CHAPTER FIFTEEN
However, as he was leaving his flat, he hit a snag when his car wouldn't start.
He cursed under his breath as he kept pressing the key for it to start.
His car was decently old, and it did stuff like this sometimes, but he couldn't bring himself to get rid of it.
He hoped it wasn't anything too major, and made a mental note to call a mechanic in the future.
It helped that most of the places he would need to get to for the next few weeks were easily accessible on foot, but it would still be majorly irritating.
His mind went back to when he still lived with his parents, and his dad would show him how to fix things in the family car, as well as around the bakery.
His father had completely thought that Xeno would take over the bakery when he turned eighteen, and took it harder than he expected when he went to work at the museum.
He put the thoughts out of his mind- they wouldn't do him any good now.
All he could do was keep moving forward to prove to them that he was a success.
Along the way, he checked his watch. Eleven in the morning; he still had plenty of time to get to Octavia's cafe for half-past twelve.
His watch was a nice one; a sweet sixteen gift from his parents that he had kept since.
It made him look more professional when he was giving talks, Xeno thought.
And he couldn't deny that it spiced up his outfits, which were "almost characteristically boring", as Jess liked to say.
He wondered if Haiden would be dressed similarly to how he usually was at work, always with some kind of dinosaur paraphernalia.
Engrossed in his thoughts - as he often was - Xeno ambled to Octavia's cafe. He couldn't remember why it was his default place to go; perhaps it was that the people there knew his family, and he wanted some way to tie him back to his home, even if they only lived a couple of miles away.
At least the walk itself was a nice one. For the most part, there were pavements and little high-streets with shop windows that caught the golden, early-afternoon sunlight pleasantly.
When he finally reached the building, he took a moment to take it in.
It wasn't unlike his father's bakery- it had a large, slightly smudged glass window on its front, so that passers-by could look in at the food that patrons were eating.
The cafe did pastries and drinks, all "homemade" apparently, but Xeno was sure that they didn't mean they made them themselves.
More than likely, they got them from other local bakeries.
There was always a good number of people there, but he never found it difficult to find a seat. He chose a table a little way from the door with two seats facing each-other, and went on his phone as he waited for Haiden, still looking for a mechanic.
He was ten minutes late, coming into the cafe at ten past one. When Xeno saw him looking in from the window, he waved him in.
"Hey, I'm glad you could make it!" Xeno said warmly.
"Thanks; it's nice to see you. I'm sorry I'm late, I didn't expect for there to be any traffic coming from my house. I mean, why were there so many cars at one in the afternoon on Saturday?"
Xeno could think of a lot of reasons for there to be a lot of traffic at one pm on a Saturday, but he chose not to voice them. He told him it was fine, and he didn't even notice his being late.
"I needed the time to look for a mechanic anyway. My car broke down today, and I had to walk here."
"Really? Did you find one?"
"No, they're charging ridiculous prices nowadays. It's a hundred pounds at least for someone to look at my car, not even fix it."
"I could take a crack at it. When I was younger, I worked in my mum's garage. I don't think I could replace anything, but I could probably tell you what's wrong."
"Really? you'd do that for me? My flat's a little out of the way, and you'd have to drive us back. Are you sure you're free?"
"Of course I would! Think of it as payback for helping me with my office yesterday." He smiled. "Besides, I don't like feeling like I'm in debt to you, think of it like you're doing me a favour."
"Thank you; it means a lot." Xeno said sincerely.
"Dont mention it. I'm not sure I could even help that much." He paused for a second. "Now, about the whole finding out who killed Steve thing.."
"Yeah? have you thought about it?"
"I've made a list of people who it could have been. I worked backwards from the list of the people in the Astronomy department, and-"
"Hold on, you still think it was someone from my department?" He asked, a little offended at the accusation. Yesterday, Haiden had been stressed out about his office. Today, he had no excuse.
"I thought that would make the most sense. Everyone from Palaeontology loved Steve, why would they destroy him?"
"Maybe to start some office drama? Or to make sure that Astronomy got cut? we have to consider both sides." He insisted.
