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"Good morning, sir," Patrick greeted when Alex came into work that morning. Olivia was on sick leave, so he had too much work on his hands and had no choice but to leave their investigations all to Adam. He had only told him to call if something important came up. "Good morning Patrick, and where is Olivia?" Alex asked. "She caught a cold while we were out yesterday, and I told her to stay home and rest", Patrick explained, and his eyes grew slightly wide when he realised what he had said; it took Alex a few seconds, and he finally realised it too as he was about to walk into his office. His hand dropped from the door, and he turned to look at Patrick and squinted his eyes at his assistant. "You and her were out at night together," Alex said, and Patrick opened his mouth to think of a lie or perhaps an excuse, but his mind couldn't think of anything... Alex stood there and started to put all the dots together. They always left for their lunch break together, and they seemed to be more cheerful around each other. The other day, Patrick had asked him if Olivia and him could leave early, and Alex didn't think much about it and only thought they wanted to have different engagements had told them they could, but now he finally understood. "Patrick, is it what I'm thinking?" Alex said, and it took Patrick a few seconds, but he finally nodded. "My office now", Alex said and walked into his office, Patrick almost cursed under his breath because he knew dating in their company was prohibited. Alex had been adamant about no office romance, so things wouldn't be awkward around anyone if the couple eventually broke up. But he had broken this rule, and it was worse for him because he worked close to Alex and was one of the people who had supported and brought such an idea to Alex in the first place, and now he regretted it. Back then, he should have found a way to convince Alex not to do that, but Olivia hadn't joined the company at that time and romance and dating hadn't even been on his mind at all. What had been on his mind that time works and work only? His sister was sick and he even worked overtime to get paid extra... It made a sad smile appear on his face when he thought about that time. It had been one of the worst moments of his life, a time he couldn't forget as long as he lived. But Alex was the only one who had seemed to notice him working so hard and had extended a helping hand when he needed it the most... Patrick quickly followed Alex Into his office. Alex was taking off his jacket when Patrick walked in and he said nothing. Alex simply hung his jacket on his coat hanger and took a Seat. Patrick stood in front of him looking apologetic as he stood In front of his boss... "I'm sure you, of All people, should be aware that dating is prohibited in this company," Alex started,d, and Patrick nodded. "I'm sorry, sir, but I forgot about it for a b,i t, and I couldn't control my feelings for h,er", Patrick said confidently. Alex was trying his best to hold in a smile as he spoke to Patrick... "Oh" he said.... Patrick phone rang as he stood in Alex office and Alex sighed deeply and picked up on of the documents on his table. "You can take your call it might be important we can always talk later" Alex said and Patrick nodded. he raised his phone to see who was calling and saw that it was Adam who he hadn't heard anything from in days. why did he chose now of all moments to call. "it's adam" Patrick said and Alex said nothing... "Hello" Patrick said as soon as he answered the call... his eyes on Alex to see if he suspected a thing that they had been keeping things from him... "we need to meet now," Adam said firmly and ended the call before Patrick could sat anything. Patrick eyes travelled to Alex, who had his attention on the documents on his desk. Alex slowly raised his eyes to look at Patrick, who was staring at him. "Do you have something to say?" Alex and partrick started to think of an excuse that he could use to leave work for an hour or two because Olivia wasn't there to cover for him. "I have a personal matter I need to take care of, sir. I will be back in an hour or two," he asked, and Alex rested his back on his chair... "You can go, you have two hours," Alex said. "Thank you, sir," Patrick replied and immediately left so he could return quickly but alex was a suspicious of him and only let him leave because he though that he wanted to go see Olivia and check if she was doing alright... a smile appeared on Alex face and he shook his head, he couldn't even be mad even though office romance was prohibited at his company so his employees could concentrate more on work, but seeing two people close to him dating he couldn't even say a word and only watch them be happy, because he had someone who made him happy also... He just hoped they didn't break up and things at the office wouldn't become awkward for all of them if they did... _____________________ ______________________ "why do you need to see me so urgently. Alex almost found out about everything" Patrick said when he got into Adams car. "it couldn't wait." adam said. "so while investigating I found one of the workers who used to work out the house. she had been out of the country for so long since she quit her job with the grahams and only just returned so I immediately looked for her and she was willing to tell me about what happened" adam said... "she told Me about everything that we already know but one thing that made me shocked was what she said to me" Adams added and Patrick looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean what did she tell you" Patrick asked. "She thinks someone else was there that night and gave me proof.. she had picked up something that might belong to this persons and I found out who owned it i shocked" "do you know who else was there at the house that day, that the police seemed to exclude" Adam said and handed the envelope in his hand to Patrick who took it from him and read in silence... Patrick opened the envelope and adam watched in silence as Patrick eyes became wide because of what he was reading. "How could this be..." Patrick said in disbelief... he couldn't believe it and thought that there was probably a mistake somewhere but there was no mistake anywhere and everything was completely true. "I was shocked too when I found out..." Adam said and shook his head "But this doesn't mean a thing, he could be innocent" Patrick said and adam nodded. "Yes he might, but we have to find proof yet... this is getting messier than I thought" Adam said and Patrick nodded in agreement. it was truly getting messier than he thought and he knew he couldn't tell Alex about what he had found out... he had to keep it to himself till he found enough proof to clear out the name that had suddenly popped up...