Mystery : Cozy Mystery: Forsaken (shocking, mystery, thriller, cozy, short stories) (suspense, short reads, detective, murder)

by Athena Dorsey

  “Ah, anytime Greene. Anytime.”

  ***

  Now that he had finally stolen the rats that he needed so badly for his research, the next thing for him to do would have been to kick back and finish up the time machine. He was going to make sure that he had everything right so that the first trials could have a very significant chance of surviving once they had been put through the machine.

  Dr. Greene was more than aware that the experiments he was doing had never been tried before. And that said, anything could get to happen. And that was also another reason why he needed to be very careful since, by anything happening, it could go either way. Meaning that it could be good and also, it could be bad.

  Dr. Greene had pioneered being the top enchilada as far as many of these research projects were concerned. But that said, it also meant that he knew the importance of always staying focused in everything that he did and that meant that he wasn’t going to take any chances at all. Once he had the pregnant rat into the basement, he found a huge box and filled it with old clothes and put in some food.

  She was almost giving birth and that said, Dr. Greene had to make sure that he was taking good care of these rats since he wanted to get them all breeding so as to give him an army of rats that would be very important as far as his research was concerned. And as he was also making sure that the time machine was getting ready, Dr. Greene also made sure that one of the most important discovery that he had ever made was also very safe. And that was nothing other than the all important serum.

  The serum was made of the right amount of mercury that was to make sure that the human body fell in synch with the electromagnetic force that was responsible for making the body to split into atoms and get transferred to the coordinates and then reassemble back to the human form once more. But explaining the sequence was so difficult for the other scientists to grasp since as far as they were concerned, mercury was very deadly to the human body and no amount was ever going to be used to make it work.

  But that was the difference between Dr. Greene and the rest of the scientists – a difference that Richardson was able to understand clearly and thus managed to keep the good doctor very close to himself.

  Eventually, they were most definitely going to find out that Dr. Greene had been working, and they would want to claim whatever it was that he was doing. But thankfully, the most important thing was that Dr. Greene was already working on a way to divert their attention. And he had also planned on selling the technology by the time Richardson would want to make any claims as far as his invention was concerned.

  But even though Dr. Greene had everything on lock. And it seemed as though he knew that deep down, the only thing that would have made some sense at that time would have been to kick back and make sure that he had someone to monitor everything once the time machine had gotten to a point where he needed to make the human trials.

  And at that moment, he thought about Tori. She was the only person who looked like she could keep a secret. But that said, it also seemed as though Dr. Greene didn’t want her involved just in case anything went wrong and she got caught up in the guilt. Or even worse, if Richardson found out what she had been up to and now he gets forced to hurt her.

  Dr. Greene didn’t want any damn thing to happen to her. And that said, he decided to put that idea out of his head permanently.

  He got some food and soda from the fridge and assumed his favorite position on the couch and started eating. It had been a tough week, and all he wanted to do was relax for a couple of minutes before getting back to work.

  Yes, Dr. Greene only knew one damn thing as far as life was concerned, and that was working as hard as possible. And that said, it also appeared as though he had evolved in such a way that he could only get to work and rest at the same time, whatever that meant. and so when it came to relaxing a little, it only took him a couple of minutes before he could get back to work almost immediately.

  The good thing about him was that he always did everything accordingly and only got to bed for a couple of minutes and then he was ready to go to work. That explained why h was in a position to work both in Richardson’s factory as well as his private lab.

  The development of his individual project had gotten to a point that it was giving him goose bumps, and that was such an amazing thing since ideas just couldn’t stop flowing through his head. And now it seemed as though it had gotten to a point where he was only to put some final touches before he got to the testing stage. And that was one thing he just couldn’t wait.

  Chapter 4:

  -Back to work-

  After the failed attempt to try and convince his fellow scientists that he was on to something, it appeared as if Dr. Greene was done with trying to convince them otherwise. And because of the disrespect and the ilk, he decided that he was never going to share any inventions as well as any ideas with the firm. Heck, he even didn’t want any of the young scientists to make a point of asking him questions.

  Lucky for him, after the embarrassing performance that he did, even the young scientists in the firm weren’t interested in sharing their ideas with him. And that was their loss; Dr. Greene knew that one jolly too well.

  Dr. Greene just switched off from any enthusiasm he ever had and now was focusing on using the company’s resources to carry out his own research and that was the only thing that seemed to matter at that time. And it went without saying that life did continue without anyone suspecting anything, everyone with the exception of the boss, billionaire Richardson.

  Richardson didn’t get to the point of becoming a very powerful billionaire without being very watchful of his investments. And that said, the only thing that would have made some sense at the time would have been to kick back and ensure that they had virtually everything all sorted out and had all the scientists present everything that they had been working for.

