by Aman Gupta
They stood quite close to each other, while the band played out a romantic song to which every couple started waltzing. Jay took Hattie’s hand in his, and they waltzed together.
His attempt at cheering her up was successful. Few minutes into the dance, she was smiling and having fun. She would look into his eyes as he would look into hers. They would look away instantly. Sam whistled and clapped, while Brianca recorded a video of Jay and Hattie.
“Oh no,” said Brianca.
“What?” asked Sam as she took a macroscopic look of the area. “Oh no!”
They saw Jeremy approach Jay and Hattie.
“May I dance with you, Hattie?” asked Jeremy.
Jay was blindsided with his arrival.
“Hi, Jay,” said Jeremy.
“Hey Clifford,” said Jay, confused as he tried to connect the dots.
“Clifford is my dad. Would you talk to him this way if you meet him? Not that you’ll ever get to be in the room building as the President of the United States,” mocked Jeremy.
“What do you want?” asked Jay.
“A dance with my special friend. What do you say, Hattie? Could I have this dance?” asked Jeremy.
Hattie didn’t say anything. She kept looking at Jay, whose face had gone pale.
“Of course, I’ll let you two special friends catch up,” said Jay.
He let go of Hattie and walked away.
“Jay, I…,” she said, but he didn’t stop.
Jay went to Sam and Brianca. Sam handed him a bottle of vodka.
“Maybe some other day,” he said, putting it on the table.
Hattie was looking at Jay the entire time she was dancing with Jeremy. So was Jeremy. Their intentions were very different, however.
The band played for another twenty minutes. It was the longest twenty minutes for everyone involved, except Jeremy. He kissed Hattie on her cheeks and took her leave, going back to his friends who all gave a look to Jay while bumping fists with each other.
She came over to the table and saw Jay scrolling through his phone. She noticed the huge mirror on the wall across the room, and knew Jay couldn’t have looked away while she and Jeremy were dancing, even if he wanted to.
“Okay, let’s go,” said Sam.
Jay got up and grabbed his jacket.
“I’ll be in the car,” said Jay.
Sam and Brianca stumbled their way to the car, while Hattie followed slowly behind.
Hattie sat in the front passenger seat, while Sam and Brianca sat in the back. Jay drove to the campus thirty miles away, and he didn’t say anything the entire ride. He drove rashly, as fast as he could, almost as if he couldn’t wait to be out of that car.
Hattie kept staring out of the window, looking at him every other minute. They reached after twenty minutes. Jay grabbed Sam while Hattie got a hold of Brianca and took them to their dorm room.
Jay wasn’t reacting to the situation, which made Hattie a little furious. After dropping Sam and Brianca, while they were walking to Hattie’s building nearby, she decided she couldn’t take it anymore.
“What? Come on, say it. Let it all out,” said Hattie.
“I didn’t say anything,” said Jay.
“I know. Why?” asked Hattie.
“It’s your life. I’m not your family, and I don’t want you to tell you what to do or not. You’re smart and mature enough to figure that out yourself,” said Jay.
“You’re wrong. You’re my family. I don’t know what happened between you and Jeremy. But don’t let it affect our friendship. You’re my closest friend, Jay, and I don’t want to lose you,” said Hattie.
“You’re not losing me. And I don’t care you are friends with him. But I do care you didn’t tell me about it,” said Jay. “Maybe because you thought I would make you choose and you couldn’t not be friends with him, or maybe you didn’t care about me enough to tell me about him, even though you knew he and I find it hard to co-exist. How could you ask me to stop ruining the friendship when you’re the one making all the decisions?”
“I,..” said Hattie.
“Sorry, I just don’t want to lose you too. I don’t trust that guy, and I never will. Just don’t do something you might regret, okay? Before you do anything rash, just think about your family, okay?” said Jay.
“Okay,” said Hattie.
“Bye,” said Jay.
“See you again?” asked Hattie.
“Your decision again,” said Jay, giving a painful smile.
The semester ended a week later. Sam, Brianca and Hattie left for their homes. Jay didn’t have one, after his parents had died two years ago. He received a message from Jeremy, telling him that they needed to talk.
Chapter 7: Obstruction
A couple of weeks had passed since the murder of Charlotte. Eric and his team’s investigations had run cold due to a lack of leads. The tire marks left by the assailants were found to be heading towards the river after being driven around in circles before the trail went cold. Vik had found partial prints on the glass and the bullet, but no matches were found when Vik heard back from the National Criminal Database. Vik doubted whether NCD had ever said ‘yes’ to any request from the local law enforcement. It was set up eight years ago to brainwash the public after a series of murders had come to light, which went unsolved because the local law enforcement didn’t have access to classified criminals.
He also hadn’t gotten very far ahead in his pursuit of finding Katie. He had gone to Old River to check the cottage where Katie was allegedly held, but it had been burnt to the ground. Emma and Joey were upset that they didn’t get all the evidence out in time. Vik had searched every square mile of the Old River forest but hadn’t found a new lead. Though he was hopeful that he would see Katie again, he was losing his confidence every time he saw another sunset. He thought of going to West Gate to get ambushed again at his home but realized he would be considered a liability if he didn’t give the blue microchip. He was only open to trade it if Katie was standing in front of his eyes.
