L'affaire Bob

18. Let's talk

-"You're going to see Amanda, now?" Emma asked me after our Thursday lesson ended.

-"Yes, I am. She wanted us to talk about how we are going to handle the investigation."

-"Perfect. I need to discuss something with Louis and Mathias, but as soon as I finish, I will join you guys."

-"Feel free not to!" I yelled at her enthusiastically after she whirled around and left towards Mathias and that Louis guy.

She muttered something under her breath, but the only words I caught were "idiot" and "needs medicine," so I safely assumed she wasn't talking about me.

I then called Amanda to ask her about her whereabouts, and she told me she was at yet another meeting.

However, when I went to the second floor, I saw that she still hadn't finished, so I waited for her outside the meeting room, leaning on the wall right next to the door.

I stayed like that for approximately ten minutes, my hands stuffed in my pockets. Finally, people started coming out of the room, one after the other. Nathan was one of the first to exit, and as soon as I saw him, I greeted him with a nod.

Courteously, I also greeted the multiple individuals who were passing by— the women by removing my hat and bowing, the men by slightly nodding at them. While some were kind enough to acknowledge my gesture and greet me back, the others simply ignored me.

At last, my dear guardian left the room and closed the door behind her.

-"So now I'm dear to you, huh?" she mocked me.

-"I thought you were better than that, Amanda. No hello, no good afternoon? I'm disappointed," I teased her back, shaking my head.

-"Changing the subject, aren't we," she smirked.

I opened my mouth to fire back, but no words came out. 

She had won.

-"Of course I did, sweetheart. I always do. Remember that."

-"That's good. You could be my good luck charm then, during this investigation."

Only when the words left my mouth did I realize how wrong they sounded.

-"Oh. I didn't mean..." I started, trying to explain. But how could I, when even I had no idea what happened?

She, on the other hand, seemed to understand whatever was going on, because she rose an eyebrow at me, derisively.

-"I meant that you are going to be of great help while I'm working on that case. Since you always win and all that," I rectified.

-"Yeah, okay," she said, just to shut me up. 

I face-palmed mentally. 

-"Good job, Paul! You always know how to start deep and meaningful conversations," my inner voice so kindly quipped.

-"Shut up," I told it.

Now really wasn't the time for that. We had more urgent and important matters to discuss.

-"So, where do you suggest to start?" she asked.

-"First of all, do you want to do it my way or yours?"

-"What do you mean?"

-"Like, do you want to use the classic detective's methods, or do you want to go straight to the oh-I-have-superpowers-and-I-will-use-them-to-investigate techniques?"

-"Let's do it my way. It's better."

-"Okay, then. That's one thing settled! We're doing a pretty good job, aren't we?"

-"Shut up. Do you have any suggestions?"

-"I have something to ask, more precisely. Can't we just go back and bring Bob from the past?"

We had been wandering through the hallways for a while now. But as soon as I said these words, Amanda stumbled and almost fell, had I not held her up and prevented her face from colliding with the ground.

-"So it's not a good idea. Thanks for answering."

-"You don't understand. There are specific rules in time-travel," she said while getting back up on her feet.

-"Let me guess. We can't make changes in the past while people are watching you because it might have severe consequences in the future? Is that how it works here?"

-"Yes, it is," she confirmed, surprised. "How did you figure it out?"

-"It's pretty logical, I guess. I mean, all these time-travelers died in missions, yet I saw no one bringing them back. I immediately assumed that this was forbidden here, or something like that."

-"You are, truth be told, right. One of our most important laws is that changing something in the past, especially if there's someone around you, is prohibited, seeing that it can have severe effects on the current present and even the future. And that includes bringing people back from the past."

-"So that's not an option. Do you have any suggestions? I don't really know how you guys proceed during your investigations."

-"I think I have already mentioned that it would be a great idea to think about Bob's past and try to see if he had any enemies."

-"I was thinking about that the other night. I don't recall Bob ever being in a fight, you know? He was always that friendly guy everyone liked to be around."

-"Are you sure? Is there no one who could hold a grudge against him?"

-"Hmm, now that I think of it, there might be two or three guys who didn't appreciate him, but that was a long time ago when I was a freshman in high school, and he, a sophomore. I don't think they have anything to do with his death."

-"It never hurts to check," she simply replied, smiling.

-"Their names are Victor Lombard and David Carpentier. The third one never really had an encounter with Bob or me, but there were rumors that he couldn't stand my best friend because of some girl he used to date that had become Bob's girlfriend later on. You know, typical high school drama. Very complicated, if you ask me."

-"What's the name of the third one, though?"

-"Edgard Robespierre or something," I answered, and waved my hand at her, dismissing her question.

I had more important things to say, which is why I continued:

"We should ask Samantha about these guys, see if she knows whether Bob had met them recently or not. We could ask her if there was someone else who despised him too."

-"Sounds good. We'll start with Sam, then."

By then, we had arrived in front of another door. Pushing it wide open, Amanda went in, dragging me behind her. The room looked like some kind of lounge, yet there was practically no one here, except us.

Settling down on the couch, Amanda started staring at the coffee table in front of us.

-"What are you doing?" I questioned.

-"Shh. I'm calling Samantha. She will be joining us any minute now."

And indeed, not long after, Samantha entered the room, confusion and puzzlement stretching over her features.

I exchanged a glance with Amanda.

As if coming to an understanding, we declared together:

-"Sam, we need to talk."