  And once he had all of the files, he immediately checked out Dr. Greene’s file and he discovered that ever since the presentation about time travel, the right scientist hadn’t brought anything up or even advised any scientists with their work. And that said, Richardson decided to organize a meeting. He most definitely needed to make a meeting as soon as possible.

  Dr. Greene was summoned by one of Richardson’s bodyguards, and he stopped doing whatever it was that he was doing and made a point of walking all the way to Richardson’s office, knowing too darn well what the deal was. Word had already gone around that the boss had requested for everyone’s files to be pulled so that he could have a look at them. And that was never a good thing.

  That said, Dr. Greene knew that Richardson was suspecting something, or even worse, he might have been on to him.

  But that said, Dr. Greene was still sure that the man wasn’t going to give him a difficult time at the end of the day since from the look of things, it seemed as though Richardson needed him if at all he wanted to continue benefiting from his brilliance. And with that, Dr. Greene managed to encourage himself that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t going to find himself floating on some river or even worse, end up as breakfast for a bunch of lucky rats in a cold, filthy dumpster.

  “Hello Rich, did you call for me?” Dr. Greene asked, trying as much as possible not to look scared.

  “Yeah I did. Come in Greene.”

  “Thank you.”

  And with that, Dr. Greene got in. He was still working as hard as possible not to appear as though he was about to have a major panic attack. But as far as Richardson was concerned, he seemed as though he had just won the lottery. He was smiling and looking very jovial, and that just made Dr. Greene to feel as though he was being played.

  Just like it was the case in the movies when the mob leader makes jokes right before driving a drill through the skull of the man that he was taunting all that time. And that made him a little bit scared at the end of the day.

  “Look, I called you up since the board hasn’t heard from you in a while. You always come up with brilliant ideas every week. But from the lo
ok of things, it does seem as though after that last presentation, you have gone a little cold on us. Is there anything that you want to share?”

  And just like that, the smile that once graced Richardson’s face was gone and in its place, a very stern look. And now Dr. Greene was starting to feel as though his life was being threatened for real. But still, he wasn’t going to give himself up. The project that he was having in his house was way too important for this criminal of a boss to have his filthy hands on. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t going to give him a damn thing at all and that was final.

  “I am working on something that will blow your mind away. But I want to be sure about it before I bring it forward to the board.” Dr. Greene lied with a straight face.

  Richardson smiled.

  “That was what I needed to hear. I knew you were up to something you old bastard haha. You can go back to work now. I can’t wait to see it.”

  The truth was that Richardson was never going to know Dr. Greene’s little secret.

  ***

  The confrontation with Richardson didn’t bother Dr. Greene. From the look of things, it did seem as though the only thing that mattered to him was getting to finish his machine. He figured that if he was going to do it the right way, then he was most definitely going to sell it for a very high price, one that would give him that all-important boost to leave Richardson for good and start his company.

  Dr. Greene would smile everything the thought of running his business passed through his mind. He knew that Richardson and his army of scientists wouldn’t stand a chance as far as competition was concerned. And even Richardson knew that jolly too well and that explained the reason as to why he always made sure that he was working round the clock to ensure that everything was going on according to plans to retain him.

  But Dr. Green had figured that he had been used for a very long time, and it was about that time that he made a move and left that company.

  But before he could do that, Dr. Greene figured that he needed to enjoy some of these top notch resources that the firm had at his dispersal. These resources were most definitely going to make sure that he was in a position to finish his time machine right on time and then kick off with the experiments, something that would most definitely give him that golden opportunity to stay on track.

  Getting to think all about the time machine. And all of the possibilities that he was going to achieve with that made him feel as though he was on top of the world and that gave him such an amazing feeling altogether to the point that he wanted just to kick back and get to enjoy every single thing happening.

  Dr. Greene also knew that Richardson knew that he was up to something that he didn’t want to share. And that was always the problem with working with someone for a very long time. They always had a way of knowing you inside out, especially when you are using their resources to further your research.

  And that said, Dr. Greene saw the need of keeping everything under wraps for a moment until he got that breakthrough since he knew that he would have him watched very carefully. And if Richardson ever found out that he was up to something, then things weren’t going to be as pleasant to him as he would have wanted at the end of the day.

  Another precaution that Dr. Greene had to take was making sure that everything he did was always saved on the flash drive which he carried everywhere that he went.

  In the flash drive, Dr. Greene made sure that all of the schematics for the time machine were stored. So if at all anything happened and Richardson wanted to come and take away his invention, then Dr. Greene would make sure that it is flash burned. And thanks to the information on the flash drive, he could just relocate and get to build another time machine from scratch.

