Mind (the) Game

by Kelly Shade

  There she met Sam from the robbery team looking anxious. While waiting for him to finish with making his coffee, Jane decided to start a conversation.

  “Hey, what’s up with you?” she asked politely, as never before.

  “I, I’m fine.” Sam just realized he wasn’t alone in the kitchen.

  “A complicated case, I presume?” Jane insisted.

  “You can say that.” Sam answered and tapped the coffee machine as if it would make it run faster.

  “Can I help?” Jane continued.

  “No, it is just…” he started “I can’t share the details but there are a bunch of missing files from a storage… a very important storage and we weren’t there on time. I’ll probably lose my job.” He finished. On his face Jane could see pure fear and sadness.

  “You will be fine! They won’t fire you over that!” Blake pointed out, having no idea how important that storage was.

  “Oh, they would kick my ass out of here for less, Blake!” Sam puffed and took his cup “But this one is serious, I think we have no chance catching whoever did it.”

  “Cameras?” Jane asked, and fear was starting to overwhelm her as well. It was her and J they were looking for.

  “No, they were disabled after the guards saw their boss making out with his secretary. The boys thought he did it because of his wife.” Sam said and walked to the exit “It’s messed up, so messed up…” he talked on the way and waved at Jane for goodbye.

  Blake was puzzled. J could have done it without her for sure, he definitely didn’t need her. Jane was getting more and more annoyed by this Johnathan. After he left without telling her anything Jane decided to keep away from him because she thought he was just a crazy fan of hers but that new development made her rethink the strategy. Blake didn’t want to deal with him again but maybe she had to, maybe he was a lot more than she expected.

  Blake spent the whole morning in thinking about this arrogant thief and trying to figure out what was the reason he involved her in that robbery. Jane was so into her own cloud castle that she heard the ring of the phones maybe on the third time. She looked around and realized that Nick and Victoria were out, maybe for lunch and Ryan was asleep on his desk. Jane reached to pick up the phone but Gray suddenly woke up and grabbed it imitating a totally awake voice he said. “LAPD, Ryan Gray listening!”

  The conversation took longer than a normal call when there was a murder somewhere. Blake wondered how bad it would be if Ryan had to write down so many things on his notepad. He hung up and looked at Blake with concern and kind of sleepy eyes.

  “What?” Jane asked impatiently.

  “Jane, umm, I think we found your grandmother.” He said quietly.

  “You, what?” Jane continued to ask.

  “A nurse from a mental clinic called and said, that the woman from the picture was there. She saw you on TV and wanted to help.” Said Gray.

  “Another call?” Jane leaned back in her chair and all the excitement disappeared. Blake had received millions of calls about that photo, all of them with useless info, hoping to get the hundred-thousand-dollar reward Jane promised. Blake was fed up with dealing with greedy idiots.

  “Jane, I think this one is real.” Ryan stood up, put his jacket on and waved her to do the same “We have to check it!”

  Blake was amazed by the confidence Ryan had in that nurse. Normally he was the one with the rude comments for the people who claimed to have information about the photograph.

  ◆◆◆

  Gray and Blake were driving to the clinic which was in a small city in Oregon. Jane noticed that the clinic itself was well equipped and renovated. When they walked in, a nice lady welcomed them and after Ryan asked for the nurse who had called him, the lady walked them to a relatively young, short and chubby woman with big hoop earrings and several necklaces on her neck.

  Ryan and Jane introduced themselves and the nurse, Patty Ribbon, send the lady who welcomed them away so they can speak in private.

  “Ms. Elizabeth Cole had been here for a long time.” Patty started speaking after they settled in the chairs in the resting area.

  “Why did you call now?” Jane asked.

  “I was hired a few months ago. I couldn’t recognize Eli as the woman of the photograph until I saw the same one in her room. I called immediately after I saw it.” Said Patty quietly and looked around as if worried not to be heard.

  “I’m guessing the others told you not to call?” Blake suggested.

