Chapter Thirty-Two

Lila groaned as her alarm blared in her ear. She had a fleeting image of Asher in Venetian breeches and doublet with an outlandish ruffled collar around his neck flashing in her mind as she rubbed her eyes. Looking around her room, bewildered, Lila saw the book she’d been reading lying beside the bed, opened to portraits of aristocratic men in the Elizabethan era. She snapped the book shut and yawned into her hands.

A knock sounded at her door.

“Yeah?” Lila called groggily. Her Dad poked his head into her room.

“You still need me to take you today?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” Lila replied, starting to get up. “I’ll have a shower now.”

“Please do,” her Dad replied, crinkling his nose. “You’ll stink up my car, otherwise.”

“Ha, ha, ha,” Lila sarcastically imitated a laugh. He closed the door with a cheeky grin.

This car ride to Asher’s was almost entirely silent, with Lila yawning every so often. Upon arriving outside Asher’s house, her Dad turned to her.

“Do you need me to wait out here until you go in?” he asked.

“No, I’ll be right. Thanks for the lift, Dad,” Lila replied, hopping out of the car.

“Alright. Don’t forget to use protec-”

Lila slammed the door again, suddenly more awake than she had been on the way here. She glared at her Dad, who threw his head back in an exaggerated guffaw before driving off. Sighing, she checked the time on her phone. It was 7.36am. Looking around the street, Lila saw several people either jogging or walking their dogs. Others still were driving off – presumably to get to work.

Asher had been adamant that 8am would leave them with plenty of time for whatever it was they needed to do. But what if Marlene left earlier than he anticipated today?

Lila carefully walked up the path towards Asher’s house, trying to ensure that she didn’t make any noise. She sent a quick text to Asher, letting him know she was outside, but otherwise found a secluded spot beneath a CCTV camera to observe the goings-on of Asher’s house. A few moments later, a flashy Mercedes-Benz emerged from the garage to the far left of the house. Lila ducked behind one of the columns framing the entrance to the house, trying to conceal herself. The occupant of the car was Asher’s Dad, who didn’t seem to notice Lila’s presence as he drove off.

Seconds later, the right front door opened and a hand emerged, pulling Lila inside by her wrist quickly. Lila’s heart skipped a beat for just a moment, shock freezing her eyes open, before realising it was only Asher. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt with tan-coloured shorts and socks today, though he looked somehow even more run-down than usual. He pressed a finger to his lips, and Lila slowly took her shoes off without much noise. They tiptoed past the kitchen. Lila could hear Gabriel humming in the butler’s pantry and made to greet him, but Asher shook his head at her.

They crept up the stairs and into Asher’s rumpus room without making a sound. Once inside, Lila gingerly placed her bag down, looking at Asher with curiosity.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t want Gabriel to make a fuss about you being here.”

“Does Marlene come here in the mornings?” Lila whispered back. Asher shook his head.

“No, but she doesn’t know you’re coming today.”

“Is there a reason for that?” Lila asked in a low voice.

“I just thought it’d be easier to follow her if she doesn’t expect you to be around,” Asher replied softly, shrugging.

“What’s her normal routine?”

Asher’s eyes lit up and he walked over to the coffee table, picking up his personal laptop. He had his own document titled ‘Himitsu’ open and it looked like a log of movements for Marlene. He thrust it into Lila’s hands and she scrolled through. There wasn’t much, however, it looked like Marlene was very punctual over the past few days that Asher had been keeping tabs on her. Even the times that she completed her regular chores and duties were precise, with the start and end times varying only within five minutes.

It looked like Marlene promptly left the cottage at 8.30am every weekday morning, taking off on foot. Given that she had a car in the garage at Asher’s house, her destination was clearly either not far away or able to be reached by the public transport available around Asher’s house. It looked like Asher had copied the timetables of the three nearest bus stops at the bottom of the document. He’d also highlighted the bus numbers and times of buses that would arrive after Marlene would conceivably get to the bus stops. The left corner of Lila’s mouth lifted slightly. ‘The Dux thinks ahead…’

It also looked like Marlene arrived back in the cottage at precisely 1.30pm and remained there until 5.55pm. She would then arrive at Asher’s at 6pm and begin laundry or cleaning. At 7pm, she would eat dinner, either with Gabriel and Asher or without depending on what time dinner was ready, and commence other duties at approximately 7.30pm. This would continue until 10pm, at which time she returned to the cottage.