One rainy night, Emily was closing the restaurant from the inside when she heard a knock on the door. She saw through the glass door and saw a woman standing alone, drenched in water.
She quickly opened the door and let the woman inside.
“What happened?” asked Emily.
“These guys were following me. I had to jump in the river,” said the woman, shivering.
Emily took her to her apartment upstairs and gave her new clothes to wear. She got something to eat from the kitchen and served it to the woman, who sat on the couch, visibly scared.
“What’s your name?” asked Emily.
“Ashley,” said the blonde woman.
“Where are you from?” asked Emily.
The blonde woman hesitated. Emily looked at the tattoos on the back of her neck. The tattoos looked new, even though there wasn’t a tattoo parlor in Morrow.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” asked Emily.
The woman shook her head.
“Where are you from? Come on, you can tell me,” said Emily.
“I think you call it TS – 17,” said the woman.
“TS – 17, that’s hundreds of miles away. How did you get here?” asked Emily. She began looking suspiciously at the woman who was twitching her left eye every time she spoke a sentence. Her wet clothes didn’t look cheap either, and went well with her manicured hands. The woman looked no older than mid-twenties.
“I ran away from my home,” said the woman.
“Ran away? Why?” asked Emily.
“Things were getting dangerous out there. So much killing. Thousands of us have been killed in the past week,” said the woman.
“You mean like mass murder?” asked Emily.
“Genocide,” said the woman.
“Who’s behind it?” asked Emily.
“We don’t know. I don’t know,” said the woman.
She ate whatever Emily served her. Emily told her that she could spend th
e night in her spare bedroom.
“I need to go,” said the woman. “I need to keep moving.”
“You can do that in the morning,” said Emily.
“No, I need to go. Thanks for everything,” said the woman.
“Okay, I won’t stop you,” said Emily.
The woman got up and went downstairs. She hugged Emily and went out of the restaurant.
Emily saw her disappear in the night, as she closed the door. She went upstairs and realized that Ashley had left her clothes. She checked her clothes for more information about her. She found a wet piece of paper in the pocket. She tried to read its contents.
‘Place me. Look East’
The woman entered a public restroom and drenched herself in water. She hotwired a car parked on the road and drove few miles before stopping it a few hundred yards ahead of a residential building. She took out a wad of slips from her bra, pulled one, and put the others back in her bra. She put the note in her pocket while looking around. She walked back to the building and rang the doorbell for the second floor.
“Who is it?” asked the voice.
“Please help me. They’re after me,” said the woman.
The door unlocked, and the woman went inside.
Emma came down the stairs and saw the woman shivering, standing at the building’s door. She took her to her apartment on the first floor.
“What happened?” asked Emma.
“Couple of men are after me,” said the woman.
“Who?” asked Emma.
“I don’t know,” said the woman.
“Who are you? Where do you live?” asked Emma.
“My name is Tamina. I’m not from around here,” said the woman.
Emma got some new clothes for her, asking the woman to get out of her wet clothes.
“Not from here? Where then?” asked Emma from the door, while the woman went to the bathroom to change her clothes.
“TS – 18,” said the woman, after she came back wearing Emma’s clothes.
“What are you doing here?” asked Emma.
“I was just passing through,” said the woman.
“Were you attacked here or at 18?” asked Emma.
“Here,” said the woman.
Emma kept asking more questions from the woman, who started feeling annoyed.
“Sorry, I need to go now,” said the woman.
“Go where? You can go in the morning,” said Emma.
“No, I need to go back to 18,” said the woman.
She hurried out of the house and ran down the stairs. Emma saw her running away from her window and disappear into the night.
The woman got in her car and sat inside. She took a deep breath and pulled out the slips.
“Three down, two more to go,” she spoke to herself. “So Kate, Emily, and Emma are done. Only Joey and Eric left.”
She concocted different stories when she met Joey and Eric. She portrayed herself as a lost traveler both times. Eric was suspicious when she couldn’t satisfactorily answer why she was wet, but she managed to get out of there, leaving the paper on his couch. For Joey, she charmed him into believing everything she said, including her name Elvira. She tossed the paper on the table before departing.
The next day, Vik arrived a little late in the precinct. He heard Emma, Kate, and Joey discussing something with Eric, just outside his office.
He quickly got into his lab, hoping to avoid any interaction.
A few minutes later, Eric knocked on the door.
“Come in,” said Vik.
“There’s been an incident in Old River,” said Eric.
“What incident?” asked Vik.
“A house blew up,” said Eric.
“What happened?” asked Vik.
“They’ll be here to brief us shortly,” said Eric.
“Who’s they?” asked Vik.
“No idea,” said Eric. “Received a call from the mayor.”
“Okay,” said Vik.
“Listen, about what happened in Atlantis. If you couldn’t tell anyone about it, that’d be great,” said Eric.
“Something happened in Atlantis? I thought it was a graveyard,” said Vik.
“Thanks,” said Eric.
