Before she could say anything, her phone vibrated. Taking it out of her pocket, she realized that it was a text message from Cynthia. It said, "Brandon's telling the truth, he didn't poison Terrance. Just found out that someone from T.E.R.S.E., Chris Delarosa, did it. He admitted to the crime."
"Everything okay?" Brandon questioned.
"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine." she replied.
The fact that Raphael was blaming Brandon made her blood boil even more than it did already. She had to try to control herself because she would explode like a vicious volcano.
"Where was it you said you were going?" he continued to ask.
Denella hesitated. "I'm going to go see my mother."
"Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine."Denella checked the time on her phone. "It's starting to get pretty late, so I should get going now."
"Yeah, yeah. I should get going too. I have to head back up."
Denella smiled as she got in her car. "See you later, then." She started to drive off.
"Yeah, see you later." he spelled out slowly. He was pretty sure she didn't hear him since she already had pulled off.
T.E.R.S.E. Headquarters, Belle City, 7:39p.m
Raphael took the elevator to the basement. He was alone. When the elevator came to a stop and opened, Raphael stepped out. His gun in one hand and his flashlight in the other. He held both, the gun and flashlight, in one hand so he could turn on the lights. As he flipped the light switch on, nothing happened. He flipped it off, and then on again, but still nothing happened. The lights were probably not working since no one had been there in a long time.
He continued walking straight ahead, looking around. He could see boxes everywhere. This was where they stored everything. He could hear a soft whimper coming from behind some of the boxes, but he couldn't tell what it was in the dreadful dark. He inched closer and removed some of the boxes that were blocking him. He coughed and blew away some of the dust that rose from on top of the boxes.
He centred his flashlight on whatever was making the noise only to find three rats chattering together. They scattered at the brightness of the light.
"Disgusting." Raphael whispered.
The rats reminded him how much the basement in T.E.R.S.E. needed to be cleaned.
He continued searching around. He could hear water leaking somewhere. DRIP, DROP! Each drop echoing the sound. DRIP, DROP! Then, he heard someone breathing deeply. It was coming from around the corner. He neared the sound slowly, making sure it wasn't some kind of trap.