Evelyn breathed out into the frosty air one last time, watching her breath dissipate into nothingness before proceeding to enter. The last time they came, only Sigerson entered the building, so naturally, Evelyn had no clue about the interior design, or more specifically, the escape routes if there were any.
She smiled happily to herself again; it really hard not to feel elated when she thought of her cousin's approving nod at her fated success.
Out of one of the corridors, a kind middle-aged lady stepped out into the waiting room, accompanied by a gaggle of young children and a passive looking man. He was tall and dressed modestly—nothing too flashy but suitable for the weather. When he realised that they had a visitor, he excused himself, hurrying away to attend to something else. The matron, dressed in a clean white apron that matched her hair, seeing Evelyn seated on the couch patiently waiting, she turned at once to her after herding the children away hastily.
Welcome to Asher's Hill Orphanage," she beamed as if they'd never had visitors before. "May I help you in any way?"
"Oh yes," replied Evelyn confidently. Taking up the offer and instantly charming the matron with her dainty way of speech. "I'd like to have a look around the place first, if you don't mind."
"No problem at all," said the matron, summoning someone to take her on the tour.
Promptly, the man who had disappeared not long before reappeared from seemingly out of nowhere.
"Allow me, madam."
He bowed and led the way. There was no sense of malice in him that she could feel, so after accepting his offer and thanking the matron, the two of them walked into one of the many corridors.
As they walked further down the polished wooden-floored hallway, Evelyn observed the man more closely; aside from the scruffiness of his dense black hair and the sharp gaze from those unanimated amber eyes, there wasn't much to see—everything else was orderly with nothing standing out, to her disappointment. The man noticed her curious glances, however, then chuckled and said, "Is there anything you find wrong with me, madam?"
Evelyn smiled naturally and came up with an excuse on the spot.
"No, nothing much; I was only wondering why you didn't introduce yourself properly, Mr Levi Arestor."
The man twitched, startled that she knew his name.
"It's woven ever so slightly on your left cuff."
"Ah, is that so?"
Indeed, when he raised his arm to have a look, there was his name, though it was printed with such small lettering, it was almost impossible to see with an average human's eye.
"Pardon me for not introducing myself, madam. I merely thought my name was unnecessary for a lady like you to know; surely, many men have tried to call upon you before?"
She remained silent. Although it was all an act, Evelyn couldn't help but feel a bit flustered; any little bit of praise always found its mark on her. Nevertheless, she forced her mind back into a logical state, willing it to be the same as her guarded cousin.
The name on his cuff is definitely custom-made; there's no way he wouldn't know it was there. If so, even with his well-disguised actions, he won't be able to get anything past me…
A minute passed without any interactions between them, although Evelyn, trying her utmost best to read the inscrutable man's nonexistent expression, gradually got more and more impatient
"So here are the children' s rooms," announced Levi as if sensing her restlessness.
Dozens of children poked their heads out from their dormitory doors, curious to see who the newcomer was. Some of them even hopped out from their cozy little nests to come out and greet the tour guide.
"Who's that, Levi?" asked a little girl, her twin ponytails swinging around as she talked.
"She's only a guest," laughed Levi, who was now swarmed by the children.
Some of the boys crept out shyly but when they spoke to her, warmth instantly brushed off her and wrapped itself around them. Evelyn's placating voice was more than enough to break down the traumatic walls that had been set up around the children, since most of them found their way into the orphanage through one unfortunate accident or another.
Eventually, after a couple of final teary farewells, they were able to tear themselves away from the children.
"You must've had a lot of experience with children," commented Levi, amused.
Evelyn shrugged and replied, "I'm not too sure myself."
"Well, you've certainly got the gift of communication, no matter what you say, Miss…"
He stopped, realising he still didn't have the name of the guest.
"Shirley. My name is Diana Shirley."
Levi nodded in acknowledgement. Suddenly, the faintest taste of salt tickled her senses. Of course, although she didn't show it, Evelyn felt the sharp thrill of this startling new development.
He's nervous but why?
"Anyways, Miss Shirley," said Levi, turning around a corner. "Here we are: the orphanage's library."
He pushed open a magnificent grand door with a golden handle and behold! Dozens of bookshelves lined across every corner of the gigantic cylinder-shaped room, which contained three levels, connected to each other by a uniquely carved spiralling staircase. The earthly smell of hundreds of books dominated the scene as much as the layers of dust did to the shelves. This seemed to have prompted Levi to action.
"Actually, there are a few cleaning duties I must attend to, so if you don't mind, Miss Shirley, I'll have to excuse myself for now."
