Chapter 11

15

FOUR MONTHS LATER...

Once again, Julia was on her way to Ogdensburg.

In the intervening months, Julia's attitude toward all that she'd experienced during her short time with the professor and Sarah teetered equally between doubt and determination - mood swings that were complicated by her progressing pregnancy. However, as she ticked off each item on the checklist Sarah had given her, her doubts fell away, until all that was left was her resolve to finish the quest she'd started following her brother's death.

That had not always been the case. In fact, when she'd first opened the envelope Sarah had pressed into her hand at their last meeting, Julia's first instinct had been to laugh, one of those "you can't be serious" laughs that comes when you read something that seems too outrageous to be possible. In this case, that laugh had been caused by requirement number one in the one page list of guidelines:

Before any further discussion takes place, the participant must have a cashier's check in the amount of $25 thousand dollars drawn upon a reputable banking institution, and made payable to Professor Leland Charles.

Just reading that sentence proved too much for Julia's overtaxed emotions. Before she could register her action, Julia had balled up the piece of paper and thrown it across the room. She stood for a moment, watching the wadded paper come to rest near the door... then she slowly sank to the floor, her back propped up against the end of the bed, her head lying across her arms atop the mattress. As she lay limp and unmoving, she realized that she felt absolutely nothing; even the momentary anger that had flared at the outrageous sum of money demanded by the professor had deserted her. It was as if every emotion she'd been able to feel had been used up and was now unavailable to her. Moreover, she found herself unable to think coherently about the events of the day. Instead, she stared at the digital clock on the bedside table, not really thinking, barely registering its progression from one minute to the next.

By the time it registered a fourth minute passing, Julia was asleep.

When she awoke, the room was dark. She tried to move her head, and was rewarded with a sharp pain of a crick in her neck. Forewarned, she moved slowly, testing and stretching her muscles slowly as she pushed herself into a sitting position on the floor. As her blurred vision cleared, she noticed the red numbers of the digital clock - 8:05 PM. She tried to remember what the clock had read when she fell asleep, but the memory escaped her. It was a moot point anyway; she had been exhausted, physically and emotionally, and so she had slept away the afternoon and into the evening. While her body ached from the unnatural position she'd slept in, her mind was again able to comprehend, analyze, and take action.

Case in point: her stomach was rumbling. It had been at least 8 hours since she'd eaten anything, she reasoned, and now that she was rested, her body needed fuel. Slowly, she picked herself up from the floor and made her way to the small bathroom. She closed her eyelids tightly as she flipped on the light, and then counted to ten before reopening them. Even so, the transition from dark to light stung her eyes. Squinting, she moved over to the sink, turning on the cold water and letting it pool in her cupped hands. Bending until her face was centered over the drain, she brought her hands upward until her palms made contact with her face; excess water poured over her fingers and across her wrists, draining into the yellowed porcelain below. The cold water felt good on her flushed skin, and she rubbed her hands across her face for a moment, savoring the way it invigorated her. It took her only a moment to pat her face dry with a hand towel, and then check her reflection in the mirror. Satisfied that she didn't look too horrid, she walked back to the bed to pick up her purse. She was hungry, and the motel restaurant was open until 9. That was as far ahead as she'd allow herself to think for the moment.