  And so without wasting any more time, Dr. Greene left the office and went straight to the bar. He knew that the tension he had when he was summoned by his boss was way too much for him to be carrying it all around. And so going to the bar to unwind was a better way for him to let go of the steam and get to enjoy some good old conversation with Tori before calling it a day.

  Tori smiled as soon as she saw Dr. Greene coming through the door. It had been almost a fortnight since she talked to him and she was more than eager to do just that. And it went without saying that Dr. Greene had missed her as well. Tori was the only sane person in his life, and she always made sure that he was attached to reality at all times which was such a good thing at the end of the day.

  “Look at you, growing old just after two weeks. What is happening to you?”

  “It’s just the stress that comes with working around the clock to invent things that make your lives better.” Dr. Greene laughed.

  But even Tori could get that his laughter wasn’t genuine at all. If anything, it seemed as though he was getting to force himself to laugh and that meant that he was in some trouble or his day was shitty.

  “Hey, I know that maybe you don’t want to talk about it, but you need to unwind or else this work of yours will kill you.”

  “So, what do you suggest?”

  “Take some time off from work. You know, hang out with me and let’s talk about standard stuff.”

  Dr. Greene smiled. He liked Tori. But why he never thought about spending time with her was something that he just never got to understand at any given moment. But thankfully, it seemed as though the most important thing at that moment was that she had made the suggestion. Dr. Greene just couldn’t stop blushing.

  Chapter 5:

  -Date before the big day-

  It had been two very long and crazy months of working round the clock and Dr. Greene was more than sure that his project was most definitely going to fly. But before he could do a damn thing about it, he felt that he needed to have a couple of drinks just to unwind. And once he had done so, the next thing that would have followed would most definitely be something that would change his life completely.

  So he decided to pay the beautiful bartender a visit just to see how she was doing. If his memory served him right, then she was the only person who got him all sorted out without having to worry about a damn thing, and that was something more or less exquisite. At that point which he considered as being the lowest in his life, he had someone who had no clue about whatever he was doing but still had faith in him and for that, Dr. Greene wasn’t going to take it for granted.

  So as soon as he was done with the fixing of the time machine, the one that his friends vowed that Dr. Greene was never going to have the pleasure of inventing, he decided that maybe a stroll to the bar for a miniature celebration wasn’t going to be that much of a bad idea.

  And that said, the only place that Dr. Greene wanted to be was anywhere, but with Tori. It had been a while since he had seen her and for some reason, Dr. Greene thought that maybe he was starting to have some feelings about her, and that seemed a little bit dangerous as far as he was concerned. But after thinking about it, it felt as though it was the most important thing as far as he was concerned.

  Tori was such love girl, and she looked too darn innocent without the makeup and all of the skimpy dresses that her boss always made her put on to attract more customers. And at that point, it seemed as though Dr. Greene was in love with her new look to the point that he just couldn’t stop staring.

  “Hey, you realize that you are staring.”

  “Oh, I am sorry. It’s just that I haven’t had the pleasure of getting to see you all dressed up and looking sexy the way you are at this point.”

  “Ah, it’s ok. I get that a lot. But thank you very much. So, are you going to tell me all about the secret project that you are running in your company or what?”

  Dr. Greene wasn’t planning on talking about his project or his wicked boss Mr. Richardson. All he had scheduled for that day was to have a conversation with Tori about life in general. And that said, it seemed as though the result was going to be him talking about it and then maybe switching the conversation to something much more normal.

  “Well, we are looking into the cur
e for cancer. But as you know, it’s a tough thing, and it is giving me sleepless nights.”

  “Why is it giving you sleepless night?”

  “Because if I don’t have a breakthrough, then it might have some consequences on my reputation. I just got a lot riding on this. But anyway, I never thought you could look this innocent. I kind of like it.”

  “Once again, thanks. Sometimes I wish I could rock this look all day and all night, but you know my boss. So, when you get the cure for cancer, will you take me for a ride and spend some of that money on me?”

  “Sure. Besides, you are the only person that I know outside of the world of science. It would be nice to travel the world with someone who can help me see things with a fresh pair of eyes. It could be amazing indeed.”

  And at that point, the two switched their conversation into something much more simple, and they enjoyed their walk in the park. Tori somehow trusted Dr. Greene to the point that she talked about her dead parents, and she hoped that she could go back in time and tell them just how much she loved them.

  Dr. Greene stopped for a moment. He imagined just how amazing it would be to kick back and imagine how amazing it would be to complete his time machine so that he could just go wherever and whenever. And so he made himself a solemn vow that if at all he was going to make some progress and an eventual breakthrough, then he was most definitely going to take Tori for a ride and make sure that she had a chance of seeing her parents one last time.