Time Lost

by C. B. Lewis

  Now, he needed the man to be at ease, and how better than to let him think he was holding all the cards?

  “Shall we say one o’clock?” he said with false brightness. “His office?”

  The secretary agreed, and Jacob ended the call, then removed his earpiece. A glance at the clock showed nine thirty. Enough time to make a few calls, speak to the right people. He ran his hand over his mouth. No time like the present.

  He rose from his desk and went to the door. “Temple, do you know if Ashraf is in with anyone but the DCIs?”

  Temple shook her head. “They didn’t say.”

  He nodded, tapping his fingertips on the doorframe. “Right.” He glanced back at his desk, then walked back out into the incident room. “If anyone is looking for me, I’m going to be upstairs for a bit.”

  “Something come up, sir?”

  Jacob hesitated at the door, looking back at her. “I need you to keep on top of this case for me for now, Abby.”

  She frowned. “Of course.” She studied him, then came closer. “Sir, is something wrong?”

  He tugged at the cuff of his sleeve, then jerked his head for her to come with him. He led her into one of the meeting rooms. “Mr. Harper wants a meeting, and I think upstairs need to know that he was being vocal about causing trouble for us. I might have pushed his buttons.”

  Temple groaned. “Not again.”

  “He’s concealing evidence,” Jacob said, “maybe more. I… we need….” He sighed. “Look, I’ll focus on him for now, and make sure he’s only gunning for me, not the department. I just need someone running point on everything else. It might only be temporary or it might be until that wanker stops playing silly buggers with us, and God only knows how long that could take.”

  She knocked his arm with her fist. “One day, you’re going to learn to use that mess of stuff between your ears and stop riling people.”

  Jacob’s lips twitched. “One day, maybe. You’ll be okay with this?”

  She laughed. “I know how you work, old man. Told you I’d take your job eventually, even temporarily.”

  He rolled his eyes and swiped his hand to open the door. “Get back to it, then, Temple.” She threw a mock salute his way. He watched her head back to the main room, then blew out a breath. One person down. Only several ranks to go.

  By the time he had finished with DCI Crawford and gone two levels higher, it was just coming up to noon, and he felt wrung out like an old cloth. In some ways, it had gone as expected, but then Harper had changed the rules, and Christ, he hated lawyers.

  He returned to the incident room and watched Temple giving instructions to Foley. She always managed to keep up with him, no matter how bad a case got. It was rare.

  “Temple.” She turned, looking over. “You got a minute?”

  “I’ll be with you in a second,” she confirmed. “Get yourself a coffee. You look like crap.”

  By the time she joined him in his office, Jacob had finished his coffee and had his head in his hands. He was massaging at his temples, but nothing was helping with the headache pounding behind his eyes.

  Temple closed the door behind her. “You want to tell me what’s actually happening, sir?”

  He looked up at her. “Harper’s lawyers have been pulling strings. I’ve been… advised that my attitude toward him the other day could be deemed as unnecessarily aggressive.”

  “Unnecessary my arse.” Temple sat down opposite him. “You said it yourself: that bloated wanker has been keeping information from us. We have the tapes that prove it.”

  “Inadmissible,” Jacob said. “They intend to use ‘technical glitch’ as an argument.”

  Temple propped her arms on the edge of his desk. “So what happens now?”

  Jacob sighed, leaning back in his seat. Upstairs had made their instructions clear: no more pushing of buttons; no more encouraging a wealthy businessman to sic his very expensive lawyers on the department; no more aggressive pursuit without due cause.

  Still, if she was going to be involved, she had to know what was going on.

  “I think he may have been keeping eyes on our team.”

  Temple sat back, shock written on her face. “How? I mean, our records aren’t meant to be publicly accessible.”

  “Don’t know.” Jacob glanced over to make sure the door was shut, then tapped the digital lock on his desk to ensure they wouldn’t be interrupted. “There was a man in my block, acting as if he knew me. According to my source, he had high-end digi-lenses and… well, you know where I live.”

