by Lumen Reese
We reached the inn and I went in, and Henry kept following me.
Inside, the long bench table was scattered with dishes. Dorothy looked at me. I held up my cast.
“What happened?” she fretted, coming around the counter toward me.
“The wolf.”
“It malfunctioned,” Henry added. Then, “Can we have some food, please?”
“Sit down,” Dorothy said, going to the kettle on the fire and taking two bowls from the table to fill with porridge. She set them in front of us as we sat, then went and got a plate that was half-full of sausages and set them between us.
“Thank you,” I breathed, and began eating with vigor.
Henry joined me.
Dorothy just watched us for a moment, content to see us eating.
“Jericho is coming later,” Henry said, around a full mouth.
“I had better tidy up,” Dorothy said, moving away to the bar.
I ate until I was full, and Henry ate beside me, saying nothing. Finally I stood and said, “I’m going to bed. Will you be here when Jericho comes?”
“Yeah. I’ll see you then.”
I started my trudge up the stairs. My legs were sore from the hiking, or maybe from being so tense at the hospital. But as I found the landing and turned the corner, I saw light seeping into the hall. It stopped me in place. My door was open.
I advanced, completely unafraid, only intrigued, and saw the door broken open, hanging off of one hinge. Inside the bed was tossed over, and the single chair by the small table, too. The curtains had been torn down and the window broken open, so that snow dusted inside over everything.
“Henry!” I called.
I didn’t look back until I heard his rapid footfalls reach the hallway. He stopped alongside me, then stood staring. Dorothy followed, and her mouth fell open.
“What the hell happened?” Henry turned to her. “Didn’t you hear this going on up here?”
“No. I might have been downstairs, or out for a bit…”
“So you didn’t see anybody?”
“No!”
“Alright,” I said. “Calm down, you’re not a real sheriff.”
He seemed hurt by that and I realized it had been a rude thing to say.
“Sorry…”
“It’s okay. I don’t understand why this would have happened. The fugitive could have figured out where you were staying, I guess.”
“No. He’s gone. This was someone else.”
He frowned at that. “Look, you want to get some sleep? Come to my house. You’ll be safe, there.”
I looked at Dorothy, first. “Do you have another room?”
“Sorry, no…”
“Alright.”
I followed him down the stairs, only realizing once we had stepped back outside into the snow that I had agreed to go home with a near stranger. If I weren’t so tired I could drop at any moment, there wouldn’t have been anything that could convince me to.
And Henry had slipped out of the doctor’s office for at least ten minutes. He was unaccounted for, for that time. And whoever had broken down the door of my room and thrown all my furniture around had to have been a big, strong guy like him. Maybe he hadn’t even made the call. Maybe Jericho wasn’t coming.
But probably that was ridiculous. He had told Dorothy that Jericho was coming. She knew where I was going. If anything happened it couldn’t possibly lead back to anyone else but Henry.
His home was one of the cabins around the frozen lake, up on stilts to fight slope of the bank. He let me in and I was stepping right into his bedroom, it seemed. The large, lush looking bed in an intricate wooden frame took up a good chunk of it, across the empty fireplace. A table and two chairs were tucked into the front corner by the window. There seemed to be a small kitchen just after the fireplace. Another two doors closed on the back wall.
He pointed. “Bathroom. Spare. I don’t have a bed back there, though. Never needed one, so mine will have to do… I’ll start you a fire, then I’ll leave you to it. Scenes to get to…”
He knelt by the fireplace, lit it with a flip of some switch I couldn’t see past his broad body, then piled on a couple of logs.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I’ll lock it on the way out, try to sleep.”
“I’ve got my gun,” I said. “I think I’ll sleep fine.”
He looked at me a minute, then gave a nod and went.
I knew I wasn’t going to be sleeping well, if I could at all. Still I laid down on the edge of Henry’s bed and, keeping my satchel close, pulled the covers around me. My arm ached vaguely but not as bad as it had while it was still broken. Certainly not as bad as setting it.
My eyes were heavy and I let them close, but as soon as I was about to slip away there would be a noise and I would jerk awake again. It was only paranoia, and it was the old Stella feeling it, not the new person I meant to be, but I couldn’t just shut it off the way I somehow had done with my fear in the wolf’s cave. Henry would come back, and maybe I wouldn’t wake up if I had fallen asleep. He had been unaccounted for, for long enough to trash my room at the inn, and had been eager to blame the fugitive.
Henry had been kind to me but that as well, I didn’t feel I could take at face value. Nothing in the Hollow could be immediately believed.
My exhaustion was enough that I let myself slip just a little bit under, and when the door opened I felt unsure if it had been minutes or hours. I jolted up, one hand on my bag, as Henry came inside, and Jericho followed, looking small by comparison. I was seized by the sudden image of the two of them and almost laughed. As it was a smile took up residence on my face, feeling strange, and Jericho looked concerned as he approached.
“Stella, I am so sorry about the wolf malfunctioning. It shouldn’t have been possible for that to happen. We’re looking into it now, and I assure you, it won’t happen again. We’re shutting down and rerouting some story lines where we have to until we’re absolutely sure that it’s safe.”
