by Jill Cooper
“Good.” Xavier sits back and just like that, the interrogation is over. “Now get out of here and get on with your day. But please, check in with your captain. It serves no one to ignore his calls. Least of all you.”
The captain. My heart sinks. “Have a nice night, Xavier.” I head toward the door and when I turn back for a moment, his eyes are dark voids. As if his mind is a million miles away and nowhere good.
My skin chills and I sneak out the door. I make my way in a hurry. The faster I’m out of headquarters the better I’ll feel. The better I’ll feel about everything.
****
Warm noodles, cold drinks.
Deception.
When Jeff meets me at the restaurant, I raise my hand at the table to get his attention. When he sees me, his eyes light up. My heart soars, but then, it crashes down, as I remember his omission of truth? Still, I rise when he gets to the table and he takes my hand. He kisses my cheek warmly and I pucker my lips against him.
I smooth my skirt, and take my seat, watching him unfold his menu as the server comes over to take his drink order.
We’ve been together since college and although he’s just my boyfriend, in my heart, he’s much more. I’m not ready to write him off. Maybe, he’ll bring it up and we’ll have a little chat about what he did and why. Maybe, he just didn’t want to talk about it on the phone. Everyone knows that my temper flares hot and maybe, just maybe he wanted to tell me about it in person.
“How was your day?” I ask picking up my fork as our noodles arrive. .
Jeff sips his wine and unfolds the white napkin, laying it on his lap. “Nothing much out of the ordinary. Paperwork, it’s what I’m good at, right?”
I gesture my glass toward him in agreement and Jeff picks up his glass to offer me a toast. “To my hard working girl. I hope her tomorrow goes better.”
Our glasses clink together and I wonder how he feels as he sidesteps all of my questions. Is he nervous? Does he feel bad?
Has he done this before?
“Everything went well with Reynold’s widow.” I spiral my noodles onto my fork and Jeff slurps his up, as he usually does. He wipes his face with his napkin, gazing at me with intense, longing eyes. “She was upset. I mean, I think she might be sick. Real sick. She has a lot of pills.”
“That’s too bad, hon.”
I take a deep breath as I chew. “They executed Reynold Jackson today. I wasn’t informed. The widow wasn’t either.” Calling her the widow, instead of Katie allows me some emotional distance. Some separation, so I can process and work the facts as they come at me just as I think of the people I arrest as the suspect or the guilty. But I use Reynold’s name. I’ve always used his name. Why am I so emotionally invested in him?
“I heard something about that today. I know how much of yourself you put out there, Cass. I’m sorry. I know it must have been hard.” Jeff wipes his hand on his napkin and discards it onto the table. “But you’re breaking our number one rule, hon.”
Rule? I stifle a laugh. “No talking about work at dinner.”
“You need to relax and unwind, right?” Jeff leans across the table and strokes my fingers and I squeeze his back.
“You always take care of me.” I can’t help a smirk. Can he tell I’m raking him over the coals? Does he know I want to string him up by his toes until he breaks, tells me everything?
“That’s right. There’s no one finer for the job than me.” Jeff gives me a wink. “I thought instead, we could plan our vacation. Two months it’s coming up fast and I grabbed some brochures from Time’s Travel to see where you might want to go.” Jeff reaches into his pocket to pull out the blue shaded vacation packets.
He fans them out for me and I take them. I pretend to study them. Hawaii, Aruba, all the places a girl wants to go. Lounge in the sand, drinks with umbrellas; the perfect getaways.
Except, he’s not telling me something. He’s keeping secrets.
And I have no idea if it’s the first time. But I have to play it cool. I can’t let him know what I know because now, Jeff is a suspect.
So I lay the brochures down and lean across the table, my best flirty expression. “Anywhere I’m with you will be the perfect vacation.”
Jeff leans across the table and we kiss. “Now that’s an answer I can live with.”
Dinner continues and Jeff’s behavior never changes. There’s no inkling that anything is wrong and I think maybe that’s because there isn’t. Maybe I didn’t see what I saw or I made a mistake. Should I just come straight out and ask him? Give him a chance to deny it or explain himself?
We get our dessert to go and together we ride the subway. I cross my legs and lean my head back reading all the advertisements as they flash across the moving screens at the top of the rail car. Community colleges, medical programs, time travel grants. Every week it changes but mostly stays the same.
Jeff slides his arm around my shoulders and it lends me no comfort. “You’re awfully quiet tonight, Cass.”
“Long day.” It’s the truth, even though he doesn’t know why. I rest my head against him, but everything is different. That warm feeling I’d get in my gut is gone. The flip of my heart, that always happened when we were together, it’s flat-lined.
I need to find out the truth.
I need to wait until he’s asleep.
But Jeff doesn’t make it easy. When we get home to our apartment, our desserts are abandoned on the counter. They grow warm as Jeff pushes me against the wall. He nuzzles my neck and my body screams out in contempt as his hand’s search beneath my skirt. I bend my knee and let him lift my leg close to his body.
But I don’t want to, even as he kisses me hotly. Even as I go along with it and run my fingers through his hair. I plant my chin on his shoulder and gaze out the big expansive window at the city landscape of Boston. My home, the place I love.