  “That rotten bastard,” Temple growled. “I’ll rip his nuts off.”

  Jacob had to smile. “Not yet,” he said. “We don’t know it was him, but he is the one who called for the meeting. I suspect that means he thinks he has something on us. Or on me at least. I want to see what he’s going to do with it, and I want you to be there as my backup if it all goes tits up.”

  “You think he’ll show his hand?”

  Jacob lifted one shoulder. “If he does, I want to be ready for it.”

  Temple nodded at once. “You need a wire.”

  “Already one step ahead of you there.” He tapped a pack on the desk. “Don’t let the others know about this, not until we have confirmation of what’s going on.”

  Temple eyed him curiously. “You sure that’s all, sir? You’ve been off all morning.”

  Trust Abby to notice something was amiss. Still, until they knew how everything was going to play out, there was no need to worry her. “Isn’t this enough?” He pushed his chair back. “I don’t want this spilling over and affecting the rest of the team.”

  “As always,” she murmured. “Anything else I need to know?”

  “I just need you to be my eyes and ears, and play along with whatever I say.”

  She nodded, rising. “And keep you out of a harassment suit, if worst comes to worst?”

  “I’m hoping it won’t. For now, get the others organized and grab a bite to eat. I’ll call you when we’re going.”

  She headed for the door but glanced back. “This case is just a bundle of fun, isn’t it?”

  He opened up the pack and took out the wire to fit it on his jacket. “You have no idea.”

  They left for Harper’s office half an hour later. Jacob elected to take one of the blue-and-white squad pods, instead of the unmarked ones. They were going in as police officers, and he intended to make that as clear as possible.

  Harper’s secretary had been notified and was waiting for them at the door.

  Jacob was pleased to see the flicker of concern in the woman’s expression when she saw that Jacob wasn’t alone.

  “Mr. Harper wasn’t expecting anyone else,” she said as she led them into the building. “I’m afraid the meeting room is only prepared for him and yourself, Detective Inspector.”

  Jacob smiled benignly. “I expected as much,” he replied. “Don’t worry about it. One of the DCIs insisted that we come together, but I’m sure Temple would be more than happy to have a seat somewhere with no one asking her questions.”

  “It’s been a busy day, sir,” Temple agreed, stone-faced. “Does Mr. Harper’s meeting room have a waiting area? Or just somewhere out of the way?”

  The secretary hesitated. “I think there should be a conference room available, if that’s all right.”

  Temple smiled. “Somewhere quiet to catch up on my notes would be fine.”

  The secretary looked relieved and picked up her pace. Jacob glanced at Abby with a quick nod of approval. When she was ushered into a room, she reached up and pointedly tucked her hair behind her ear. She was listening already.

  “This way, Detective Inspector,” the secretary said, leading him onward.

  Mr. Harper was waiting in a room several doors away.

  It was unlike his office, sterile and plain with a digital desk in the middle of the floor. There were two bland landscapes on the wall, each just off-center, and the monotonous ticking of the clock put people on edg
e. It had to be some kind of interview room. It felt like it had been designed to make people feel uncomfortable.

  “Detective Inspector.” Harper rose from the seat behind the desk. “I’m glad you could come.”

  And so, Jacob thought as he clasped the man’s hand briefly, the game begins.

  “I was told your lawyers have been in touch,” he said as he sat down opposite Harper. “I hope they’ve advised you to provide all and any information that you might have pertaining to our missing woman.”

  Harper smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He sat back down, folding his hands together. “I feel we got off on the wrong foot, Detective Inspector. We could help one another.”

  Jacob inclined his head. “If you provide the information I asked for, then yes, I do believe you could.”

  Harper’s eyes were cold. “I was thinking of a different type of information. It would be a shame if there were some questions raised over the people involved in this case.”