“Great job, Asher,” Lila said quietly, re-reading the log. Her eyes flickered to his face, and he was looking to the ceiling, blushing slightly. Lila furrowed her brow when she took in the full details of the log again. Marlene was pottering about the house around dinner time on most days, and yet Lila had never noticed this before. Additionally, it seemed that dinner ran on its own schedule, without taking into account whether Marlene was ready for it or not…

“T-Thanks,” he said, scratching his chin. Lila grinned at him, before looking at the clock on Asher’s laptop. It was 8am now.

“So, we’ve got half an hour before we have to go,” Lila observed, closing Asher’s laptop lid. He took the laptop from her and put it back on the coffee table before he sat on the couch.

“I found a video that’s 27 minutes long that you’d like,” he said, patting the couch cushion next to him.

“Oddly specific,” Lila grinned, sitting in her usual place. They watched the video in silence and once it was over, Asher looked meaningfully at Lila.

“My bedroom window shows the driveway,” he said in a low voice, standing up and stretching. “Let’s have a look.”

Lila’s face immediately felt like it would burst into flames.

“I-I don’t need to,” she stammered. “Y-You can go.”

Asher looked puzzled as he turned to face her. “I promise it’s nothing special,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“I wasn’t worried about that,” Lila replied, looking at her knees and tugging on the ends of her hair. “I-It just feels like your room should be… private.”

Asher blinked rapidly for a few seconds before his face also turned red. “I don’t mean anything by it,” he said hurriedly. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I just… it’s the best vantage point.”

“I’ll go,” Lila said quietly, standing up. Asher didn’t argue and they both wordlessly entered his room. It was of a moderately large size, filled with posters of various movie series’ and games, as well as a modest bookshelf. His queen-sized bed was pristinely made, and not a thing was out of place. There were two internal doors in here as well, which Lila presumed connected to a wardrobe and bathroom, or similar.

Asher opened the blinds, which were along the left wall. A desk set with schoolbooks sat beneath the windowsill, and Lila tentatively crossed the room to stand next to Asher.

“Has Marlene left yet?” Lila asked, checking her phone’s clock. It was 8.29am.

“She should in a couple seconds…” Asher said, narrowing his eyes. As if on cue, down below, towards the side of the house, emerged a figure. The figure’s body type matched Marlene's, though their black hoodie obscured any details regarding their face and hair. It was also wearing black leggings and black runners.

“Must be her,” Lila said. Asher nodded.

“She’ll be walking towards the right in a minute or so,” Asher said, closing the blinds. “Let’s go before we lose her.”

They quickly made their way downstairs, the noise from their footsteps drawing Gabriel’s attention.

“Oh, Lila! I hadn’t realised-” he started saying as they rushed past the kitchen.

“See you later, Gabriel!” Asher half-yelled behind him, hurriedly inputting the security code. “We’ve got to do something first.”

“Bye Gabriel!” Lila called, slipping her shoes on hastily.

They burst out of the front doors and briskly advanced towards the end of the driveway. Lila couldn’t see any trace of Marlene, but Asher, being taller than she was, reassured Lila he could see Marlene at the end of the street on the right side. They sped up their pace slightly so that Marlene was well within their sights again.

“Jesus, she walks quick,” Lila huffed, struggling to keep up.

“Can barely keep up,” Asher wheezed in agreement.

They passed a few joggers as they continued, all seeming engrossed in their morning routines. Lila supposed that she and Asher might have looked like they were on a morning walk as well, though neither were dressed in athletic gear.

Marlene didn’t look behind her once as she continued to swiftly traverse the streets.

“Do you know where she’s going?” Lila panted.

