‘Maybe somebody who was there, what the machine looked like, just off the top of my head.’ Booker showed her the top of his head by pointing at it.
‘Oh, the machine was this big grey thing, not very exciting, there was a little window with a test tube in it, and another window with another test tube. Ya know? In the middle was a screen. One of them was cracked.’ She spoke with such speed Booker started to lose track.
‘The screen?’ Asked Booker, needing more verification.
‘Na, one of the test tubes.’
‘The test tube was cracked?’ Bookers world seemed slow in comparison to Georgina's.
‘That’s it, I tried to tell him, but he just shushed me.’
‘I wonder why.’ Rob raised an eyebrow to Booker, who agreed without saying so. ‘I mean, what was the screen for?’ Continued Rob, trying to cover his tracks.
‘It had six wee dots on it, it started with three, first, he said the dots on the left are spinning, that was the three on the left. Are you writing this down?’ Georgina asked Booker nodded silently even though he wasn’t. ‘So, he turned the machine on.’
‘Again?’ Asked Booker, who’d lost track of the chat now.
‘No, for the first time. He turned the machine on then whoop, the three dots on the left were gone and the ones on the right were spinning.’ She explained.
‘You saw them spin?’ asked Rob in his softer than soft voice.
‘Na, the guy in his lab coat told me they were, had to take his word for it.’
‘Can we have two seconds to chat.’ Booker asked placing his hand on Rob’s shoulder.
‘You and me?’ Georgina asked in a screech of Scottish.
‘No, me and my sidekick. Would you mind?’ Booker nodded again as if to say, “please leave. ”
‘This is my office.’ Georgina replied, knowing exactly what the nod meant.
‘I know.’
There was some huffing, some panting and finally, Georgina left to stand in the hallway.
‘Look, this woman is obviously an idiot. Let’s just go. We’ll walk around aimlessly around the university until we find somebody in a white coat, there can’t be that many.’ Booker explained, he didn’t sound desperate to leave but still spoke with some speed.
‘We can’t just leave, we have to find out who we have to talk to. Why are you always giving up at the first sign of work?’
‘What else are we meant to do.’ Booker tried to keep his voice hushed so Georgina wouldn’t hear him through the door. She was a reporter, she probably had a glass to a wall somewhere, eavesdropping. ‘I don’t like reporters okay, I don’t like this one doubly so. Look at this place it’s a mess.’
‘This looks exactly like your office.’ Rob said pointing at the desk which rattled without being touched.
‘That’s absurd. This looks nothing like my office, my office is much more organised than this.’ To Booker that was true, he knew where everything was in his own way. But to the outside world, his order was chaos.
‘Right, we find out who she talked at the university. Then we go there, when she comes back in, it’s in and out, she comes in and we go out.’ Rob had a plan made up in his head. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was the only one he had. ‘We need to talk to that scientist.’ Rob reiterated.
‘Could you come back in.’ Booker yelled through the door. ‘Are you ready?’ he asked a little too late.
‘No, I’m not ready, but you’ve told her to come back in now.’ The door opened.
Georgina softly snuck in, even though it was her office she didn’t really feel as if it was at that point.
‘Can I come in?’ she stammered as she tread in.
‘Yes, yes come in.’ Booker hurried her in. ‘We have some questions, I want you to answer them as quickly as possible.’
‘I’m no good at tests.’ She replied stammering some more.
‘Of course, you’re not, your Scottish, but do try and keep up.’ Booker moved his hand, making little circles with it. ‘Who was doing the experiment?’
‘That science guy. The guy in the lab coat.’ This time she didn’t stutter, she just pushed the answer out as fast as she could.
‘No, no, who funded it?’ Booker asked, all the words pushed together like a tightly packed parcel.
‘A bunch of businesses, they were doing before, then somebody broke in, they lost some funding after that. A bunch of little local stuff joined together, helped keep it going.’ She was rambling already.
‘There was funding issues?’
‘Oh eye, a bank manager guy was there, or an accountant, he was making sure the money was being used right.’
‘Is that why Alan was there?’ Booker snapped his fingers.
‘Who’s Alan?’