  Easy does it, Jacob thought, leaning slowly back in the seat. It was all well and good to let a man hang himself, but he had to take ahold of the noose first. “I’m not sure I follow, Mr. Harper. What are you implying?”

  “Discretion is beneficial.”

  Jacob pushed back the chair in a show of impatience. “I didn’t come down here for you to speak in riddles and waste my time,” he said, rising. “Unless you have something useful for me, I have a lot of work to be doing.”

  Harper looked up at him. “I would sit down if I were you, DI Ofori.”

  “Give me one good reason why.”

  It was both disappointing and a relief when an image of Kit’s face appeared on the desk. Sometimes, it was frustrating to be right about people.

  Kit was mussed and sleepy, as he had been when he left Jacob’s flat that morning. It was a still frame from a live feed, not his best look, and Jacob stared at it a little too long, and a little too hard, schooling his face into an expression of guarded shock.

  “What the hell is this?” he demanded.

  “Sit down, Mr. Ofori.”

  No more DI. Jacob forced down a tight smile. Instead, he obliged, and in doing so, handed Harper a little more rope. “Where did you get that picture?” he asked quietly.

  “That doesn’t matter.” Harper tapped his finger on the desk. “What matters is that I have it. You know why I have it and I know why you wouldn’t want anyone to know about it.”

  Jacob looked down as he clenched his hands into fists in his lap and bunched his shoulders. Tense and tight. Exactly what Harper would be expecting. “So it’s to be blackmail, is it?”

  Harper chuckled. “That’s a very nasty word, Mr. Ofori. As I said before, I think we can help one another.” He flicked the image to show a frame of the last kiss, then Kit leaving, and Jacob standing in the doorway, watching him go. “Cooperation.”

  Jacob folded his hands together and looked slowly back up at Harper. “All I wanted was to find the girl. Why are you protecting her? What the hell is she to you?”

  The man laughed again. “Her? Nothing.”

  The pieces slipped into place. She had Sanders’s technology on hard drives. Maybe Harper hadn’t believed her entirely, but he had suspected the value of the data. Now, with the TRI going public and the revelation of what Sanders had created, Harper could have access to a potential gold mine.

  “And if I pursue you?” Jacob put just enough tightness in his voice. “I know you have her hidden away. What’s to stop me coming after you?”

  Kit’s face flitted back onto the desktop. Harper tapped the surface, smiling benignly at him. “Are you really willing to risk your career, your reputation, on the off chance I might know where she is?”

  “You think this is relevant?” Jacob nodded toward Kit’s image.

  “I think,” Harper murmured silkily, “you were investigating the TRI, and have ended up shagging one of your suspects, Mr. Ofori. Regardless of whether I have the girl or not, I don’t think your superiors would be too happy to know about that, do you?”

  Somewhere in the building, Temple would be having kittens, but right now, Jacob couldn’t care less. He had baited and set the trap, and Harper had blundered straight into it, with Abby as the witness on the other end of the wire.

  “They weren’t,” he said, smiling.

  Harper frowned. “What?”

  “My superiors,” Jacob replied. “They weren’t happy when I told them, but given the circumstances, I had no choice.”

  Harper’s face was going paler. “What the hell are you on about?”

  Jacob rose from the chair. Maybe his career was down the toilet. Maybe he was going to get dragged through the dirt by the press. That didn’t matter. What mattered was that he had nailed the bastard and nailed him hard.

  “Your little spy wasn’t very discreet, Mr. Harper.” He braced both hands on the desk. “I knew you had these images before you did.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “Temple,” Jacob said. “If you don’t mind joining us?”

  Harper’s face was blotching with red. “What?”

  Jacob turned the collar of his jacket, revealing the wire. “You have just tried to blackmail a police officer, Mr. Harper,” he said. “You have also practically admitted to hiding our missing girl, which means you are also guilty of perverting the course of justice.”