“She could be going to the little shops,” Asher replied, puffing. Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, Marlene turned down a side road that opened up into a quaint street lined with several shops. There were a couple of cafés, a bookstore, a trinket shop or two, and a small grocery store within the shopping district. A retirement village was located at the far end of the street. Marlene headed into a café in the middle of the complex called ‘Beans & Biscuits’. Lila and Asher stopped to catch their breaths, staring in the direction of ‘Beans & Biscuits’.

“A café?” Lila managed to say after a few heaving breaths.

“Looks like it,” Asher replied, a hand on his chest. “What a walk!”

Lila pulled out her phone and checked the time. It was 8.55am. It looked like only the grocery store and cafés were open at the moment.

“Wanna go to the grocery store?” Asher asked, pointing at the unassuming shop. It sat next to ‘Beans & Biscuits’, though it had no windows from which to observe the café.

“I’d rather be able to see the café Marlene went into,” Lila said, pressing her lips together as she thought. The bookstore was just across the street from the café in question, but it didn’t seem like it was open.

“How about we just walk along the street for now, then?” Asher asked.

“Sure,” Lila replied, nodding. They took off at a slow pace, looking towards ‘Beans & Biscuits’ every so often. Marlene didn’t reemerge. They reached the retirement village and turned around, walking back along the same side of the street.

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“Should we walk along the other side?” Asher asked, looking at Lila. Lila shook her head.

“We don’t know what she’s doing in the café,” she said, her tone serious. “We could end up bumping into her.”

A worker within the trinket shop on this side of the street exited, holding a small chalkboard sign. They placed it just outside the shop in front of Asher and Lila, greeting them cheerily before walking back into the store.

“Maybe the bookstore's open now,” Lila suggested. “We could probably see into the café from there.”

“Sounds good,” Asher replied. They both strolled towards the bookstore and Marlene still did not emerge from the café. Entering the bookstore, they browsed the selection of books that were along the edge of the window. Lila was right – they could see into the café from here.

“Do you see her?” Lila whispered, absentmindedly picking up a novel and flicking through the pages.

“I think so,” Asher replied, also picking up a novel. “If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, it looks like she’s the barista.”

Lila squinted through the window. There was a woman working at the barista machine, though she was wearing glasses, her sleek, blonde hair in a braid that started high up her head.

“I didn’t realise she wore glasses,” Lila murmured.

“Me neither,” Asher replied. “I’ve also never seen her hair like that, and she’s been our live-in maid for 6 or 7 years.”

“Weird…” Lila muttered. “I didn’t know she knew how to make coffee.”

“Honestly, neither did I,” Asher said, laughing incredulously. “I feel like I’m only scratching the surface of Marlene, despite having had her around for so long.”

They continued to browse the books in the bookstore, sharing some interesting finds with one another, until an hour and a half passed. The worker at the cashier seemed a little miffed that they were still in the store and hadn't yet purchased anything by the way he ogled at them, so they decided to take their leave.

“Well, if it took us half an hour to walk here from your place, and she gets back at 1.30, she’s probably on shift until 1,” Lila reasoned, glancing at her phone’s clock again. “So we’ve got, like, two and a half hours left.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to survive two and a half hours here,” despaired Asher, a hand to his face. Lila looked around the shopping street. There was a café directly diagonal to ‘Beans & Biscuits’ called ‘Mrs Glade’s Café & Bakery’. It looked far less popular than ‘Beans & Biscuits’, but there was outdoor seating. If they sat outside, they’d be able to see the door to Marlene’s café at least… which meant they should be able to see Marlene leaving, in that case.

“Have you had breakfast?” Lila asked, casting a fleeting look at Asher. He looked down at his stomach and rubbed it.

“No,” he said quietly. With the comedic timing only possible once in a while, his stomach grumbled loudly. Lila smirked, trying to hold in a laugh. Asher seemed embarrassed, but Lila relayed her plan to sit outside ‘Mrs Glade’s’ while waiting for Marlene to finish her shift.

