Chapter 34

Time: Saturday, January 1, 2011 4:10 AM Eastern Standard Time

I drifted in and out of sleep, having an awful night. I watched the police search the house in Sterling. A lot of the guests were now bone tired, and several were borderline drunk from their earlier partying. They all wanted to go home, but the police were retaining them for depositions. Everyone was still in the "very confused" stage.

I forced myself to switch my thinking, from what I had done to what I should do now. Tell Melanie? Yes, a must. But when? I decided to wait until we got back to Cambridge tomorrow.

Anything else? My mind drew a blank with the parents, but Jason... I scanned our condo, picking through the miniscule skin flakes in the rooms. I found Jason's DNA, and then did a world-wide scan with the pattern. Interesting. I found numerous hot spots in Illinois, including Melanie's parents' house. I scanned closer. The strongest source was the bed in the master bedroom. Oh shit. I left Illinois in disgust, and concentrated in Cambridge.

I found his car a few seconds later, on a side street about a kilometer northeast of my home, Illinois plates, car registration in Jason's name. I scanned around the dark street, totally deserted, perfect. A second later the car ceased to exist. Then I zapped his DNA pattern over the whole of Massachusetts. Any bloodhound would now swear Jason had never been in the State. I lay back and closed my eyes, and collapsed into sleep a short while later.

I was "out of it" the next couple of days. My dad and step-mom asked me Saturday morning if I were coming down with the flu. Melanie knew better but also was concerned. In the early afternoon we got a call from Melanie's aunt. She told us the police were still at her brother's house; investigating what they were calling a baffling "Houdini" mystery. Then the police got on the phone. They said it was all routine; but they asked for witnesses for where we all were Friday night. We gave them a large list of names of the neighbors that had seen us then. With the distances involved, we all had an airtight alibi with the police.

But I did not have an airtight alibi with Melanie. She gave me a number of thoughtful looks Saturday evening. When she got me alone in bed, she asked what was going on. I asked if we could wait until we got back to Cambridge. Melanie was clearly unhappy with my request but agreed.

We had a very quiet ride back to Cambridge on Sunday. Melanie drove most of the way. I quietly kept track of the police investigation. I decided the detective in Sterling was a really sharp guy, but I thought I was safe. I wasn't on his radar scope, not directly anyway, and I didn't think I ever would be. I did make the effort to lock his DNA pattern, just so I could keep an eye on him in the future.

When we got back home, Melanie closed and locked the door and went straight to the couch and sat down. "Well?" she said.

I sat on the other end of the couch and began to tell her everything, starting with my sensing the break-in here at our home. Melanie turned and stared at the end-table when I told her about the radio, and otherwise kept her gaze on me. Her face went stiff and wooden when I described the end of Jason, and became a mask of pain when I finished describing my encounter with her parents.

She could barely talk, her voice a whisper. "You... murdered three people?"

"Yes." It was the most difficult word I ever had to say. I felt my soul breaking as I spoke it. I looked at Melanie, pleading with my eyes for understanding and forgiveness. But all I was getting back was a look of shock mixed with denial and bewilderment. Melanie looked at if she were staring at a stranger, as if she were struggling and failing to recognize me as her husband.

"Bring them back!"

"I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?! You can both destroy and create, can't you?!"

"I can't bring a person back to life Melanie. I can't. I can create simple patterns and even replicate cells, but the detail of an entire human body?! I couldn't replicate that even if I had the body for a template! The fantastic detail of a person's memory, their personality, I'm nowhere close to duplicating that. I don't think I ever will be."

Melanie was in tears. "So my parents are truly dead?"

"Oh Melanie, I'm so sorry!"

"Sorry?! Is that all you have to say?! Eric! Did you think you had no other option?" she whispered. She was trembling and crying and absolutely miserable.

"Oh, I've thought of this so many times! I had tons of options. I could have created a statin in Jason's blood, wipe out his short term memory, then just knocked him out and transported him back to his car. He would have waked up with no suitcases, no house keys, and no idea of what happened."

"But you didn't do that, did you Eric?"

"No. I made a mistake."

"A mistake?! You murder three people, you murder both my parents and say, oh, I made a mistake?!"

"Melanie, please..."

"Please what?! Please shut up or I'll make you a mistake too?!"

"Hey!"

"My God, my God! I'm married to a monster! You have no regrets, do you?"

"Hey! That's not true! I have lots of regrets!"

"So are you going to turn yourself in?"

I sighed and considered her question. "No, I'm not."

"Would you kill me if I try to?"

"Huh? Oh Melanie, please don't talk like that."

"Would you?!"

"No, of course not." I stared at the floor in misery. A number of moments passed before I could bear to look back at Melanie. She was shivering, backing away from me on the couch. I gasped in agony as I realized she was afraid of me. "Melanie..."

She shook her head no, tears flowing from her eyes. It wasn't just fear. I could also see her beginning to grieve for her parents. After all the years of manipulation, she still had a dream of having a loving relationship with them one day, and now...

"Do you want me to go?"

Melanie nodded her head.

"Okay. Just call me when you want me back." Melanie shook her head no, her face strained by her fear and misery. I felt so ashamed, I couldn't bear to have her look at me any longer, and I think I was scaring her greatly. An all-powerful monster was next to her, and she was helpless against it.

"Good bye," I whispered, and left for the moon.

And the days passed.

I went back to work on Monday. It was nice to have the routine of my job to keep my mind occupied. I waited for a phone call from Melanie. A week passed and it never came. I wondered a lot if she would turn me in, go to the police with her fantastic story. Did she have any proof? Well, her engagement and wedding rings maybe. I scanned her once lightly, and realized with dismay that she had taken them off.