She thanked them and left the small shop before those questions could be spoken. Nina could feel the two employees watching her as she walked back out into the cold, bustling streets.

The place where Fearnley normally waited for the bus was on a fairly busy street, shops lining the sidewalk. Nina could just picture the way their neon signs would have lit the street on the night Fearnley stood in front of that mini market—waiting in the rain and wanting for nothing else but to go home. She glanced up, the awning of the thrift store she was standing in front of helping to camouflage a camera. Not for the first time, Nina wished she could have access to the area's CCTV footage.

Not for the first time, Nina wished she had Ben or Iris' help.

She wasn't going to dwell on that though—or on why she couldn't depend on them. Not then. Instead, she went back to her car and drove off to where she knew Fearnley would have gotten off the bus on the night Alice was killed.

The drive was short thanks to the lack of traffic at the time. Fearnley didn't live too far from where he worked, just far enough that most people wouldn't bother walking instead of taking the bus. As Nina walked from her car to the bus stop, she took in her surroundings.

A two story apartment building painted in peeling, off white paint stood on the corner where the bus stop was placed. Most of the street was lined with apartment buildings, houses, and a small shop or two. It was a relatively peaceful place, with only the usual sounds of the street as cars and buses drove by and the distant sound of a police siren. Nina could see only a couple of people walking by—a woman with grocery bags in her hands, children riding their bikes after leaving the corner store.

For a moment, Nina was reminded of the place where she grew up. She was reminded of a street much like the one she was standing on, the sounds and sights much the same though seen through a young girl's eyes. She could almost hear her mother humming in the background and then there were green eyes staring at her and Nina was thrown back into a hallway that she didn't want to walk down anymore.

She blinked and it was all gone, even as the beating of her heart seemed wild in her chest. Nina felt a shiver run down her spine and struggled to focus on the world in front of her—on what was real. Then, the moment was gone, and she was left feeling empty and exhausted as those intrusive thoughts and memories faded without a hint of ever having been there in the first place.

Nina took a moment to fully calm herself before she continued on her way.

Her steps were shaky at first, the weight of what she'd just experienced still sitting heavily on her shoulders. But Nina shook it off and concentrated on the moment. She concentrated on the thrift store across the street from the bus stop.

The place was small and crowded, with all sorts of items placed without any clear sense of order and a rack full of Halloween costumes by the front of the store. Amidst the cluttered mess, a woman walked out. She was an older woman, dark hair tied back, strands of it falling into her rounded face.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the woman greeted, her accent thick and her smile welcoming.

"Hello, I was hoping you could help me out with a bit of information," Nina said, pulling out her phone. "Have you ever seen this man?" Nina held out her phone, Fearnley's photo brightly displayed on it.

The woman took it and had only to glance at it for a second before Nina saw recognition sweep over her face.

"Yes, I know this man. He comes here sometimes, but I haven't seen him in a while." Nina supposed it made sense for Fearnley to frequent the place when he lived so close to the shop.

"Do you remember when you last saw him?" Nina asked. The woman's eyes narrowed, her mouth twisting just the slightest bit as she studied Nina.

"Why? Did he do something?" the woman answered Nina's question with one of her own.

"He's been accused of murder," Nina answered, the words sounding wrong to her own ears. The woman's face changed in an instant, her brow rising and eyes widening, lips parting just the slightest bit as a breath left her. "I'm writing an article on him and trying to piece together where he was on the night of the crime. Did he pass by here around a month ago?"

The woman seemed to think about it, her mouth twisting into a frown while her eyes fixated on the picture staring back at her from the phone's screen.

"He came here a couple times last month, but I wouldn't know when. Maybe at the start of the month. I only remember he bought a coffee maker around the first week of September. We had a new shipment," she finished with a shrug.

Nina couldn't help but feel disappointed—she suspected she even failed to hide it at all—but she knew she wasn't at a dead end. There were still other places nearby where Fearnley could have stopped by on that rainy night.

With a sense of resignation settling over her, Nina began to turn, intending to head back out and already thinking of where she would go next. Her gaze traveled over the items in the shop, racks of clothing, stacks of board games, shelves filled with household items. Then, her eyes fixed on something—a single, narrow shelf in the corner by the door. It was filled to the brim with books of all sizes, dusty from sitting there for so long.

A single book instantly grabbed her attention, the word she'd been mulling over what felt like forever sticking out in bold yellow letters on a pitch black cover. Almost all on their own, her feet led her closer to the case, her hand rising to grip the spine, dragging out the book and leaving a streak through the dust that had settled on the case.

The Mechanics of Memory, the cover read, the silhouette of a person and a stylized image of the brain on it.The book was worn, as were most things in the shop, used but still well cared for. The spine was hardly damaged and the greatest hint as to it having been used before was the very tip of a single corner being folded so badly it was close to falling off. Nina didn't mind it, didn't care about the insignificant amount of damage nor the dust still clinging to it.

"How much for this book?" she asked, turning back to the shop owner.

A moment later, Nina walked out of the shop with the book clutched in her hand. She hadn't found out anything of value really, at least, not from the woman at the thrift shop. Still, she had the knowledge that Fearnley had gone home on that night when everything had gone wrong. Nina had the testimony from Fearnley's neighbor that he had, in fact, arrived home at the usual time. With the timeline she'd managed to make, Nina could be sure that Fearnley couldn't have gone to see Alice at any point before she was found dead.

With that knowledge, and a new bout of exhaustion sweeping over Nina, she made her way to her car instead of continuing to wander around, asking about a man she hardly knew. The sun was just setting, painting the sky in all shades of pink, and red, and orange. Nina would have thought it beautiful if not for the flash of a forest in warm tones that the sight invoked.

She climbed into her car, her head twinging in pain and the book still clutched in her hand. Nina leaned back against her seat, breathed out, and glanced down at her recent purchase. After staring for a moment, she lifted it and flipped it open to the index. Various topics on the workings on the mind and the nature of memories met her gaze.

"Synapses, episodic memory," Nina read out a couple of the chapters. "Reinforcing memories, memory triggers." Nina paused. She looked at the page number and searched for the chapter, finding it only a second later. After skimming the first page, Nina folded a corner of the page and closed the book, tossing it onto the empty seat next to her.

As the sun sank behind the horizon, it's last rays of light glinting off the glass of the shop windows around her, Nina drove off, intent on heading home. She had some reading to do and a new hope that maybe she could get some answers.

- - - - - - - - - 

Hey everyone! So, I should have updated yesterday, but I wasn't home most of the day and didn't have time to post. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to vote and/or comment if you'd like. Have an awesome weekend!