“Sounds good,” Asher nodded. They headed inside ‘Mrs Glade’s’. The inside was decorated haphazardly, clearly trying to imitate a kooky-cosy look, but somehow missing the mark due to the garish colours and patterns dotted around the place. The dark wooden furniture pieces and artful lampshades paid homage to the attempted vibe, but it was still mildly horrific. Along the back wall were several shelves containing different types of bread loaves, and two standing fridges beside the shelves held a variety of thankfully tastefully decorated cakes. There were very few patrons inside, enjoying their morning breakfasts and coffees.

A perky, brunette waitress in her early 20s, dressed in a vibrant pink gingham, frilly apron over a black shirt and black leggings, greeted them at the door.

“Welcome to ‘Mrs Glade’s Café & Bakery’,” she said chirpily, brandishing two menus. “Table for two?”

Lila glanced at Asher, the palms of her hands suddenly sweating. They’d never eaten just the two of them before.

“Yes, please. Outside, if you can,” Asher said, smiling.

“Front or back?” she asked, already stepping in the direction of the front of the café.

“Front, please,” Asher confirmed with a firm nod. The waitress smiled and led them outside. Asher indicated to a suitable table that allowed both of them to have a good vantage point to see the front door of ‘Beans & Biscuits’.

“You can order from the QR code on your table,” the waitress said, pointing to a sticker that was on the plywood box containing cutlery and napkins for their table, “or you can order at the register inside.”

“Thank you,” Asher and Lila said in unison, glancing at each other briefly. The waitress beamed at them before heading back inside the café.

They ordered separately via the QR code, Asher electing to get a bacon and eggs benedict, and Lila opting for an acai bowl, and both ordered a hot chocolate. They spoke about their plans for next term, with Asher noting that the first debating match for this term was against Mulberry Heights, until their food arrived. Sitting here, alone with Asher at a café, wasn’t as daunting as Lila had expected. She quietly finished off her acai bowl whilst maintaining a view of Marlene's café. It was bustling with patrons, with several waitstaff rushing to-and-fro between the inside and outside sections of the café. Lila did not see Marlene among the staff running orders to guests.

Eventually, once their bellies were full and their hot chocolates were drunk, they began talking about other topics, one of them being the upcoming sports seasons. Checking the time again, they saw that they had an hour to go before Marlene would be clocking off.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Asher said, ordering another drink from the QR code. Lila was scrolling through the menu on her own phone.

“Yeah?” she asked, selecting an orange juice.

“D-Do you have a partner for semi?”

Asher was staring intently at his phone, though Lila could have sworn that his hands were trembling. Perhaps she was just getting tired.

“No,” Lila replied nonchalantly, putting her phone down and looking over at ‘Beans & Biscuits’ again. “The whole rumour saga left a sour taste in my mouth. I don’t think I could handle a part two to all that.”

“Yeah,” Asher replied quietly. “That makes sense.”

“Besides, looks like Cecelia doesn’t have a partner to semi either, so we’ll just be hanging out together.”

Asher wordlessly nodded, turning his attention to ‘Beans & Biscuits’ as well. They spoke on a few other topics while watching the café, sipping slowly on their second drinks. Now that they were actively whittling the time away, it felt exceedingly painful.

“How do cops survive stakeouts?” Asher asked with a sigh, putting down his empty cup.

“I have no idea,” Lila shrugged. “It’s no wonder that they sometimes let their targets escape.”

Asher snorted derisively and they continued to sit in silence. Lila checked her phone again. They had managed to survive 55 minutes more at this café, though the waitress frequently checked in on them. Only five minutes left to go…

Those remaining five minutes felt longer than the whole time they had been in the shopping district. Lila began chewing on her fingernails in anticipation for Marlene to leave. Then, the moment they had been waiting for arrived.

Marlene swung open the door of ‘Beans & Biscuits’, this time with her hood lowered. She looked exhausted as she slipped her hands into her pockets and meandered down the street, her glasses still on. Lila and Asher exchanged a look of excitement. Finally, they could leave.

