A Chronetic Perspective (The Chronography Records Book 2) Page 19

  “It was an alias. It was rented to a man who gave the name Justin Case.”

  “Really? Justin Case? And they believed that?”

  He nodded. “The clerk didn’t pay much attention to the forms, just scanned his id. These guys depend on the irisscans to do the real work of verification.”

  “What did the irisscan show?”

  “Apparently this particular agency had engaged in recent cost-cutting measures. The agent didn’t know that. He thought the irisscans were all being uploaded and checked, but when we talked to the manager, we found out he’d been given a mandate to cut costs. The fees for the upload and background check were pretty high. So he stopped the service, but kept the device and the procedure. Said any criminal would assume the scans were uploaded immediately, so he’d go somewhere that didn’t do irisscans.”

  “As if any rental place wouldn’t have one.”

  “Exactly. The scanners are ubiquitous, even if some of them aren’t actually functioning, as in this case.”

  “So, dead end?”

  “Not exactly. The scans were recorded, even though they weren’t uploaded. They’re held on a thirty-day cycle, and then the new recordings replace the old ones. We pulled the scans that were done in the half hour before the time of the rental and ran our own check. There was only one that didn’t match the names on the rental forms.”

  “Who was it?”

  “I think you already know.”

  Dani was puzzled. “How could I know?”

  “I think your mother already told you. The name of the man who rented the helicar was Eric Adams. Your father.”

  Her head spun. She put her hand back automatically to brace herself against the bed. A car her dad had rented had ended up just a few miles away from her—twice—however briefly. Could he still be in Seattle? So close to her? But then, would that mean he was involved in the kidnapping somehow? Her father was no kidnapper. The man she had adored as a child, the man who had gently brushed out the knots in her hair and applied foamskin to her scrapes, the man who had been so torn up by Wade Morgan’s accident—that man would never intentionally hurt someone else. But then what? A horrible thought occurred to her.

  The detective was watching her carefully, gauging her reactions. That didn’t matter. He was wrong about whatever he thought she knew. She hadn’t known anything about this, except that her father was alive. But now that she knew her father’s rental was involved—

  “Are you saying my father was also kidnapped? Or what? What are you thinking? Has he been killed? Did he get in the way of the kidnapper somehow?”

  Detective Rayes cleared his throat. “We can’t say. We have managed to track the rental car’s route from Lake Tahoe north. AirNet found a record of it near Goose Lake, California, and then later just east of Bend, Oregon. It was spotted again near Yakima, which, as you know, is on the way to North Bend, where the kidnapping occurred. Whether your father was the driver or not, we can’t determine.”

  “I haven’t seen him for almost eight years. How could you think I’d know about this?”

  “What did your mother tell you?”

  She dropped her gaze. Her mother had been so secretive, so careful not to be overheard. Did that matter any more? If her father was already a captive or in danger, shouldn’t the detective have as much information as possible? Finally, she compromised.

  “I’ll tell you everything. But not here.”

  He nodded. “Good. We’d like to see you at the station, or at your lab, if that’s easier. We need someone to scan some things from the box.”

  She started to offer, but he put up a hand to stop her. “No, I don’t think it would be a good idea to involve you in this one. Technically, you and your mother are on our short list of people who might be accessories to the kidnapping, or at least to the ransom demands. We need to keep this squeaky clean.”

  “Are you saying you suspect my father of the kidnapping? He wouldn’t do that. He’s not like that.”

  His eyes narrowed. “And how would you know that, after almost eight years?”

  “I—I just do. I know him.” And yet, she had an uneasy thought. What had her mother said? Something about things being different soon, and confronting the threat—whom she now knew to be Drummond Morgan.

  “I think you’re letting your feelings for your father get in the way of your objectivity. If you heard someone else say that after years of no contact, would you believe it?”

