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Safe or Not?

  Artemis woke to the chirping of birds the next day. She sat up and dressed up. With auburn hair and deep brown eyes, Artemis could be a famous teenage girl actor if she liked. She had a cool personality and could get along with anyone, although that wasn't really what her parents wanted her to be.

  Artemis, the Greek goddess of archery, was known for her diligence and soberness. Artemis' parents obviously wanted her to become a strong female like Artemis the goddess. But Artemis was kind and fragile, her heart not like diamonds, but rather like glass, fragile and breakable.

  “Artemis?” Audrey's voice sounded in Artemis' phone, “there's something important. Meet me at the coffee shop next door. Be quick.”

  Artemis sighed. Little old Aud, always taking up a meeting to discuss Americanos and oolong tea. But Audrey's voice made it sound like something big is happening. Something bad. Artemis draped in a black coat and carried a handbag, running towards the shop.

  * * *

  “Aud,” Artemis said while sitting in a coffee shop towards Audrey, “what's wrong again? The last time you called me was to discuss if ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ is better than ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’.”

  “Forget that, Artemis. That was when I still wasn't fully recovered from a fright in the incident in Sweden!” The Asian girl argued.

  “Are we going to talk or not?” A voice sounded behind Artemis. She looked back and saw Matthew Danhill standing behind them, holding the flash disk Audrey had given to him. Embarrassed, Artemis sat beside Audrey as she flushed.

  “What are you doing here, Danhill?” Artemis scolded, “don't you live in Ireland?”

  “I invited our good friend Matthew here, Artemis. Be polite. So, mister Danhill. What can I do for you?”

  “What can I do for you?” Danhill snarled, “you need a favor, right? Your Digger is missing-"

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  “What?” Artemis paled.

  “Artemis!” Audrey scolded.

  “Your Digger is missing. But I need a favor too, Warrace. This-" he held up the flash disk, “is a fake. How about you first solve my problem? Then I can help to solve yours.” Danhill's face showed a mixture of bitterness and frustration.

  “Impossible!” Artemis shouted, causing people around them to look at her, “we ran a variety of tests on the cloned version! If it is a fake, we would have known. I would have known. Unless-somebody wanted to replace it, causing damage on our relationship!” Artemis paled, “tell me you didn't put that in public!”

  “I did,” Danhill said, “I put it on a restaurant table and looked the other way.”

  “You see? Problem solved!”

  “Not exactly problem solved, miss Sue. First, the real one isn't back in my hands yet. Second, who would want to cause damage on our relationship? I thought our relationship was rocky enough!”

  “I had the same question,” Audrey said, resting her temples on her fingertips.

  “I have another question,” Artemis scowled, “perhaps the Digger missing and the cloned version being stolen has some relationship to each other?”

  Audrey looked at Danhill. “You're right,” she said, “we're going to find out.”

  * * *

  Artemis groaned as she sat on the airplane to Dublin. “I hate heights.”

  “Concentrate, Artemis. Mister Danhill, please reload the camera feed last day evening. Let’s see if there's any pieces of evidence left.”

  Matthew Danhill reloaded the camera feed. In the replay, Danhill put the flash disk on the table in the restaurant after looking at it closely, and-cut! The flash disk disappeared and a shadow appeared on the restaurant floor. Then the shadow moved towards the kitchen and disappeared after moving a meter.

  “Looks like someone wiped the person's pattern from the camera feed. But didn't wipe it entirely,” Danhill concluded

  “Exactly. According to the direction the shadow went and the face, it must be heading towards the kitchen, or at least somewhere near it,” Artemis said.

  “Whoa, wait a minute. If the person even thought to wipe their pattern from the camera feed, it proves they must be smart. So, what if the shadow is just a misdirection? What if the person knows we can see the shadow? Can we know for sure that the person is heading towards the kitchen?” Audrey pointed out.

  “We don't,” Artemis and Danhill said together.

  “So, now everyone in the restaurant is suspects,” Audrey shuddered, “and that restaurant was really popular that day, and that mean we have a total of 103 suspects, including mister Danhill.”

  “Hey!” Danhill protested, “are you going to help or not?”

  “Okay,” Artemis mediated, “that mean we have 102 suspects. Don't make a face, Danhill. Come. Let’s go through every one of them.”

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