The Titan Code

25. The Best Laid Plans

I take back everything nice I ever said about Alex; he's an absolute idiot. His 'plan' can't really be called that and it has the most ridiculous gaps in its logic and execution it makes me worry for every building he's ever designed. 

I mean no, I don't have an alternative yet but surely this can't have any chance of success. 

His big plan is me asking Elaine when the meeting is, going there the day before and basically feigning serious illness or car trouble so Elaine will look after me, ideally in her house, and that gives us a few days together so I'm on hand for the most likely time frame for abduction. 

I could write a book about how dumb his comedy caper is but I'm still at a loss for anything more solid. I mean, I won't discount it completely but it's probably the very last option. 

He's right about one thing, though, I should get back to sucking up to Elaine. Maybe I can piece this together in a relatively normal way, I'll text her tomorrow as I know it's her free day so she might have more time to talk. 

Elaine Smith isn't, I think, a bad woman- a little vapid, shallow and silly, yes- but she definitely isn't clueless when it comes to the clearly dodgy business dealings of her husband. She mentioned at the lunch something about 'that's how they always go' and it makes me wonder about these previous developments. Is the Mayor involved in this somehow? Is it just pure coincidence that he sat on the council to approve these questionable plans, or something altogether more sinister?

Regardless I hold on to my thoughts until the next day as I text Elaine during my coffee break at work. Alex told me he went around the back streets last night and he found evidence that people had been using drugs in the town itself. Clearly the problems in Hetfield aren't confined to the old factory and I wonder how involved Mayor Smith is in this. 

I can't think about it too much however as I have a job to do and if I start researching things on work time I'll be getting sacked before the week is out. Life won't wait for anything, human or otherwise.

*

By mid-afternoon I receive my reply. I'd simply asked how she was doing, that I had a great time meeting them last week and did she have any plans coming up, all very nice and easy. She replied with lots of exclamation marks and smiley faces so I take that as a conversation starter and try to keep interest going. I tell her Alex and I were very impressed with Hetfield but still unsure over the big debate, did she know when the next meeting was so we can continue house hunting?

She says it's not a public meeting but about three weeks' time and am I coming over again? 

Well, that narrows it down. Three weeks to save a life, is that feasible? 

I text Elaine that maybe in a few weeks we'll be over and we'd love to meet up which may well be true depending on how things go although I'm trying not to think about Alex's stupid plan; I really hope it doesn't come to anything near that.

So what can we do? Maybe we need to move in on Docker, hang around the kiosk and see what he's up to? Perhaps we can swing the odds in our favour and bring Elaine to us somehow, or in a place away from Hetfield so we can save her. I'm not entirely sure how far our involvement needs to go, either- is simply keeping Elaine safe enough? Do we need to unpick the entire mystery, or ensure her future survival in case of a violent reprisal? I need to ask Hermes but no way am I talking to him. 

Tomorrow, yeah, it can be tomorrow's worry. It's Sunday evening, I'm tired and I'm out of ideas so hopefully a good night's sleep will provide me with some unexpected clarity in the matter.

Who am I kidding? I know for a fact there won't be a magic answer tomorrow, I am deliberately procrastinating for the inevitable conclusion that I don't know how to do this. Yet Alex managed to speak to his family after years of estrangement so perhaps I should be employing a What Would Alex Do? approach to handling uncomfortable situations.