CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
She unlocked the cabinet with an almost rehearsed air, sliding the key into the lock until a satisfying "clunk" echoed faintly from within.
From the drawer, she retrieved a small white envelope.
Even from where he was standing, Xeno could see his name written on the front in his old boss's handwriting.
"I've been curious what's in here for the whole week." Aruda confessed as she leaned across the table to hand him the letter. "Since I found it, I mean. I tried to text you, but, well, I suppose you were having a bit of a moment."
"Thank you." He bit back a sarcastic remark and tore into the letter, careful not to damage its contents.
Surely, whatever had caused her to send him a secret letter had been the same reason that she hadn't been able to discuss the sabotages with him?
The note itself was written on cream paper.
Xeno began to read it in his head before noticing Aruda's expectant look, her eyes peering over her spectacles.
"Dear Xeno," he began. "I will keep this brief and to the point. This letter is unsigned, and you will therefore find no purchase bringing it to a court of law, or by confronting her directly with it. I am merely writing to clear anything up."
"Who's "her"?" Aruda tilted her head slightly, confused. "Surely she means…”
"Ms. Pepper?" He asked grimly. "I'm not sure; I'll keep going.
" He tilted the paper closer to the solitary light at the top of the room.
"Your investigation into our sabotage problem has sent alarm bells ringing in my head.
Mainly because many years ago, I was in your shoes.
" His eyes widened. "I discovered the true culprit behind Kiara Aruda's "prank gone wrong" from years ago. "
Her ears pricked up at the mention of her name. "Come on, Xeno. Honestly, you're as bad as Jess with your dramatic pauses!" She goaded.
"I found out that.." he began, hesitating as he saw the name.
"That Ms. Pepper was the one behind it." Dr. Aruda gasped, her hand clutched to her mouth.
"And so I confronted her." He continued reading, desperate for answers.
"And she offered me what I couldn't refuse.
A promotion in exchange for keeping my mouth shut.
I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement that remains in her office filing cabinet to this very day. "
"Well, that explains why she hasn't signed the letter, then." Aruda replied bitterly. "It's not like she could've saved my skin!"
"So please. Don't go looking where you shouldn't.
Or do. It's time someone unearthed this, and in all my years I've never seen anyone get as close as you.
All I know is that she's definitely done similar things since then, and she'll certainly do them again.
" He looked up from the paper. "She's right. She hasn't signed it."
"Well, I never." Aruda seemed star-struck. "We used to be friends before the whole thing, you know? I can't believe it! I always assumed she pulled away from me to save herself from suspicion, not for a.. cushy promotion!"
"Can't you?" Xeno cringed as he remembered how quick he had been to throw Haiden's job under the bus for his. Perhaps, though he hated to admit it, he and Dr. Carmazan were far more alike than he had thought.
"Well, if you've gotten everyone else's full account, you might as well have mine. I'll keep it brief, don't worry. I haven't told you, have I?"
"You didn't tell me, no. Why, what happened?" Xeno asked, intrigued.
"Ms. Pepper and Mr. Crossley and I met at university." She began. "We were academics, me and Crossley, but Pepper always had one goal: to take over Willowheath museum. She was set to inherit it, and invited me and Mr. Crossley along."
"Were you close?"
"The three of us were inseparable." She frowned, her brow furrowing.
"At least, until we realised we wanted far different things out of the museum.
" She folded her arms, sighing. "Crossley and I wanted a nice workspace, and to inspire the younger generation.
You know, all that crap that you young people at the museum want.
" She added, joking sarcastically. "She cared only for the money.
We had a great few fights about how to run things, actually. We weren't as close after that."
"But why do you think she would frame you?" He asked, perplexed.
Sitting down at her desk, she furrowed her brow. "Mr. Crossley and I became.. romantically involved. That complicated things a great deal, I think."
"Why?" he asked, pocketing the letter absent-mindedly and sitting down at the chair opposite the desk. The same chairs in which he had interrogated Carmazan.
"Oh, we had a great row about us “not taking the museum seriously.”" She stopped meeting up with us.
She told us she had work to do. The pair of us believed her, at the time, anyway.
To fill the space in our schedules, we started a little prank war.
We'd seen it online. I'm sure that you know how that went. "
"You were online?" Xeno couldn't hide his surprise. The Aruda he knew couldn't even type on her phone without autocorrect on full strength.
"My MySpace profile was legendary." She retorted.
"Anyway, it was all innocent at first, but she absolutely hated it.
Said that it was "unprofessional", tried sending out those ridiculous workplace conduct pamphlets, the works.
But we didn't take it seriously until the display got destroyed.
" She replied. "Ms. Pepper told me that Mr. Crossley reported me, and launched a full investigation into me.
I only just avoided getting fired by the skin of my teeth, and she gave me a raise afterwards to console me, but I never really spoke to Mr. Crossley again.
Although.." She peered at him again over her glasses.
"I heard from a friend of a friend that Mr. Crossley was explicitly told that I was almost certainly the one to blame, and that he had no idea that I thought he framed me. "
"Really? Who?"
"A certain mutual friend of ours, he's from the palaeontology department.
" She said, smirking slightly. "I'm sure you know him very well.
" She got up from her chair. "Well, if you need someone to distract her, it must be now.
Your presentation's soon. Be careful, Ms. Pepper's a formidable opponent, especially now when so much is on the line. "
"I will, thank you." he replied, gratefully. Xeno glanced at the clock and realised that there were barely five minutes until he had to give the talk. They'd said half-past eleven, on the dot.
"Goodbye." Xeno said.
"Good luck." Aruda replied before walking out, closing the door behind her.