“Went away…” Magen repeated. “How exactly did that happen?”
“I don’t know,” Hugo said. “I was just a kid. I went to this store the morning that it happened. I know that much, because my parents were freaking out about how I’d just missed whatever it was by a couple hours. You ask me, it wasn’t such a near miss. I always went here in the morning, and whatever happened to Dr. Mike’s pharmacy happened at night.”
“Dr. Mike?” Magen asked. “He’s the pharmacist?”
“Yeah. Nice guy. A little weird. I remember hearing rumors that he was doing some crazy stuff in the back room. You know how kids come up with stuff like that. Always really cheerful and friendly to me. When you’re an overweight kid with a penchant for comics and Dungeons and Dragons, friendly is something you don’t soon forget.”
“What happened to him?”
Hugo shrugged. “I have no idea. Whole place was inaccessible for a while. Crazy police presence. By the time I could see anything there was nothing there. Picked clean. And I never saw Dr. Mike again.”
Magen looked at Jim. “This fit what you heard at the other store?”
Jim nodded. “Exactly.”
Magen returned his gaze to Hugo. “You said the site was picked clean. How do you mean?”
“Like it was empty. I was a kid, right? So I of course wandered around as soon as I was allowed to get in there. And I wasn’t the only one. I was maybe a little more cautious than most—I can thank Mom and Dad for that— and I was on high alert for broken glass, or maybe some needles or something that a pharmacy would have had. There was nothing. Just dirt.”
“Just dirt…” Magen muttered as he scribbled.
“You know the strangest thing about it?” Hugo asked.
“What’s that?”
“I remember all those police cars, like I said, and reporters trying to get in from all angles. But what I don’t remember was any construction equipment. How the hell do you take away a building with no equipment? And that fast, too.”
“That’s a very good question, Hugo,” Magen said.
“Can I ask why you’re interested in the alley? Like I said, nobody ever asked about it before and it’s been so many years at this point. And with all due respect, sir, I’d think you would have been around on the police force back then, so you probably know more than me.”
Magen grimaced, then forced a smile. “Thanks for pointing out the old man in the room, Hugo. Unfortunately, that site is part of an ongoing investigation and I really can’t say anything more.”
“Totally understand,” Hugo said. “I hope I’ve been able to help a little bit.”
“You’ve been a big help. Would you mind if we circle back around to you if and when some more questions pop up?”
“Not at all, sir. Just let me know.”
“I don’t mean to put pressure on you,” Jim said, “but I’m afraid we’re running out of time and not making any progress.”
They sat at a Mexican restaurant on the southern end of Butler Avenue. Detective Magen picked up one of his chicken and cheese quesadillas, dipped the end into a small cup of guacamole, and took a bite. Jim’s burrito sat mostly untouched on his plate.
“You don’t think Hugo Callahan was convincing?” he mumbled as he chewed.
“No, it’s not that. He definitely was. He just doesn’t have any information we didn’t already get from the women in the clothing store. Everything comes down to the pharmacist.”
“Dr. Mike.”
“Yes. We don’t know his real name and nobody knows what happened to him after the store incident. And nobody knows what the store incident was, anyway. Which brings up a question.”
“You want to know why I don’t know anything about the incident, what with so many police cars all around the way Hugo tells it?”
“Well…yes.”
Magen frowned. “I don’t know because I wasn’t privy to anything about it. I was just starting out back then but I should have been aware, and all I have is a vague memory of a fire burning down the store. Makes me wonder…”
“Wonder what?” Jim asked.
“Makes me wonder if anybody I worked with would have known anything about it. I’d bet that whatever Hugo saw, those weren’t local PD.” Magen wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “I’ve got a few assistants back at the precinct doing searches. Google, plus some internal databases we’ve got access to that the general public wouldn’t be able to search. I also cashed in a favor with a contact at the FBI. That’s how serious I take this, Jim.”
“I appreciate that. I really do. Has anything come back that will help us?”
Magen shook his head. “Nothing so far. Still waiting for a report from my FBI guy but everything I can get my hands on is coming up empty.”
“On Dr. Mike or the store?”
“On both. Well, sort of. There is all the expected documentation in county and town records for the building. Ambler operates as a self-governing entity for many matters so they usually have detailed documentation of permits or anything like that. That’s the case here. However, at some point the documents stop. There’s no news article related to anything happening to the building and it’s not mentioned in any present-day files.”
“At some point… you mean 1989.”
