The Jumper (SF Mystery)

The Jumper 13: Speculative Nonsense

Rachel watched the gun carefully, as she said, "there's no need for that."

"I just think I should keep my distance from you," Jeff said. "Bad things happen, when people get close to you."

She cocked her head to the side. "What kind of bad things?"

"Well, there is the little matter of Mr. Stevens. You were with him when he died, were you not?"

She smiled, and said, "I guess you could say that."

"In fact, you were lying on top of him in a coma when he died. Am I right?"

Her eyes widened, and she said, "My, you really are clever, Detective. May I call you Jeff?"

He shrugged. "The thing is, I think you were also at the window, there, just before Mr. Crane died."

Her face froze for about five seconds, as she regarded him with inhuman stillness. Then she laughed, breaking the spell. "I'm sorry, but . . . who?"

He kept his gun steady on her. "Mr. Crane. That was you, wasn't it? You somehow got that young man, Gilbert Stevens, to come to your apartment, and then you climbed out onto the ledge. When he tried to keep you from jumping off the ledge, though, you somehow jumped into him, didn't you? I don't know how, but you somehow took over his body, and your old body, that of Mr. Crane, fell to its death."

She was looking at him with a blank yet unfriendly expression. "Speculative nonsense!" she snapped.

"Is it? The problem was that when you jump into a new body, it takes you something like a week to get used to your new surroundings. So, you lie in a coma, before coming awake. When you saw me in the hospital, you recognized me as a cop, and that scared you. By the time I got you downtown, though, you remembered that all you had to do was stall, and we had to let you out, eventually.

"Then, when we did let you go, you retrieved your IDs from wherever you had told the young man to stash them, and opened a bank account. You transferred money in, so you could have some cash to move around. You bought a car, rented a hunting cabin, and found a whore to go up there with you.

"How is my speculative nonsense doing, so far?"

She smiled, but it was a tight smile. "Pretty damned well, Detective. I knew you were clever, but you've managed to surprise me. No one would believe you, you know. It really is all speculation, even though it's all true. You don't have any proof at all, do you?"

He just looked at her, and she said, "I told you, I would tell you everything. You don't have any proof, do you?"

He sighed, and said, "No. But it's true, isn't it? How old are you, and how many bodies have you lived in?"

She moved a bit toward him, and he raised the gun.

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