‘Alan Brixton, guy with a stupid face.’ Booker hadn’t really commented on Brixton’s face before, it set Rob back.
‘The numbers guy? Ay, he was there and his wife, she was pretty I can tell ye.’
‘We know we’ve met her.’
‘Dumb as a rock though.’ Commented Georgina.
‘Maybe you’re talking about somebody different.’ Booker had become a little defensive over Sara now he’d spoke to the dead girl a little. ‘The girl we know is quite turned on. I mean switched on.’ Bookers face warmed with red.
‘Her name was, her name was, Sara.’ Georgina didn’t have the best recall, which wasn’t great when you worked for a newspaper.
‘Okay, I think we have everything we need to know.’ Booker stopped the conversation dead in its tracks, he tossed his hands in pockets
‘Thank you.’ He mumbled heading for the door.
‘I have a question.’ Rob spoke up before they could leave.
‘Quickly.’ Booker sighed.
‘Have you noticed any side effects since seeing the machine work?’ Rob asked in his soft sweet voice.
‘No why? Should I be worried.’ Georgina went pale with fright.
‘Na, you’ll be alright, let’s go Booker.’ Rob followed on, leaving the poor girl to wallow in fear. ‘Thank you.’ And the door closed.
18
There was a phone. That was the most worrying thing, a phone lay in the wet grass. Wet from the fog which had stuck to it, congealing into droplets of water on each sharp blade of green. The little black blob just lay there without being touched.
‘Is it his?’ Rich swallowed a mouth full of dread. He was bending over to make a standing L shape, trying to look at the phone without touching it.
‘It looks like his.’ Sara replied, standing back, she squinted at the little piece of glass mixed with metal. ‘Are you going to pick it up?’ Sara asked leaning in more.
‘No, no, no, that’s evidence.’ Shaking his head, Rich replied. ‘Are you going to pick it up?’ Rich felt it was something Sara could do, she wasn’t the police.
‘Not if you’re not.’ Sara stepped back a little, which startled Adam, he was still a little on edge after Sara collapsing in the shop.
Rich looked at the phone, still without touching it, he raised his head slowly as if he didn’t know what to do. Suddenly he shot his head left and then right, looking around his area.
‘I need a stick, I’m going to poke the phone.’ Rich yelled looking around.
‘Don’t poke the phone.’ Instructed Sara.
‘What else is there to do.’
‘My loneliness is killing me.’ The phone spat as it shook in little tiny moments as if shivering.
‘Somebody is calling the phone.’ Rich stepped back with fear as if the phone could explode. He knew a guy who worked in bomb disposal, this wasn’t a ridiculous thought.
‘It’s me, I’m calling it.’ Sara pulled the phone from her ear and pushed it into Rich’s face. ‘I wanted to make sure it was Alan’s phone.’
‘Well, it is.’
‘Hello.’ Adam said holding the phone he’d just picked up, he pushed it to his ear. Shock filled the other two’s faces.
‘I knew I should have po
ked it with a stick.’ Rich told himself aloud.
‘I didn’t even notice him pick it up.’ There was fear in her voice, a fear directed internally. She wasn’t scared of Rich, or Adam, just the fear of not knowing what was going to happen next was enough for her.
‘We can still follow him.’ Sara told Rich. Rich shook his head, two parts disagreements one-part despair.
‘No phone, no lead. The phone was our only way of tracking that kid.’ Rich pulled his hands over his face in the hope that would reset the world around him, it failed, maybe blowing into the cartridge would help.
‘We don’t need the phone.’
‘What were you thinking? Bounding up to him like that.’ He couldn’t even look at her.
‘I don’t know, something came over me.’
‘Hello?’ Adam spoke down the phone, it was silent on the other end, he looked at the screen and saw his own reflection.
‘Something came over you? Did you even get a name?’ There was pacing now. Rich was pacing, Booker used to pace. Now he just sat.
‘No, I know his name.’ Sara told Rich, she followed him back and forward with her head. Adam touched the top of his head, something was missing, he could see it but he couldn’t feel it.
‘What were you thinking?’
