The credits of the movie they had just finished watching in Asher’s condo scrolled across the screen as Asher snuggled deeper into the blanket on Daphne’s lap. She laughed nervously, wishing there was more than a blanket between them.

  “What did you think of the movie?” Asher asked Daphne, as he hit the back button on his TV remote, backing them out into the streaming application.

  “It was pretty good,” Daphne replied robotically, playing with some of the hair against Asher’s temple. His warm, clean scent filled her nose.

  He looked at her closely, and Daphne noticed that he was squinting his eyes at her. Did I miss something?

  “What did you think of the movie?” she asked him, looking back to the screen, and at the actor’s faces on it.

  “I thought it was alright,” Asher said. “There were a lot of plot holes.”

  Daphne nodded several times and looked back down at Asher who was still studying her closely. “Is everything okay?” he asked her, his eyebrows pulling towards his forehead.

  “Sure, yeah, everything is fine,” Daphne replied pursing her lips with a nod.

  Asher cocked his head at her response. “It sure doesn’t sound like you mean those words,” he pointed out to her. “I’ve been really worried about you since Thursday.”

  “You’ve been worried about me?” she asked, feeling her eyebrows raise.

  “You’ve seemed preoccupied with something. You just haven’t said much to me at all, even on our rides to and from work…”

  Daphne touched her forehead. He’s right. I’ve basically been ignoring him and he hasn’t said a word about it.

  “Sorry, I…” she let out a long, heavy breath. “You’re right, I have something weighing heavy on my mind. I’m sorry about that.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Asher asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

  Daphne paused, swallowing hard. She felt her stomach flutter at the idea of sharing the dilemma that was at the forefront of her mind.

  Asher seemed to notice her hesitance and sat up out of her lap, looking concerned. “It’s not about me, is it?” he asked.

  “No, definitely not,” Daphne replied, shaking her head fiercely.

  “That’s a relief,” Asher said with a sigh. He looked away for a brief moment and then looked back at Daphne. “Whatever it is, you shouldn’t worry about sharing it with me. We’re a team, remember? I went out on a limb, worried you wouldn’t believe me or would think I was crazy when I told you that I had come back from the future. Look how that turned out for us. We got to bond over that shared experience.”

  Daphne nodded slowly, studying Asher’s face. “You won’t judge me, right?” she asked.

  “I promise not to judge you,” he agreed.

  Daphne pursed her lips and nodded a couple of times. “On Thursday morning, the police called me about finding my vehicle.”

  “They found it?” Asher asked, his eyes widening. “That’s incredible! When will you get a chance to get it back?”

  “I’m not sure,” Daphne replied, an exasperated smile on her face. She let out a heavy breath. “It’s still in custody because when they found it there were drugs in it, and all over the inside of the car.”

  Asher’s face paled. “They’re not going to associate that with you, right? They have to know it was the thief who put the drugs in your car, right?”

  Daphne nodded. “They do,” she said. “And the thief was my older brother Cypress after all.”

  In front of her, Asher looked triumphant. “So it all worked out like you thought it would then!”

  Daphne scowled. “I just can’t get the mental image of Cy doing cocaine in my car’s back seat out of my mind,” she admitted. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to look at Cy or my car the same way.”

  Asher nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s a pretty fucked up image to have in mind,” he agreed. “I can understand why that might make it difficult.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Daphne shook her head. “That’s not what’s making it difficult,” she replied sharply.

  Asher’s arm that had been reaching out to her stopped short of her shoulder. “Ah,” he replied. “Sorry. What’s making it difficult then?” he asked.

  Daphne chewed on the corner of her lower lip. “The police officer asked me if I wanted to press charges against Cy or not,” she murmured.

  Asher narrowed his eyes at her, and cocked his head to the side. He doesn’t understand what I mean. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought this up after all.

  “Why are you conflicted about that?” Asher asked. “Shouldn’t that be an automatic yes? I don’t understand.”

  Daphne sighed, running one of her hands through the length of her hair. “I’m certain my mother is going to be furious with me if I choose to press charges against Cy,” Daphne said.

  Asher shook his head a couple of times. “Why is that a problem?” he asked. “From my perspective, it seems more like you’re enduring the relationship you have with your mother rather than enjoying it. I kind of get the sense that you’d really rather not have her in your life at all.”

  “Your assessment is correct,” Daphne told him. “I wouldn’t mind if my mother just disappeared off the face of this Earth.”

