Evelyn's skin turned dryer and dryer for each second that she pushed several cartons of milk, looking for the right one. It was hard to see the prints in the milk cartons since all the lettering was smudged. The freezer itself was a mess. Some cartons were kept horizontally which possibly wasn't intentional. One of them was kept at an inclined position and even one sudden move would cause the whole row of cartons to topple down. 

Evelyn had no choice. She had been by the freezer for at least five minutes and the milk was either unexpired or the dates written were illegible. 

She picked one up, realizing that milk was spilling out of it. The carton showed clear signs that the milk had expanded and that could only mean one thing - it expired.

Perfect, she thought as she walked to the billing counter. 

She had dropped her parents off at the nearest subway when she received a call on her burner phone. She had picked it up, hoping it would be Andrea but instead, she saw the only number she had saved - Levi's.

He hadn't said much except that he needed to go to the hospital and that a carton of expired milk might as well do it. Evelyn could have argued but she didn't. He had figured something out when she was gone and if he was willing to get sick, she wasn't going to stop him. 

Evelyn paid for the milk and walked to her car. She was surprised that the cashier didn't stop her from buying milk that was obviously expired. At least it saved her the time of explaining it to him. 

She got into her car and drove to Levi's house. It was only a short distance and she was preparing herself for when she arrived. She knew one thing for sure - whatever plan Levi had, it didn't end with him ending up in the hospital. She needs to play a part in it as well. 

Once she reached, she let herself into his house. The door was unlocked and Levi sat on the couch, expecting her arrival. 

"Good, you're here!" he said, taking the milk that she held in her palms.

"There's no rush to get sick," she commented.

"There is. I have 1 hour and forty-five minutes to get sick and reach the hospital. I'm expecting Andrea there," he said

"What do you think you're doing, Levi?" Evelyn asked, concerned.

"You mean what are we doing. It's a team effort," he said, pouring himself a cup of milk, "you know how my fingerprints are in the lighter? She asked me to light her cigarette just so she wouldn't be involved and I would. Granted, it already had my fingerprints but she was making sure of it. The reason I left the lighter behind was that I couldn't find it and the fire had already grown by then. Somehow, she managed to kick it aside without getting her show marks on it."

"More information that would have benefitted us if I knew sooner," Evelyn grumbled. 

"At the time, I didn't remember. I was upset about what Andrea was doing and it didn't click. I remembered what she did that day and how she apologized for the lighter," Levi said. 

He picked up the glass of milk and chugged down half of it. He squeezed his eye shut, unable to hold back his gag reflexes. 

"Raw milk was bad enough by itself. This is even worse," he commented.

"What is your plan, Levi?" Evelyn asked.

"It's pretty simple. I will keep Andrea with me while you actually break into their house and collect any identifiable item. For example, you could get her hair," Levi said rather nonchalantly. 

"No way," Evelyn shot back instantly.

"Why not? Iris will be at work and Andrew would have gone with her. This is the perfect opportunity!" Levi exclaimed.

"I know that. But this won't help, Levi. What will you do with her hair, place it at the scene of the crime for it to be found? That sounds too convenient and the only thing the cops will think is how come this wasn't there before?" Evelyn argued. 

"Well, that's not the only thing you'd be doing. There has to be a way she didn't get her shoeprints on the lighter. Look through the soles of her shoes, if it even has a little bit of wax, that's the one," Levi said. 

"Why wax?" Evelyn asked.

"Wax would have prevented her prints from coming on the lighter. That, and the fire had to have caught on to something so why can't it be that she used it for two purposes?" Levi asked. 

"Color me impressed," Evelyn said but dropped her enthusiasm immediately, "but my job is proving your credibility, not disproving hers."

"But when she is inevitably called as a witness, you can use it!" Levi exclaimed, "look, I know it's not perfect but it is something."

In the midst of convincing Evelyn, he completely forgot about all the milk he was yet to drink. He picked up the carton, ready to flush it down in one go. He couldn't delay it any longer.

"What are you doing? Don't you think that's a little too much?" Evelyn asked, pointing at the atrocity in his hand, "you'll be stuck with diarrhea before you know it."

"Well, at least if the cops come, they'll have something as proof for my unwellness," Levi said as Evelyn scrunched up her nose in disgust. 

"Besides," Levi continued, "it's nothing new. I have something close to diarrhea every day."

"That doesn't sound fun," Evelyn replied. 

