Now that I knew what she looked like, I couldn't help noticing Katherine when she came in the break room. An idea was brewing in my head, but I knew it wasn't plausible. It would be all kinds of creepy if I showed up on her off day looking like her. Shawn was still deciding what to do about the cameras. All Trina had told me this morning was that his hunch had been wrong, so he was working on trying to figure out what to do about the cameras.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked, making me jump.

I'd forgotten where I was. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He followed my eyes to the girl, looking quite puzzled. "Why are you staring at Kate?"

"I was thinking about her hair, trying to figure out how I could explain that cut to my stylist when I get home," I answered quickly. I wasn't quite sure where the words came from, but I was glad they decided to visit. "Do you think it'd suit me?" I held up the ends of my hair and studied them.

He smiled at me with a raised eyebrow. "What would your fans think?"

"It's my hair," I replied.

"Yes, but I have a feeling your fans would see it as a trademark."

I raised an eyebrow. "Have you been watching my debates?"

"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I'd never heard of your show, so I wanted to check it out. You know, see what it was like."

I smiled a little at him. "Okay. So, did you like them?"

"Yeah, they're good. Not my favorite type of video, but they're good."

I nodded, still watching 'Kate' while trying to not be so obvious. "Thanks, I guess. I know it's not for everyone." I shrugged, tracking her as she left. I gave it a few moments before standing. "I need to run to the ladies' room," I said calmly before walking as fast as could possibly be perceived as natural.

Short brown hair disappeared around the corner and I hurried after it. She kept going until she went into an office. I made a mental note of where the office was and walked to the bathroom.

Once there, I checked to make sure it was empty. Sure I was alone, I called Trina and waited. "I have an idea," I said the moment she picked up.

"Um, hello to you, too," she said and I could practically hear her eyes rolling. "An idea about what?"

"Shawn said the cameras are backed up to the cloud, right?"

"Yes," she said slowly.

"Has he hacked them before?"

I heard some rustling and a door close. "Not that I know of. Why?"

"Can you do it?"

"Probably," she said.

"Could you check-" I cut myself off when the bathroom door opened. "Could you check on my camera in my room? Make sure it's turned off? I don't want to accidentally be recording nothing while I'm gone."

"Um, sure?" She sounded confused. "I didn't know you were recording this morning."

"I was recording this morning, but I need to back up the footage for later. I don't want to back up a lot of empty video, that's why!"

A beat of silence on both ends and then a toilet flushed on mine. "You want me to check the backed up footage from that hallway?" she asked a couple of moments later.

The woman in the bathroom gave me an annoyed look as she walked up to the sinks. "Exactly. If the light isn't red, it's off."

"You don't think they're always recording?" she asked a few moments later as the dryer cut on.

I waited another couple of moments for the woman to leave before I answered. "I don't. Think about it. It's a mostly dead hallway, so why would they upload a bunch of footage of nothing?"

"Makes sense. I'll get right on it. Oh, and Shawn's picking you up today. He says he's going to be out that way at that time, so he'll bring you back before he heads out with his other friends."

"Okay. I'll be out front waiting with Peter."

---

Maybe because I was so anxious about my plans for later in the day, or maybe because I was wanting to find out if Trina had found anything, but either way, the day seemed to drag on for many hours longer than it actually did. Finally, I was standing out front with Peter and Shawn was driving up. Peter waved as he walked off to his car, which meant Shawn and I were officially on our way back to his house.

He simply dropped me off, waited for me to get inside, and drove away in a hurry. "I'm back," I called out as I came up the stairs.

Trina's door opened as I reached the top. "Perfect timing! I just got in." I jogged into her room and sat on her bed while she showed me her laptop. "I got past their security systems and found it all right on the cloud. It's weird, though. Like, it should have been somewhere far more secure than a simple server that everyone uses."

A small idea began forming in my mind, but I pushed it to the back burner as I focused on what she was showing me: A limited amount of videos that were relatively short. They were just of a person coming into or leaving the restricted area, sometimes someone walking down the hall. I noticed myself and Peter in one of the videos. "These were recently backed up," I muttered.

She nodded. "They were. The newest is dated this morning."

One of the things that I noticed right away was how good the video quality was. It wasn't grainy and almost looked HD, kind of like they were using a camera similar in quality to the one I used for filming. That would make my other plan very difficult, but maybe...

I glanced at Trina. "I need to work a little more on it, but I think I have a plan. When I'm done, I'll run it by you, okay?"

She shrugged and glanced at me. "Okay. I'm coming up with nothing here, and Shawn's getting a bit antsy. I've never seen him this agitated. The only reason he's left the house is because I just got tired of it and forced him to make plans. I don't think he's left that room of his other than for food or because I made him play a game with me in nearly two weeks, and I don't think he's left the house for nearly three." She shook her head.

