Devious Origins

CHAPTER 21

We wrapped up our conversation with the professor. As I rose to leave, she seemed to really look at me for the first time and gave me a curious look.

"Forgive me for saying this," she said, "but aren't you a bit young to be a DOJ field agent?"

I tried wear an exasperated expression as I answered, "Like I haven't heard that before."

Dee laughed. "Don't get him started," she insisted, "it's bad enough I'm stuck with a rookie, but I end up with babyface here."

"It's bad enough the guys at the office call me that," I replied. I tried to make my performance convincing. The professor seemed to buy it.

"I'm sorry I mentioned it," said Simonson with a hint of laughter in her voice, "trust me, you'll appreciate that youthful look a lot more a couple decades from now. I just nodded, shook her hand, and left. Dee followed shortly behind me. She remained silent as we wound our way down the stairs, but then finally let laughter slip loose as we exited the building.

"Babyface..." she snorted, then began laughing again.

"Sure, laugh now, but it could have blown the whole thing, her being suspicious like that. It seems your 'I-Belong-Here' field doesn't extend to those around you."

"You might be right. It was probably a good thing you didn't say much."

"So why did I even come along?" I asked.

Dee answered with a question of her own. "Do you think she was telling the truth?"

I thought about it for only a moment. "Yes."

"That is why I brought you, Barry."

I stopped walking. Dee walked another two steps before realizing I had stopped, then turned and faced me. "OK, explain," I demanded.

"Empathy, Barry. Your superpower. We need to know if the professor can be trusted, if we should act on her accusations. That's why I needed your read of her."

"Wait... so you basically brought me along as some sort of human lie detector? I think you are making way too much of this empathy thing. I mean, just because I get a gut feeling on something doesn't mean it has to be right. People make wrong choices based on their gut all the time."

"Have you?" Dee asked, "I mean, think back. Tell me about a time you had a first impression of someone that turned out to be absolutely and completely wrong."

"Sure... just give me a sec." We began walking again. As we strolled in silence, I cast my mind back down the years.

And came up blank. Worse than blank... all the examples that came to mind argued the opposite. My sister brought a college boyfriend home to visit, and I immediately disliked and distrusted him. He ended up cheating on her, and they broke up a month later. The first moment I met my 8th grade English teacher, I knew there was something special about her. I then watched her go above and beyond for her students. She later won a community service award because of it. Truth be told, I'd always been a pretty good judge of character.

Dee took my silence as an answer. "See what I mean," she said.

"It doesn't mean anything," I insisted, "you can't use a lack of evidence to prove something. It could just be dumb luck. I mean, a planet of seven billion people... A few of them are going to luck out and have all their hunches fall the right direction."

"I think you know it's not that. You just need to trust yourself."

"Sure. I'll work on that." We walked on. I realized I didn't know where we were headed. As always, I was just blindly following Dee. Maybe there really was something to this superpower thing. How else could I explain her effect on me? I knew the situation was crazy... that she was crazy... and yet I kept avoiding the rational course and instead steered for the insanity. "So where are we going?" I finally asked.