  Patty nodded and whispered “They told me I got mistaken because I didn’t say anything about the identical photos. The head nurse made me promise I won’t say anything so I don’t disturb the patient.”

  “You are very brave, Patty!” said Ryan and held her trembling hand.

  “Can you tell us why is Elizabeth Cole here?” Blake still couldn’t believe the nurse.

  Patty took a deep breath, looked around and spoke as quietly as she could “As far as I know, Eli fought cancer years ago and for some time she was fine, but then she,” Patty lowered her tone even more “I have no idea why, but she had some kind of psychological trauma which, eventually, led to dementia. Right now Eli doesn’t know who she is most of the time.”

  Ryan and Jane looked at each other, both of them wondering what could cause such a big trauma. What did that woman go through?

  “Does Mrs. Cole have any visitors?” Ryan asked still with puzzled expression.

  “Nobody has visited her for the last two or three months.” Sighted Patty but in a moment, her face looked like something enlightened her and she said slowly as if trying not to mistake the details “I know a woman came once a month or two, Eli recognized her.”

  “What was her name?” Gray asked eagerly.

  “I don’t remember a name but I think Eli called her Mel” Said Patty.

  “That’s a nice start, don’t you think Jane?” smiled Ryan.

  “Can you describe her?” Jane ignored Ryan which made him return to his serious face again.

  “Actually, I haven’t seen her, but I checked the cameras once and even though I saw her for seconds, I can tell that she looked a lot like you!” Patty turned to Jane who frowned at the new information so the nurse decided to explain more “She was with long black hair like you, her figure was like yours and she was wearing a black track suit with something goldish on it. I couldn’t see her face because she wore a hat.”

  Jane knew this must have been her biological mother. She came to visit her mother through the years but after Blake made an announcement on national television, holding a picture of Elizabeth and her child, that woman freaked out and stopped visiting. Jane was excited and mad at the same time. It was nice to know her mother was alive and well, that they were alike. But if she stopped visiting on purpose it meant she knew about Jane. And that wasn’t the fact which annoyed Blake, the thing that bothered her the most was that her birth mother didn’t want to be found, she clearly didn’t want to meet Jane.

  Blake’s wandering eyes must have showed Ryan what was in her head because he put his hand on hers and whispered “We’ll find her!” That gesture meant a lot to Jane, because of it now she knew for sure that Ryan haven’t given up on her. Blake didn’t move her hand until Gray removed his and turned to Patty “Can we please speak to Mrs. Elizabeth Cole?”

  “Yes,” sighted Patty and stood up “but just so you know she never married, so it’s Ms. Cole.”

  Jane and Ryan followed the nurse down the corridor then through the stairs, two stories above and finally on the end of the hallway they were in front of the room where Jane’s grandmother was.

  Patty left them alone, she hurried downstairs hoping that the main nurse wouldn’t notice her absence.

  Blake and Gray stood in front of the door, Ryan was waiting for Jane to walk in first and he wanted her to be ready. Jane reached for the handle but didn’t pushed the door, she froze. She stared at it as if she didn’t know what to do. After waiting many years, wondering and hoping to meet her
birth relatives, Jane only met her biological grandfather who tried to kill her three times. At this point she didn’t know if she wanted to see what her grandmother looked like. What if she was the same cold and psychopathic person as Morse?

  Blake stood there, with hand on the handle, focused on the lock, not moving a muscle. Ryan stroke her on the back and opened his mouth to speak but obviously the touch was enough for Jane to act. Blake’s face became straight and serious, her eyes cleared and she walked in as if she didn’t have all those thoughts just a second ago. Ryan followed her.

  A small room with one bed covered with an orange blanket, a desk, a chair, an armchair and a closet, was where Elizabeth Cole spent more than twenty-five years. Jane fixed her eyes on the woman sitting in the puffy white armchair facing the window. At that point, Jane could only see the short grey curly hair and the wrinkled hands with popped up veins of her grandmother. Blake carefully got closer, she thought she may be sleeping. But when Jane was right behind the armchair she saw that Elizabeth was staring at the wonderful garden outside where other patients were having a walk.