Henry looked aghast, apparently that was news to him, but he said nothing, just crossed his arms and smoothed his expression.
Jericho went on, guiding me over to the table with a gentle hand and pulling a chair out for me, “Henry said that you wanted to continue on, and I think that’s admirable, but you could have been killed, you might not be in the best mental state as a result, and I think we ought to discuss compensation for your injury and sending you home.”
“No. My mental state is fine, and I’m doing well, here. I figured out what he was doing. I put together a timeline of his movements, the past couple of days. And I don’t think he’s here, anymore.”
“You think you have a motive?”
He wanted an explanation. I wanted an assurance from him. “You’ll let me keep looking?”
“…Yes,” he decided after a moment.
Henry heaved out a big sigh behind him. I paid him no mind.
“The fugitive was looking for a particular kind of space. He checked out the cave -he might have even been staying there-that’s why he was seen in the woods. He checked out the basement of the tannery, that’s what he was doing when you caught him on your Main Street camera, lurking in the alley across the street. That was Sunday morning, while everyone was at church, it’s the only time when Albert the tanner was out of his shop long enough. The only other place the fugitive needed to look into was the bomb shelter under the church, which he had to wait until sometime on Monday to do, and he did it through the outside cellar doors. There was no snow on them from Sunday, they had been moved. So the fugitive finished checking out all the places he had to check, and probably lit out of here early on Monday.”
Jericho looked sufficiently impressed and I let myself feel the pride for a few moments before squashing it down, telling myself to focus. He said, “You have done well. We know where the fugitive went. He turned up on a camera in the third quarter, and we had reports from several people having seen him, now that the word has spread and more people know to be look
ing.”
“The third,” I said. “Pirates?”
He nodded.
“That’s mostly on the coast, right?” I asked, remembering the map on the pamphlet and digging it out of my bag. “The second is closer, why would he skip it?”
“What is he looking for in cellars and caves?” Henry spoke for the first time, making us both turn to look at him. “If he were only looking for a roof over his head, he could have just joined up.”
I said, “I’ll figure it out. I will.”
“I’m worried, I admit,” Jericho said. “Your room being broken into seems to be a clear message. Someone doesn’t want you here. I don’t know if this could be just an unhappy extra, angry with the company, or maybe someone from SHEEP infiltrating the company, manipulating someone’s script… manipulating the wolf, too, it would support the idea that the fugitive is a member, too…”
“Could that happen?” Henry asked.
“The most dangerous parts of the quarters are only accessible to the head designers.” His head was hung but he made himself look at me as he admitted, “My key was stolen a few days ago, that’s probably how the wolf was reprogrammed to harm you. It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
He seemed so ashamed that I couldn’t really find the words, I was too embarrassed. I only nodded.
“I’ve ordered a complete reboot of all the programming that my key could have been used to access. It will all be gone over. You won’t be in any more danger from the world itself, I promise you.”
He had promised me that to begin with, we were both aware of how hollow it made the statement. Again, I nodded.
Apparently trying to rectify the mistake, Jericho bit his lip, glanced out the window, then at Henry, then declared, “Henry, I’d like you go with Stella to the third quarter.”
“What?” he scoffed, almost laughing.
“No,” I said.
“I would feel better if you weren’t going alone. I’ve known Henry for years, he’s capable, he’s loyal, he certainly cuts an imposing figure if anyone were considering trying to hurt you again.”
“No,” I repeated. “I don’t want him. I don’t need a bodyguard. I killed the wolf before it could kill me, I figured this all out. Just give me some more ammunition and I’ll be fine.”
“-Can’t believe you gave her a gun,” Henry mumbled, staring at his toe as he pushed it along a ridge of the hardwood floor.
Jericho added, in that tone of his that was just a bit forceful, “I won’t allow you to continue on alone. It’s either Henry or a member of my security whom I couldn’t vouch for as confidently. Henry, your story lines here are all being ground to a halt. If it’s either a vacation or this, I assume you would prefer this. But you know I wouldn’t force you.”
The two men looked at each other for a long moment.
Henry said, “I’ll go.”
It was my turn to heave out a belligerent sigh. “Henry, can we have a minute?”
He walked to the door and stepped out into the cold without saying a word, closing the door behind him. We could see him pacing the length of the porch by the window.
I said, “Henry isn’t exactly my first choice as a bodyguard.”
“I’ve known Henry for over a decade. I trust him.”
“With your life?” I demanded.
“Yes. And more than that, I’d trust him with yours.”
Forcing down my squirming malcontent at being told I needed protecting, I snapped, “You should have been a car salesman. You missed your calling.”
He smiled, tapped the window, and waved for Henry to join us again.
Chapter Eight
On the chopper again, this time crossing miles of open, grassy terrain after leaving the forests around the Hollow, Henry and Jericho caught up while I tried to sleep against the window. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but neither was I going to announce that I was still awake and stop them.
Henry asked first, “How are Isaac and Kayla?”
