She Is Not Involved

When he saw her in the kitchen the next morning there was nothing to indicate she had been crying yesterday. Nothing to indicate that she was angry with him. She wore all black today. The only color he saw was the green and pink heart shaped stone that hung around her neck. She was not wearing her bracelet today. That could prove to be problematic. Especially since most of her classes today were ones he would likely not be taking for his major. Could he get another bug on her?

"Morning, Taya," he said, as he gathered food for breakfast.

She gave a single nod as she filled a thermos with oatmeal and hot water.

"Is something wrong?"

Taya ignored his question. She grabbed a spoon then left the kitchen. She shouldered her bag and left the house. Ky didn't try to rush after her. Her first class was one he would not be looking into for himself. He thought trying to get close to her would be easy. That getting to know more about her—and her lack of tells—would be a piece of cake once he had moved in. But she was more guarded than he had first thought.

He ate his food. Then he put his laptop and his file on Taya into a bag to take with him. He pulled out the campus map before leaving the house. It was only a couple blocks down the street, so he walked. He also needed to keep up appearances for Taya and Mirva while he observed Taya. He took his time walking the paths around campus. He looked at the map he held often to understand which were academic buildings and which were dorms. He wandered around until almost time for Taya's one and only Communications class today.

Ky entered Wyatt Hall and took the stairs up to the second floor. He found room 213 then sat on the bench outside. He watched several students enter the classroom before the professor arrived. Ky stopped him briefly to make sure it was alright for him to sit in as he figured out if UPS was a good fit for him. He agreed and Ky followed him in. He sat on the side near the door. Taya sat in the middle of the room. Her attention was on the notebook she was writing in and not on her surroundings. Seemingly vulnerable, but was she?

Professor Ceasar Grey started his class saying nothing of Ky's presence. He paid less attention to the teacher than his observations about Taya. She took notes. Whatever she had been writing before was entirely on hold while in class. But it was out again once class ended. Taya made no move to leave the room yet. She wrote several more lines before shoving everything into her bag. She shouldered it and left the room. She didn't even glance at him on her way out. Ky followed.

"Taya?" he tried.

She ignored him.

Taya entered Schnebeck Music Hall. Why was she going in there? She didn't have any music classes. Still, he followed. He wanted to talk to her. Try and get her to communicate more with him. She disappeared into one of the practice rooms. It took him a little while to find her again. She was playing a duet with another young woman. They didn't play for much longer. Taya pulled a planner from her bag.

"What day works for you, Erin?" Taya asked.

"Do you have anything later this afternoon?"

"Six o'clock?"

"See you then."

Taya left the piano bench and Erin resumed her playing. She left out the other door. Ky still followed her. Followed her off campus and down the street. She entered a white building. There was a small cafe to the right and several offices down the hall on the left. Taya unlocked a door almost immediately left of the entrance. Ky poked his head inside. It was different. She had tools on bookcases he'd never seen before.

"Please sit in the hall," Taya requested. "My client will be here shortly."

"We need to talk."

Taya motioned for him to leave.

Ky frowned. Her expression held no emotion. Nothing to give him a hint of how she was feeling after yesterday. He nodded then stepped out into the hall. He sat in the chairs across the hall. Taya's client arrived. She welcomed him inside then closed the door. He leaned back in the chair. Was she keeping silent because she was angry? Was she keeping silent because he had somehow upset her by touching her? Ky wracked his brain for an hour before Taya's door opened again. Her client left looking a little disoriented. Ky started to stand to try talking to her again, but her next client flew in.

"I'm so sorry, Taya," she said. "I…."

"You're fine, Wendy," Taya replied before her door shut once more.

Another hour passed before Wendy left—red faced—but smiling. Such noticeable changes. How did she use visualization to bring about a controlled emotional release? To make her clients feel safe enough to express the emotion that needed to be released? Taya remained in her office until Erin arrived. Her work with Erin went longer. His stomach was growling now, so he stepped down the hall long enough to get a bag of chips from the vending machine. He ate the chips. He threw his bag away before Taya's office door opened again. Erin left looking just as she did going in.