‘I was thinking I know him.’ Sara pulled at Adam, bringing herself and him closer to Rich, stopping his path. ‘I know that kid. He’s the reason I’m like this, in a kind of roundabout way.’ Without turning or looking Sara Grabbed the phone from Adam’s hand. ‘It’s a photo, you’re wearing a birthday hat in the photo, this was your thirtieth birthday, and you made us wear stupid party hats. It’s a photo.’ She pushed the phone into Adam’s chest where he clenched onto it and her hand.
‘I’m sorry.’ Adam said although he had nothing to say sorry for.
Rich pulled himself up, using Adam as a winch. There was panting and heaving, once up Rich dusted himself down and stared at the small compression in the grass where the phone once lay. For a New York minute he didn’t move, just watching as the flora tried to right its self.
Nobody said anything, nobody dared to. Sara didn’t know what to say, Adam didn’t really know how to talk properly.
‘I guess we should go.’ Rich spoke in almost silent tones. There was a sadness in his eyes that made Sara’s gut clench and she was the one who was dead because of the arsehole.
‘I guess we should.’ Agreed Sara. Adam nodded, opened his mouth beyond what looked capable and pulled in a huge yawn, sounding out as he did.
‘Tired big guy?’ Rich asked looking Adam straight in the eye, which he could only do for a second before the grey pupil of Adam’s eye began to pierce Rich. Adam nodded again, and Rich looked away. It was better that way.
It was a slow walk back to the car, they didn’t dare walk back through IT Direct. Too many people saw Sara drop, too many people who would ask questions. What were they meant to say? “Yeah if my husband lets go of me, I die.” Seems a little extreme. Rich walked with his hands in his pocket as if he were a naughty schoolboy who’d just been told off. Sara and Adam continued to hold hands, holding hands was what happy people did, they weren’t happy. They weren’t even content. They were just holding hands because one of them literally couldn’t let go.
Adam pulled in a lung full of air, sounding like an excited seal.
‘Cover your mouth.’ Sara told him, Adam ignored it and continued to yawn to his heart’s content, making as much noise as he could.
People aren’t fond of failing, it’s coded in our DNA. To fail is to die, and nobody likes dying, you can tell that by the faces of the dead, all contoured and solid. It’s enough to make you quit. But failing is also something we do, just do naturally, other than the one true failure, which as stated earlier is the demise of the person trying to succeed. All other failure is simply failing upwards, a series of constant mistakes. Learning what these mistakes are and using that knowledge to move forward to success. I feel as if I’m repeating myself here, so I will use some great and wise words from a well-known philosopher. “Get rich or die trying.”
Rich hadn’t gotten rich, but neither had he died trying. He just got in his car, waited for the other to join him and made an audible sigh of mental destructions.
The car was large in terms of a car, but not large in comparison to the noise Rich had just made. It deafened Sara and Adam who was only able to protect an ear each.
‘The world is a fucking mess.’ Rich yelled, to him it was. He hated unsolved cases, he had a perfectly clean record, mainly because he was very good at passing the unsolvable over to some other police officer.
Rich’s new world was a soufflé, and somebody had just stabbed it with a knife. He wrapped his hands tightly around the steering wheel until it made a leathery creak and his hands slipped away.
‘We’ll find him.’ Sara spoke up, Adam placed his hand on Rich’s shoulder in a way which said, “it’ll be okay.” Rich filled his lungs with the soft air in his car and shot it out of pursed lips.
‘Okay, you’re right. It’ll sort its self out, surely.’ Rich shook his head, Sara and Adam couldn’t see what he was doing and couldn’t pick up the sarcasm in his voice.
‘Were you being sarcastic?’ Asked Sara.
‘Of course, I was.’ Rich thrashed about as if just attacked by a shark which had hidden under his chair.
‘Look, man, you’re not the one who’s dead. I am. We are.’ Sara corrected herself. ‘It’s not about whatever issue you have going on right now, it’s about us. Not in a selfish way, the whole thing that’s going on, is literally about us.’
‘I know, I know, it’s just.’ Rich broke off. ‘It’s just I’ve never had an unsolved case.’