  “Of course!” And then she hedged, trying to be truthful. “Well, depending on the person. If it was coming from someone I trusted, I’d believe it.” But then Dani remembered Kat’s protests about her uncle’s involvement in the blackmailing ring, and her perspective shifted. She had not believed Kat, even though her friend knew her uncle well, spent the day with him at least twice a year. She knew Kat was clinging to the best memories of Uncle Royce, and it kept her from being objective. It kept her from seeing what everyone else could see.

  Now she understood the detective. “You’re right, I’m not a trustworthy character witness. I will always believe the best about my father, but I really don’t know how much he might have changed over the last few years.” Could he have been planning this when he talked with her mom?

  “Now you’re being objective. When are they going to let you out of here?”

  “Maybe tomorrow. I’ll tell you everything when I get out.”

  He frowned. “I suppose we can wait that long.”

  “What did the message say, exactly? Was it a ransom demand?”

  “It was a timetable. The kidnapper knows Althea is in town, and has access to money. He had already given us an amount, and let me tell you, it’s not anything to sneeze at. Althea has agreed to release that sum, especially after what happened to the two of you at the shopping mall.”

  “So let me get this straight. Do you still think the kidnapper caused the anti-grav malfunction somehow?”

  “That’s our working theory.”

  “And you think the kidnapper may be my father?”

  “There’s a possibility.”

  Dani’s stomach churned. “Do you really think my own father caused my injuries?”

  “Well, it may not have been intended for you to be in the tubes at the same time as Althea.”

  Another thought occurred to her. “How did he do that? Was he there at The Float?” She thought back, willing herself to see the people around the tubes, but it was useless. She couldn’t remember anything except the floors flashing past.

  “We haven’t determined that yet. It seems to have been a remotely triggered device, but it had to be timed perfectly. We’re working on that.”

  “If he was there—if it was my father, and he was there—he’d have known I was in the tubes too.” She couldn’t bring herself to believe that he’d cause the accident. He wouldn’t have done that, if he saw her, if he recognized her.

  “He may have had an agent working for him who didn’t recognize you.”

  Another idea. “Did some kind of device trigger the failure?” If she could get it to the lab, maybe they could scan the device and find out who set it off.

  “No doubt,” the detective replied. “But it wasn’t left behind anywhere that we’ve been able to find. Whoever used it must have taken it away with him.”

  “Frustrating.”

  “Yep. Par for the course, in police work.”

  Dani shifted in bed to take the pressure off her left arm. “But Althea’s willing to pay the ransom now?”

  “Yes, she’s taking this whole thing a lot more seriously. I don’t think she was, before. Not really.”

  “No, I kind of got that impression too. It was an inconvenience for her. But I don’t believe she cares as little about her father as she pretends to. Maybe she’s so used to him taking care of himself she didn’t really believe he needed her.”

  “You could be right.” He sniffed. “In any case, she’s much more willing now.”

  “Where is the ranso
m supposed to be delivered?”

  “The drop-off point is on Blake Island, out in Puget Sound, just north of Vashon.”

  “Does he still expect her to bring it herself? You’re not going to let her go alone, are you?”

  “No, fortunately, having her go alone wasn’t part of his demand. She’ll have plenty of company. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “When?”

  “She expects to have the funds available to her by Tuesday morning, and the kidnapper’s timetable has specified a delivery at noon on that day.”

  The kidnapper who could be her own father. Dani still struggled with that idea. She scratched an itchy spot at the edge of her right leg sheath as an idea took shape in her mind. By Tuesday, she would be out of here. And once she was out, more than anything else, she wanted to go along on the trip to Blake Island. She had to see him, this man who used to be her father. She had to look him in the eyes and try to understand.

  She thought back to that day in 2208 when he had left without saying goodbye. She still felt the ache from watching him go. Every day for months, she dreamed of seeing him again, having him come back to her and hug her and tell her it was all a mistake. She had lived with that unspoken wish for so long. But now horror had painted her dreams dark. If he came to her now, would she welcome him? Absolutely. But who had he become? Should she fear him instead?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Liability

  SEEBAK HOME, Vashon Island, WA. 1650, Sunday, September 17, 1815.