Ky stepped to her office doorway now. Taya pulled the sheet off the table and put it into a laundry bag. Then she shouldered her school bag. She carried the laundry bag out of her office. Ky had taken several steps back. He waited while she locked her door then left the building. It was dark now. But Taya didn't seem bothered by the darkness. Or by what might be lurking around the corner. They walked several blocks before Ky felt he needed to try breaking the silence again.

"Can we talk now, Taya?"

She didn't respond. Didn't even glance in his direction.

"I'm sorry for anything I've done to upset you. I want to get to know you better, if you'll let me."

She continued to act as if she hadn't heard him.

Ky sighed then continued to walk beside her to the house. When they reached the yard, Taya dropped her bags and kicked off her shoes. What was she doing? It was forty degrees out? She took off her socks and dragged her feet through the grass. He watched and waited for ten minutes as she made slow circles in the grass. Only then did she pick up her things again. Ky grabbed the bag of sheets before she could and carried it inside. Taya watched him as he preceded her down the stairs to the basement.

He approached the washer to put the sheets inside.

"Hot water. A cap of Lysol and no Bleach," Taya said.

"Why Lysol?"

"Disinfectant."

"I knew that, but…?"

"Forget it. I'll do it in a minute." Taya crossed the open basement den and entered her room.

Ky did what she told him to and closed the lid as she came back. "I got it."

"Wonderful." She stepped away and returned upstairs.

Ky entered his room and pulled out his file on Taya. He added more questions to the file. A couple observances, but ultimately he'd not learned anything helpful in being able to read her. Maybe he needed to step back some, see if that wouldn't help trying to get her to open up more. Ky put his things aside for now then climbed the stairs to the kitchen to find something more to eat. He made a pan of mac and cheese. Taya had made herself a large sandwich. She took medium sized bites and really chewed her food before swallowing. He didn't try to engage her in conversation.

He dumped his mac and cheese into a bowl when it was ready and sprinkled pepper over it. Then he sat across from her and ate. He finished first and left the table. He washed his dishes and the few Taya had used to build her sandwich. Then he entered the front room, closing the glass doors behind him. He sat at the piano and played simple tunes he still remembered from when his mother had tried to get him to learn piano. But he hated having to practice. He shifted to one side of the bench as he started to play another one. The doors separating the dining and front rooms opened.

Ky didn't look up. Taya sat beside him and started playing the lower accompaniment to the song. She played it once through the key changes before Ky started to play the melody again. He played it further this time. Then he played it again a little faster, but Taya kept pace with him. Applause on the other side of the door made them turn. Mirva stopped clapping and opened the door.

"I didn't know you played, Ky," she smiled.

"Very little."

"Well maybe you can pick it up again while you are here."

"Maybe."

"I should rotate my sheets before it gets too much later," Taya said as a way to excuse herself.

"Thank you for playing with me," Ky said as she walked through the dining room.

She raised a hand in the air before she disappeared.

"Glad to see her come out of her shell a little more on a grounding day," Mirva said.

"Grounding day?" Ky asked.

"A day when she feels she needs to shuffle her feet in the grass to release energy clouding her thoughts."

"How did you know that's what she did today?"

"It's the only time she wears all black. And the only time she refuses to speak unless it is necessary."

"Do you know why Taya refuses to speak?"

"I don't."

Ky nodded.

Mirva left the front room and entered the kitchen. She grabbed food then returned to her room.

Ky turned out the lights as he, too, decided to go to his room. He sat down with his file on Taya. He added what Mirva was able to tell him. It wasn't much, but it was a type of tell. Just not one that was as self-explanatory as he was used to picking up on. How often did she ground her energy? She had done it enough times that Mirva knew and understood the tell, but that still didn't answer his question. Didn't answer any of his questions. Questions he couldn't ask her without her knowing he was investigating her—related to his mission with Agent Graves or not.

'She's not involved,' the thought came again.

He rubbed his eyes. He wanted to believe that she wasn't involved. But there was the thing with her phone ending up in the lake and the near uselessness of her defrost and heater in her relatively new car. Little details that Ky felt he shouldn't be ignoring. So, how was he going to proceed?