Brendan climbed the stairs and returned to his room. Deirdre clenched her jaw and followed suit.

When Brendan found Deirdre sitting on his bed after he emerged from the bathroom, wiping himself dry, he knew there was no getting out of the discussion. He flipped his matted hair back and asked, "Okay, what is it?"

Deirdre clenched her hands. "Remember how I slapped Emily at the gate of Night City? That was because she confessed to coercing Shea! And that's not all, Brendan. Do you know that Mrs. Engel is innocent? She was threatened into confessing she was the mole! Think about it! If Mrs. Engel was a mole, she would have had ample time to hurt me. She never needed to work with Emily at all!"

The room fell into a prolonged silence. Brendan seemed rather unperturbed and unruffled until shades of fatigue appeared on his face. "I see. Okay. Now, time to sleep."

Deirdre froze. "You… don't believe me, do you?"

Brendan set his towel down, revealing conflict in his eyes. "It's not that I d