by Jack Hunt
I gave a sharp knock at the door and looked around the cul-de-sac. More specifically I narrowed my gaze at Harry’s home. Was that even his name? If I went by the name in the passports, yeah, but I’d heard of government officials using fake names. Heck, even celebrities did. I knocked again, even louder this time. When there was no answer I stepped down off the porch. The door opened. My eyes dropped as I took in the sight of her sun-kissed skin. She was wearing a pink bikini and her hair was dripping wet.
I cleared my throat.
“Sorry, I was in the pool.”
“Right. Um. I just wanted to drop by and apologize for earlier.”
She held the screen door open.
“Well, are you coming in or not?”
My eyebrows rose. “Sure.”
As I followed her in I couldn’t help but stare at her ass as she padded back into the kitchen and went over to the fridge.
“Beer?”
I nodded while at the same time trying to find words that would make me sound less like a chump. I glanced around and walked over to the French doors that led out to the pool.
“So did you find your time traveler?”
“What?” I heard her; I just wasn’t sure how to answer.
She padded over and handed me a drink. “Your neighbor.”
“Right. Yeah.”
“And?” She walked past me and took a seat on one of the white pool chairs. A towel was draped over the end. A dog-eared book was beside her feet. I cocked my head slightly to read the title. It was called Marcus Aurelius Meditations.
“Any good?” I asked changing the subject quickly. She leaned down and I got an eyeful. She must have caught me looking as she gave a wry smile before tossing it to me.
“I didn’t know you were into meditation?”
“Philosophy.”
“You are majoring in that?”
“It’s one of my classes.”
“I didn’t know you were a deep thinker.” I took a sip of my drink.
“I like to ponder existence from time to time. There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“Like?”
She got an amused look on her face. “Maybe another time.”
“So what’s it about?” I wandered over to the side of the pool, doing my best to not fall in.
“About human nature and the human condition. Life. The past. The future.”
I nodded slowly, contemplating her answer.
“Do you think if time travel was possible, you would want to change things about your past?” I asked her.
She chuckled a little. “I think we all would. I mean, I know some people say they don’t have regrets but I think that’s a load of crap. I think everyone has regrets. Things they wish they could have said or done differently. Don’t you?”
She leaned back and pushed her sunglasses back over her eyes. I began to feel self-conscious. It was something to do with not seeing her eyes.
“Are we talking about a couple of hours ago? Because I kind of wish I could replay that out differently.”
She smiled and sipped her drink. “Perhaps you can. Anyway. Not that I believe you but let’s say your neighbor, for entertainment purposes, was able to travel through time. Are we to assume he’s from the past or the future?” She played around with the straw in her drink.
“Both.”
“Why?”
“The passports. The dates printed inside were from the late seventies, and eighties.”
“But he could have got them created, you know, just for kicks.”
“And the money?”
“He’s a collector. You did say he had clothes from different periods, yes?”
I nodded.
“I’ve met collectors before. That room might have been a safe. You know how these collectors are very protective of their valuables.”
“Okay, I’ll buy the fact that the clothing and money might have been something he collected but not the passports. That’s just weird. Those have to be issued. They don’t hand those out like candy. And anyway, what collector would have the same photo inside each of them? He hadn’t aged in any of them.”
She tilted her head to the side.
“And what about all the pieces of paper that had details about Dempsey? The circle around her face?” I asked.
“I know how it looks, Alex, but you’ve got to hear yourself. A guy who travels through time moves in beside you. And you think he’s going to assassinate the next president? I’ve got a vivid imagination as much as anyone else but even for me that’s quite a stretch.” She paused. “And anyway, let’s say it’s true. In fact, let’s say that he’s from the future, wouldn’t that create a paradox if he came back and killed her? I mean if she died tomorrow, the future wouldn’t have her as a president. And there would be no reason to come back and kill her, for whatever reason he wanted her dead.”
“That’s one train of thought. The other is multi-verse.”
“Many worlds, many timelines?”
“Exactly. It’s going on the basis that everything and anything that could possibly happen in our past has occurred in some other universe. I mean theoretically, if there are different timelines that exist, one in which I turn right instead of going left, then it’s plausible that if time travel exists and someone went back in time and made a change, it would create a branch into a new or an existing timeline in which that outcome occurs. In one timeline Dempsey lives, in another she dies.”
“But then what happens to the present timeline?”
“It ceases to exist? Collapses? Or continues on. It’s another timeline.”
“This is hurting my brain,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s what I said to Eric when he tried explaining it to me. Think of it like this. You’re a leaf on a river. A river that is flowing in one direction, essentially… everything that has been or will ever be already exists. However, we experience it based on where we are at any point along that river. Now you can change the course of a river. It’s still flowing but now you are heading in a different direction.”