  “Elizabeth Cole?” Jane asked with an effort, her heart was beating in her throat.

  The woman turned around. Blake was face to face with her grandmother for the first time in her life. Elizabeth had many wrinkles on her thin face. Her skinny figure dressed with an old fashioned sleeveless blue dress with small flowers on it and dark brown confused eyes.

  “Mel, you came!” the woman said with soft, quiet voice. Her eyes fixed on Jane and all the confusion was replaced with excitement.

  “I’m not, urgh, I…” Jane was about to say the truth but she changed her mind “I did. I’m sorry it took me so long.”

  Ryan glanced at her, shaking his head in disapproval, but Jane shushed him. She turned to Elizabeth which was glowing from happiness.

  “How are you?”

  “Better now that you are here, sweetheart!” Elizabeth said with a wide smile then froze, focused on Ryan and pointed him with trembling finger “This is not Jim! Where is Jimmy?”

  Gray jumped back of surprise. Jane also didn’t understand who Jim was so she decided to ask still playing the role of Mel “Who is Jimmy? My brother?”

  “Don’t be stupid, sweetie! You don’t have a brother!” said Elizabeth and laughed.

  “Yeah, I know!” Jane tried to fix her mistake and waved at Ryan “This is a friend.”

  “Jimmy would be jealous if you have that handsome male friends, Mel! You know what I always say, don’t double date and keep yourself safe!” smiled the woman.

  Jane nodded as if she had heard these words many times before. Gray also smiled with confusion and Elizabeth relaxed.

  Blake quietly opened the drawer of the desk next to her grandmother and saw the same picture of Elizabeth and her baby, that Jane had.

  Jane wanted to get as much information as she could so she tried with a different approach. “Dad sends you his love.” She said and shook off the awful feeling after referring to Morse as ‘dad’.

  Unfortunately, Jane knew this was a double-edged sword and Elizabeth reaction was proving it. Ms. Cole’s eyes widened, her eyebrows went all the way up to her forehead, she leaned back in her armchair and froze.

  Blake got scared and reached to check Elizabeth’s pulse but the woman grabbed her arm, pulled Jane forwards and said with husky voice “If your dad loved me, he wouldn’t…”

  Elizabeth suddenly stopped talking, released Jane’s wrist and after a minute of silence her expression changed as if they were not talking till now and see each other for the first time.

  “Are you my new roommate?” Ms. Cole asked with a somehow childish tone and gestures.

  “I… What?” Blake didn’t understand what happened.

  “My name is Elizabeth Cole, but you can call me Eli. I’m in my second year, and you?” Elizabeth continued with a smile.

  Blake realized that the woman thought she was still a college student. It was apparent, that mentioning Morse’s name triggered Eli’s dementia and her brain jumped back in time as a safety net. What have Morse done to her? What was so awful to provoke this kind of reaction?

  “Yes, I am, Eli. Nice to meet you!” Jane pretended again and added “I have to get my stuff.”

  Ryan and Jane went out and headed straight to the director’s office. After lying to the director, a scary looking woman with a frog-like face, that they had an anonymous signal and they had to see the video tapes for the last six months, Jane and Ryan were alone in the small room where the monitors and all the tapes were.

  Blake and Gray spent hours in reviewing the recordings and the only thing they could see was Mel’s back. It was obvious she was avoiding the cameras on purpose. Blake got annoyed and wanted to go, but Ryan stopped her.

  “I’ll check who’s paying for Eli and then we will go, okay?” he said.

  “Can’t you do that from the office?” Blake complained.

  “I can but if I do it here it will be much faster. I’m in their system now, it’ll take a minute!” he explained while opening multiple windows on the absurdly old computer they had to use.

  Jane sat back next to him with a bored expression. She knew who paid – it had to be Morse! What was the point of waiting for Ryan to prove the obvious? Anyway, Jane stayed silently in her chair, she knew Ryan will find everything he wanted quickly.

