Here's another chapter for you guys! A lot of you have been asking for some answers, so here's some exposition to ease your curious minds...

And I also made a "Which Errand Runner Character Are You?" Personality quiz if you want to check that out. The link is on my bio. And as always, thank you for reading and supporting Errand Runners!

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“Hold still,” Valerie instructed Nole. Her hands prodded the center of his spine, checking for any sensitive areas. It was his second time being in the small white room, but he had already grown to hate it. As soon as he and Olivia entered the front doors of the complex, Valerie grabbed him for immediate inspection, as if knowing that he would be injured in some manner. Running the entire way back, and being separated immediately afterwards, he hadn’t gotten an opportunity to sort through the events in the alley with Olivia, much less the information she’d divulged.

Zane was there, he reminded himself. I knew it. I knew that guy was sketchy.

A sudden rush of pain shot both up and down the length of his back. He’d tried to mask the injury as much as possible, but Valerie’s persistence would allow no injury to go unnoticed.

He needed to know more about Taro, starting with everyone’s history with the mysterious boy and whether or not they, too, had something to do with Murphy’s death. He suspected that the real reason Zane and Olivia were in Murphy’s shack was because they were looking for Taro. That would explain why Zane was following Nole the night he brought Taro to the shack. All the pieces were fitting together.

Another jolt of pain ripped through him when Valerie’s thumb pressed deeply into his spine. When he squeezed the wrinkled t-shirt in his lap, she apologized and removed her finger from the area.

It’s all an act, Nole reminded himself.

After inspecting the rest of his back, she returned to the sensitive area and ran her fingers over the source of the pain. “It seems you have a herniated disc. You’ll have to stop with the physical activity. You can resume after a few days, but even then you’ll have to take it easy.” He remained silent throughout the entire consultation, not giving as much as a shrug or nod at her instructions.

Should I even believe that?

She droned on about the implications of his injury and how permanent damage could result from improper care. But he couldn’t concentrate enough to focus on what was being said. All he could do was speculate. Did Olivia distract me so that Taro could get away? Why was Taro even there in the first place? Why did Olivia tell me that? Is that part of their plan too? Maybe she slipped up in the heat of the moment. By the time I get out of this room, they’ll have thought of a believable cover story to shut me up, or get rid of me.

Murmurs could be heard from the kitchen nearby. He couldn’t make out the words, but he knew Betty would be in there. Before Valerie could dismiss him, Nole stood up and marched out of the room adamantly. She called out for him to wait, but he refused to answer.

At one point during his ambling to find Betty, he nearly blacked out from both the pain and the tiredness. Clenching the folded shirt in his hand, he made his way down the confining corridor. Valerie ambled behind him, obviously unsure as to whether or not she should interfere.  

When he finally made it to the kitchen doorway, the murmurs stopped. As he rounded the corner, he faced Betty and Olivia, a sight reminiscent of his first day at the complex.

“Have a seat,” Betty instructed before he could get a word out. Her hair was in a tight bun and she wore a denim jacket with metal studs on the lapels.

Still mistrustful of them, Nole was hesitant to follow the command. As if reading his mind, Olivia flicked her eyes in Betty’s direction, a signal for him to do as he was told. He almost slid across the tiles with his socks when he approached the table. Instead of sitting, he stood at the back of an empty seat, staring at Betty expectantly. “You may as well join us. Sounds like the trip was an eventful one.” A sigh escaped between raspberry-colored lips. Nole peered behind him to see Valerie following close behind. The four of them lingered in the kitchen, and Nole noted Zane’s convenient absence.

His clenched fists shook as he stared daggers at the cryptic old woman. It took all of his willpower to keep from lashing out. The fury was too complicated to explain in his mind, but he knew who was to blame. Whether or not he understood everything did not matter, all he knew was that the people before him were responsible for his misfortune.

“What’s wrong?” Valerie asked in a hushed tone. Even she could sense the suffocating tension in the room. “Did something happen?” Betty paused before speaking up.

“They ran into Taro.”

The confirmation of his suspicions further amplified his anger. And the silence that followed Betty’s statement irritated him. Is she thinking of a way to cover her tracks?

“Then, he’s okay?” Valerie reacted incredulously, a hint of enthusiasm etching her tone.

“It seems as though that doctor saved him,” Betty added. “As did Nole.”

That doctor.

“W-what?” Valerie’s voice trembled. “Wait, you knew where he was? Was he hurt?”

“Sorry, Valerie,” Betty said. “I thought it’d be better to leave you out of it.”

“Out of what?”

It infuriated him to hear Betty speak so casually. Referring to Murphy so emotionlessly drove him over the edge. Tightening his fists, he felt his nails dig into his palms.

“You knew the entire time! You knew he killed Murphy!” Nole shouted. “Were you in on it? Just because I’ve been staying here, don’t think for one second that I wouldn’t-”

“Wouldn’t what?” Betty’s interruption was calm, decisive. Her cold blue eyes were planted forward in the direction of her sitting position. Nole could only see her left profile, but from where he stood, he could tell that she was unfazed by his apparent threat. He didn’t know what to say, what to do to shake her composure.

