Waiting by Erin Dennington ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 49 The rush hour was quiet today, even though a fair number of people appeared interested in the morning's accident site. Rubberneckers slowed down, their brake lights twinkling in the steady snowfall. Davis wondered what there was to look at besides Christina�s car, which was lying in the ditch, nose down, almost on its side. It wasn�t like you could see the car from the road; you had to almost be upon the spot to see where it was lying. Now that snow had drifted over the edge of the road into the ditch, the car looked like an ghost ship. There was not a sign of life to be seen. Davis watched Bill talk to the woman. He saw a look of abject fear cross her face and he wondered at that. Then she broke free from his grasp and, staring across the road, she bolted around Bill and into the ditch. The guy who had introduced himself as Bill�s assistant, Marty, poked fun of the woman, claiming that only an idiot would venture into the snow without the proper clothing and covering and risk being frozen. Davis had almost had enough of Marty�s talk when Bill finally stepped through the door, a worried look on his face. �Scared her off, eh, Bill?� Davis asked. �Oh shush,� Bill said good naturedly. He seemed to have forgotten that an interview that could break his career was about to be take place. �I told her that I was going to call the police on her. You know that they never got a statement out of her. They really want to talk to her.� Davis nodded. �I�m sure they do,� he said. Bill snapped to all of a sudden. �You don�t realize the full implications of what you told me, do you?� he asked. �You don�t realize what�s going on?� Davis laughed, a harsh, almost mocking sounding laugh. �Oh, I know all right,� he said. �Only thing is that I don�t know what to do about it. I�m not a scientist.� Marty�s ears pricked up and Davis hurriedly said, �Bill, I need to talk to you alone before this interview, go over some stuff with you.� �Yeah, sure,� Bill answered. �I was actually thinking the same ting.� His hand wandered into his coat pocket and Davis wondered what he harbored there, whether it could be the tape he�d told Bill about. He didn�t dare hope so. Telling Marty to go and start bringing in the equipment, Bill met Davis� gaze, all trace of banter gone. �It�s really bad, isn�t it?� he asked, searching Davis� gaze. �I�m afraid so,� replied Davis. He pushed the up button for the elevator and began filling in Bill on the conversation he�d had with the stranger, Mateo, 15 years ago. He wasn�t sure if he should share his impressions of the guy with Bill, a person he�d just met, but he figured that if anyone was going to help him to do whatever needed to be done, it would be Bill. �Creepy,� Bill said when Davis finished. �That guy sure sounds like one of those conspiracy theorists that television shows always love to make fun of, ya know what I mean?� He shook his head and then looked at Davis, an unspoken question passing between them. Davis nodded. �Yes, I�m afraid so. The plan that Mateo spoke of is coming true. My only regret was that I shut him out so quickly all those years ago. I never found out what the motivation was or who was behind it. That�s where I need your help, Bill.� Bill suddenly laughed. �Man, we sound so uptight. I know this is serious and all, but I don�t know how much more of it I can take. We have these weirdos with their plans to take over the world and we�re sitting here talking about it. C�mon and let�s sit down and figure some things out, see if we can draw any connections here.� They had reached Davis� office by now. Maria had gone home for the day and there was no sound coming from the office. Davis still felt the need to turn the lights on and check for mysterious intruders, but he couldn�t, for the life of him, see where they could come from. Regardless, that thought did nothing to distract him from his fears and worries about what might possibly happen. �I�d like to watch that tape now, if you don�t mind,� Bill said. �Especially since I might lose my job over it.� �Oh no, not at all,� Davis said. �In fact, I was just about to ask if I could borrow it to watch it.� �You can keep the copy for all I care,� Bill said, �but you gotta give me the scoop.� �It�s a deal,� Davis said and led the way into the waiting room area of his office. He observed Bill�s reactions as they walked back down the hallway. He was more than a little jumpy; Bill sought out the source of each sound he heard. Davis wondered what could be on the tape that could have possibly made Bill scared. He didn�t figure Bill to be one of those guys that would scared by just a video. �I can�t offer you much more than coffee and sodas,� Davis said, turning the television in the corner of his waiting room on. The phone rang and both of them jumped at the sudden sound. Bill was the first to laugh at their reaction. �It�s your phone,� he said, �you get it.� He laughed again and Davis turned his back, wondering if it was one of the women calling about the interview. Davis answered it on the third ring and was pleased to hear Stella�s voice on the other end of the line. However, once she told him that she did not think she could make the interview, he felt a churning inside his stomach. He knew that she had to be there for some reason, and although he didn�t know for which reason it was, he knew that he had to do his best to convince her. �Is something the matter?� he asked. She hesitated, and in that moment of hesitation, an image popped up in Davis� mind. She knew. �You�ve seen them, too,� he said, a note of wonder creeping into his voice. He repeated it, this time listening to her tone of voice as well as her words. �Yes, I have. And I don�t know what�s going on, Mister Jackson.� Davis figured that now would not be the time to ask her to call him by his given name, so he kept silent and listened to her story. When she finished and told him that both her arm and hand were now glowing, he didn�t know what to say. An inner voice urged him to tell her that she was needed at the interview, so he cleared his throat and told her what he and Bill had found out. �We were about to watch the tape when you called,� he told her. �I think you had better come over and watch it, too. For some reason you are involved in this and I think it�s best if you see it with us.� She made a lame excuse about having to ask her father for permission, but was back less than 2 minutes later, reluctantly saying she would come for the interview, after all. �Well, buddy,� Davis said. �Looks like you�ll have to wait a little while longer to see that tape. Hope you don�t mind.� �Give me something to drink and I�ll forgive you.� �What do you want?� Davis asked. �Something strong.� �Then coffee it is.� Davis prepared the coffee, and, when it was ready, brought 2 steaming mugs into the waiting room and passed one to Bill. Sitting down, he sipped at his drink in silence. They listened to the snowflakes skittering off of the window and Davis hesitated to break the silence between them, relishing the first chance he'd had to enjoy a moment of companionable silence since this all began. There was a loud pounding on the door and Bill jerked, splashing the hot liquid on his arm in the process. �I bet it�s Marty,� Davis said, heading towards the door. �If it is, tell him he owes me a new arm,� Bill replied, rushing to the restroom. Davis� joke died in his throat before he could even process it. There, in front of him, was Christina, holding a sheaf of papers in her hand and looking determined. �Well, don�t you look so serious,� he said, and ushered her in. �Blame it on the guy behind me,� she said. �He gave me a hard time because I wouldn�t help him carry in the equipment.� �Wuss,� Marty said from behind her, rushing in and setting a box on the ground. Apparently Bill had never seen his assistant so flustered looking, so he went out to help carry the equipment in. Davis realized that Christina probably needed a stiff drink, so he went and got her another cup of coffee. "Thanks," she said, tossing off her jacket and settling down on a chair. "I really needed that." "Is something wrong?" Davis asked. "You could definitely say that again," she said. "But let's not get into it right now. I need to gather my courage before I say anything." "Take your time then," Davis said, "I need to go call my wife now, anyway. I'll leave you to your coffee. If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask me." "Sure, thanks." Davis left Christina reading her papers, scribbling in the margins. 12:34 - 11.15.02 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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