Another scary thought popped in Naja's head, if the killer is searching for something, this means he have a way to enter the apartment.

She changed the locks of both doors, which costed her the rest of the money she had.

She also pushed one of the storage cabinets behind the garden door, just in case.

She continued cleaning up the house, when she heard knocking on the door.

It was Mr. Darsen he looked worried: hello, I heard you changed the locks of the apartment, did something happened?.

No. Said Naja

Alright, please write how much everything costs you, so next month you can cut the cost from the rent. Said Mr. Darsen

Then he continued: If you are scared or regretting your decision, you can leave the apartment, I wont make you pay the two thousands, I will give you back your money, and I will also help you find a good cheap place to live there, I can also pay the first month rent for you so you pay me later.

He stopped talking looking at Naja's face trying to figure out her response for what he jist said, but it was pointless because she didn't show any expressions.

He then continued: Can you believe today Mr. Barz the guy who sell cakes, told me he wants to rent the apartment whenever its empty, so dont worry about me and think about it.

I would like to stay thank you. Said Naja

Alright, if you need any help dont forget to call me or you can come to my apartment, its A12 third floor.

Yes. Said Naja

He looked at Naja for a moment, and left, once he turned his, he looked very worried.

He did something really stupid by renting the apartment to her, he shouldn't done so.

The truth is that an intruder was seen at night few times in the garden by the people who live in higher floors, rumors started to spread out about the intruder, so people started to leave the ground floor, only the old man left.

Mr. Darsen lost hope to solve this problem, and when Naja came for the first time to check the garden, he thought he finally got that person, that's why the police caught her.

This guy must've been there again, and Naja saw him, he was sure that she is scared, even though she didn't show any emotions at all.

Of course she wont tell him what happened, she really needs the apartment, and he knows that very well.

He kept blaming himself for putting an innocent girl in such dangerous situation like this, once she finds out about the truth, and how he tricked her, she is gonna hate him for sure, and this will happen soon enough, since all the people in the building knows about it.

Naja finished cleaning up the house, it was night now, so she checked everything is closed, took the gun and put it under her pillow.

Next day she ate her breakfast then went to the library to start the first day of her job.

She was given a uniform to wear, a girl which looked a little older than her wearing same uniform, led Naja to an office room, she told Naja to enter there, and then she left.

Naja knocked on the door, and heard a woman voice: come in.

Naja had no idea that this woman was a real nightmare, she was the type of person who likes everything to be perfect, and wont accept anything less.

She was very demanding woman, and hard to deal with, all what she wants is to get the job done, she doesn't care about anything else.

She was responsible for the library management building, which was connected to the library, but had different exit, and wasn't open for public.

After the previous housemaid quit, she needed another one to clean her office, and deliver the mail for her, even though the mail wasn't in the job description, but since no one wanted to go near Mrs. Richmen office it became one of many duties of the housemaid that works in that floor.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

No one wanted this job, that's why it was easy for Mrs. Artis to find this job for Naja.

The first day of work was very tiring, and no matter how hard Naja tried, it was never enough.

She had to learn what she have to do, and how to do it the way Mrs. Richmen's like, it was very tiring for her, so she was very busy that she couldn't think about the apartment and the intruder for even a second.

She went back to the house barely able to walk, Mr. Barz saw her walking slowly and looks exhausted, so he crossed the road to check on her.

Hello Miss, are you ok? You look tired.

Im ok. Said Naja

Mr. Barz was holding a strawberry cake in his hand, he tried to give it to Naja and said: hope this will make you feel better.

Sorry but I cant buy this now. Said Naja

Mr. Barz smiled and said: don't worry its on me, you remind me of my daughter, she had green eyes like you, I wont bother you any more, go have some rest, will see you tomorrow.

He pushed the cake into her hand, and crossed the streets going back to his shop without saying anything.

Naja was thankful, because Mr. Lumar wasn't fan of sweets, he didn't have anything sweet in his house, and since she is totally broke now, she's been saving the rest of chocolate box Mrs. Artis gave her, so having a free dessert was really nice.

Since the garden door cant be open because of the storage cabinet behind it, Naja entered the building in order to enter her apartment.

She saw the old man who lives in front of her, the one she saw before through the door viewer, he entered the building after she did, and saw her taking the keys out and unlocking the apartment door.

Hello. Said Naja

The old man didn't answer, he was looking at her throughly, like he memorizing her.

Then he said: you shouldn't stay here, you should leave, unless you want to die too like that filthy Lumar.

He went to his apartment unlocked the door, entered then closed it behind him.

Definitely Mr. Lumar was hated from many people.

After changing her clothes and eating, she started thinking about what the old man said and thought, was he threatening her or he was really worried?

Naja took a book about locks and started reading, maybe she will find something that would help her secure her house.

The whole week was so hard on Naja, Mr. Richmen was a true nightmare, yet Naja never complained and always tried her best.

The worst part was that because she was super tired from work, she wasn't able to think clearly like she usually does.

But the good news was that she didn't hear any footsteps at night again all this week.

At the weekend, Naja started cleaning and working on the garden, she removed all of the dead plants, cleaned up the benches and sweeped the floor.

She also took out the red file, started to check what she can do to help the plants that survived, which were so few sadly.

She did her best to follow all the written instructions, she even measured the plants and wrote the new length.

She decided to use this month salary to buy a new lock for the garden gate, and replace some of the dead plants to help the garden grow back to its former glory.

She didn't forget what the boy told her about seeing Mr. Lumar sitting in the middle of the chessboard tiles, so she checked the floor, maybe she can find something, like a loose tile with something hidden under it.

She checked every single tile, but none were loose, all she found was small carves of the moon phases on different areas on the ground, it was so small that if you dont bent and concentrated you wont be able to notice it.

She also checked the budget notebook, and went to all the places that Mr. Lumar used to buy from, she didn't dare to enter because she doesn't have money, but thankfully every place was near, except for one, which Mr. Lumar used to buy his garden supplies from it, it was far near the train station, probably will take like three hours walking to reach there, so Naja didnt check that place.

She also did the laundry, she washed her clothes and some of Mr.Lumar's clothes which she liked and wanted to wear, it was getting colder and there was nothing that can be used to make the house warm.

Everything was going well until what happened in the next day.

All these passed days Naja had started a new routine, which was putting a short thread (same color like the doors) on every door in a way that if the door was opened, the thread will fall down.

It was a trick she learned from an old movie she watched, the spy in the movie used to do this trick in order to know if anyone entered his room, and same was for Naja, because even after changing the locks she wasn't feeling safe.

She knew that the killer wants this thing badly, he killed a man and yet still coming back, which means risking his life in case he was caught, this is how much important what was stolen.

Thats why it's logical to think that nothing will stop him, not even a new locks, so he will find a way into the house no matter what, and when this happens, she will know from the fallen thread.

At the start of the week, when Naja came back from work, most of the threads were down.

The killer was very careful with putting back everything exactly as it was, so if she didn't do that trick, she wouldn't notice anything.

She checked both entrance doors, it didn't look like it was broken or been messed with.

To enter the apartment in the middle of the day, while he can easily seen by people, and many might notice him, is really dangerous, but that doesn't match with how careful he was at putting everything back at the exact same place.

She was standing in the living room when she felt the wind playing with her hair, then suddenly she understood how he was able to sneak into her apartment, and probably how he entered the apartment to kill Mr.Lumar that day.

It's a secret passage, somewhere in the living room, that's explains the wind she always felt even when doors and windows were closed.