  “Why have a relationship with her then?” Asher asked. “Do you know how much I dislike seeing you so unhappy?”

  “Because she’s all I have as a clue for finding my killer,” Daphne replied with a heavy sigh.

  “Didn’t we agree that Cy hired a hitman and was most likely your killer?”

  Daphne grimaced at him. “We didn’t decide that,” she replied. “You suggested that and ignored me when I told you that I thought it was pretty unlikely that Cy was the killer.”

  Asher put one of his hands over his lips and then nodded at her. “I have a tendency to do things like that. Sorry about that,” Asher said. He regarded her closely. “What makes you so certain that the killer isn’t Cy?” he asked.

  “No matter which way I’ve thought about it,” Daphne stated, “There is nothing that Cy has to gain from my death. In some ways, he benefits much more by me being alive so that he can scapegoat me.”

  Asher nodded. “Okay, that’s a fair point, and it’s not something I can really assess, not being from your family and all that.”

  Daphne nodded. “It also doesn’t fit with the glitter bomb note and my mother’s reaction when I asked her if she had a child with another man. I confirmed the message in the glitter bomb. I think whoever killed me is somehow related to her affair partner. As far as I know, no one in my family knows she had an affair in the first place.”

  Asher nodded slowly. “So, you think the person who knows might be trying to get revenge on your mother by killing you?”

  Daphne shrugged. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. If the killer really understood my family though, they wouldn’t target me, they would target Cy.”

  Asher started nodding quicker. “You know, your mother probably has a lot to gain by killing you,” he said.

  Chills shot down Daphne’s spine. “I’m sure she’s capable of it,” she agreed. “It wouldn’t be the first time she’s wanted me to not exist.” Daphne paused, hearing the words about how her mother wished she had gotten an abortion when Daphne was in the womb echoing in her mind. “But what would she have to gain by telling me all of her secrets before ultimately killing me?”

  It was Asher’s turn to shrug. “Based on your descriptions of her, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if she got some sort of sadistic thrill out of it.”

  Daphne nodded a few times. “That would fit her personality,” she agreed. “We’ll keep her as a suspect for now.”

  “Right,” Asher said with a sharp nod. “But, back to if you should press charges against Cy or not. You’re definitely in a sticky situation if your goal is to stay close to your mother to be able to determine who her affair partner was.” He paused, tapping his pointer finger on his chin. “Did the police give you a deadline to let them know by?”

  “Mm-hmm,” Daphne replied. “Next Friday. The day after Thanksgiving.”

  Asher grimaced. “And you’re going to see your mother for Thanksgiving for sure.”

  “Yep,” Daphne said with a nod. “And Cy too. My mother paid for his bail.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Asher said rubbing his hand across his forehead. “You are not kidding when you call him her golden child.”

  “He can literally do no wrong in her eyes,” Daphne confirmed. She let out a huffy breath. “I’m nervous about waiting until the day after Thanksgiving to give the police an answer, because I’m sure my mother will try to pressure me into not pressing charges against Cy on Thanksgiving.”

  “Oh, she most certainly will try to get you to drop them,” Asher agreed. “It’s bad press for her new foundation.”

  “Yeah,” Daphne replied with a dejected sigh.

  “How do you feel about lying to them?” Asher asked. “Will it be too much of a pain in the ass that it would come back to bite you hard in the future?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean telling them that you planned to drop the charges with all of them on Thanksgiving, and then turning around the day after, calling the police and saying you’d like to press charges.”

  Daphne swallowed hard, imagining the rage filled look her mother would give her. “My mother would be absolutely furious if I did that,” she told Asher.

  “Would it hurt your search for the killer?” Asher asked.

  “It might,” Daphne admitted.

  He sighed, running his hand through his hair. “I guess I’m not sure what other option there is. It seems like the safest option and we’re starting to run out of time. It’s also what I would do if I was in your shoes.”

  Daphne nodded, checking the date on her watch. It was November nineteenth. She had less than five weeks remaining until the day she had died.

  “Alright,” Daphne agreed. “It’s at least worth a shot. Who knows, maybe I’ll find out something important at Thanksgiving.”

  “Maybe,” Asher said, planting a kiss on her cheek before laying back down, his head in her lap.

  Daphne’s stomach fluttered, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of the close contact with Asher or the prospect of standing up to her mother.

  “Either way,” Asher added. “I wish that we didn’t have to spend Thanksgiving separately.”

  “I agree,” Daphne replied. “It would have been nice to spend our first one together.”