“Stop talking about Atlantis like it took your virginity, Eric,” said Vik.
“I’m not,” said Eric.
“You’ve been acting weird ever since I got back,” said Vik.
“Yeah, it was too much for me. But now, I’m fine with it,” said Eric.
“Yeah, burning thousands of people usually is,” taunted Vik.
“They weren’t exactly innocent, so I’ve decided not to lose my sleep over it,” said Eric, and left.
“I tell you what you’ve lost back there. Not your virginity, but rather your moral compass,” uttered Vik in the empty room. “Though, I’m the last one to have a say on that topic.”
Late evening, three cars stopped outside the police precinct. Five people got out of them and stepped inside the precinct. One of them told Adam to get the sheriff.
Eric came out to the main hall, and joined Emma, Kate, Joey and the other officers.
“My name is Bill Johnson. I’m a US Marshall, and this is my team – Officer David Brown, Officer Mily Jones, Officer Mark Howard and Detective Karen Smith,” said Bill.
Bill looked ex-military with his incredible physique and the confidence in his voice. He looked demanding, authoritative and strict. He was over 6 feet tall, nearly 50 years old, though he could pass as 40, Joey thought.
“How can we help you?” asked Eric.
“Stand straight officer,” said Bill to Emma.
“Yes, sir,” said Emma.
“Is this your entire team?” asked Bill.
“Yes. We also have a forensic guy who is in his lab,” said Eric.
“Could you get him for me? I need to meet everyone,” said Bill.
Eric looked at Joey. He went to Vik’s lab to get him.
“New guy, Bill, wants to meet everyone. Including you,” said Joey as he walked inside the lab.
“I’m occupied with something,” said Vik.
“He’s a US Marshall. Get unoccupied,” said Joey.
“US Marshall? Here?” asked Vik.
“Yeah, I know, right? Told off Emma for not standing straight. Got a team too. Anyways, let’s go,” said Joey.
“You go. I’ll be there soon,” said Vik.
“Okay, hurry,” said Joey and left.
He went back to the hall. He thought of coming up with an excuse but felt he should speak as infrequently as possible.
“He’s coming in a minute,” said Joey.
“Guess we’ll have to wait,” said Bill.
They waited for a couple of minutes. Joey was sweating.
“I’ll check with him again,” said Joey.
“No need. I’m here,” said Vik and stepped forward towards Bill.
“I don’t like waiting,” said Bill.
“I don’t like being summoned, but here we are doing things we don’t like,” replied Vik.
“There’s always one who has a problem with authority,” said Bill, and smiled. His team laughed with him.
“I would laugh if you could complete the joke,” said Vik.
“Vik, stand down,” said Eric.
“No, it’s alright. We’re just getting used to each other,” said Bill.
“See? He loves the banter. Especially when it doesn’t involve his affair with the officer on his left,” said Vik.
Bill stopped smiling.
“I am right? Honestly, it was just a shot in the dark,” said Vik.
“Even a broken clock is right twice a day,” said Bill.
“Wow, is that an analog watch joke? How old are you again?” asked Vik.
“52,” said Bill.
“And your ex-lover?” asked Vik, looking at her.
“27,” said Mily. “And it wasn’t an affair. Just a mistake.”
“Numerous times, I’m guessing. But yes
, it couldn’t be a long affair. He’s still married,” said Vik.
Bill looked at his hands but realized he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring on purpose.
“Alright, I’ll bite. How could you tell?” asked Bill.
“About?” asked Vik.
“Her and me,” said Bill.
“When you made your little joke, she was the one who laughed first. But you could tell she wasn’t laughing at the joke. She was laughing because you were. Plus, she keeps looking at you every few seconds through the corner of her eyes,” said Vik.
“Everyone laughed,” said Mily.
“No. The two guys laughed because you laughed. There was resentment on their faces towards me when Bill uttered the sentence. But that quickly changed to laughter when you laughed. Guess, they fancy you. But you already know that, by that hidden smile on your face. The other woman didn’t laugh with you. She laughed at you,” said Vik.
They all looked left at Karen, except Bill.
“What do you want? There must be a reason behind this cold exterior,” said Bill.
“Don’t trouble my team or me. I won’t trouble you and yours. The officer on your extreme right is dying to take a piss as suggested by his restless body movements, so I guess you’ve travelled a fair bit of distance to come here, and judging by your attitude, you aren’t planning to leave anytime soon. I get it that you’re here to do your job. Do that and leave. You have our support, not our allegiance,” said Vik. “And this goes for us too, of course. We aren’t planning to take you for granted.”
“Fair enough,” said Bill.
“Can I go?” asked Officer David.
Bill sighed.
“Go, David,” said Bill.
Joey pointed David towards the restroom.
Bill stepped forward and looked Vik in the eye.
“Nice to have met you,” said Bill.
“Likewise,” said Vik as Bill offered to shake his hand, but Vik didn’t.
“How did you know about my marriage?” asked Bill.
“You kept touching the inside of your finger with your thumb. I used to do that too,” said Vik.
Bill smiled.
“Well, it’s over now. So should we get started?” asked Bill.
