Chapter 41: A Time to Trust

This time Bob was in his office.

"Jimmy. Obviously I've been expecting you. Nice outfit."

I looked down to discover that I still had on my Robin Hood suit. I blushed and laughed, then switched to something more appropriate, jeans and a tee shirt. "Sorry about that. I took Allison and Shannon to see an old friend of ours."

"Whoa, back up. You took Allison and Shannon? How did that work? And when did you find out you could do this?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, uh, Friday night, Allison and I were talking about the situation with Angela and what may happen and I was worried about how to explain it to Shannon if it did. Allison said that Shannon would be okay with it. Then she said that it had really been bothering her that we had been deceiving Shannon, and considering some of the stuff that was going on, especially things like the situation with Angela, that she thought we should tell her everything. As soon as she said it I knew she was right. I know it sounds strange coming from a fifteen year old, Bob, but I love Shannon, and Allison. They love me, and each other. I can't picture a life without either of them. We all seem to feel the same about this. We all truly believe that we will always be together. It just didn't seem right lying to her."

"Well, on the one hand, Jimmy, there isn't much about you that couldn't be labeled strange. From the moment we met you stood out as different. Every time something new comes up I am just as amazed as you are by it, and new things seem to come up quite a lot. Like this newest development, which you haven't explained yet. On the other hand, you are all young and in love, and it's pretty normal to feel like it will never end. Who knows, maybe in your case it won't. The odds are against it, but then your relationships are certainly off the chart when it comes to figuring the odds. So I won't even suggest that it won't. So you were telling me about Friday."

"Yeah, anyway, we decided to talk to Shannon, just tell her the basics, starting from the first time I 'bridged' into her dream. Then see if we could all get together in a dream. I had been able to 'bring' Allison, Amy, and Rebecca to different locations. You remember that beach we popped into that first night when I came to see you?"

"Vaguely."

"Well it's grown. It's now an island lagoon with a white sandy beach, crystal blue water, and a very nice cabana out over the water. Oh yeah, I took Angela there from her dream. I thought we might want to be somewhere a little more private than the park we met in. She hasn't seen the island, just the inside of the cabana. In fact, that was the night I added it."

Bob seemed to actually be blushing at this, "Yes, well. Again, we're getting into things that are none of my business. Go on."

"Anyway, Allison wondered if I could bring Shannon to the glade. I didn't see why not but wasn't sure because I had only taken people places in my dreams. This was bringing an outsider into a 'third party' dream, if you get my meaning."

"Yes, I follow you. So I'm guessing it worked?"

"Yes, and we actually learned a lot that night. Once we got there, Allison tried to change Shannon's clothes, but it didn't work. Even though it was her dream, she couldn't affect Shannon. I tried and it worked fine. Shannon tried to do it herself and that didn't work either. Then I moved us all to the beach and we tried again. This time Shannon could change her clothes but Allison still couldn't affect her. Of course, I could affect both of them. We went out to the cabana so we could be more comfortable while we told Shannon the rest of the story.

"We were talking about the case and trying to stop the 'bad guy' from killing again when Shannon suggested that he may have already done so. I asked her what she meant and she pointed out that Amy didn't know the specifics of any of it. That she hadn't been able to tell me anything and hadn't 'shown' me anything until I asked. She suggested that maybe Amy worked sort of like a computer, that maybe she could only give us information if we asked the right questions. I brought Amy into the cabana and we talked to her about it. She said that she didn't know but that if there was more she would try to show me.

"Then I changed into my troll suit and popped us all outside to play in the lagoon for a while. I try to play with Amy any time she shows up. I hate the thought of how much she has missed over the years. Then it was time for her to go and we all called it a night.

"Another weird thing happened tonight. I'm not sure what to think of it. I tried to see you earlier, but you weren't here. I figured out that we all went to bed earlier than usual and that you were probably still up and therefore not available. Anyway, when I went to the glade, Shannon was already there with Allison. They were both asleep but I don't understand how Shannon got to Allison's dream by herself."

"Maybe she didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there are a couple of possibilities. Number one, you wanted them both there even before you went, so you may have brought her without realizing it. The other possibility is that it wasn't Allison's dream."

"But it was her glade."

"Which you have certainly been to many times, you may have recreated it in your own dream or even taken it away from Allison. Either way, you may have all been in 'your' dream, not Allison's. I'm guessing you didn't check your rings?"