  Lexil came in through the kitchen door and stood for a minute on the mat to let it scrape the dirt off his shoes. “Doc, have you seen my blue shirt? This one’s done for.” He pressed to open the center seam and loosen the sleeves on a high-collar yellow shirt.

  “Ah—you wrestled the fallen tree limbs and the limbs won? Your blue shirt should be in the clothes machine. I washed it for you.”

  “Yeah, that was quite a wind we had last night, I guess. It didn’t wake me up, but you can sure see what it left behind.”

  He found the shirt in a folded pile and eased it out from beneath two of Doc’s shirts. “Found it. Thanks.”

  Someone should invent a clothes machine that sorts the clothes into stacks by owner. His mind went to work on the problem. Maybe some kind of coded tag woven into the seams. And then a sensor in the folding mechanism, with a sliding shelf that would move so the right stack was under the folding arm. Wouldn’t be hard. Add a tube delivery system to get it to the right rooms. ‘Course, then I would have had to go to my room to get this. It wasn’t the kind of invention he’d ever actually build, but it was fun to think about.

  Doc was stirring something savory. Lexil sniffed appreciatively. “Smells good. Is Marielle still coming over tonight?”

  “Yes, far as I know.”

  “Wonder what she wanted to talk about.”

  “Not sure. She didn’t say.”

  Lexil poured a glass of water and took a sip. “Maybe she has news about Dani. I didn’t have a chance to go see her today. I hope she’s healing okay.” After a minute, he added, “And that she had enough company.”

  “Dani’s fine. She’s used to living by herself.”

  “Well, I know. But she hasn’t been alone much. I mean, we saw each other every weekend, before…” Lexil’s voice trailed off. Truth was, he missed her. And he wasn’t as concerned with her loneliness as with his own.

  He looked up to see Doc still stirring, but his eyes were on him, watching, waiting.

  “Was I wrong to think we had something?”

  “That’s a good question.” Doc tilted his head thoughtfully. “Examine the evidence. Figure it out.”

  Lexil didn’t want to figure it out. He wanted someone to tell him that he had a chance with her, that he hadn’t blown it completely. But he slowed his racing thoughts and weighed what he knew.

  “She chose to spend time with me. She had fun.”

  “So, you were co-workers who enjoyed each other’s company?”

  Was that all it was? He thought back to the times when he’d brushed her hand when they were working side-by-side. Was he the only one who could feel the sparks? No, she had looked up every time and smiled, and held his eyes to make sure he knew it wasn’t casual. He’d managed to drop a few suggestive hints, too, and she either bantered back or blushed. Not once had she ever rejected his attention. Not until that kiss. But she had welcomed that, too, at first! He was sure of it. Until she pushed him away.

  “It was more.”

  “Friends?”

  He shook his head, “Not just friends. You saw her when we came back from our walk in the woods. Did it seem like a friendship to you? Or something more?”

  Doc put down the spoon he was stirring with, and turned to Lexil, looking him full in the face. “Consider carefully. Did she feel as if she had to reciprocate because you were her boss?”

  “What? No!”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Absolutely. She didn’t even think of me as a boss. I don’t run that kind of shop. We’re all equal; I just fill out the forms and file the reports.”

  “Well then…why do you think she turned away so abruptly when you kissed her?”

  He winced. “She told you about that?”

  “She did.”

  “I honestly have no idea.” He felt funny talking about it with Doc. He was twenty-five years old. He should be able to solve this things on his own. But nobody had ever meant as much to him as Dani did. As sure as he was about his own feelings, he was totally baffled about hers. If Doc had some insights, he wanted to hear them.

  “What have you been doing since?”

  “Giving her space. Respecting her decisions.”

