Virtual Reality (Sue Thomas FBEye / Murdoch Mysteries)

Virtual Reality - Chapter Seven

Sunday, Sept 21st – Early, early morning

Sue's hands gripped the steering wheel. Her eyes burned from the rereading and the tears she'd shed on her keyboard.

Had she been unconsciously aware of the conspiracy for days? Had she let all those people die by ignoring the clues? She'd checked the time index more times than she could count. According to the displayed local time, all the posts and replies had been posted before the attacks.

She glimpsed at the laptop resting on the passenger seat where Levi should have been. Relegated to the back seat, her faithful companion peeped his head between the seats and nuzzled her shoulder. The red light registered in her mind and she stepped on the brakes. Impatient in the heat of the night, she waited at the deserted intersection.

A brown envelope slipped between the cover and keyboard of her laptop held her notes. Forensic had set up the attacks while his/her readers had concocted the details... unless Forensic and his/her sick friends had set the wrong time zone in their preference, which meant they would have used the attacks as shock value in the story... mocking the victims. The thought churned her stomach. He or she... Sue couldn't even tell if they were men or women. The portrait of them that she'd pictured in her mind had crumbled in the wee hours of the morning after she wrote all the coincidences in her notepad.

Were Forensic and his/her gang simply callous writers? Or were they involved at some level in the attacks? And what would Jack think or say? It sounded so impossible, yet the investigative side of her couldn't ignore the facts— or was it fiction?

Her head spun. Another intersection loomed ahead. The light turned yellow. Pounding on the honk she couldn't hear, she accelerated.

The right turn she negotiated pushed her left shoulder against her door. Levi's head disappeared and something bumped against the back of her seat.

"Sorry, buddy."

Raindrops fell on her windshield. The wipers swept back and forth, mimicking the pounding of her heart. Jack's apartment building stood a block away. Not paying attention to the signs, she parked in the tow away zone.

Levi's leash in one hand, she tightly hugged her laptop to her chest. Urgency overrode caution. She crossed the street without looking and stepped into a puddle. High beams shone through the rain, blinding her.

A strap pulled on her wrist and whisked her away.

~ * ~

The insisting knocking on the door roused Jack from his slumber. He peeked through narrow slits at the alarm clock on his desk. 2:52am. Who in their right mind disturb him? Grudgingly, he pushed the sheets and blanket with his feet. The cool air raised the hair on his arms and chest. He didn't bother grabbing the pair of sweat pants tossed in a heap in front of his dresser. Wearing only his boxers, he dragged his feet on the floor.

It had better be good. His phone hadn't rung. He knew it wasn't an urgent matter. More than likely his drunk neighbour barking at the wrong tree to get in.

He opened the door and gaped in surprise.

"Jack?" Her frightened voice didn't register above a whisper.

Expression haggard, covered with mud, Sue staggered. He caught her and the computer she pressed against her chest as she collapsed in his arms.

"Easy," he murmured in her ear, hoping the breath tickling her lobe would carry his message.

Levi, his fur wet but otherwise relatively clean, pulled on his leash. Holding Sue tight, Jack brought her inside, placed the laptop on the shelf in the closet and closed the door. After unclipping the leash from Levi's collar, Jack unwrapped the strap from her wrist. He winced at the red mark left on her skin. What had happened?