"No, damn it, I forgot again. Not actually forgot, but it never occurred to me that I should. Why am I the only one who never thinks of that?"

"Well, considering last nights dream and the importance of it, I would think you would be paying more attention. By the way, there is another possibility for why you didn't notice your ring sooner in that one."

"What's that?" I asked, intrigued.

"Jimmy, that dream was so far removed from one of your normal dreams that it doesn't even bear thinking about. Suffice it to say that a precognitive dream like that is something I doubt even you could control. It's kind of like the 'memory' dreams. Only in this case it's a memory of something that hasn't happened yet. Wild idea, I know, but do you understand what I'm saying? And calling it precognitive may be a stretch here, it may be something totally different."

"Well, I'm not sure what else it could have been, but that makes a lot of sense. It's like the fire when I was a kid. It wasn't a normal dream. It felt like reality right up to the point that it became clear that it wasn't. This was the same thing. I couldn't tell it was a dream until it was necessary that I know that it was. Weird."

"Like I said earlier, weird seems to follow you around. I'm starting to get used to it. As to what else it may be, I suspect somehow you picked up your parents distress even though they were over a hundred miles away. Your subconscious, still connected with theirs, somehow identified the threat and then created a scenario which allowed you to realize the danger and take action. I know it sounds far fetched but that makes it very similar to your dream of the fire, and it's certainly no more far fetched than precognition.

"Meanwhile, on to the purpose of this visit, I'm a little surprised you felt it necessary to see me. I thought you had decided what you were going to do already. You're not having second thoughts are you?"

"Well, I may have been earlier but I'm not any more. I may need your help setting things up for tomorrow. I'm going to talk to Rebecca tonight and explain what's going on. I'm going to see if she will come to the house tomorrow night to meet my parents and help me explain all this. I think it would be good to have you there as well."

"Okay. If nothing else I need to explain to your father about the attorney I called and answer any questions he may have."

"Right, plus other questions that may come up, I don't have any idea what, but you never know. This way, with the exception of Amy, who obviously can't be there, and Shannon, everyone who knows about this will be in one place. If nothing else it should make for an interesting evening."

"Oh yeah, you can say that again. How do you think they will take it?"

"Oh, no question about it, they are going to freak out, especially my mom. Allison was the one who pointed out that Mom is going to want to meet Rebecca. She's probably going to want to kill her for dragging her son into all this. I have to somehow convince her that it was the other way around. She is not going to be happy about me trying to track down a serial killer."

"Well, I think we have to give her that one. She's a mom. What mother would be in favor of it? Rebecca's mom probably doesn't like her doing it. But someone has to do it, and, apparently in this case, that's you, and Rebecca of course. So I'll be there. What's for dinner?"

I laughed hard at that one. "What's the matter? Are you getting tired of your own cooking again?"

"Hey, I'm a good cook. I just like a change now and then."

"Well, they won't be home until after 5:00 and I don't see Mom being ready to just jump in the kitchen and get to work. Most likely we'll order something in. I'll ask Allison about it. Okay, I guess I've stalled long enough." I rose and shook his hand. "Thanks for everything, Bob; I'll see you at school."

"No problem, Jimmy. Just to simplify things, I'll give you a lift home after practice."

I didn't want to walk into Rebecca's bedroom again, so instead I went back to the cabana and then 'brought' her in. She was in a lacy red outfit, sort of a short wrap and matching panties. Very sheer. I tried hard not to look and quickly moved her under the covers. The last move seemed to be enough to stir something and she 'woke up.' I turned away as she sat up in the big bed.

"Uh, sorry. I wasn't ready for your, uh, attire and I, um..."

She smiled and shook her head. "That's okay, Jimmy. It was very gallant of you to move me under the covers. Most boys your age would have taken time to get a good look first. Thank you. Now, if you will hand me a robe I will get up and we can talk. I assume that's what you brought me here for. By the way, your therapist called earlier today. That was your idea, wasn't it?"

"Actually it was his idea. I know it sounds strange, but I needed to get hold of you and didn't know how when I was awake. He said he would handle it. Since it meant calling your boss first he moved to the school to do it. Public place, public phone, plus he felt the school might be a hint for you to believe what he said."

"It was. So why the sudden change? You wanted to keep everything hidden before, now it seems like you want to go public."

"Not public. But something happened this weekend. Something which complicates things and there is just no way to keep a lid on it without at least some explanations. My parents were almost killed Saturday night."