“They’re fine, though things are still tense whenever they’re together. They both ask me about you. Kayla especially, though; you’re the only one who’ll eat her cooking.”
In a lower voice, “And my dad?”
“The same. He misses you. But he keeps busy. You’ll have to take some vacation time, when this all blows over.”
“Maybe.” It sounded doubtful.
They were silent for at least an hour after that, but the silence didn’t feel heavy. I gave up on trying to sleep halfway through that, and accepted an apple Jericho offered me.
“Poor thing,” he said, “You look part raccoon, with those circles under your eyes.”
I shrugged, smiling.
“I can get a doctor in the third quarter to give you something,” he volunteered. “Something to help you sleep?”
Distantly disturbed, but trying to hide it, I said, “I don’t like pills…”
“Alright.”
We could see a city in the distance, at least ten times the size of the first quarter, the buildings mismatched grey brick, panel and sloppy little shanties all buzzing with people in the streets between. The ocean at that point was only a line on the horizon, but as we got nearer it became a vast, blue expanse. We got near enough that I could make out individual ships sliding through the waves, and a chain of islands, different rates of busy in their surrounding waterways.
Jericho began briefing us as the chopper headed toward the edge of town. “This is Ocra Port. The fugitive was spotted by the docks, around noon, today. If he got on a ship, though, nobody has reported it yet. I sent the names of the people who did see him, they’re on your phone, along with the best sketch we could get from their descriptions.”
I pulled the phone out of my bag and found a message and an image, and when I opened it up, I rolled my eyes. “That’s the best anyone could do?” I held it up for Henry to see. “This could be either of you. This could be probably half the men in this place.”
Jericho shrugged. “He did a very good job staying out of sight. The camera didn’t get anything better, just caught the back of his sweater.”
“I meant to ask about that,” I remembered. “Why do the cameras cover so little ground?”
“Well… we wanted to have them in high-traffic areas, for security purposes, but buyers are turned off by the thought of being recorded or even observed in their scenarios.”
“Ridiculous,” I grumbled, and he nodded an agreement.
“There’s one more thing you need to know,” Jericho said.
The chopper had made a grassy area outside of the cloisters of the port, and was beginning a descent.
“The others brought in another investigator who they thought fit the bill. He didn’t turn us down, and they shipped him by the train, late this morning. It takes a bit longer than the chopper, he won’t be in until tonight. So you’ve got a few hours head start on him. His name is Bruce Spicer. I’m not sure if you’ll cross paths, but if you do, be courteous. And if you find anything of importance, share it with him, he’ll do the same for you. If either of you is complicit in the other finding the fugitive, we’ll take that into account, so don’t consider him competition. I sent you his number.”
I nodded though my teeth were gritted. In my logical mind I had known it would be coming, and that it was the smart thing to do. Still, it felt like adding insult to injury.
The chopper touched down.
Jericho offered me his hand. “Good luck.”
I shook it, then heaved the chopper’s door open, letting in the whipping gusts of wind from the propellers overhead. I jumped out and rushed to get clear, then turned and waited for Henry. I saw him give Jericho a one-armed hug before jumping down and following.
When we made the first line of buildings, the sound of the chopper had diminished and we stopped a minute and just looked at each other.
“Let’s head for the dock,” I said. “We’ve got a couple hours ahead of that other guy, I don’t intend to waste them.”
> “Yes, ma’am,” he agreed, and started trudging dutifully along behind me. “I want to get this done as much as you do.”
“Not quite as much, but thanks for your cooperation.”
He hurried suddenly to walk beside me, and snapped, “My whole life was just uprooted for your benefit.”
“Your whole fake life,” I shot back. “My whole real life is in danger if I don’t get this done. It’s hardly the same.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it, and the set of his jaw was something sort of brutal. After a moment, he did speak. “My father is in a nut house, in New York. He’s Schizophrenic. My job in here pays for his care, out there, so it’s not all la-dee-da .”
I focused my attention ahead again, still walking. After a moment I said, “Sorry.”
Suddenly expressionless, fronting again, he said, “Don’t worry about it. Let’s find this guy.”
“Yeah.”
We made a busy street and turned west toward the coast, and I could see the ocean looming out that way. People moving around us were dressed in variations of what they had worn in the Hollow. Women wore dresses, some thick with petticoats and covered in lace, others simpler made. Most men wore the billowy white shirts and long coats associated with the period. Many had swords. The military men in their red coats and white pants had muskets with bayonets on the ends.
The crowd was bad enough, but the crowd full of weapons everywhere that I looked made me feel especially claustrophobic. Henry noticed that somehow, and moved to my other side so that he was nearer the street and between me and most of the people. I passed shop windows near enough to touch them. A shoe shop, a blacksmith, a post office, and I made a mental note of that, thinking Joey deserved a letter to make him less frantic. But it would have to be when I wasn’t fighting the clock, awaiting the arrival of Bruce Spicer.
At the shore, mismatched wooden docks stretched out into the crescent bay, stationed with different sized ships and dotted with market stalls.
“Do we just start asking around?” Henry asked, leaning down to speak over the crowd.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Alright, stay where I can see you.”