‘This isn’t a case.’ Sara Pointed out, it wasn’t correctly speaking.
‘What?’
‘Well it is, but it’s not your case, its Bookers.’ Sara leant back in her chair.
‘Bookers not a cop.’ Corrected Rich.
‘I know he’s a detective.’
‘No that’s still an officer, he’s a PI and he’s barely that.’ Rich turned in his seat. ‘Who hired him anyway?’
Sara was put back by the question, she didn’t actually know. ‘Rob, I think, I don’t know.’
‘Ha.’ Rich didn’t actually laugh, he just said the word “ha”.
‘Fine, I hire you to solve this case.’ Sara moved forward in her seat, so Rich knew every word was pointed at him like daggers. This didn’t seem the case yet, but it would in a few seconds.
‘I work for the police, you can’t hire me. It’s not how this works. I just solve things and the government pays me.’
‘Oh well, I guess this is your case then, best get solving it then.’ She shot the final words, hitting Rich right in the chest. He was almost out of the woods there too, he could have dropped off Adam and Sara to Booker, yes Adam was his issue, but correctly speaking Adam wasn’t fully dead. Only Sara was, he could have swept the rest under the carpet. Better off yet, signed all the paperwork over to Booker, and wash his hands all this craziness.
Despair hit Richard this time. Feelings of dread were taking turned kicking the shit out of his nervous system today. He slumped forward pressing his head into the horn of his car so it screeched out in pain.
He raised it back up gently, his horn stopped, but something honked and whistled at him. Orange lights flashed glinting off the interior dash of his car. Somehow, he’d set off a very sensitive car alarm which was parked in front of him. It was loud, Adam covered his ears like a child, well the one ear, he wasn’t able to protect the other.
‘I guess I should go in, explain about the car.’ Rich mumbled, he had already put his hand on the door to open it when he felt a tug on his shoulder.
‘No need to, that’s his car. That’s Michaels car.’ Sara explained.
‘Who’s Michael?’ Adam yelled trying to beat the sound of the car.
‘He’s the nasty man in the computer shop. Right?�
�� Rich told Adam, although the question was aimed at Sara.
‘Yeah, he’s the guy who had the phone.’ Sara pushed Adam aside, so she was able to talk to Rich better, the back of a car was never the best place to have a conversation.
‘Okay, but who is he?’ Adam asked.
‘Actually, that’s a very good question, how do you know him?’ Rich asked now he could see Sara better he was able to watch her try and move back into his blind spot.
‘Is this really a good time for this?’ Asked Sara looking like the deer in the headlights of life. Her eyes shifted from side to side. Rich would say she looked nervous if her nerves were still functioning. She pulled in a huge breath. ‘I slept with him.’ She tried to own it, like it was something she wanted, no, had to do.
‘You slept with him?’ the shock on Rich’s face made it hard to understand what he was saying.
‘I thought Alan was cheating on me.’
‘That seems like a thing excuse.’ Rich didn’t see Sara as the cheating kind, the kind to be cheated on maybe, but never the doer.
‘An eye for an eye.’ She tried to fortify her excuse.
‘You do know that saying is, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, the second half makes what you did a lot worse.’ Countered Rich. ‘You have his memories, was he cheating?’
‘What? I’m not just going to go sorting through his memories.’ Sara saw the memories she literally shared with Alan as a chest never to be opened.
‘Was he cheating, look.’ Rage filled Rich’s face now.
‘No, no he wasn’t okay. He never even thought about it.’
‘You’re a real fucking mess you know that.’ Rich turned back to face the wheel and started the engine. ‘We’re going to go see Booker.’
19
Booker and Rob scurried, that was the only way to describe their movement, scurrying.
Booker clenched a small note with a name on it, just a name. No address or phone number, just a lot of letter jumbled up on a scrap of paper.
Up close the note read Dr Rockford Northcott, Booker tried to stifle his laughter when he first read it. Not that there was anything funny about the name, it wasn’t made up of rude words or sounded rude when it was put together. It just was an inherently funny name. Inexplicably so.
A Well-Timed Death (Booker Shield Book 1) Page 15
