Hourglass → Ace; Nancy Drew [1]

vii. the fires of vengeance

THE FIRE OF VENGEANCE
CHAPTER SEVEN

Obnoxious telephone rings and booming voices crowded the room as Olivia stepped in. Each wooden desk situated in organized rows was filled with its owner, and the walkways were crammed with the remaining police officers who weren't fulfilling desk jobs. The cream-colored walls and the wooden furniture that filled most of the police station brought drowsiness into the room, depressing with its blandness.

Olivia struggled to focus her eyes on something when everything in the room looked so alike; brown wood, dull plain walls, matching beige uniforms. Even the bulletin board by the reception counter at the back matched the color of the desks. All that truly stood out were the missing person posters on the bulletin board, or the posters with safety advice hung up along the walls. The small desk plants, although Olivia was certain were fake, also gave the place a bit more flavor. Nevertheless, Olivia still found it difficult to keep her eyes steady as she looked for Ace. As she scanned the room, she hoped that his colorful puffer jacket would help him be more conspicuous than the rest of the station.

Sighing, Olivia reached for her phone in her coat's pocket, her eyes instantly scanning the screen for a reply from Ace. When she saw that their chat remained one-sided for the past hour, she pocketed her phone. "Great," she muttered to herself, looking back up and raising her eyebrows when thick red hair came into sight. Olivia smiled at the fact that the first sight of color in the entire room happened to belong to a familiar face coming out of the jail area. "Nancy," she called, moderating the volume of her voice to avoid attracting the policemen and policewomen's attention.

The girl glanced around for the source of the name call and waved when she saw Olivia waiting eagerly for her. Instead of walking to the exit as initially intended, she averted her route and shuffled past desks to make her way to the brunette. "Hey, what are you doing here?" She stopped in front of Olivia with a smile, though her eyebrows were knitted together in question.

"I was supposed to meet Ace here; he said he needed to pick something up from the detective's office," Olivia explained, gently throwing her hands up before slapping them down on the side of her legs in disappointment.

"Wait, really?" Nancy frowned and shook her head. "Ace picked that up not too long ago."

"Ah, so he did blow me off." She flopped her hands to her sides, slapping her thighs lightly.

Nancy shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I doubt it was meant maliciously."

"Yeah, no, it's okay," Olivia assured, although she found herself gritting her teeth after. Why had he agreed to her helping him today if he was going to avoid her? "So what are you here for? I saw you walking out of the jail room." She arched a brow suggestively to which Nancy put her hands up in assurance.

"Oh, no. I wasn't arrested again," she chuckled when Olivia nodded with joking relief. "I just had to return something to AJ."

"Wait, AJ?" Olivia took a step back to think straight. "As in AJ Nishiyama?"