Richard glanced over from his shoulders at Kelly, walking up to Ken and getting into a heated argument. He didn’t know what either of them said, but could tell from the expressions and body inflections that something was up. Soon Ken stormed away, as Kelly raised her hand and lowered her head. Eventually, she held her head high and marched off in the opposite direction.

Oh, no…

“Is something wrong?” Mindy’s voice snapped Richard out of his thought process. “I just about finished with the... huh?” She squinted her eyes and caught Ken about to leave the building. “What? Again? He better not try to get out of work!”

“Wait, you mean he’s done this before?” Richard inquired. “What’s going on?”

“None of your business. Look, I’ll go sort this out, take those finished copies to my desk with its done printing, ok?”

“Oh, ok—”

“And whatever you do, do not mess with my stuff!” Mindy exclaimed as she rushed out of the area.

Richard walked over to Mindy’s desk while carrying a stack of papers in hand. He placed the pile on the countertop and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Fawn stayed by his side and looked over at the area, nodding.

“That was nice of you to help that woman out.” She said.

“Yeah, wish I could’ve helped in a better way, though,” Richard replied

“I’m sure things over there will get resolved in its own way. We need to worry about our problems now.”

“I guess.”

“Hey, I got an idea.” Fawn scratched her chin and grinned. “Why don’t we snoop around this area and look for clues?”

“What?”

“Nobody’s looking right now. We can find stuff regarding our perpetrators, or at least those working for—”

“No way, Mindy just told me—”

“Come on, what do we get to lose? You do know why we’re here, right?”

“I’m not taking the chance. I don’t want to get into anybody else’s bad sides.”

“Fine, suit yourself.” Fawn shrugged. “I’ll do the searching for you, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Alright.” Richard turned and was about to walk away when he processed what she said. “Wait, what?” He glanced back, only to find the ghost girl vanished from thin air. “Fawn, where are you?” He scanned the area, his eyes darting back and forth. “Come on out already, we don’t have time for this!” Richard marched over and pulled out one drawer open, only to find Fawn peek her head out.

“Hey, you found me!” She exclaimed.

“Take this seriously, will you?” Richard hissed.

“I’m sorry, but we made no progress today.”

“Look, I understand how you feel, but—”

Richard stopped his sentence once he noticed something shiny catch his eye in the drawers and reached his hand down there to grab it. When he pulled it back, he discovered the object turned out to be a gun. His eyes widened as a small gasp emanated from his mouth.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

What the—? Why is there a real gun in here?

He turned to Fawn, his hand shaking. “What do we do now?”

“Not so loud.” Fawn shushed him. She glanced at her shoulders, making sure no one was around, prompting him to do the same. “Should we tell someone about this?”

“Yeah, let’s report this to the boss. Where is he?”

Richard left the cubicle and walked around the office. He found Claudia beside a file cabinet, sorting out files. He didn’t have any idea where the boss was, so he figured talking to the assistant might lead him to Charlie. Richard just had to make sure not to make a fool out of himself this time and play his cards right.

“Excuse me, miss.” He called out.

Claudia jumped back against the wall and gave out a shriek. When she saw who it was, she calmed down and sighed in relief. “Can you stop doing that from behind me?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“Is there something you need from me?”

“Yeah, I’m looking for the boss. Do you know where he is?”

“Oh, why do you—”

“It’s complicated, and it’s urgent.”

Claudia squinted her eyes at him. “You could’ve asked the receptionist. Why ask me?”

Richard scratched the back of his head. “Well, Kelly didn’t seem to be in the best of moods, and I didn’t want to bother her.”

“Oh, so it’s ok to bother me?”

“No, I didn’t mean—”

Claudia glanced at his hands and saw the gun from the corner of his eyes. She covered her mouth to muffle her loud gasp and backed away from him. “I-Is that a lethal weapon?”

“What?” Richard looked down at the weapon in his hand. Maybe bringing a gun over and waving it around to an employer wasn’t his smartest idea. “Uh...”

“Don’t hurt me!” She exclaimed without waiting for an answer as she bolted away.

Richard tried to run after her and catch up until the two got close to a door. Claudia banged on the door, pleading for someone to come out and help her. The door opened soon after, and Charlie came out.

“Claudia, what’s wrong?”

“It’s the new worker, sir, he’s gone mad!”

“Boss, it’s not like that!” Richard called out. He soon caught up with them and stopped to catch his breath before continuing. “Please, I can explain.”

Charlie nodded and stepped aside, motioning them to come inside. Claudia entered the room first as Richard followed soon after, but not before hearing Fawn whisper, ‘I’m sorry.’

.-.-.-.

Charlie closed the door from behind him and took the seat across from Richard. Claudia adjusted the lamp, so the light reflected near their faces, before grabbing a chair from across the room.

“So, what seems to be the problem?” Charlie asked, resting his elbows on the table.

Richard explained the events before discovering the weapon inside Mindy’s drawers and placed the gun on the table, sliding it across to the boss’ direction.

Charlie picked it up and scrutinized the weapon. “Ah, is that so? You see, this is a fake gun she keeps around by her side.”

“What? Why’s that?” Richard questioned. “Is it for—?”

Charlie pulled the trigger and fired a shot, creating a hole in the ceiling. The three of them grew silent upon finding out the bullet was in fact real. Richard and Claudia stared at the boss, as he glanced from side to side. Beads of sweat fell from his forehead.

“I... I remember now.” He spoke up. “She does wield a real gun, to protect herself from danger.”

“Is that so?” Richard asked, furrowing an eyebrow.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s just a misunderstanding you came across, so no need for you to worry about it any further.”

“Eh, alright, if you say so...” Charlie gave him back the gun and told him to return it and not tell anyone else about the incident.

Richard took it, got up, and sauntered out of the area, but not before looking back at the boss, who just smiled and waved. He couldn’t tell or understand why, but Richard had a feeling something wasn’t right as he left. Something was up, but he couldn’t picture what just yet. It wasn’t good to make assumptions either, especially not without hard evidence to back up that claim.

Maybe Charlie was just being friendly and genuinely forgot about the gun being real. Then again, is it normal for bosses to not know their employers well? How come he misremembered a detail like that? Richard knew it wasn’t in his place to judge or question his boss, especially considering he’s new here. Still, it also adds the question as to why Mindy hid a lethal weapon and brought it with her in her office. Asking outright wouldn't do any good for him, though.

Best to lie low for now and leave this issue under the rug. Richard wasn’t sure what was going on, and not a lot progressed in terms of his current goal, but it gave him more choices for his list of suspicions.