AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was absolutely and confoundedly out of my depth sitting beside Juniper Davis, and I wanted to stick around a while longer.
What the hell was wrong with me?
She leaned forward eagerly, her eyes gleaming. "North Korea? That must have been so intense!"
"I felt like I was being monitored all the time. They say even the air has eyes in North Korea. It's not hard to guess why.
"The regime had strict rules on what journalists were allowed to see and report on, so I had to be careful every step of the way. From the moment I landed in Pyongyang, I was under constant surveillance. But I managed to meet with locals in secret. The horrors I heard, Juniper. It's a brutal place."
"Did you get anything on their poverty?"
"Lots. Plus, there were so many disappearances. People dying, people vanishing in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. I knew I had to document their stories and get them out to the world."
Juniper sighed softly. "To think people out there are living lives so tangentially different from ours. It opens your eyes."
"One night, as I was making my way back to this hotel, I was stopped by government officials. They demanded to see my camera and notes. Thankfully, I'd hidden my most valuable footage and documents a little drive and stuck it in my boots."
"This is literally like hearing a documentary in real life."
That made me emit a wry chuckle.
"The officials searched me and found nothing incriminating, but it was tight. I got the footage out there, though."
At this point, I stopped talking. It wasn't because I didn't know more about the horrors of the NK regime. But talking about the evil I'd seen always tired me out.
I couldn't tell if she'd read my expression, but she sweetly changed the topic.
"So, on the topic of the pie. Why just a slice?"
I shuffled my feet sheepishly. "Ah. I, erm, I wanted to bring the whole thing. Watched a whole reel on Instagram and all. But I kinda burnt and undercooked it at the same time. Don't ask me how. I'd need to get a forensic done."
She laughed once again, and I felt its peal right in my gut. She really was ... she was beautiful.
"Well, one of these days, I'm going to need to show you how to make a proper pie, then."
"D'you do that often?" I smirked. "Make pies for your neighbors?"
Her face fell suddenly. I'd hit a raw nerve, and it bothered me. "Hey, you okay?"
She averted her gaze and fiddled with her hair once more. She did that a lot, from what I saw. An obvious tell of her anxious moments.
"You'll hear the story soon enough," she mumbled, "so there's no point in my hiding anything. I seem to have landed in a bit of a pickle with a rich old man and his inheritance."
"You mean Harold Montgomery?"
She looked at me immediately. Her eyebrows arched, one a tad more tilted than the other. "How d'you know that?"
"I think the whole town knows, honey," I replied, my tone gentle. "But if it helps, I don't think it's right to jump to any conclusions without evidence."
"Is this one of your cases?" She sounded slightly terrified. She was afraid I'd hound her. How many neighbors had already done this?
I found myself getting protective.
"I'm interested in the case like anyone else, Juniper. But that isn't why I came here today. I genuinely wanted to meet you when I saw you out in the garden, trying to get a cat out of a tree this morning."
"Oh." She looked surprised for a second but then burst out laughing again. "It's that dratted Bumbles. He lives opposite you. But you'll find him here more often."
"I wouldn't be surprised. You seem like a much better option to live with."