"What? How? What happened? Was it an accident or do you think someone was actually after them?"

"No, it was nothing like that. It was definitely an accident. There was a problem at their hotel, the room filled with carbon monoxide and the detector failed. The problem is I'm the one who reported it to the hotel and had them send someone to check on them."

"That doesn't make sense, how did you know about it?"

I explained about the dream and calling the hotel.

"Holy shit! You dreamed the future?"

"Yes, well, maybe, we're not sure, but it's one explanation."

"I take it this is something new, even for you?"

"Pretty much, the only other time anything even remotely like this has happened was when our house caught fire. That was a dream about reality but it was happening then in real time, not in the future. We're not sure if this was the same thing or actually in the future. Either way, it could just be an isolated event and may never happen again."

"Still, I can see where it would complicate things. I take it your parents didn't buy the explanation that it was Allison's nightmare?"

"No, too many strange things in my past would have pointed out the lie to them right away. Then, when we immediately took steps to try to make sure word didn't get out about it... well, I have a lot of explaining to do when they get home. And once the questions start, there will be no stopping short of a full explanation. My mom is going to freak out about what is going on with the investigation. Allison thinks that meeting you and talking to you could be the difference. I agree. So I want you to be there."

"There? You mean, in your home? I thought you wanted to keep this secret."

"Rebecca, Allison and I talked about it." I suddenly remembered Brandiy's comments. "We know we can trust you. We're not sure how or why, but for some reason we trust that Amy led us to you. So do you think you can come?"

"Oh, I'll be there. If nothing else I can bring you your phone. I had Paul modify a cell phone to be completely untraceable. I took your suggestion and had someone else I trust go over the work. Seems that Paul anticipated that move as well. We had a long talk about what to expect in the way of trust in our working relationship. I don't know that I trust him to stay away if I tell him I'm going to meet with a source though. Especially since everyone is convinced that my source is in fact the killer. I'll have to give him something to do. What time do you want me there?"

"Probably around 4:30 or so, my parents are being released from the hospital around 2:00, which of course means 3:00. I figure depending on traffic they should be here around 5:00, maybe 5:30 at the latest. I'm going to stash you in my sister's room while we go over the basics then have you come out as sort of my ace in the hole for the last part. Answer any questions they have about my working with you. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you've thought this through pretty thoroughly. You have a keen mind and good attention to detail. Okay, give me the address. I'm going to send Paul on a little trip up to the bay area to interview the coroner and visit the crime scene. I'm going to have to manufacture a reason not to go along. Not sure what, but I'll think of something."

"You need to go see Amy's doctors."

"What?"

"Tell him you need to go see Amy's doctors; it's something he will understand and not question."

"Damn, kid, you are good."

I sent her back to her bed and then headed back to the glade. But when I walked through the door I was once again in the little theater. <<Oh god, not now>> Without thinking I charged back through the door. Only instead of the beach, I was in Rebecca's bedroom again.

"Rebecca!" I shouted.

Instantly she sat up in bed, once again wearing her red lace outfit. The difference was that this time the gun from under her pillow pointed straight at me. Even staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, I couldn't help but notice her erect nipples through the shear top; must be a guy thing. Of course it was still a dream and the gun wasn't real, but still...

"Jimmy?" she said, lowering the gun. "What the hell are you doing here? Didn't you just leave?"

"Throw something on and come with me. I think things are about to get worse."

"Shit, give me a second. Well, turn around, this isn't a peep show."

She threw on some jeans and a tee shirt; I stopped her as she started to put on her shoulder holster.

"You won't need that."

"Jimmy. I don't go anywhere without my gun. The farthest I get from it is in the shower. I don't care if this is a dream, I'm taking my gun."

"Fine. Give me your hand."

"What? You want to hold my hand?"

"No, I just feel like I need to in order to take you with me this time. We're going into something that's a little different."

I pulled her through the door and into the theater. What a relief. I hadn't been sure that I could take her with me.

"What the hell is this? I thought you wanted me at your house, now we're going to a movie?"

"Rebecca, this isn't a movie. This is where I saw Diane killed. Shannon wondered if maybe we weren't asking Amy the right questions, she wondered if maybe the killer had already struck again. I asked Amy if she could find out and show me. It looks like she found something. I figured it would be better if you could see the original. You may see things that I would miss."

"Good thinking. After all, I do this for a living. So what exactly are we going to be seeing?"