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Derek got home much later than he had expected, carrying a few large cardboard boxes under one arm. He entered the code for the door and went inside to see Nell sitting at the table facing away from him and talking very seriously on her phone.
"Yeah. Thanks. Uh-huh. Bye. Yeah. Thanks, Richard."
The Afterdark noticed that she had changed her clothes (to a green long sleeve shirt and long black pants) and that her hair was wet. In the distance. He heard his washing machine rumbling in a side room.
Yes Nell, he thought wryly, make yourself completely at home.
"Good morning," he said loudly, dropping the boxes to the floor. The girl jumped almost a foot into the air.
"You scared me!"
"Good," he said, very seriously. After he said it, though, a devilish smile crept into his features. Nell sat back down at the table and eyed the boxes curiously from afar. Derek didn't think she was going to ask about them--surely she knew better than to meddle in his affairs--but she did ask.
"What were you up to? Where are the boxes from?"
He kicked them with the side of his foot so they slid gracefully across the floor to the kitchen nook. If she was going to ask, he was at least going to brag. "They're keepsakes. I broke into the police department."
The girl tentatively removed the lid from the first container. Derek watched her face as she thumbed through case files. It went from being impressed--where her eyes got wide and her eyebrows tilted out and she smiled--to being sad--where her mouth twisted into a frown and her eyebrows met in a wrinkly kiss--to being purely disturbed--where her hand went to her chest and disgust crossed her features.
Derek got home much later than he had expected, carrying a few large cardboard boxes under one arm. He entered the code for the door and went inside to see Nell sitting at the table facing away from him and talking very seriously on her phone.
"Yeah. Thanks. Uh-huh. Bye. Yeah. Thanks, Richard."
The Afterdark noticed that she had changed her clothes (to a green long sleeve shirt and long black pants) and that her hair was wet. In the distance. He heard his washing machine rumbling in a side room.
Yes Nell, he thought wryly, make yourself completely at home.
"Good morning," he said loudly, dropping the boxes to the floor. The girl jumped almost a foot into the air.
"You scared me!"
"Good," he said, very seriously. After he said it, though, a devilish smile crept into his features. Nell sat back down at the table and eyed the boxes curiously from afar. Derek didn't think she was going to ask about them--surely she knew better than to meddle in his affairs--but she did ask.
"What were you up to? Where are the boxes from?"
He kicked them with the side of his foot so they slid gracefully across the floor to the kitchen nook. If she was going to ask, he was at least going to brag. "They're keepsakes. I broke into the police department."
The girl tentatively removed the lid from the first container. Derek watched her face as she thumbed through case files. It went from being impressed--where her eyes got wide and her eyebrows tilted out and she smiled--to being sad--where her mouth twisted into a frown and her eyebrows met in a wrinkly kiss--to being purely disturbed--where her hand went to her chest and disgust crossed her features.