“Let’s just wait a few seconds,” Lila said, stretching in preparation to get up. Her legs had started to get pins and needles from how long she’d been sitting down. Asher nodded in agreement.

Lila and Asher watched as a few more customers left ‘Beans & Biscuits’. They seemed rather content, with a few wandering down the street and heading into other stores, or exiting the shopping district entirely.

“Let’s go,” Lila said quietly, getting up. Asher followed suit and they both trailed down the path Marlene had taken. They sped up slightly until they spotted Marlene a little ways ahead of them, and continued their routine from this morning. She seemed just as fast as she had been earlier that morning, which did not bode well for Lila’s over-full stomach, but she pressed on regardless.

Marlene still did not look behind her once, which Lila was grateful for. Now that it was the afternoon, there weren’t many cars providing any kind of coverage on these back streets. Marlene led them back to Asher’s house on exactly the same path that she had taken that morning. They slowed down as they turned onto Asher’s street, however, to give Marlene time to head back to the cottage. They waited about five minutes before following the road to Asher’s house.

Asher whipped his phone out of his pocket, disabling the alarm quickly, before unlocking the front door.

“Gabriel, we’re back,” he called as Lila took her shoes off.

“Goodness, you were away a while,” Gabriel replied from the kitchen. Asher and Lila made their way to the counter, considerably more weary than when they had left this morning.

“I trust you’re not hungry?” Gabriel asked after taking a look at their faces. Asher shook his head.

“Definitely not.”

“That’s alright,” Gabriel said pleasantly. “I know it’s not because you dislike my cooking, at least.”

“Speaking of,” Lila said suddenly. “Gabriel, my Mum has been bugging me to get some cooking tips off of you. She’s been wanting to make Mongolian beef stir fry ever since I told her how tender the beef was. Hers always comes out a bit tough. Can you text me some instructions on how to get it so nice?”

Gabriel seemed honoured to have been asked as he smiled widely at Lila.

“Of course!” he said cheerily, wiping his hands on his apron. He pulled out his extravagantly bedazzled phone and they exchanged numbers.

“I’ve just got to tidy up in here and I’ll send you the instructions,” Gabriel said, beaming.

“Thank you very much,” Lila replied cheerfully.

“We’ll just be upstairs, Gabriel,” Asher said with a smile.

“Will you be staying for dinner, Lila?” Gabriel asked, a twinkle in his eye. Lila exchanged a look with Asher, though she didn’t glean anything from his expression.

“I-I’m not sure,” Lila replied hesitantly. “I hadn’t planned that far ahead.”

“No worries,” Gabriel replied. “I’ll make enough, just in case.”

“Oh, you don’t have to go out of your way for me,” Lila said quickly. Gabriel shook his head.

“For you, Lila, it’s not out of my way. For anyone else, however…” Gabriel gave a hearty laugh and waved Asher and Lila away. Lila wondered privately whether Holly was included in Gabriel’s ‘anyone else’ category but took it out of her mind. Surely Gabriel was just as courteous to Holly as he was to Lila.

Once inside the rumpus room, Asher and Lila sat in their usual places on his couch and began debriefing about what they had seen.

“So… Marlene works at a café as well as here,” Lila said, a finger to her chin. “Does she not earn enough money? Does she pay rent at the cottage?”

Asher shrugged. “I don’t actually know what Gabriel and Marlene get paid.”

“That’s okay. Whether or not Marlene needs the money doesn’t really matter, I suppose. The fact remains that she’s working at ‘Beans & Biscuits’. I wonder how long she’s been working there for.”

“Are we following her again tomorrow?” Asher asked, looking at Lila intently. Lila considered this for a moment.

“I think we should,” she said, nodding. “She didn’t notice us today, so I reckon we could probably sit at the café and observe closer.”

“Really?” Asher asked, raising an eyebrow in apparent surprise. “Surely that’s too close.”

“I mean, it didn’t look like she was running orders out,” Lila shrugged. “We’d probably blend in like any other guests.”

“You might,” Asher said with a snort. “She’s only been my family’s personal maid for almost a decade.”

