Mr Hook's Big Black Box

«Who Was Where»

"Wait, Jessie?" Marco interrupted, "Who's Jessie?"

"It's a codename," Dwayne sighed, "Weren't you paying attention? Like in the phone call before, they've memorised a list of names that let you know something about the situation. If she calls him Paul, that means she needs help now and doesn't know if someone's listening. So maybe Jessie's the same."

"Actually, not quite," Ferrari grinned, "A good guess, though. Saying I'd tell Michelle was straight out of the codebook. I'm calling in to the exchange, so they'd watch for him at the hospital and someone would come to debrief him, or to make sure the local police don't go asking too many questions. Maybe he wanted to object, but he couldn't really. He knew his judgment was impaired."

"So what does Jessie mean, then?"

"A name that's not in any of the codes. I'd done a job a few years before, shutting down a high school drug dealer. Just to test if I was cut out for fieldwork, you know. Jessie was my alias on that one, the first time I worked with Trevor. He remembered me. I guess that's a sign that for all he mocked me on my first assignment, I really did earn some respect. And something they'd never put in the official code book, he was telling me I was free to go with my judgement to get the case sorted."

"So you came looking for us, right?" Marco asked.

"Yeah. Well, for that missing girl first. I called Kris, but his phone was off."

"Oh, yeah, my battery died. My phone was pretty old then, I normally needed to charge it at least every other day, and being at Monty's house..."

"So where were we all at that point?" Dwayne asked, "Seems like lots of stories going on, it's hard to keep track."

"Well, we were locked in the safe at Tennyson Avenue," Destinee grinned, "Trying to find a way to get out in one piece. Or, one piece each, you know what I mean."

"I'd just come out of my room," Kris nodded, "Without getting my shower. I knew Rasputin was sending men up to the club room, so I was trying to think where else I could meet you guys to warn you."

"And I was going to see Nigel Hawthorne," Marco nodded, "Cassie's with me at that point. I thought Dwayne was going to check up on her friend, but it sounds like Ferrari was on the way instead?"

"Right. I left Trevor for the ambulance, and called in to the switchboard. We were on the wrong side of town now, he'd been going in circles, so that's when I texted you back. I didn't know why this girl was so important, but by the time I got to campus now I'd have kept you waiting a long time."

"We didn't really notice," Merco admitted, "We went looking for Nigel, but he wasn't in the room early. Then as the other guys in my class started to gather outside, I saw a couple of familiar faces. Not like the classmates I was expecting to see there. Spenser's men, that we'd seen the day before. I almost froze up in panic..."