The man who couldn't stop thinking

Chapter 1: The hour, not the time. Marcus & Cassandra

Her pink hair fell down her face, settling perfectly to her features, Marcus, as he did every morning, woke her up with a kiss, even though it was more than 25 minutes away. He asked her what she wanted for breakfast, she did not answer, she knew that by now there was no need even for words with him.

Cassandra was like that, she was certainly not a typical girl. Despite her young age, she was recognized by all as the nation's top private investigator. Her contributions in prominent cases, even at the media level, had definitely contributed to her fame. She had never stopped improving herself, and despite her enormous success and the monetary status that came with it, she had committed herself to the studies of what she had always been passionate about. Very young, at the age of 20 she had finished her studies in biology by earning a degree with the highest possible grade, but that was not enough for her, so she decided to try the path of a second degree, simply because it was what made her feel good.

The last case Cassandra had faced had proved tremendously taxing on her health. She remembered it well. On September 13 of the previous year, in the middle of the night, she received a call from James, a 23-year-old college student who was looking for her because of her grandfather's disappearance. He was suffering from Alzheimer's disease; it was not unusual for progressive memory loss to lead such people to get lost, but this time was different. James was worried because his grandfather had been missing for more than 72 hours. Moreover, in his grandfather's house, James' sister had found a note, in apparently unfamiliar handwriting, that read, "the time, not the time." In her course of study in biology, Cassandra had studied some brain processes, she knew that the course of Alzheimer's could also change the handwriting of the person with it, I think this explained her granddaughter's puzzlement. After thinking about it for a few hours, as she was wont to do, she called James back to tell him that she would not consider that case. Why would he? A sick old man is lost, as is often the case, sooner or later he will come back, with or without the help of the police, she thought cynically to herself.

Cassandra woke up; she had dreamed of Marcus's kiss. He had left more than a month ago to pursue his dream. He had promised her that he would be back in time for her graduation, but that day had come and he was not there. She was in a panic, on one of the best days of her life, plus he was way overdue. He got out of bed, grabbed a notebook from the nightstand, quickly wrote a note and headed for the shower, without eating anything. Five minutes later he was already out. She would have had time to take it easier, the sound of the ringtone customized for Marcus, however, made her change her mind dramatically. She picked up the phone and answered the video call, saw him on the train, and burst into tears. She quickly realized that he would return to her later in the day. Marcus confirmed her idea, he would not be back for her graduation but by the end of the day. For her, who by then had stopped believing in him, it was more than a perfect gift. They said their goodbyes and Cassandra went back to get ready, 15 minutes later she was in the car, ready to go.

James had never given up on Cassandra's rejection; he knew there was something strange about his grandfather's affair. Two days after the rejection on the call, he showed up at the home of the nation's top investigator to ask her again to take the case. Another forty-eight hours had passed and still no one had heard anything from Grandpa. Despite hours of insistence with Cassandra, she again refused. Knowing about the long journey James had made, she invited him to dinner. I think that even if he had no intention of considering that trivial affair, he could have used that opportunity to better understand why something was wrong with his grandson. They discussed the whole evening, but he did not convince her. The final decision was to decline the case. James, resigned and went home.

He had fifty-five minutes to get to the university on time. The navigator estimated a time of forty-five minutes to be there. Cassandra was accustomed to keeping everything under control, calculating every variable that could screw up her plans. Despite this she was constantly running late. She decided that she would run with the car, because she could not risk some unforeseen event making her late. Her lecturer had been clear that she had to be on time because they were to meet twenty minutes before graduation. While driving she listened to Mozart, her studies in biology had confirmed that classical music helped memory, since then whenever she had to remember something in the previous hour she listened only to that music. She found parking rather easily, got out of the car quickly, heading for the steps of her university. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, sent a message to his lecturer asking where he was at that moment. He did not answer. The answering machine came to her rescue, telling her the professor's whereabouts. She was used to that attitude of superiority of lecturers; there was nothing unusual about it. Cassandra was against this, yet inside, her reputation as an investigator led her to have the same attitude of superiority. She thought about it just then, remembering how she had refused James's plea. She entered classroom three, just as the secretary had told her, but there was no one there. While waiting for the professor, she began to observe the university's structures, majestic and historic, the presence of nineteenth-century statues made everything more fascinating. Just then a detail struck her that she had never noticed. Cassandra looked closely at the crack in the "a" of the inscription that lay above her. She thought they should restore the applied physics department, just then the sound of a message coming from her phone caught her attention. She was shocked to read what it said, "the time, not the time." Taken aback, she did not immediately realize who that message came from, then she noticed it, it was her lecturer, Lewis Nary.