Chapter 2

2: 2

A shudder ripped through me.

When I focused, I saw it was Reginald Delgado.

He was HR at Yuhui Tech. Word was that when Irene James died, she died right in front of him.

Right now Reginald's face was frozen in terror, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

I grabbed his shoulders and dropped my voice into a furious hiss.

"Reginald, what the hell are you talking about? When did I ever kill Irene?"

But Reginald's trembling fingers pulled up a video.

"But... why would Supervisor James call you right before she died and tell you not to clock in?"

My scalp went tight in an instant.

I looked down. On the screen was Irene, face wild with panic, screaming into her phone.

"Clara Henson, don't clock in, do you hear me, you can't clock in!"

"If you clock in, I'll die!"

Reginald had actually seen Irene call me. And he'd filmed it.

I snatched the phone out of his hand.

"That was her losing her mind. Her death has nothing to do with me! You can't take it seriously. Have you... told anyone?"

"I didn't tell the police!" Reginald answered at once. "You always looked out for me at the company. How could I ever turn on you?"

But then he shrank his neck down like a kid who'd done something wrong, staring at me.

"But I heard Dustin Armstrong tell the police that you killed Irene! He even told them to haul you in for questioning right away..."

"That's bullshit!"

Dustin Armstrong, that bastard!

Back when Irene set me up, he was the one who gave false testimony saying he saw me steal the company's R&D, the one who got me fired.

I fired off a message to Dustin on the spot.

Warning him that if he dared spread lies about me again, I'd sue him for defamation.

Looking at Reginald's uneasy, suspicious face, I patted his shoulder.

"Reginald, thank you for telling me all this today!"

"You have to believe me. Irene's death really has nothing to do with me. I haven't even seen her in half a year. I wasn't anywhere near the scene when she died. How could I have killed her?"

Hearing that, Reginald finally let his doubt go.

"Okay. Got it."

After I saw Reginald off, I went back inside, took a cold shower, played a few rounds of games, and only then went to bed.

Except the moment I fell asleep, I dreamed of Irene and Dustin beating and humiliating me back at the company.

Everyone around us was laughing. Dustin crouched down holding a time clock.

"Come on, clock in!"

"This'll be your last time clocking in at Yuhui Tech!"

I shook with rage, snatched the clock away, and started jabbing at it wildly.

The whole time one thought pounded in my head: Die! Die! Every last one of you, die!

But the next second, his head snapped like a twig, one crack, and thudded to the floor by my feet.

Then, one after another, everyone's heads dropped to the ground in front of me.

In my ears came Irene's hoarse, shredded scream.

"Don't clock in!"

"Don't clock in!"

"Don't clock in!

I jerked awake in terror, cold sweat soaking through my clothes.

I'd actually dreamed Dustin croaked too!

I grabbed my phone right away to see if Dustin had replied.

Turned out he'd sent something, taunting me.

"Clara Henson, you're the goddamn killer. Just wait, tomorrow I'm sending your ass to prison!"

I blew up on the spot, fired back a "you're out of your damn mind," and blocked him.

But after that, no matter what I did, I couldn't fall asleep.

Irene's words kept echoing in my ears.

"If you clock in, I'll die."

The next day, I dragged myself to work half-asleep.

The moment I came out of the subway, I saw Dustin stuffing his face at the bun shop by Subway Exit B.

I rolled my eyes, muttered a curse about my rotten luck, and turned to head upstairs.

I'd just clocked in and was heading for my desk when my phone suddenly buzzed like crazy.

"Oh my God, Dustin's dead too! He split his own head open with a knife!"