"Don't worry about it," smiled Evelyn, hoping there was a huge mess for him to clean up.
"Excellent. I'll only be gone for a few minutes, so please help yourself to any of the books here."
Evelyn thanked him, then right after Levi left the library, she immediately began to search around the library.
The archives… The folder's bound to be around here somewhere… Since it contains classified information, they'd want to keep it away from the children but have easy access to it as well. The only two places that could probably fit this description would be the staff rooms and the restricted zone of the library… Will did take something from there, so I'm guessing it's not the staff room because obviously, he's not a staff member.
Up ahead, a rusty sign read:
RESTRICTED
Written in red as if to further deter the children's interest, the sign stared at all who entered the forbidden grounds searchingly. Evelyn ignored the warning without much thought, although the sign did raise her interest as it most likely led to some hidden secret. The childish side of her awakened while she flipped through the many rows of books with care, making sure not to disturb the dust too much.
Just as she was about to grumble to herself at this tedious task, a discrepancy among the dust revealed itself to her keen eyes. Something had been removed from between two thick encyclopedias on poisons. Evelyn tentatively shifted the massive volume to one side and uncovered a yellowish, grimy corner of a folder behind it. She sucked in her breath but was shortly interrupted by the sound of crisp footsteps ringing closer and closer to the library doors.
Hastily stuffing the folder deep into her handbag, she slid the encyclopedia back into place and straightened up, immediately immersing herself in A Guide to Common Poisons in Your Garden. When Levi reached her, there she was, reading through the encyclopedia with apparent interest. There seemed to be nothing wrong—just a strange girl reading a guide to poisons, that's all.
"You, uh, have an unusual taste in books," remarked Levi, sparing her a look before commencing his dusting.
"I have grown a wide variety of strange plants, but I'm worried some of them might be dangerous, so I thought I'd check with this book I saw lying on the shelf, just in case," lied Evelyn rather smoothly.
Levi nodded, although his face plainly thought there could be no plant stranger than her. He asked, "Would you like to take it back home with you then? I don't think we have much use for it at all."
"Can I? Oh, thank you, sir, I most certainly will if you'd allow me to!"
"Most of the books here," he said, "were donated by a few kind people so I daresay you'd find some… peculiar books here."
Chimes resounded through the building, causing the ground to shake from the thundering footsteps of at least a hundred little feet all pattering down the corridor at the same time.
"I guess I'll have to clean some other time," sighed Levi, hearing the squeaky voices coming closer to the library.
"Are the children coming here?"
"Yes. It's time for their lessons, which normally take place here. I'll take you back to the entrance hall."
During their walk back, nobody said a word; all was quiet except for the distant chatter from the library. When they were back at the entrance, the matron, who looked exhausted from dealing with the children, came up to Evelyn and asked eagerly, "Will you be taking any of them home with you, ma'am?"
"Ah, would it be alright for me to discuss it with my brother first? You see, we live together at the moment, and he's not the fondest of little children. To be honest, I only came here today to see the cute little faces beaming with happiness."
"That's alright; take your time."
Feeling Levi's cautious gaze lingering on her back uncomfortably, Evelyn bowed her head, bidding both workers farewell. When the frigid air made contact with her pink lips, she breathed out in relief. The folder was still in her handbag; that's all she needed.
"Another piece for Will's puzzle," she said to herself gladly, hailing a nearby cab.
—
"So did you get it?"
The first thing Sigerson did when he heard the door open was greet his cousin expectantly and ask for the folder.
"Of course," replied Evelyn a bit grumpily. "You can at least be a bit more thankful than that."
Sigerson tapped her shoulder with the folder and said, "Thank you, Evie. I mean it."
There on his face shone a kind of sincerity Evelyn had rarely seen. She coughed awkwardly.
"You're quite welcome. But…"
Here it came—the request.
"In return, I want to investigate with you. You've got to let me in on whatever you're working on."
To her surprise, Sigerson readily accepted this request and drew out the stash of papers he'd been reading earlier. As he explained his theory, his thoughts on it being a diary, and the way Blight had cultivated the writer's heart into becoming a selective murderer bent on 'justice', Evelyn listened raptly.
"I agree with you on everything," she said after Sigereson had finished his part. "But there's something I think you missed. Since we know that the writer of this diary is a kid and an educated one as well, meaning his emotional awareness should've been developed by now, I can further infer by the stable handwriting that this kid is exceptionally unfazed, even after reading, what should've been, traumatic stories. His control over his emotions is truly incredible for his age… How old did you say he was again?"
A picture was plucked out from among the notes and shown to her. A chilling sensation spiked down her spine; it was the man she'd met at the orphanage.