"Well, all right. I've got a list of everyone in palaeontology from when they got me to do a survey when I was an intern. I'm the newest hire in my department, so it'll stay accurate."
Haiden pulled out a laptop with hundreds of tiny stickers on the back. They were arranged in a careful, artistic way, almost like a mosaic of dinosaurs and barbells and.. Tennis? It seemed like he'd just picked out some random stickers to pad it out.
Haiden flipped the laptop around, every name being crossed off but one.
"We can all vouch for each-other because we were at a pre-party beforehand, and Mr. Crossley keeps pretty close tabs on all of us when we're on the clock.
There's no way we could have done it and had Steve not collapse before the party had started.
Whoever it was, they would've had to tamper with it close to the time it actually dropped.
I hate to say it, because he's like my work-dad, but Mr. Crossley is kind of the only one who could have had the time to do it beforehand. "
That name sounded alarm bells in his head, flashing him back to yesterday's conversation with Dr. Aruda. He knew that name meant trouble, and he was immediately suspicious of him.
"What's his deal?" He asked, trying not to appear suspicious.
"What, Mr. Crossley?" Haiden asked. "He seems mean, but I swear, he's lovely."
"No, as in, does he have any enemies in the astronomy department?" Xeno prompted.
"I don't think he likes Dr. Aruda much, but I'm not sure. Why?" Haiden asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No reason." He'd have to get better at surreptitiously gathering information. Haiden then scrolled up on his laptop to reveal a list of names and pictures of everyone in Astronomy, as well as other related pictures of dinosaurs and asteroids.
"Wait, is this a mood-board?" he asked..
"That's how I organise everything." He paused. "Why, do you not like it?"
"No, I love it; I was just a little surprised, is all." Xeno laughed slightly. He'd never made a mood-board before, but Haiden's perfectly organised one was enticing. He'd have to look into it when he had the chance.
Xeno provided some alibis for people in Astronomy, but he found it was difficult to work out where everyone was all the time.
That kind of organisation was only from someone like Jess.
"I'm sorry, I'm not much help. I'll get back to you, though I know someone who can help.
" he hoped she would still be willing, despite their argument.
"I can text you?" he suggested, but the other man seemed lost in thought.
"When we narrow down the suspect list, we should interview them individually." Suggested Haiden, tucking some of his longish, curly hair behind his ear.
"What, like an interrogation?" he asked, eyebrows raised. Immediately, his mind flashed to images of old police films, criminal suspects with a harsh bright light shining over them, and a pair of officers barking questions at them. He cracked a smile. "Which one of us is gonna be the bad cop?"
"No-" Haiden paused and chuckled a little. "No, not like that. I mean it should be like a conversation. It should flow well; they shouldn't even realise they're being.."
"Interrogated?"
"Interviewed!"
"Hiya, Xeno, can I take your order?"
The pair of them jumped like co-conspirators caught in the act. Xeno's head whipped around to see Matt, with a pen and paper in his hands.
"Oh, hi, Matt, I'll get a double mocha latte and a-"
"Chocolate chip biscuit? Yeah, I figured. You've ordered the same thing every day since you started coming here. And for your friend?" he asked, turning towards Haiden.
He hesitated for a second before blurting out, "Could I get a hot chocolate, please?"
"Of course you can." Matt said, "Is that everything?"
"That's everything; thank you," Xeno said, smiling at the man.
After Matt had walked away, Haiden inquired; "How did you know him? So well, I mean?"
Xeno shrugged and replied, "I come here decently often."
When their drinks came, the conversation relaxed from work to general. Xeno noted that small talk with Haiden didn't feel forced- he was actually quite witty. When the time to pay rolled around, Xeno insisted on covering it. He told Haiden that it would be "payment for coming to fix his car".
The pair began walking to his car, which Xeno found was parked a little ways away from the cafe.
He couldn't place the make of the car, but it was forest green and looked a little like a Mini.
Haiden unlocked the car and opened the door for Xeno, and the pair of them started driving to Xeno's house.