  “Have you spent any time with her?”

  “We went out to dinner. Well, Althea set it up. She was my date, and Dani went with Silas.”

  “So Dani thinks you’ve moved on.”

  “I guess so. Doesn’t seem to bother her at all.”

  Doc raised one eyebrow. “Are you trying to make her jealous?”

  Was he? He frowned. He hadn’t meant to. But— “Maybe a little.”

  “So now you’re leading on one young lady and letting another believe your interest was fleeting, at best.”

  Ouch. “I wouldn’t put it that way. It’s more like Althea’s leading me.”

  “And you go along for the ride. Willingly?”

  “Yeah. Well, she’s company.”

  “And very attractive.”

  She was beautiful. But she didn’t make his heart race the way Dani did. “Irrelevant.”

  “Truly?”

  Lexil nodded.

  “Well, then. Have you ever actually asked Dani how she feels?”

  “Not in so many words.”

  “Consider that.” Doc turned back to stir the pot. Conversation over.

  Good advice, though. Lexil felt a little better, having a plan of sorts.

  The irisscan box announced Marielle at the door, and Lexil went to answer it. His thoughts were still on Dani, but he put them aside to give their visitor a broad smile of welcome. “Come in. Nice to see you.”

  She gave him a quick hug. “Thank you for having me.”

  They walked back to the kitchen together. She didn’t waste any time getting to the point. “I need to talk to the two of you. Especially to you, Lexil.”

  Doc put down his spoon and set the controls on the stove. “I’ll just let this simmer. Would you like to sit down?”

  “Yes, I think I’d better, and you should too.” She nodded at Lexil, and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to begin.”

  Clearly, this wasn’t about Dani. “What’s going on?” Lexil asked. “You look upset. Is something wrong?”

  She nodded. “It’s been wrong for a long time. I just haven’t been brave enough to tell you.”

  Doc leaned forward. “Marielle, are you sure?”

  She wove her fingers together in front of her, stilling a slight tremble. “I have to start wi
th a story, if that’s okay?”

  Lexil nodded. Doc sat back and waited.

  “Years ago, when you were just a boy, I fell into some unhealthy habits. In my defense, I was young—younger than you are now—and not nearly as wise. Away from home, trying to find a place where I fit in, I wasn’t very sure of myself. I found that drinking helped me relax. I made people laugh. They liked me better when I was drunk than when I was sober, or at least that’s what I thought. Later, your mom and Doc welcomed me into their lab, but I’d go home at night and reach for my bottle.”

  Where was she going with this? Lexil had no clue. Doc must know something. His eyes were fastened on Marielle.

  “Two men helped me realize what I was doing to myself—Doc took me for a long walk and talked to me about what he was seeing. And Dr. Hunter—Royce—got me some medications and helped me get clean.”

  “That’s good, then, right? Why are you bringing it up now?”

  “Because that’s not where it ended. One night, a few years later, I slipped up. There was one bottle I’d kept when I poured the others out. One bottle, because I was a coward and I wanted to hedge my bets, to be able to drink if I couldn’t stand it any more.” She stopped and looked straight at Lexil. “Getting sober is not an easy task, even with medication. Be grateful you don’t face that.”

  “I am. What happened when you slipped up?”

  “I don’t even remember getting that bottle out. The first thing I remember is coming to consciousness at the wheel of my helicar. I’d been in an accident, and I didn’t even realize it until Royce shook me awake. He took me home that night. The next morning, I took that bottle out, and it was half gone. I was so ashamed. But that wasn’t the worst of it.”

  Lexil felt a cold chill creep down his back. “What happened?” he asked, although he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

  “The people I hit that night weren’t so lucky.” She closed her eyes, as if she couldn’t bear to say the next words.

  “Who were they?” His voice was cold steel. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her.

  “Your dad and mom.” She looked up at him, with agony in her eyes. “I killed your dad and mom. It was me.”