  Harper surged up from the chair, scrabbling at the desk to conceal the images. “If that’s the case, why don’t you arrest me?” He looked furious. “All this showboating! It’s a bluff!”

  Jacob stepped to one side as the door opened. He didn’t dare to look at Temple. “I’m afraid I have no capacity to arrest you, Mr. Harper,” he said. “Rather than risk this case and the wrath of your expensive little lawyers, I have tendered my resignation.” He heard Abby’s sharp, indrawn breath and kept his eyes on Harper. Now he’d said it out loud, he felt light-headed, his stomach knotting. “Temple, this is your case and your arrest, if you don’t mind.”

  “Yes, sir.” Temple’s voice was tight with emotion.

  It should have been a victory, he thought, as he watched Temple cuff Harper and read him his rights. It should have been, and yet the exhilaration and triumph was being swallowed up, and it was all he could do to keep standing, his legs shaking beneath him.

  “Are you coming back to the station with us, sir?” Temple asked, once they had loaded Harper into the back of the squad pod.

  Jacob forced himself to look at her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Better for me to stay out of the way for now.”

  “Sir….”

  He shook his head. “The DCIs will make an announcement. Give it a few days for the dust to settle.” He held out a hand. “You’ll do well, Abby.”

  She looked at his hand, then took it in hers. “Thank you, sir.”

  He tried to smile. “Jacob. It’s just Jacob now.”

  Chapter 44

  THE MOOD in the TRI had been grim all day.

  It was bad enough running the gauntlet of reporters, all pushing and shouting questions, but worse when he got inside. From the subdued discussions around the building, Kit realized a few more people had left the previous day, and Mariam had been called down to the police station again. He didn’t know what else she could possibly be telling, and all he could think was that he was glad he wasn’t in her shoes.

  His job was relatively simple by comparison.

  He went down to the gate room to finally install the lock for testing within one of their three gates. The mechanism was prepared. It just needed to be adjusted and fitted within the body of the gate itself. It wasn’t the most difficult thing he had ever done, but it was still time-consuming.

  It was better down there, out of the way of anyone who might make a snide comment. He’d even planned ahead and snagged a couple of sandwiches from the canteen, so he didn’t even have to go upstairs to eat or face anyone.

  He turned up the volume on his quill until the beat was bouncing back of
f the metal walls, safe in the knowledge that no one would care, and got on with his task. He was so engrossed in it, hours later, that he didn’t even notice the door open behind him.

  The music cut off suddenly, leaving him singing tunelessly along with silence.

  “What….” He turned, then blinked. “Mariam?”

  The woman was holding his quill. “Do you have a minute?”

  Kit hesitated, glancing back at the gate and his hand that was currently holding a bundle of four wires, inside the body of the machine. “Give me a second….”

  She nodded, and he turned back to the wires. It took him nearly five minutes to get them all reconnected and attached to his satisfaction.

  That done, he climbed down from the ladder he was sitting on. “What’s going on?” From the look on her face, the news wasn’t good, and his heart felt like it had dropped through his stomach. “Are we being shut down? Are they taking the gates?”

  She held out the quill to him. “There’s going to be a review,” she said. “A big one. The government has demanded it. They feel that we have had too much power, using this technology without international approval.” She sighed, removing her glasses to rub at her eyes. “The rest of the world is breathing down their neck about it.”

  “Shit.”

  “Mm.” She looked up at him. “We might still lose it. I don’t know. But for now, everything is on hold.”

  He glanced back at the gate. “Including the lock?”

  She was silent for a moment. “How close is it to finished?”

  “Two days,” he replied. “It would need to be tested, but it would be finished by then.”

  Mariam approached the gate, looking it over. She reached out, running her fingertips lightly down the frame, then turned back to him. “Finish it. If you can get two more made for the backups, I know Tom would have wanted the locks in place, no matter what.”

  “It might not work,” he warned. “It could just block travel in either direction. No coming or going.”