"Oh, but it is. My admiration for you is like diarrhea, I just can't hold it in," Levi said.

"Very funny but that is hardly related," Evelyn said but she could feel her cheeks grow warmer.

Levi turned away from her quickly and shifted his focus to the milk instead. Evelyn found herself heaving a breath she had unintentionally been holding back. She sighed at herself and took her seat on the couch. 

What was happening? Levi had always been the charming and flirty kind of guy and she knew this. Yet, she found herself liking his antics and she couldn't even explain what just happened. 

Her mind instantly went to Noah. They had never been the most loving couple but he used to be the closest person in her life for more than two years. Even before they dated, he was her closest and only friend.

I can't do this to him, she thought. She glanced at Levi who was gagging from all the milk and she was conflicted between her own thoughts.

Will it make a difference if we break up? It was always going to happen, she thought. 

She talked to herself over and over again, failing to convince herself that she and Noah would never work out. While that might have partly been the reason, she knew one thing for sure and was not willing to accept it, not yet.

He's just a college boy and I'm just stupid enough to think more of it, she tried telling herself.

But it was too late to deny anything. It sure as hell wasn't love but one terribly delivered pickup line was all it took to realize she liked him in the slightest.

Me and Noah not working out is just an excuse.

⋆ ★ ⋆

Andrew pressed a button on his wheelchair and it pulled him forward. He had to see his mother and he had to let her know. She was the only one who could fix it. 

Ever since the day Evelyn talked to him, only one thing ran through his mind; fear that she knew. He didn't want to believe it at first but the more time he spent thinking about it, the more obvious it became. He tried to bring it up every meal but Andrea was always present. 

The plan mostly relied on Andrea and Andrew hated it. She didn't even know exactly what happened except what she heard from him and Iris. Andrew tried convincing Iris that involving Andrea wasn't good but to no avail. To Iris, this was the only way to seek her revenge.

Still, Andrew wanted to keep Andrea's involvement to a minimum. It was too late for that now but if things were to go south, he would not let Andrea take the fall. Not when the only reason she agreed to this was to make him happy. 

Andrew knocked on the glass door thrice. A few seconds later, Iris opened the door, letting him in.

"Do you need something, Andrew?" she asked.

"We need to talk about Evelyn. This is the only place where Andrea isn't around and we can both agree that she's done more than she should have," Andrew said. 

Iris looked around before whispering, "make it quick, and don't be loud."

Andrew took in a deep breath. This would send Iris into great worry but he had no choice. He wasn't capable of tackling this alone. 

"I think Evelyn knows what we did. I think Levi told her," he said.

Silence. He expected his mother to panic and start rambling but it was the complete opposite. She sat on her tall, velveted chair and tapped her fingers on the desk.

"Are you sure?" she asked, trying to maintain her composure. 

"When it was just me and her talking, she said something. I was telling her how she ruined my life and she told my family to be more considerate when it comes to ruining lives since I'm against it," Andrew said, "when I asked her what that meant she said that I'm either a hypocrite or naive."

"I see," Iris replied. 

"To me, that sounded like she was talking about all the people who were hospitalized due to the fire. It all fits, doesn't it?" Andrew asked although he hoped it wasn't true. 

"She definitely knows. It's surprising that that boy kept quiet for so long but I knew it had to come out eventually. I was praying it never did," Iris said. 

Although she held a conversation with Andrew, her mind was somewhere else. Her eyes were fixated on the ceiling fan and she tried to follow the rotation of a singular blade. She controlled the urge to blink so as to not miss the specific blade but in vain. It was impossible to focus on one when two others followed suit.

"We can't have her running around with this knowledge. We can't make Alec pay through his son if we have to keep looking behind our back to make sure Evelyn isn't there," Iris said. 

"Evelyn is like a ticking timebomb only, we don't know when she's going to go off," Andrew agreed. 

"We need to focus on one person and that has to be Levi. We've only really made progress with him," Iris said. 

"But Evelyn is the one at true fault! She's the reason behind everything!" Andrew exclaimed. 

"I know. I'd rather shoot myself than let Evelyn get away with what she did for you. However, there's no time to ruin her career or her life," Iris said, "get ready Andrew we have a long day of planning ahead."

"On one note; do not involve Andrea," Andrew said firmly. 

"Of course not," Iris said, "and when Evelyn is finally gone, everything will fall into place on its own."

"Evelyn Turner must die."