“So we don’t create our future, it’s already planned?”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I don’t know. Maybe, possibly, I guess it comes back to what is already mapped out and what can we change. Some might say that we control our destiny, others might think a higher power does. I don’t know for sure.”
As I said that I thought about my father. What if we had stayed home that day? What if we had got stuck in a traffic jam? Was it possible that his death could have been avoided?
“All I know is that there is some weird shit going on over at my neighbor’s house and I intend to find out. It may be the closest thing I have to finding out what happened to my father.”
Chapter 10
I made the phone call to the cops later that afternoon. Kelly, despite her earlier reluctance to believe me, offered to give me a ride down to the local mall where a phone booth was. In the entire conversation I never used the words time travel. That would have only made them think it was a prank call. I needed to have them take it seriously. I focused on the next president and knowing a guy who had an unhealthy interest in her.
I fumbled with the phone as I relayed what I knew about Harry Castle. I didn’t feel guilty, only nervous. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I kept thinking he would find out, or perhaps the cops would put two and two together and haul my ass in.
I never gave them details about the photos I took, that would have been a one-way trip to jail. Instead, I told them I was a close family friend and I was concerned about his behavior and his interest in Dempsey’s arrival.
Best-case scenario they pulled him in or informed the Secret Service to keep an eye on him. Either way, it would make any plan difficult to execute — if he even had one.
I hung up. Kelly was standing nearby looking in one of the clothing shops.
“All good?”
“Yeah, I think—”
“Kelly?” A voice came from behind us
.
Oh god. Both of us turned to see Kyle, his buddies and several of Kelly’s friends coming towards us.
“What are you doing here?” Jo, one of her friends, asked.
They looked at me and well, it was all downhill from there. Kyle chuckled a little and one of her friends muttered something about me. I never caught exactly what they said but I figured it wasn’t a compliment.
“I was just giving Alex a ride home.”
“You hanging out together now?” Kyle asked wrapping his arm around her in some weird attempt to make me feel like a third wheel. It was working.
“Hey, Kelly, I can catch a cab, no worries.”
“No, I said I was going to take you.”
I screwed up my face. “Nah, it’s alright.”
“Yeah Kelly. Like he said, it’s alright.”
Kelly untangled herself from her boyfriend’s arm. “No, I’m going to give him a ride.”
“Uh, Kelly, a moment,” Jo gestured with her head to her. She walked a short distance away. I kind of figured what she was going to say. Meanwhile Kyle and his buddies stood by looking amused.
“You wouldn’t by any chance be trying to hit on my girl, would you, Alex?” Kyle asked placing his hand on my shoulder in some weak attempt to intimidate me. Not much had changed since we’d left high school. He’d always been a bit of an asshole back then, not so much to me but in general. He was the kind of guy who no one was ever really sure about. He didn’t get involved in fights, he generally wasn’t someone who wasted his time on bullying people. But, if someone got on his wrong side, they knew about it.
“Kyle.”
I was about to reply when Kelly came over looking even more annoyed than earlier.
“Come on, let’s go.”
She stormed past me and I looked at the others and thumbed over my shoulder. “Right. I guess, we’ll be seeing you.”
“Alex,” Kelly hollered louder.
“Coming.”
I shot Kyle a half-smile and caught up with her. Outside in the parking lot as we returned to her car, she didn’t say much.
“Look, if you wanted to stay with your friends, that’s fine by me.”
“I don’t,” she snapped back.
I hesitated before replying, “Alright. I’m just saying, it’s fine.”
The journey back to her house was quiet. I could have cut the tension in the car with a knife. I didn’t know if it was about me, or about them. I just knew it felt uncomfortable. By the time we pulled into her driveway, there were two police cruisers over at my neighbor’s home. I glanced over and saw him outside talking to the cops. Kelly killed the ignition and hopped out. I thanked her for the ride and began walking across the road to my house. Harry’s eyes flitted over and locked on to me. Every step towards my house felt as if I was trudging through sinking sand. He knew. He had to know. I was the only one that had seen him through the window. He muttered something to the cops and both of them turned. Officer Parker was one of them.
“Alex, hold up.”
Shit, I thought before swallowing hard. I stopped at the edge of my driveway and glanced at the house. My mother’s car was not there which meant she was probably going to be out until later that evening.
“Where have you been?”
“Out. Why?”
“What’s your buddy’s name?”
“Eric?”
“He wouldn’t have made a prank call, would he, about your neighbor?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
I glanced back at Kelly’s house. I could see her in the window looking out.
“He said he was meeting up with a friend for some drinks.”
“And where have you come from?”
I felt as if the temperature had just soared into the hundreds. I felt a bead of sweat drip down my back.
“At the mall.”