  And soon enough Gray was ready, he spoke with a satisfied face “Well, Michael Morse was the sponsor but he re-routed the transactions through multiple accounts. I believe the owners of those accounts had no idea that they’ve been used.”

  “Well, I could have told you that ten minutes ago.” Jane frowned “Can we go now please?”

  ◆◆◆

  Gray convinced Blake to have a cup of coffee together at her place. They settled at the round table in Jane’s motel room, discussed all the new information and Ryan spent twenty minutes typing on his laptop until he found Melissa Cole’s first and last credit card statement. Jane’s birth mother had no criminal history so she wasn’t in the system, she didn’t have any property or anything at all under her name. The only piece of information Ryan could find was a credit card under Melissa’s name which was issued thirty years ago. It appeared that Mel used the card once, ordering a plane ticket from Florida to New York.

  “I’m thinking maybe she couldn’t stand her father and decided to run but he caught her and that was the end of the drama.” Jane shared her thoughts with Ryan who was still trying to find more but with no success.

  “Yeah, probably.” He admitted defeat and pushed the laptop away from him. “What bothers me the most is that she never checked in at any hospital, not even when she gave birth to you.”

  “Well, it is easy, Morse gave her multiple identities.” Jane explained without hesitation.

  What bothered Jane the most was the fact that her birth mother appeared to be on Morse’s side. Blake thought that maybe someone stole her as a baby or Morse lied to his daughter somehow, but after all the information Jane had, now it looked like her mother just left her without any good reason.

  “Ryan, it is obvious, Morse is a monster, yes, but Melissa is no different.” Blake sighted “Nobody deceived her, she just didn’t want a baby.” Jane continued.

  “How can you be sure?” Ryan asked. For him this couldn’t be possible, a mother not wanting her child.

  “It’s either that or she is very stupid.” Jane laughed.

  Ryan decided to stop the conversation, he felt uncomfortable offending Jane’s birth mother without knowing what was her situation. Gray, as always, believed in people till proven otherwise. He was the type who will give a second chance to anyone.

  Blake, on the other hand, knew that people can be cruel and she chose not to trust anyone. It was way easier not to expect good from anyone.

  Ryan went silent, obviously not knowing what else to say. Jane didn’t mind some quiet and she didn’t try to initiate another conversation. Blake hoped he will go and
leave her with her thoughts but of course this wasn’t in Ryan’s style. He would stay for hours and eventually try to think of a subject to talk about.

  But now he didn’t need much time, the topic was in his head and bothered him for days.

  “I hope you haven’t forgot what I told you, Jane.” Ryan started with hesitation.

  “You told me what exactly?” Blake hoped he wasn’t talking about the ‘night’.

  “I said that I love you and I stand by those words.” He was going exactly on the direction Jane didn’t want to discuss. “Why don’t you want to accept the obvious, Jane? We are more than partners, definitely more than friends!” he finished while staring at Jane, whose eyes were fixed on her coffee mug.

  Blake’s cheeks reddened. At first Ryan thought it was from embarrassment but when her glowing green eyes focused on him he understood this was pure anger.

  “How many times I should explain it to you, Gray?” she said quietly with her trade mark scary calm voice.

  “Will you stop pretending to be calm? Will you at least once show your fucking emotions?” Ryan lost his nerves and shouted “Stop acting like you don’t care about anything and anyone!”

  Jane lifted her eyebrows in surprise, she didn’t expect Ryan to yell like that, she didn’t know he could behave like this.

  For a moment they stared at each other’s angry faces, then Jane spoke with the same tone as before.

  “I don’t have any feelings to show.” She took a breath and added “Please, leave!”

  “To leave?!” Ryan couldn’t believe she was kicking him out. “You want me to leave?”

  “What did you expect, Gray? I told you there is no ‘us’ but you keep bringing this up in every suitable moment!” Jane raised her voice.

  “Of course I will! Fuck…” Ryan shouted again “I can’t take it seeing you…” a loud knock on the door interrupted him.

  Blake took out her weapon from the back pocket of her jeans and went to check who was out there.