The green light above our window beeps as it turns on and gives us a scan.
I have no future. I can’t be read.
But Jeff can.
“Can we take this into the bedroom?” I whisper and nuzzle his ear even though it pains me to do it.
Jeff follows my eyes to the window and he nods. “Sure. We can be private, sweetheart.” He picks me up and cradles me close. Carries me off as he’s done dozens of times before, but it’s different now.
In the bedroom, he closes the door and I slither across the bed. Ready to get it over with. Maybe I could say I have a headache, but I rarely do that. We usually make love after coming home from a long day and if we don’t, Jeff will be suspicious.
And the last thing I want is for him to suspect something.
So even though I might hate it, I’m going to have to play along.
****
When it’s over, when things are done, I excuse myself to the bathroom, wearing only Jeff’s white shirt that I had discarded on the floor during our ‘passionate’ encounter. Jeff’s lounging in bed already and probably won’t be up again for the night. In the bathroom, I run the water.
I program my link to go off in exactly an hour and then I slide my hand down into the breast pocket of Jeff’s shirt and pull out his Global ID card—the one that will get me into his office. If there’s proof, if there’s evidence, that’s where it’ll be.
It certainly won’t be here in our home.
I slide the ID card underneath the sink basin along with the cleaning supplies and then I return to our bedroom.
Jeff’s laying with his hands tucked under his head, gazing at the television with half lidded eyes. I take my shirt off and stick it in the hamper, slinking into my usual silk nightgown.
Brushing my hair, I turn off the light and turn the television down low. It’s time to get into bed, time to lie with him again.
My stomach churns and I feel sick as I lay head on my pillow, facing away from him, my hands resting under my cheek.
“Did you go anywhere special today?” I shiver as he rolls over and drapes his arm around me.
Inside I stew. Inside I scream as Jeff starts to snore. As if he doesn’t have a care in the world, but I can’t sleep. All I can do is play crazy what-if scenarios in my head. Each one is worse than the one before. I need the truth and I know whatever it is, Rewind is at the heart of it. I just hope it’s not as bad as my imagination is making it out to be. and there’s only one way to find out.
The brief sleep that eventually takes me is restless. I wake when my link goes off. Jeff stirs beside me and rolls away as I answer, stepping from the bed.
“Hello?” I step into the bathroom and turn on the light. Pushing hair away from my face, I squat low, pick up the ID card, and slide it against the palm of my hand. “I see… I’ll be right there. Yes, sir.”
I paddle into the bedroom and quickly throw on a pair of jeans, a comfortable shirt, and my leather jacket. When I slip on my boots, Jeff stirs on the bed. “Cass, everything okay?”
“Just work.” I kneel on the bed and kiss him. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be back before you wake up.”
“Be careful.” Jeff whispers, his eyes already closed again. I take a moment to stroke his cheek and with a heavy heart, I slip his ID card in my pocket. and then I’m off in the living room.
In the living room, I grab my electrical baton, just in case, and holster it to my waist, pull my hair back into a low ponytail diverting my eyes from the Rewind cameras.
They’re going to see everything. They’re going to know everything.
If I’m lucky, the data won’t be flagged. A human eye won’t review the information. I’m just an officer doing her job.
If the data is flagged, if Rewind does ask me questions, what I’ll tell them? I haven’t the faintest clue.
****
It’s raining and the bus is nearly barren.
This late at night, not many people are out. I ride at the back and pull my hood up around my hair as the green light at the front of the bus scans the passengers. It’s an eclectic group; college students, an elderly grandma type with a paper grocery bag, and a man with the weathered face of a hard life.
Then there’s me.
I don’t know what I’m doing as I step off the bus and run across the street to Rewind’s satellite office. Mostly, it’s an administration center, for public relations, lawyers, and human resources. Anyone that works with the Global Law force who don’t have anything to do with actual time travel.
The lobby holds the old clock, with its backward spinning hands, Rewind’s former logo. Now it’s a relic, locked behind a glass case. The floors are a shiny tile and over in the corner a big, burly African American guard rises to his feet. “Ma’am, can I help you.”
“Business.” I flash my badge at him and don’t stop. I make it to the elevator before my heart simmers down. When it dings and the doors slide open I use the mirrors up above to spy on the guard. He’s already sitting back down and playing solitaire on his holo.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I step onto the elevator and call for the third floor.
Soft music comes through the speakers and the ride up is quick. The hall I step into is long, with a white cushioned rug. The door at the end of the hall has the nameplate Jeff Wilkins—Lead Counsel.
Lead counsel in lying maybe.
I scan the ID card and enter the penthouse office. It’s spacious, but there isn’t much in there, except for a desk and a scattering of chairs. My emotions are all over the place, and I feel guilty as I sit behind his desk, looking through his papers and business cards. There’s nothing out of the ordinary.
The photo of me, framed on his desk, makes my heart summersault in a bad way. I knock it face down so it can’t taunt me any further and I pull the drawers open. The bottom one to the right is a safe.
My eyes widen. Jackpot.
