Part 35 (1/2)
Audrey kept quiet for a moment before she mentioned Doctor Reynolds' interest in him. ”Maybe she suspects the same thing but didn't want to come out and say it. What if”
”Audrey.”
”What if you did have some sort of power? Would it be so bad if all of this was true?”
They were both quiet for some time before Audrey asked, ”Do you know where the fire came from?”
He told her he didn't.
She nodded and then posed a theory, ”What if the fire came from you?”
He only turned and looked at her as if she was nuts. ”You think I created it?”
”Sure.”
”That's insane.”
”Jason,” she glared at him, ”I've told you about all of the sightings and my mum's gone on about this for months now. Maybe this isn't something crazy anymore. What if it's all true?”
”That there are super heroes in this world?”
”Why not?”
Jason rubbed his eyes and let out a breath. ”This...this doesn't make sense. It doesn't.i.t isn't possible Audrey. I can't cause spontaneous combustion and I can't be fireproof. There's no such thing.”
She frowned and asked how it happened then. ”How else can you explain it?”
Jason said he wasn't sure. He hunched forward in thought and processed her theory while she ma.s.saged his back with her hand. Audrey's wet hair hung nearly motionless in grouped tendrils until she rested her head on his shoulder. She didn't want to press the matter any further, out of fear that it might spark another heated argument. Jason trembled slightly under her touch.
He told her he couldn't tell whether she was warm or cold anymore. He let out a shaky sigh and asked her what was wrong with him. ”What the h.e.l.l's happening to me?”
3:15 PM.
Baltimore, Maryland The four of them sat in Detective Sage's old office and discussed the newest fatality. Doctor Wayland Grayson, Sage's doctor while he was hospitalized, was crushed to death by the collapse of the room Ryan stayed in. It was under reconstruction, as the outside wall of the room was destroyed on the night of Ryan's disappearance, and though none of the staff or patients at the hospital were allowed to enter the room, Doctor Grayson did and the room collapsed on him.
They weren't permitted to take notes for the investigation as there wasn't supposed to be any investigation, yet the four agreed to at the very least record the ident.i.ty and brief information about each new victim as they turned up. Since REFOIA seemed to find a way to get anything on a computer onto its database, the group couldn't type their note up without a manual typewriter, which they were still in the process of acquiring. Mia had the best handwriting out of the group and agreed to chronicle what little they could.
”So how old was he?” Bryce asked.
”Forty.”
Mia wrote it down. ”Do we know what his ability might have been?”
Murdock shook his head. ”Felton and I talked to some of his coworkers, but none of them mentioned anything unusual about him.”
”What about his family?”
Felton told them he was divorced and lived alone.
”Do we know what his blood type was?” asked Bryce.
Felton flipped open a small notebook he used as the case file for the death of the doctor and told him it was O negative.
”Is there anything else we can even add to this?” Mia asked.
”Not really,” Sergeant Murdock sighed.
”Do we have any guesses who the next target is?” Bryce asked.
”Not at all,” Felton told him. ”Unfortunately for us he was a doctor, which means he could have met over a dozen new patients in the gap between Sage's death and his own, and that only covers the people he met through his work.”
”So we don't really have a chance of finding this person before they're killed?” Mia asked.
”Not really.”
”Then what exactly are we doing?” She looked at them and muttered, ”What's the use if we can't save them?”
Bryce frowned and reminded her, ”We can't really do anything without the okay from the chief.”
”And what happens if we never get that green light? Won't that make all of this completely meaningless?”
”What could we do to apprehend him anyway?” Murdock asked her. ”He's invisible, strong enough to move cars with little effort, and who knows what other tricks he has up his sleeve.”
Mia didn't answer.
Bryce steered the conversation toward a more relevant subject and asked Detective Felton, ”What are you telling everyone about Doctor Grayson's death?”
Felton told him it was an unfortunate accident. ”Sergeant Murdock and I will label the deaths as we can as they arrive.”
”So more excuses then,” Mia muttered.
”Unfortunately yes,” Murdock said.
Mia let out a breath and asked them all if they honestly believed it would ever change. ”Do you think we're ever going to catch this guy?”
Murdock and Felton didn't answer her. Bryce, being the only optimistic member of the group, told them they would. ”The good guys always win, don't they?”
4:15 PM.
Bellevue, Was.h.i.+ngton Mizuno never said anything about the meeting. He told Nick of a car parked outside of a cul-de-sac three blocks from Inglemoor High School where he wanted Nick to meet him a half an hour after school, but never said where they would go from there. The car ride to Bellevue was quiet too, as Mizuno didn't bother making small talk, and Nick tried to curb any desire to break that silence. Nick was actually fine with silence, but among others he only felt out of place. He wondered whether Mizuno felt that same awkward feeling or not, and if he didn't, how he managed to ignore it so very well.
”How're your cla.s.ses?”
”What?”
”Your cla.s.ses,” Mizuno repeated. ”How are they?”
Nick shrugged, ”Fine. I'm already behind on the work though.”