“Wait a second Nole,” Olivia intervened, cutting the fog of tension like a beam of light. “I know what you’re thinking, but we had nothing to do with Murphy.” She sighed, glancing at Valerie briefly before continuing. “Zane and I were tracking Taro that night, but at some point we lost track of him. A trail of blood led us to you and we saw Taro was hurt.” A muffled gasp came from Valerie, but Olivia went on. “We saw you drop him off at the shack and leave. Murphy is a popular underground doctor, so we assumed you were taking him there for treatment.”

The words soaked in, and he found himself mulling over the validity of her statement. Who’s to say that Betty didn’t just coach her on what to say before I came in? Even if this is true, why didn’t they tell me in the first place? He realized he was right about Betty’s newspaper test on the first day. When she called him a murderer, it was to bait him into revealing information about himself.

“Before you ask,” Betty added flatly. “We have no evidence regarding who killed your friend. All we’re sure of is the circumstantial details.”

“Circumstantial?” he scoffed at her roundabout answer. She’s defending him. So they are friends. “What about after I left?”

“We assumed he would be there the rest of the night, so we went back to report the details to Betty,” Olivia explained. “In retrospect, we should’ve stayed until morning. It was my call, and it was a mistake.” Her eyes switched focus to an unimportant corner of the room, unable to meet the eyes of those around her. In truth, the ‘mistake’ was more than just that. In the time that they left, Murphy was murdered, and the only chance of eyewitness testimony was gone.

“As you’ve probably already deduced, I sent them straight back. But by that time, Taro was gone, and Murphy was dead.” Betty’s voice was less crude, almost sympathetic. If he didn’t know any better, Nole would have thought she was actually human. Even so, he wasn’t going to let up on his questioning.

“I don’t get it, him being the killer is the only logical explanation. I mean, you guys were tracking him. That goes to show that he’s a suspicious guy.”

“Now that’s circumstantial,” Betty shot back, the softness in her voice fading.

His patience was running thin at that point. “What is it with you?”

“Watch your tone, boy,” Betty warned, rising from her chair and meeting Nole’s eye level. “No one saw him kill the doctor. Listen to the hypocrisy you’re spitting.”

Even he was shocked by her words. What she’d uttered was true, but he didn’t want to see it in himself. And even if a part of him had, he didn’t want to acknowledge it for a second. A-am I being desperate? No, he’s the logical one to suspect… right?

His speechlessness seemed to be contagious in the confined space. No matter how he looked at it, they were all protecting Taro. For what reason, he could only speculate, but he still wanted to be acquitted and find the real culprit.

“Going as far as to say he’s innocent, that only proves your involvement.” Nole tried to collect himself while going on. “You seem to have eye witness information that would clear my name, but you haven’t gone forward with it because it would make him the next viable suspect. Instead of proving my innocence, you’re preventing his guilt.”

He turned his eyes to Olivia, who had mustered the courage to face him completely. “You saw him back there. He didn’t even acknowledge you. He killed that Enforcer in front of us.”

“H-he saved our lives,” Olivia’s stuttered, clearly conflicted. “That sergeant was going to kill us.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that we were almost killed three other times today!” Nole snapped. “And it’s all because I’m being held responsible for his actions! Him killing that Enforcer only proves that he is a killer!”

“Is that true?” Betty inquired. He realized that Olivia hadn’t had time to inform Betty of that part before his arrival. Nole glared when Olivia paused for an extended amount of time, but she finally nodded to validate the story.

“That can’t be true,” Valerie spoke, reminding Nole of her presence. Her voice shook and the imminent tears threatened her fragile composure. “He wouldn’t do that!”

“You weren’t there,” Nole criticized irritably. He wasn’t sure what annoyed him more - her clear bias, or the apparent fact that she’d chosen Taro’s side over his own. When he stole a glance her way, he noticed her trembling eyebrows and a glassy-eyed gaze. Just like Suri, he’d made her cry, and just like Suri, she stormed out of the room.

“Cut her some slack,” Betty scolded. She sighed and turned to Olivia. “Was the guy actually dead?”

“We fled the scene and came straight here afterwards.” Nole noted that she failed to mention the fight between him and Taro.

“I see.” For once, Betty had no excuse. No one said anything for a few minutes.

“Your history with him is none of my business,” Nole began more calmly, “but how he’s behaving now is affecting me. I mean, why were you tracking him in the first place?”

Betty approached the small window of the kitchen and opened it. Pulling a cigarette from her studded jacket pocket, she placed the thin cylinder between her lips before lighting. After a long drag, she blew the smoke above their heads, creating a hazy fog underneath the light of the chandelier illuminating the room. He didn’t know that she smoked. The lingering smoke disgusted him.

“You thought it was weird when I offered you a job, right?” Nole didn’t bother responding. He’d grown used to Betty’s asking unnecessary questions. As if anticipating his lack of response, she went on after a completing another brief drag. “Well whatever assumption you made about my offering, you were wrong. You see, I was short-staffed at the time.”

The last few words were enough to make him understand, and a method behind the madness was finally revealed. “Two and a half months ago, Taro was an errand runner.”