The Mind Virus

Chapter 3 - Part 1

The pallets made a satisfying crunch as Jim drove the last of them into the bay. He checked his watch – 3pm, it was time to go. He drove his forklift across the warehouse and into its designated parking spot before getting out and fiddling with the power lead to plug it into the charger.

"Another day, another dollar, eh, Detective?" Colin's voice came from the behind Jim. In his early days at the warehouse, Jim would have been somewhat annoyed at the moniker he'd earned amongst his coworkers, but he'd since come to see it as the light-hearted jab at his lowly position in the police that it was rather than an insult.

"And all the better now that it's over," Jim replied. "I didn't see you today, buddy. Where were you at? The freezer?" He didn't really need the answer. Colin's heavy jacket told him everything he needed to know.

The two talked about their respective work days while putting their equipment away and walking out into the parking lot. The afternoon sun was shining bright and the air was warm, but not stiflingly so. It was a pleasant day.

"So, you hear about all the crazy suicides?" Jim asked, changing the topic away from work.

The pleasant day was ruined. Colin's face seemed to drain of all joy. "My sister – I haven't told anyone at work this..." His words seemed to catch in his throat. "Last month, Jim, she was one of the ones that..."

"Man, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't mean to –"

"She wasn't crazy, Jim."

"I know, man. I didn't mean it that way."

"I know, Jim."

An unpleasant silence hung in the air as the two walked to their cars.

"There was nothing wrong with her," Colin broke the silence. "She was going to be a nurse. She loved school. She'd go out with her friends regularly. Just a normal kid, you know."

Jim didn't know what to say, so he remained silent.

"Then she became withdrawn, just like that."

Jim should have kept his mouth shut, but his investment in the suicides couldn't let this one go. "How long before... uh, you know –"

"She started getting weird a few weeks before her death. I don't know, a month, two months, whatever." Colin's eyes were now red and the lump in his throat was difficult to miss.

Jim felt guilty for pushing this, but he needed to know. "Did you say she went to Cedar Grove State?" Colin had never really talked about his sister, but Jim guessed her suicide was no coincidence.

"Yeah, the nursing school."

"Did you notice anything that happened around the time she started getting withdrawn?"

Colin only stared at Jim through mournful eyes.

"Something she did? Someone she met? Anything like that?"

"Well, she had started going out with someone new. An older man, he was. Well, not old old. Middle aged, I guess. You might even work with him. He was a cop."

Jim was surprised. "Cedar Grove Police?" he asked.

"No idea, Jim. You're the detective. Maybe you can figure it out." Colin was back to his normal smiling self as if someone had waved a wand to make it so. It was almost grotesque how quickly his mood changed, but Jim assumed it was just Colin's way of coping with his loss.

He decided against following the matter further, but he did have one last question. "Did this guy have a name?"

"Yeah, Melinda had told me, but I don't remember. It was something like – nah, sorry, Jim, it's gone."