I slide down to my knees and try a bunch of different combinations, but nothing works. Frustration rolls over me and I sigh, glancing up at the frame and punch in my birth date.
Nope.
Then I punch in our anniversary. The one we celebrate every year. The anniversary of our first date and our first kiss, on a swan boat ride after we’d eaten a gallon of fro-yo.
Beep-beep—the safe light glows green and I pull it open.
Inside, there are papers. Mostly financial, but on top is a USB computer stick.
I grab it and glance around. I don’t expect anyone to show up, so I pull the USB stick already in Jeff’s computer out and plug in the one I discovered.
When it requires an access code and I don’t even have to look at the blue paper I stashed in my wallet. I plug the numbers in, 222756, and am given full access to the computer. The screen lights up, the background is of Reynold and Katie. Hugging each other close, a crown of flowers in her hair.
It must have been from their wedding day.
My heart aches and my emotions motivate me. My anger. As I search through the folders, the light from the screen illuminates my face.
Will it illuminate the truth? Only time will tell.
Katie was right. Most of the documents of the future were badly written mystery novels. One of them doesn’t seem too bad, and I’m about to throw in the towel, but then decide to open one last file.
It was titled Murder Mystery, but as I scan the words, I realize it’s not like the others. It’s not laid out like a tale of fiction.
The words read like a non-fiction work. An expose.
Scanning further, jumping here and there I realize it’s written about Rewind. Government control. It’s about Xavier Daniels overreaching, and Global Law’s misuse of power, of using time travel to squelch and suppress those who would question their authority.
They even say Xavier employs assassins, using them against those who rise up in opposition, even using time travel to stop their rebellion before they even have a chance to succeed.
The names and notes in the document are familiar to me. They’re the Retractors who are trying to reverse time travel law and implement more freedoms to the suspects of the United States of America and the United Abroad.
Maria James, one of the most visible members of this group and is considered by most to be its spokesperson. Her photo is in the document and I feel as if I know her. Feel like there’s Something about her is familiar, but I can’t place it.
I sit back and realize that Reynold Jackson was a member of this resistance. This coalition. He wasn’t just a janitor or a fiction author, which means there’s a reason why he wanted to move to Commonwealth Ave, I just didn’t know what it was. He told Katie it was for his book and that means I needed to talk to her again.
Does his wife know? Did he keep it from her to protect her? I need to find out.
Jeff is up to his eyeballs in this cover-up, I’m sure of it. He, along with Xavier Daniels are trying to keep this exposé from seeing the light of day, but was it all hearsay? Did they have evidence?
I’m not sure I’ll find out tonight, but I keep reading. A name keeps popping up in the document saying ‘she’ needs to be found. ‘She’ has the answers everyone is searching for. The missing link. Apparently, she had disappeared over seventy years ago. There’s not much more information about her. However, Reynold believed she had a treasure trove of evidence against Xavier Daniels regarding his past crimes.
I do a search on her from my link and nothing comes up there either. In big red letters, my comm flashes NO RESULTS FOUND. SEARCH REPORTED AND STORED TO REWIND.
My heart skips a beat. It’s obvious whoever she is, Rewind wants her hidden. Kept under wraps.
If she’s so important why have I never heard of her before? I mumble it aloud. “Who the hell is Lara Montgomery?”
****
I grab the USB stick sliding it into my jeans pocket, and leave the office. As I head downstairs, I see the guard on his link, standing at his desk. . . “Ma’am, I’ve been asked to detain you. Ma’am!”
The jig is up.
“Ma’am!” He screams and comes after me, but I know I can outrun him, so I break into a full sprint, down the street toward the subway.
When I get to the apartment, lights glow from under the door. Jeff’s awake.
Crap.
I take a deep breath and nervously tug on my ponytail. I need to relax. Center myself. But can I do this? How long can I keep up this charade?
Just inside the archway Jeff paces, his shirt is open and his arms wrap around himself. When he sees me, his eyes widen. “Thank God, do you know how nervous I’ve been? People have been calling about you. Asking questions. It doesn’t look good, Cass.”
I try to push past him, but he grabs my arm.
“My ID card is missing.” Jeff’s eyes glower. “And I know your office never called you out on assignment, so why don’t we cut the bull and you just tell me what’s going on?”
“So much for you being on my side.” I pull my arm free and Jeff takes a step back.
Studies me. “I’ve always been on your side, but it’s not fair for you to stare at me like I’m guilty when I don’t even know what you think I’m guilty of.”
“Fine.” My tone is anything but friendly. I pull the USB computer stick from my jeans pocket. I flash it in his face and then slam it down on the counter. “You think I don’t know? You think you can hide this from me?”
Jeff gawks at it. The guilt is apparent on his face. He moves to pick up the USB computer and I slam my hand down on top of it. “I don’t think so.” I’m barely able to hold onto my rage.
“Cass, listen…” Jeff puts his hands on his hips. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated? Listen? I gave you every chance to come clean. Tell me you removed this. I told you I was at the Jackson residence and you should have told me then. You should have brought it up.”
He sighs and looks at me as if I’m a misbehaving puppy. “So I didn’t. I do lots of things at Rewind all the time that we never talk about.”
