Capsule

Chapter 15

Part Four: The Way

It is a cold November evening in the year 2730. Jerome Catram is a floor manager at a failing hardware store in Steinbach, Manitoba. He works seven days a week to support the apartment that he and his younger sister share. After a long work shift, he steps off the bus in front of his apartment building. It is too clean to be called cheap, yet too unorganized to be considered nice. He walks up the stairs to the third floor and walks to his door. He unlocks his door, then slams into it with his shoulder to jerk it open and walks in.

"Maggie! I'm home!" Jerome shouts. "I got those chips that you wanted."

He closes the door behind him and walks towards the couch. It is covered in cigarette butts, and there are multiple burn marks where cigarettes have been put out.

"God damn it." He says. "It's as if she doesn't know that ashtrays exist."

There is a note on the crumpled sleeping bag on the couch.

"Gone out for a bit. Don't wait up. Tell anyone who comes I'm on a date."

"Okay?" Jerome says to himself, finding the specifics of the note odd.

Suddenly, there is a knock on the door. Jerome opens to door. A young, bald man with a stubble beard dressed in an expensive grey suit stands at his door.

"Good evening Mister Catram." The man says. "Is Margret here by any chance?"

"She's... on a date." He says confusedly. "Who are you?"

"I work with your sister. Can you give her this, please?"

The man hands Jerome a clean off-white envelope sealed with a pentagonal gold sticker and walks away.

"But... She's... Unemployed." Jerome says, lowering his volume as the man walks out of earshot.

He closes the door and locks it. He walks into his kitchenette and turns the light on. Looking guiltily over his shoulder, he opens the envelope. In it is a single piece of paper reading:

"You have 24 hours."

Beneath the text is a fingerprint printed in red ink. Jerome drops the letter and calls his sister. It rings for three minutes then she picks up.

"What do you want?" She answers abruptly. "Did you see the note?"

"Yes, both of them," Jerome responds curtly.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"A model from Harry Rosen just dropped off a letter saying you have twenty-four hours."

"Was there a bloody fingerprint on the bottom?"

"That was blood?"

"Yeah. Why the fuck are you opening my mail?"

"I don't...."

"Look," Maggie says, sighing. "Just come here. I'm at Stella's on First Street. Meet me here. I'll buy you dinner."

"Which means I'm paying for the both of us," Jerome says. "Fuck! Alright. But I better get an explanation."

* * *

Later, Jerome walks into Stella's wearing a windbreaker and an old sweater. He sees Maggie and sits down opposite her. Jerome is furious. She has made mistakes before, but if this is as bad as he thinks it is, he will have to turn her over to the police.