Chapter 14: Deductions

What the heck was going on?

That was the question that dominated my mind during my morning run, all seven miles of it. The phone call from Bob couldn't have come at a more frustrating time. Friday night, well, technically, Saturday morning, and suddenly I'm told to stay away and not call? What's up with that? If it weren't for the fact that I knew Bob, and who he had been with when he made the call, I would have been pissed off. As the miles ticked away and I thought more about what it might mean, my thoughts shifted from anger and frustration to paranoia and worry. Something had happened; something that had Rebecca worried about being in contact with me. What could make a senior agent with the FBI that nervous? Could it be Mikkelson? Had he snapped and done something to call attention to his complaints, far fetched though they may be, and drawn unwanted attention to rumors about Rebecca's investigation? Had Rod made an official report sometime long ago that included Rebecca's strange claim of a boy coming to her in a dream and telling her about a madman killing young girls? A strange story which had turned out to be all too true? What other explanation could there be?

One by one the arguments were shot down until I could think of no possible justification except that they were worried about protecting me. The question was, protecting me from what? Or more likely, whom? Did this have anything to do with Amber? That thought held my attention for the last mile. I came to the conclusion that if it had anything to do with Amber it was already too late. In order for someone to link me to Amber they would already have to know about her; know she was still alive. If they already knew about her they wouldn't be interested in me. There was no possible, traceable connection between me and Angela beyond last year's prom. That was the last alternative I could think of to explain the sudden change. I needed more information. Information I now would not have access to until tonight.

Great, just great. The last thing I needed right now was another problem, another mysterious something to suck up more of my time and energy. This gift was getting heavy. It seemed the more I used it the more things went wrong. The more things went wrong, the greater the chance that someone could discover the truth. If the truth ever got out ... My brain was still running in circles as I showered and dressed.

Damn it! What else could go wr ... I stopped myself, not a question I wanted to ask, too much risk I might get an answer. Chances are I wouldn't like the answer if I got one. Forget the reason, what are the ramifications? If it was someone finding out about me, then what were the possibilities? If they were worried about the phones then could the house already be bugged? Who could they be worried about? How would someone have found out? That particular line of thought got derailed as I came out of the bathroom and almost ran over Allison.

"Whoa, where are you? Did you even see me when you got home?" The confused look on my face must have answered the question. "I didn't think so, you walked right by me in the kitchen without so much as a good morning. Did something..."

I interrupted her, not wanting her to say anything that might attract attention. "What? Oh, sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude. I think I was a little more tired than I thought; that run kind of wore me out." I put a finger to my lips and motioned her to follow me. Once we were in my room I opened my laptop and then a text window. Allison waited patiently, well, patiently for her, she hates not knowing what is going on but so far she was doing a good job of holding in the irritation.

"Something's happened, not sure what, there wasn't time. We need to talk, not here. I'll explain later. Any ideas where we can go?" I turned to notebook so she could respond.

She read what I had written and responded, "Breakfast?"

"I want it to be far enough away that we would have a chance to spot anyone following us." That ought to be enough of a clue. Sure enough as soon as she read what I had written her eyes flashed to mine with a questioning look. I nodded affirmatively and took the screen back. "I'm not certain. That's what I want to talk to you about."

She nodded and answered, "Let's make it lunch. It might be a little suspicious if we suddenly just bolted for the door. How about Lake Arrowhead or maybe Big Bear Village? Either is a long enough drive to spot anyone behind us. Wouldn't raise any questions, last big weekend before school ... Hot here, cool there, what do you think?"

"Works for me," I answered. "Wish we could take Shannon but I think until we have a better idea what's up we better not."

She thought about it for a second, "Sucks, but you're probably right. Let's get back out front before anyone wonders where we went."

I had my normal breakfast of toast and juice before starting my regular chores. I made short work of the lawns and cleaned and balanced the pool while Allison cleaned up around the deck and pulled weeds out of the flowerbeds which surrounded it. Then she helped me wash Mom and Dad's cars before we did my truck. It was just after eleven thirty when we pulled out and headed up the mountain. Allison used the visor mirror to try and keep track of the cars that were behind us. Twice, I pulled out into the scenic overlooks and waited for everyone in sight to pass. As they went by, we did our best to jot down the license numbers and descriptions of anything with only one person inside. We then watched to see if any of them showed up behind us again. Yeah, I know it was an amateur attempt to catch someone, and we didn't even really know if there was anyone there to catch, but what else could we do? Finally we arrived at Lake Arrowhead, pulling into the Village parking lot. I let Allison out right away. She took our list and found a spot where she could watch the entrance to see if any of our suspect vehicles should just happen to pull in behind us. It took a few minutes to find a space for the truck. It's a small lot, some of the aisles are too narrow to park easily, and it was pretty full being noon on a holiday weekend.