“With Kelly?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
I knew where he was going with this line of questioning. It’s what they taught them. Keep peeling away at a person. Ask them detailed questions and eventually they would slip up. I looked over at Harry who was still chatting away with the other cop.
Officer Parker clicked his fingers in front of me.
“We were just hanging out.”
“Did you make a phone about your neighbor?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“So Kelly will be able to corroborate that?”
I gave a nod. “Have I done something, officer?”
“No, have you?” he replied.
“Can I go now?”
He nodded and I walked up to my house. I glanced back as I stepped inside and then shut the door. I breathed a sigh of relief but at the same time I knew that I wasn’t out of hot water yet. My neighbor didn’t have friends or family visit him. I knew that. But there was no other way to explain to the police on the phone how I would have known about his collection. I went over to the window and peered out through the white drapes. He was still talking with the officers. Had they been inside his home yet? I stood there waiting until one of them gestured to his front door. Harry motioned for them to go inside. This was it. That guy was busted for sure. I slapped my hands together. Nailed, buddy! I paced back and forth unsure of what to do. Did I linger at the curtain or go to my room? I decided to go up and see if I could get a better look. If he was going to be thrown on the floor, I wasn’t going to miss that. I double-timed it up the stairs taking two at a time. I pulled the curtains slightly closed and went to the edge. The light came on, and then the curtains were opened. Harry looked up and smiled. I could see them moving back and forth in the room. A few seconds passed then the light was shut off.
I rushed downstairs and went to the window. A minute or two and the officers came out with big smiles on their faces as if they had just been told a joke. I scowled wondering what on earth they were waiting for. Arrest him. Take him down to the station. Question him. But they didn’t do any of that. Instead they gave a short wave and returned to their cruisers. Harry stood there in his driveway watching them as they reversed out and disappeared down the road. As my eyes came back to where he was, he was now looking my way.
I backed up a few steps. He couldn’t have seen me. The light was off in my room and I was hidden by thick white drapes. Still, I felt a shot of fear rush through me. The same kind I had the day I saw him through the window.
They couldn’t have found anything. Perhaps he had seen Eric and me at the stadium. Maybe he returned home and hid everything. I paced back and forth and then nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone rang.
It was my mother.
“Hon, can you turn the dial on the crockpot down to warm? I put some beef in there earlier. It should be ready in about an hour.”
“Yeah,” I croaked.
“You okay?”
“I’m good. When are you coming home?”
“I should be back in an hour. You want to watch a movie?”
“Sure.”
I hung up and glanced at the clock, it was around five. I went into the kitchen and adjusted the dial, then fished through the fridge for a beer. I cracked it open and practically downed the entire thing in one go. My nerves were shot. I texted Eric to let him know I’d made the phone call and that he might get a visit from the police. He immediately sent back panic-stricken text messages, a flurry of six to be exact.
That evening I watched the news report on the building excitement about the next president’s visit. My mother passed out after having a glass of wine and was none the wiser about what I had been up to that day. She would have her blown her top. I sighed. Everything was going wrong. It wasn’t just my neighbor. I couldn’t help feel like I had made the wrong choice to drop out of university. I could have worked through it. My conversation with Kelly replayed in my mind. What if it was possible to go back in time? Would I change anything?
The very id
ea of being able to recreate my future was mind blowing.
It raised a question. Why did he want Dempsey dead? And who did he work for?
I had so many questions and few answers. How was it even possible to travel through time? Could they have figured out a way and if so, how would they have used it? Who would have used it?
Chapter 11
“They did nothing?” Eric asked. With my phone in my hand I paced back and forth in my room looking out the window. It was Sunday morning and I hadn’t seen any movement over at Mr. Castle’s home.
“I’m telling you, they looked as if they were swapping jokes with the guy. Hell, I thought he was going to invite them over for a BBQ.”
Eric sniffed. “He had to have got rid of it all.”
“Listen, meet me over at the parking lot around twelve-thirty.”
“No can do. My parents have this big family get-together.”
I scoffed. “Well, talk your way out of it.”
“I can’t. I’ve already missed the last two, Alex.”
Eric’s family would meet together once a month. It was something his mother did. She always wanted them to get together. It drove Eric mad. He’d managed to wrangle his way out of most of them with all manner of excuses but it had obviously caught up with him.
“Eric, I need you with me today.”
“I’m sorry, man. I can’t.”
“Shit.”
There was a pause.
“Maybe we got it wrong, Alex.”
“What do you mean?”
He went quiet on the end of the phone.
“I know you think you saw something but perhaps he is just a weird collector. I have an uncle of mine who collects mannequin parts and then reassembles them. To anyone visiting his home you would think he was some creepy dude but he’s surprisingly a cool guy. Admittedly, a little strange but cool nonetheless.”
