CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Xeno reread Haiden's message. They'd decided that he would pick him up from his house.
Haiden's address was quite close to the town centre, barely an eight-minute drive from his flat.
He had also changed the battery in his car keys.
It was an easy purchase. He'd ordered it online yesterday so that there wouldn't be a repeat of last weekend.
When he got there, the first thing that Xeno thought was that Haiden must be rich.
There was no way a twenty-three-year-old on a museum salary could afford a family home like that.
For a brief moment, he wondered if he had gotten the wrong house.
He considered texting Haiden to come out, but thought better of it.
As he walked up the garden, he noticed the perfectly manicured lawn with rows of red and white roses.
Did he have a gardener? This was ridiculous; he'd never struck him as wealthy.
If he lived alone, what did he need a whole house for?
He rang the doorbell, expecting Haiden to appear at the door. Instead, he was met with a tall, blonde woman, seemingly in her late fifties. Thinking he had the wrong house, he blurted out, "I'm so sorry, do you know where Haiden lives?"
The woman's face lit up. "Haids, there's someone at the door for you."
Suddenly, Xeno realised how he lived here. He still lived with his parents. Not that there was anything wrong with that, he thought; he had just forgotten that it was a thing that people could actually do after the age of eighteen.Haiden came running, clearly caught off guard by his arrival.
"You're early," he told Xeno. It was true, but not by much. Xeno made a point to be at least five minutes early to everything. "I'm ready, though. Let me just put my shoes on."
When they were both in the car, Haiden turned to him. "You don't think it's weird that I still live with my family, right?"
Xeno turned to him, confused. Why would he think it was weird? They were still fairly young; in this economy, he was the weird one. "No, not at all. Why?"
"When I was in Uni, people thought it was weird that I didn't live in the accommodation.
I went to Willowheath University; it just wouldn't have made any sense, I live so close and all.
" He realised how odd it was that pretty much all of his friends and family had stayed living in Willowheath.
It wasn't a bad town, by any means, but he thought at least a couple of them would have been from elsewhere, statistically.
Come to think of it, he wasn't entirely certain if Aruda had grown up here; he'd have to ask when they weren't at odds with one-another.
As they drove, they talked about anything but the whole detective thing. It was clear to the pair of them that they had just needed a break from it all- and today would be a good opportunity to unwind. "Your parents' house is huge. What do they do?"
"They work in insurance. What about yours?" He paused. "I know they work at a bakery, but which one is it?"
"My dad runs the local one. You might've heard of it; Baxterson and Son's?" Xeno silently prayed he didn't ask about his mother.
"Is there a story there?" Haiden inquired. The question must have made him visibly flinch, because he quickly added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I promise."
"No, no, it's all right." Xeno wondered if he should just lie and say everything was fine between them.
No, Haiden was his friend; he deserved to know the truth.
"It's just that.. When I got into my university, my dad kicked me out.
Well, I sort of left. It's complicated. We had a row about me not working at the bakery for my whole life, continuing the family business, you know? "
"How often do you see him? Nowadays, I mean." He asked, with a slight concern creeping into the edges of his voice. "Not that it's any of my business, obviously!"
"I don't."
At least the journey there was easy. Xeno barely had to check his sat nav. Most of it was along a main road. Desperate to break the silence, Haiden noticed Xeno's CD case.
"Can I see what you have? We could put one on." He suggested.
"Sure, but you don't strike me as someone who'd be into what I've got." Xeno glanced over at the cases in the glove compartment- it was a sea of black and skulls and everything he'd thought was cool when he was fourteen.
"Who says I wouldn't be? I love.. The Dismemberment Plan?" Haiden raised an eyebrow at Xeno, clearly slightly judging him.
Xeno smirked. "And what would you suggest we play?"
"Do you have Spotify?" asked Haiden.
"Yeah, why?" Xeno replied.
"We could make a joint playlist. You know, for future brainstorming sessions, so that we don't just have to listen to.." He glanced back down at the CDs. "Moose Blood".