We wandered in and out of the shops. They're not your ordinary collection of touristy crap; most of them were fairly pricey boutiques sporting specialized merchandise. There are even a few nice galleries with various types of art, from oils to sculpture. Book stores, clothing stores, even a Sunglass Hut. We had a lot of fun reading all the shirts at the Big Dog store. Eventually we ended up on the avenue overlooking the lake itself, this seemed like a very good spot to stand and talk without anyone overhearing us. As we were facing out over the lake, no one could read our lips, or hear what we might be saying unless they were standing right next to us, and we could see far enough in either direction to know if anyone strayed close. So we picked up a couple bags of the cheap duck food all the shops carry and went out to lean on the rail and talk.

"So what's going on?" Allison asked, getting straight to the point.

"I'm not sure. Just before I woke up, Bob called. I was supposed to take those DVD's back to him today, but he said not to come over, rather to bring them to school on Tuesday. That wouldn't have been so serious but he also said not to call him or Rebecca. It's not so much what he said as his tone. There was that feeling of intensity that says, 'this is important.' He was asking if it was too late to get together again when my alarm woke me up. I can only assume that he wanted to get together so he could tell me what's going on."

"That must have been frustrating."

"Tell me about it. Anyway, I thought about what it all might mean while I was running. I kept coming back to the same conclusion."

"They're worried about you." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yeah, that's where I kept coming back to. What I don't understand is how someone would have found me. My phone is secure so they couldn't have traced a call or looked up a number or anything. It's the one hole in my theory."

"Bob's phone," She said. "Damn. We should have thought of that sooner. We've only seen Rebecca once, so the only way your name could come up is either between her and her boss or her and Bob. Your phone is secure and so is Rebecca's and we know your number doesn't pop up on any screens. I'm not sure if hers is the same or not, but Bob's phone is just a regular cell phone. Either someone cloned it or found a way to tap it, and got your name. Do you know if Bob's home phone is unlisted or not?" She didn't wait for an answer, "If it's not, then anyone can get the number, and if they know where he lives they don't even need it. Tie a caller ID box into his line at any of about a dozen different locations and then wait for him to call our house or for you to call him from home. Back trace the number and they have your address. Shit, Jimmy, this is bad, really bad. We need to know who she is worried about, why, and how close she thinks they are..." She shook her head and tossed some more food to the ducks that were circling in the water below us. "And now we can't even ask until tonight. You do realize what it means if this goes the wrong way?"

"What do you mean?"

"Jimmy, if someone has found out the truth about you, you may need to run, go into hiding or something, at least for a while."

I didn't know what to say so I tossed some more food to the ducks. The silence stretched out for a few minutes.

"So how did your thing with Easy go last night?"

I wasn't prepared for the change in direction so it took me a minute to catch up, "Actually it went really well. It's kind of hard to explain, but we think maybe we've finally figured out what's wrong with Amber, which is great, because now that we know the problem we can work on actually fixing it."

"Must be pretty serious if Easy couldn't fix it."

I glanced at her, not sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

"I'm not trying to be funny or anything, I'm just surprised. She seems to have a real knack for this sort of thing. Whether you buy the whole hand of God thing or not, she's got a pretty impressive record of success."

"She can't fix it because it's not broken."

"Ahh. Yeah, that would make it harder to fix. Any chance you're going to be able to tell me soon or do I just have to try and figure it out on my own."

"I'd rather you didn't try," I said. "Just leave it alone for now. I'll ask her if she would mind my telling you."

"You need her permission to tell me what the problem is?" She was looking at me with a very puzzled expression on her face. "This just keeps getting weirder. Okay, I'll leave it alone for now. One thing though, it might be easier if I just ask her myself, might be less embarrassing for you anyway." She put her hand on my arm, "I want to help, Jimmy. She's my friend too, and if there is something I can do, then I want to do it. If the best I can do is just leave it alone, then that's what I'll do, but I would feel better if she told me that herself."

I thought about it for a few seconds. "I can't make any promises. I'm not even sure if I can go that far. I'm in way over my head on this, Sis. I really don't have a handle on what I can and can't do yet. It's one of those situations where if I'm not absolutely certain then the answer has to be no until I am certain, so for now, that's the best answer I can give you. So what now, did you want to wander around some more or head back?"