As soon as Elizabeth returned home with her new box of potions, she called out excited, "Hey, Gina, I'm back! You're never going to guess what I found." There was no answer, so Elizabeth tried again. "Gina? You here?" Elizabeth set the potion box and her purse down in the living room and checked the kitchen. As she examined the empty room, she noticed a note scrawled on yellow memo paper, stuck to the fridge with a magnet:
Lizzy--
Went to the mall with Jim to do some shopping and catch a movie. Back in a few hours.
Gina
Jim was Gina's new boyfriend. They had been only dating for a few weeks. He seemed like a decent guy, though Elizabeth really didn't know him very well. They had only met briefly a handful of times, when he was picking up Gina to go out.
Elizabeth looked around the apartment tentatively. If Gina was out with Jim, then Elizabeth had the apartment to herself for a few hours. "Hmm," she said, looking at back at the red box on the coffee table. "I guess that gives me a little time to experiment on my own..."