He liked that idea. "Sure, why not?" He said, handing Haiden his phone. "You're gonna have to do it for me, though. I can't work out that app. My pin's five, nine, nine, one, nine, nine."
"Why that pin? Anything specific?" he ventured.
"It was the price of a double mocha latte and a chocolate chip cookie at my dad's bakery." He really ought to change it, didn't experts say you should change your passwords at least once every five years?
"What, five ninety-nine for the latte, one ninety-nine for the biscuit?" asked Haiden.
"Yeah. My Spotify should be on the second or third page on my home screen."
He made the playlist and started adding songs.
"I'm just gonna add from your liked songs, if that's alright.
" He was quiet for a second before looking back at Xeno.
"Do you ever listen to.." He chose his next words carefully, clearly trying to avoid the word "normal". Finally, he landed on "happy music?"
"It's just my taste." He chuckled. "Besides, what would you have me listen to, anyway?" Xeno asked.
"I'm glad you asked." Haiden said, connecting the phone to the Bluetooth speaker. First to bat was some pop song from the nineties. "The power of love- Celine Dion." He read off of the car screen.
"My mum loves this one." Haiden smiled.
For the rest of the car ride, the songs were emotional whiplash. An intense My Chemical Romance back to back with an upbeat Oasis song. When they got there, he went to the front desk to buy tickets.
The first exhibit was full of touch-tanks.
Neither Haiden nor Xeno wanted to touch the fish, but they both enjoyed looking at the starfish.
The interior of the aquarium was beautifully decorated, though Xeno didn't know how he felt about carpeted floors in an aquarium.
Still, perhaps they were a special kind that dried quickly or something.
The exhibits of the aquarium were connected by glass tunnels, each one an exhibit in and of itself.
Haiden gasped audibly at a manta ray swimming past the glass, which was so clear it looked like he could just reach out and touch it.
Suddenly, he remembered why they were there.
They still needed to discuss the whole detective thing, after all.
"So what's next on our agenda? Who do we have left to question? I'm still not entirely sold on Mr. Crossley being innocent, you know."
"No, he sent me his security camera footage. He's clear."
"That means.." Xeno began. Though he had never had a particular fondness for the woman, and she had been acting even more mysteriously of late, he could never have imagined that she'd be so petty. "It has to be Dr. Carmazan?"
"Looks like it; she's the only one who didn't have an alibi." He paused. "And besides, you heard what Mr. Crossley was saying yesterday, how he bet it was her the first time."
He thought about it for a second. Why would she do that? He couldn't think of why at first, but then the pieces came together.
"Maybe she wanted to get back at people for stuff that happened fifteen years ago? You heard what Mr. Crossley said- that prank war affected almost everyone. She must be retiring soon; maybe that's why." Haiden suggested.
"I mean, that makes sense. She told me that she was gonna retire soon, but I wouldn't have thought she would've destroyed Steve, right?
What would her motive even be?" He was grasping at straws a little, but he just wanted to exhaust every possibility before getting too complacent.
Still, it seemed entirely likely that she was to blame.
"We won't know until we ask her. But Xeno, don't you know what this means?" Haiden turned to face him, excitement in his blue eyes. "We solved it! We narrowed it down through a process of elimination, and we know who did it! We can stop the prank war now, we can confront her about it and-"
"Hold on," said Xeno, slightly suspicious. "We've got to give her the right to a fair trial before we start telling anyone."
Haiden frowned. "I guess you're right. We could try to question her next week at work?"
"Good idea." he replied,, though his stomach turned at the prospect of questioning his boss.
Even though Mrs. Pepper owned the museum, Dr. Carmazan ran astronomy like a tight ship.
She was a good head of department, and would leave big shoes for whoever would fill her role in her absence.
A flame of ambition flickered in Xeno. If it truly was her, he was definitely next in line to inherit her throne, especially if it was he who proved it.
"Come on, let's get our minds off it; we deserve to celebrate!" Haiden exclaimed, holding Xeno's hand and leading him through to the next exhibit.