"Why the f*** did you just slap me?", Abra asked, raising her voice loud enough for neighbors around her to hear.

"I told you. Always pick my calls, because not picking my calls gets me upset!", Zach shouted back at Abra, who happened to be his girlfriend.

"But I didn't cancel our plans. Did I?", Abra asked, her body visibly shaking from the anger she felt. "I want to go home now."

"No, you can't. I want you to stay with me", Zach stated, moving closer to Abra, who picked up an empty alcohol bottle nearby and pointed it at him.

"If you move closer, I will smash this bottle on your head, and I swear you will not survive it."

Zach did not look shocked by Abra's reaction. After all, Abra could be very wild, and although he knew she would not be able to hit him with a broken bottle, she could still do something he would regret.

His facial expression softened. His intentions were not to hurt Abra. He just wanted to correct her and somehow ended up slapping her so hard.

"I am sorry, Ab."

"Don't. I don't want to hear my name from your mouth", Abra said, still holding the bottle tight. "Move out of my way now!"

"Please..."

"I said move out of my way right now!"

Zach knew he had lost his chance on whatever he had planned out for both of them. He knew there was nowhere he could calm her down in this state, so he did as he was instructed to do.

Abra stomped off, still fuming in anger.

***

Abra got home through the backside of the house and entered the kitchen directly. Her mom, Mrs. Roberta, was there making pancakes.

"Hey mum."

"Hey darling. You've been out all day, and you look...what happened to your face", she said, moving close to Abra and touching her face.

"It's nothing, mom,", Abra said, taking her mom's hand off her face immediately.

"Were you fighting?"

"Mum, it's nothing. Please", Abra replied coldly. Mrs. Roberta went quiet, and that made Abra feel guilty.

'If I had remembered to check if Zach's slap gave me any bruises, this would not have happened', Abra thought to herself. She blamed herself for everything.

Mrs. Roberta went back to do the dishes, and just when Abra was about to apologize, she said, "Someone is waiting for you in the sitting room. It's business, so you would not want to miss it."

Abra could not recall making any business plans with anyone and wondered why someone would want to do 'business' with her by nine in the night. Curiosity got the best of her because she did not wait one second in the kitchen. She walked straight into the sitting room and saw a lady sitting there cross-legged.

"Hey."

"Hey, good evening, ma'am. Are you Abra?"

Yes, I am. There's really no need to call me ma'am. You can call me just Abra. How may I help you? Do you want something from my farm?"

Abra was a farmer and sold mostly eggs and chicken. So, the first business deal that came to her mind was that the lady wanted to get something from her farm.

"No. I need your help as a private detective."

After handling two cases of kidnapping, Abra was becoming a lot more popular. Being a private detective was not her full-time job; it was not her official job. But somehow she had gotten too nosy and was able to solve some mysteries and get the bad guys. The first crime was a missing girl of about six years, and another was a missing man. Both were kidnapped by bad guys at different times, and Abra was skillful enough to find them, though it was quite unfortunate that the man was not found alive.

After she had solved those two cases, she started getting popular. Both in good and bad ways.

"It's late, you know", Abra stated. She did not mean to be rude; she could not help but say that. She already had a long day and was really tired.

"I'm sorry, but it was kind of urgent. If you want me to go and come back in the morning..."

A ring came on Abra's phone, and she looked at the notification bar that had popped up on her phone. It was a message from Zach. She could guess what was in the message even though she had not read it. She was still mad at him, but she could not wait to read the message he sent to her properly. She still loved him very much and knew he loved her too, or so she thought.

"I'm sorry you were saying something", Abra said.

"Yes, I was. I am sorry to disturb you this late, but it's sort of an emergency, but if you want me to come tomorrow morning, then I will."

"No, it's okay. I'm sorry for my poor manners", Abra said, sitting on the chair opposite the lady. "Please go on. What is the problem?"

"So, um, I had an issue with my boyfriend, Lucas. When we have arguments, he usually ghosts me.

for about two or three days before he comes back. But this time around, we had an argument, and it's been five days now; he isn't back. Also, I feel like I'm being followed literally everywhere I go. I am scared."

"You feel like Lucas is following you?"

"I don't know. When we have arguments, he doesn't follow me. But before I dated him, he had an issue with always stalking me and wanting to be my friend."

"Stalking is weird, not friendly", Abra stated plainly.

"Well, I don't know."

"Have you tried reaching out to him?"

"Yes. But he had refused to pick up my calls."

"What did you guys argue about this time?"

"He thought I cheated on him, based on his assumption.

"What is his name again?"

"Lucas."

Since Abra did not have a pen and paper with her, she took notes of everything on her notepad on her phone.

"Do you know his apartment, and have you tried going there within these five days of the argument?"

"Yes, I know his apartment. But no, I haven't gone there since."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm scared Lucas wants to hurt me."

"Did you cheat?", Abra asked. It was none of her business, but she needed answers to be able to work on the case properly.

"No, I didn't. I would never!"

Abra sensed a lie immediately but decided not to push further.

"So what do you need me to do?", Abra asked.

"I want you to help me find Lucas and find out if he is the one following me."

"How much are you willing to pay?"

Although Abra was not a professional, she was brilliant enough to solve two cases on her own, cases that no other detective in town could solve. It made her enemies but also brought more money into her pocket, so she didn't really care.

"I would give you $150. Is that okay?"

"Well. For now, $150 is okay. But the price may increase if the case becomes tougher. I hope you are open-minded about that."

"Yes, I am. Thank you very much. Can I make the payments tomorrow? I don't think I can do that this night."

"Sure, no problem. You didn't tell me your name, by the way."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Pardon my bad manners. I am Mabel."

"Alright. I would like to meet with you tomorrow by 11 a.m., just at Iceland not far from here. I would like you to take me to your boyfriend's house. I hope you are good with that."

"Yes, I am. But that's not all. There's something else going on too..."

A loud scream suddenly came from the kitchen.