“I reckon you’d look generic enough if you sat with your back to her,” Lila said, her eyes roving over Asher’s appearance. “Maybe now would be a good time to break out Asher the Impeccable again. I bet Marlene wouldn’t be expecting that.”

Asher fell silent for a moment. “Perhaps…” he murmured.

“Besides, I think we should do some actual research on the café,” Lila continued on. “But if we’re going to be waiting there for the whole shift, we should probably bring our laptops or something to work on. Today almost killed me.”

“I have been curious about that series you and Holly were talking about the other day,” Asher said slowly. “Could I borrow the first book for tomorrow?”

Lila smiled brightly, slightly giddy that she was bringing another person into the fandom. “Of course.”

“By the way, did you decide if you’re staying for dinner?” Asher asked, turning the TV on.

“… I may as well see the rest of Marlene’s routine for the day,” Lila replied with a shrug.

“Okay,” Asher said softly, his eyes fixated on the screen. Lila couldn’t figure out what his expression meant but decided against asking. The rest of the afternoon proceeded with a few more games and YouTube videos. The more time Lila spent in Asher’s company, the more she found herself enjoying it. While Lila couldn’t speak for how Asher viewed it, she definitely felt comfortable in his presence, without any pressure to ‘be’ anyone in particular.

Perhaps it was because of what they had been through together that she felt this way. Though she was still embarrassed over her breakdown a few weeks ago, Lila felt glad that she had been with Asher when it happened. He’d never made her feel any less for her display of weakness…

“It’s 6,” Asher’s voice cut through her reverie. “Wanna take a peek at the landing with me?”

“Sure,” Lila replied, blushing. She was again thankful that Asher couldn’t read her mind. Asher’s eyes lingered on her face for a moment, his lips twitching slightly. Lila didn’t have the wherewithal to ask what he was thinking before he led the way to the door. They exchanged a brief look, his hand on the doorknob. With a deep breath, he swung it open. As expected, Marlene was standing on the landing, a full laundry basket in her arms. Her hair was tied in its usual bun now, and she was wearing her standard apron. She was also not wearing any glasses.

“Hello Lila,” Marlene said pleasantly, bowing her head. “I hadn’t realised you were here.”

“Hi Marlene,” Lila replied. Her heart began to race as the three of them stood, staring at each other.

“Mr Wagner,” Marlene suddenly said, hoisting the laundry basket higher in her arms. “If you’ve not planned much with Lila on the holidays, you should try taking her to some nice cafés in the area. Some fresh air will do you both some good before returning to school.”

“Do you have any suggestions?” Asher asked, a strained smile crossing his face.

“There’s an absolutely wonderful café and bakery down the road, but I’m forgetting its name. Perhaps you should check on Google Maps. I think it starts with an M?” Marlene cocked her head to the side.

Asher’s mouth flapped open, but Lila quickly interjected by saying, “That sounds like a great idea Marlene! Thanks for the suggestion.”

Marlene nodded deeply before turning around and going down the stairs, still carrying the basket.

Asher swiftly turned on his heel and walked right back into the rumpus room, a hand on his chest. Lila followed, closing the door shut behind them.

“She knows,” Asher managed to choke out.

“I don’t see how,” Lila replied comfortingly. “I mean, she never looked back at us once when we followed her. Plus, she didn’t know I was here.”

“Are you sure we should still follow her to her café tomorrow?” he asked, shaking slightly.

“Well, she’s given us the perfect excuse to,” Lila said with a shrug. “You could just say that you were following her suggestion.”

The rest of the evening continued per schedule, with Lila observing that Marlene stuck to her routine almost robotically. Lila ensured to complement Gabriel for dinner, as usual (which today consisted of a homely bowl of stew and handmade bread and garlic butter, with apple pie for dessert), and texted her Dad to say she was ready to be picked up.

Once her Dad arrived, Lila and Asher returned downstairs.

“See you tomorrow,” Lila said with a small smile. Saying that sent soft tingles of anticipation down her spine. Asher returned her smile with his own as he unlocked the front doors.

“See you then.”