Unwritten

Chapter 3 - Part 2 Saving Grace

I opened the door to my dorm and plonked myself on the bed for a few minutes, wrestling with the decision to go see David tonight or tomorrow. I looked at my watch, half nine, it was already quite late, David's place required a 25 minute busy journey which I wasn't particularly over joyed about -the kind of people who frequented buses at this time were generally either drunk or usually weird.

Then I thought of Gracey and how much time I had left to save her and I decided I must see David tonight if I was ever going to have a chance. I was braving a bus at 9.40 for her; I was such a freaking hero.

As I stood at the bus stop, I felt like I was being watched by someone but I initially shrugged off the unpleasant sensation and boarded the bus. While I tapped in my "contactless" card which ironically does require contact to work, I looked at the fellow bus inhabitants. There was a woman with thinned scraggly hair, dressed in shabby clothes coaxing her baby to sleep while trying to play candy crush saga on her mobile. There were a couple of drunken teens, who were chatting about who was the drunkest. On the other side of the train, I saw an old man with fingerless gloves swigging a hip flask. I was one of them now. I found a seat nearby that was the furthest away from all of them and sat down. Before the bus had the chance to leave another man stepped onto the bus. He was dressed in jeans and a hooded jacket. I couldn't see fully see his face as it was obscured by his hood but I suspected from what I could see that he was in his thirties. The man stood for a while, individually assessing each of passengers before heading to the back of the bus.

I wasn't sure if I was being overly paranoid but I was sure I could feel his stare burning into the back of my skull. However, given the power the corporation had, it wasn't surprising if they had paid someone to have me tailed. Time had passed and nothing happened until I got up from my seat as the bus neared my stop.

"Leave it alone," I heard a woman's voice say.

"Excuse me?" I asked the mother.

"What, I didn't say anything!" Protested the lady.

"Don't interfere," said the voice which could only resemble the old man.

"Heed our warning or face the consequences," a chorus of teenagers' voices threatened.

I turned to the teenagers but they still seemed to be giggling amongst themselves so seemed unlikely that it came from them. The bus arrived at my stop and I decided to get off before I became branded as one of the wierdos on the bus.

As I alighted from the bus, I ran around the corner and hid in a nearby garden and waited. I peered out and saw the hooded man standing in the middle of the road looking for what I could only presume was me. Due to the poor lighting, I still couldn't see his face but I did notice something I hadn't earlier. He seemed to have some insignia or markings on the palm of his hands. I kept my breathing shallow and waited until he tired of looking for me and walked away.

Once I was sure the coast was clear, I emerged from the garden and walked swiftly to David's house. Oddly enough, I actually felt better knowing I was being followed, it meant I wasn't being delusional after all.

David opened the door, after only one knock.

"Where have you been? It's nearly 11!" he cursed.

"Bus was late, you know how it is," I said casually. I considered telling him about the weird stranger who tried to follow me, but I was concerned he might overreact and pull out from helping me with Gracey altogether.

I sat down, and waited for him to offer me a drink, but the offer never came.

"Where's the book?" He asked after seeing I came with almost nothing but the shirt on my back.

"At mine,"

I noticed a slight twitch in his facial features which meant he was probably irked by my response.

"You should take care of the things I give you. Anyway, what's done is done. So how did your little investigation go?"

I told him what I knew. Again I could see the cogs inside David's brain moving and assembling the pieces of information I had given him.

"So, we still don't know as yet is what the name of the corporation is?"

"Correct, unfortunately Gracey managed to keep the name on the files out of my sight."
"Don't worry, we'll soon solve that, can you pass me my table?"

I did as I was asked and David searched for upcoming corporate legal cases, and found the name. It was called "Soft-Cell". Despite its size, not much was known about it other than that fact that they held several patents.

"That's one aspect solved, but as you say, we don't know when and what time she will precisely die. But there are two things that we can deduce based on what is known already. Firstly, the method used to kill Gracey, would have been something which could not be easily noticed by the police or the casual observer. Meaning, that the attack, if that's what you would call it, was not physical but most likely she was killed with a form of poison. Secondly there is most likely a mole in Gracey's office.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"What gave me inkling was the fact that Soft-cell knew that she must have had sufficient evidence to make a case against them otherwise they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of murdering her. Killing people and covering it up takes considerable time, money and planning.

"David, you're actually genius. What do we do next? What's the plan?"

"You need to get at her firm. Phone Gracey tomorrow and see if there are any job vacancies available."

I nodded, and then I realised I hadn't asked him earlier, "By the way, what made you change your mind and decide to help me?"

"You know me, I love any opportunity to mess with other peoples affairs," he said with a smirk.

I felt my weight of my eyelids getting the better of me, so I crashed on David's three-seater.