Marie had never been a nosy person. When she was alive, she kept her nose out of other people's business, respecting others' privacy. Now a ghost, Marie had changed. No one knew she existed, no one could judge her. But she remained respectful and did not use her ghostly abilities to spy on others, she simply couldn't.
Another week had passed, and Marie had not come any further with Mr. Evans. She had taken on the mystery, and it took up all her time. And to some extent, Marie was happy. Time usually crawled by, staring out the cracked window, stuck in her own mind. The case gave her something to think about, something to do.
Marie was wandering the halls, lost in her thoughts. She turned Mr. Evans's last words over in her mind, wondering what the significance was. He specifically said "Time ran out," not anything else. Mr. Evans could have been working on something, Marie thought. Something important, until time ran out and he was killed. Marie brushed the thought off, knowing she was reading too much into this. She had nothing else to go on, though, no new clues.
Frustrated, she found herself on the 10th floor of the building, and came out of her zoned out state. Marie looked up, staring at the door of Mr. Evans's apartment. The police tape hung loosely across it, and Marie debated going inside to search the apartment for clues.
Swallowing down the already growing guilt in her stomach, she glided through the door and entered the dark apartment. Cursing her inability to touch anything, including a light switch, Marie squinted to make out something, anything. Startled by a figure sitting in the old maroon armchair in the living room area, Marie inched closer, recognizing him quickly. It was Mr. Evans's ghost.
"Mr. Evans?" came her hoarse voice. Marie could not remember the last time she spoke.
"Time ran out," Mr. Evans mumbled.
"Mr. Evans? I'm Marie. A ghost, like you." She kicked herself for sounding so stupid.
"Time ran out," he said, raising his voice.
"Time ran out? For what? What were you working on?"
"It's all there, in the desk." Mr. Evans looked at Marie with empty eyes before fading away.
There was a desk close by, and again Marie hated her ghostly state. She had so many questions. But she finally had something new.
A clue.
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