At the same time, at the newsroom, Janet just got back and put her camera bag on her desk. But before she could even sit down, she heard a voice.
"Janet," a chubby, balding guy in his 50s called out from the editor-in-chief's office. Janet immediately went over to him.
"What's up, Charles?" she asked.
"Come in. I need to talk to you," replied Charles, the editor-in-chief.
Janet went inside. Charles closed the door and the blinds, then walked to his desk and sat down across from Janet. He opened a drawer, pulled out a folder, and slid it over to her. As soon as Janet opened it, her eyes went wide at a photo inside. She looked up at Charles.
"This guy... he's back in town?" Janet asked.
"Yeah. You know about the body found in your apartment, right? And you know who it was?" Charles replied.
"Yeah, Brandon Hall... Benjamin Hall's son. I wrote the story. What's he got to do with this guy?" Janet asked.
"My source in that city says Benjamin asked Mark Torres for help, and we know this guy works for Mark. My source also says he's here now to look into Brandon's death," Charles explained.
Janet was silent. Her face suddenly looked angry, and her hands, holding the folder, trembled a little. Then, a chilling smile came over her face, and she stared hard at the photo.
"Zack Marley. So he's back," Janet said.
"Hey... you're not getting any crazy ideas, are you?" Charles asked, worried by her expression.
"Relax, old man. I'm not getting any crazy ideas... but if the jerk who killed my dad is back, of course I've gotta give him a warm welcome," Janet said calmly.
"Please don't do anything reckless. Also, my police source says this guy's daughter committed a murder yesterday and is wanted by the cops," Charles said.
"Hmm, is that so," Janet mumbled, still staring at the photo. "I guess I'll have to find his daughter before the police do. Just you wait, you bastard. I'm gonna settle the score," she thought to herself, then glanced at the 'Nightmare Revenge' app icon on her phone screen.
*****
Meanwhile, at the café, after Liam left, Dean and the others went upstairs to chill out. They were lounging on the couch in the third-floor living room, watching a streaming service on TV. Dean was on his phone. Claire, sitting next to him, peeked at his screen.
"What are you looking at?" she asked.
"Oh, the class group chat. Lots of messages," Dean replied casually, showing her his phone.
"Oh, there's a class group? I'm not in it yet," Bianca said.
"Looks like Monica, the admin, hasn't added you," Dean said.
"Oh... the Monica you were talking to earlier?" Bianca asked.
"Yep, she's the admin. I'll text her to add you guys," Dean said, getting ready to type.
"Don't worry about it, Dean. It's fine if I'm not in it," Claire said, putting her hand on his.
"Same here, I'm okay not being in it," Bianca added.
"What? Sometimes assignments get posted there. You'll have a hard time if you're not in the group," Dean said.
"Can I join?" Lily asked telepathically, standing behind Dean and looking at his phone.
"You're in a different grade, and you don't even have a smartphone," Dean replied.
"Oh, right," Claire said, suddenly standing up. "Wait a sec."
Claire ran into the operational room to get to the fourth floor and her room. Ruby, who was reading a mystery magazine, looked up.
"Uh... where's she going?" Ruby asked.
"To her room, I guess," Dean answered.
A moment later, Claire came back down carrying a smartphone and its charger. She handed it to a confused Lily.
"What is this?" Lily asked in her head.
"It's my old smartphone. I got a new one, so I've been saving this one. You can have it," Claire said, sitting back down next to Dean and leaning against him.
"Really?" Lily asked in her head.
"Yeah, really. The number's still on it. I bought a new number and then got another new one with my new phone. I'll help you register it later," Claire replied.
"Wow, thank you!" Lily said happily, jumping up and down with the phone.
"I can help you with that, Lil, and I'll add you to the class group right away," Ruby said.
"Wait, you're the admin for your class group?" Bianca asked.
"Yep. No one else wanted to do it, so the teacher put me in charge," Ruby replied.
"Ding!" Claire's and Bianca's phones both buzzed. They looked at them, and it was a notification that Monica had added them to the class group chat. "Ding... ding... ding!" Lots of messages came flooding into the chat, almost all from guys wanting to meet Claire and Bianca. They both looked over at Dean.
"Did you tell Monica to add us?" Claire asked.
"I told you not to," Bianca added.
"Huh? I didn't say anything. Look," Dean said, showing them his phone with the chat scrolling up.
Claire and Bianca looked at the messages from Monica in the group. It turned out Ethan was the one who asked Monica to add them, and he got their numbers from the school office.
"Who's Ethan?" Claire and Bianca asked Dean at the same time.
"The guy from the court earlier," Dean replied casually, leaning back on the couch and watching TV.
"Oh, that dumb guy who thinks he's hot and good at basketball," Claire mumbled.
"So that was him. No wonder he's so loud in the group," Bianca added, looking at her phone.
"Yeah, right? He was asking us a ton of questions. What's his deal, anyway?" Claire asked, still looking at her phone.
"His questions are getting kind of weird and creepy," Bianca added.
"Wow, you guys are super popular," Ruby said, smiling and adjusting her glasses while helping Lily.
"I just transferred today... and I hate being popular like this. Ugh," Claire replied.
"Look, he's asking about our sizes. That's out of line," Bianca said, pointing to her phone screen.
"Hmm, I can't tell if he's rude, shameless, or just way too bold," Ruby mumbled.
"Just ignore him. Don't answer those inappropriate questions," Dean replied casually, putting his phone on the coffee table. "Hmm, that stupid Ethan is really looking for a fight with me. He's gonna regret it... wait a minute, why am I so bothered by Ethan trying to hit on them? What is this feeling? This is weird. It's like the feeling I had when... ah, what am I thinking?" Dean thought to himself.