To her, it was for her brother's well-being. For me, well, it meant I was free to do . . . other things. "When will he be back, do you think?"

She sighed. "Probably not until one or so. Why?"

I shook my head. "Just curious. Should I stay up? Or is he pretty quiet when he gets in?"

"He's usually quiet, so you don't have to worry."

I nodded and stretched as I stood. "I'm going to my room. Thanks for doing this for me. One thing, though. Would you be able to do it again?"

Trina cocked her head to one side. "Possibly, assuming they don't know what I just did and they don't change their security measures too much."

I grinned at her. "Good." I walked out, leaving her to wonder about what I was up to. I didn't care what she did, though - I had a room to snoop through.

Somehow I was familiar enough with the hallway to Shawn's room to only incur minimal floor creaking. When I reached the door I was pleasantly surprised to find the knob turned easily. I slipped inside and closed the door gently, making the least noise I possibly could. I fumbled for a light switch and in a moment the room was bathed in a dim yellow light.

Papers were attached to the walls in various ways: some were taped, some were stapled, some were hung by pushpins. I figured I'd start with them.

Some were newspaper clippings - various stories about Vitality - and some were handwritten notes or online articles that had been printed out. Most of them were about a single employee who had vanished and turned up dead a few years ago. Someone named Victoria Allen. While her name wasn't familiar, her face was. I just couldn't figure out why.

The computer was on and unlocked. I sat in the chair and pulled up everything that was open and minimized. A web browser, several programs I had no idea what they were, and a word document. Since it was at the bottom of what was being written, I scrolled all the way to the top and began skimming.

As I read, it began looking a lot like he was compiling evidence for something. I first thought it was about his not being paid, but then the word 'murder' caught my attention. I backed up and began actually reading.

Every word made my eyes get bigger. Something was going on, and it was way beyond what he'd asked my help for. Someone who'd worked for the Knights had gone missing a few months prior to the launch of Vitality, only to be found dead a couple of months later.

The biggest part of it all puzzling me was why he'd be so interested in what by now was a cold case of the death of some woman he had no connection to.

I finished reading the document, though by the end it was only references to dates and times with one or two online articles sprinkled in the mix.

The light around the curtains had dimmed somewhat. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. A little after six. Trina was probably downstairs, waiting to see if I was going to come down for dinner.

I hurriedly minimized all the screens and hurried out of the bedroom, making sure to turn off the light behind me. Barely two steps later a floorboard creaked very loudly. I recognized it as the one Shawn always stepped on. With a grimace, I walked quickly to the stairs. I tried in vain to calm my racing heart on the way down.

Trina narrowed her eyes at me as I walked into the kitchen. She thanked whoever was on the phone and hung up before crossing her arms. "Why were you in my brother's room?"

I fought the urge to swallow and instead walked up to her and leaned on the counter. "He said I could look at his drawings," I said in a voice so steady it surprised me.

She gave me a skeptical look. "He actually gave you permission to go into his bedroom while he isn't here?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.

I straightened up. "Yes. Why is that so hard to believe?"

She frowned slightly. "He doesn't even allow me in there. And when I say 'doesn't allow', I mean not even when he's in there. It shocked me when he allowed you in there at all, so forgive me if it's a little hard to believe he said you could go in there while he's out." By the end she was on the verge of outright sneering at me.

I swallowed involuntarily and her eyes dipped down before narrowing again. "He did say I could go," I said quietly.

Her eyes snapped up to mine, slightly upset. The anger I expected to be there was absent. "But that's not what you were doing up there, is it?" she asked slowly. I blinked at her, trying to keep my face neutral, but her eyes still widened. "What were you doing in there, Liza?"

I swallowed and shook my head. "I was just looking around! I swear!"

She shook her head at me. "Spill, girl."

I sighed and chewed my lip. It wasn't much, but it was still an opening to see what she knew. "Who's Victoria Allen?"

Trina froze, eyes wide. "Who?"

"Victoria Allen."

After a long moment she unfroze enough to slowly shake her head. "Where did you hear that name?"

"So she's important?"

"Where did you hear that name?" she asked more firmly.

A little taken aback, I motioned for her to follow me. I led her to Shawn's room and gestured at the papers on the walls. "They're all about her," I said.

Trina slowly walked up to one and looked at it. Moving slowly and then with increasing speed, she walked around the room and looked at everything. When she was finally done, she backed slowly away from the papers, mumbling something.

"Trina?" I asked tentatively.

She whirled to face me. Tears were in her eyes and a few had leaked out and were rolling down her cheeks. "I don't know why he's obsessed with her," she said hoarsely, shaking her head.

"Who is she?"

Trina closed her eyes and swallowed hard before opening them again. "Victoria Allen was our mom."