“It seems like it.”
Jim scratched his chin. “And Dr. Mike?”
“Going by the records, it’s like he doesn’t exist.” He held up a hand as he anticipated Jim’s reply. “It’s not like Clyde. Think about it: Your friend doesn’t show up in any files either, but we’ve been able to talk to people who remember Dr. Mike. This isn’t supernatural, I don’t think.”
“So what is it then?”
Magen shrugged. “Seems like somebody doesn’t want him to be found. Maybe he’s in witness protection.”
“So if we can’t find him…what then?”
“Then we do things the old-fashioned way. We use logic.”
“I’m listening.”
Magen took another bite of quesadilla. This time he followed it with a swig of water and waited until he swallowed before speaking.
“This is some good food. Funny how often I’ve come down this street and never stopped in here. And I love Mexican.”
“As funny as nobody knowing a store was hiding in the alley?”
Magen gave a brief laugh. “Good point.”
“So you were saying about using logic?”
“Right. Sorry. Food has a hold on me sometimes. I bet I have that in common with Mr. Callahan. What I was getting at was we can look at the situation of Clyde’s disappearance logically, despite it being an altogether illogical and downright fucking bizarre situation.”
“How do we do that?” Jim asked.
“Look at the facts. The room has only one way in or out. We saw no evidence of anything happening to Clyde within the confines of the room. So unless he broke a hole in the wall, went out that way, and came back to patch it up, what does that tell you?”
“That he went out the door.”
“Precisely.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense. You and I have both come in and out that door. We didn’t go missing. We didn’t get erased from history.”
“True. There’s something to that, but I can’t put my finger on it.” Magen sat up as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him. “I’m finished here if you are. Doesn’t look like you’re in much of an eating mood.”
“No. Not really. We can get going. What do you have in mind?”
“I want to go back to the store. I want to take a closer look at that weird door.”
Back at the abandoned pharmacy, Magen got out some kind of little toolkit. Jim watched as the detective put on rubber gloves, then examined the door from every angle. Magen began dusting for fingerprints, checking the edges of the door and the handles on both sides.
“What do you see?” Jim asked.
Magen held up a hand to silence him and continued his work. Jim decided to w
ander the store while he waited. He returned to the counter. Other than the empty racks, it was the only thing that indicated that a business had operated in the room at one point. Since finding the one sliver of evidence that Clyde had returned to the room, neither Jim nor Magen had seen anything around the counter but dust.
“Do you want to grab any fingerprints from here?” he asked Magen.
The detective nodded. “I will. But the door is what interests me. And it’s produced something.”
“What?”
“Tell me, and really do your best to think about it, did you ever touch the inside door handle? Maybe start to close the door and have second thoughts?”
Jim thought. “No. I don’t think so. I was in here so briefly both times. Never had any reason to do that. Like I told you, I had a sort of sixth sense thing telling me to leave it be.”
Magen considered the response. “Mmhmm. Okay. I’ll take your word for that. There are several prints on the interior handle. They overlap in some cases but I pulled a couple partials and one very clean print. I want to run them against the prints we pulled off the Costco card. Your friend isn’t in any system anywhere in the world anymore, but if we can match the prints we will know he touched the door on that side.”
“Okay… and if he did? What does that mean? That he closed the door like I thought?”
“Right. Maybe it means he closed the door. Something you and I have never done, and which we think might have something to do with what happened to him. Or it could mean nothing. That’s how these things work.”
“Okay, I get that… I’m still missing something, though. What’s so special about the door?”
“You’re the one who told me you got a bad feeling about it,” Magen said. “Your intuition doesn’t go any further than that?”
“No. Does yours?”
“Maybe not, but I don’t have to rely totally on intuition.” He held up something small and blue.
Jim moved closer. “What is that?”
“Somebody, maybe your friend, maybe not, wanted to keep the door open, I think. They taped the edge of the door near the bottom. Maybe so it wouldn’t latch, though that’s not how I’d go about it. But anyway, look closely.”
Jim did. The blue tape was normal on one end. On the other it was singed black and warped. “What did that?”
“I don’t know,” Magen said. “The clean end was on the innermost part of the door edge. The burned end stopped halfway across. Something cut the tape in half and did it with the application of a tremendous amount of energy. At least that’s what it looks like to me.” He opened a small clear bag and dropped the tape fragment in. “I’m going to have the lab take a look at this and the prints.” He pushed the door all the way back open with his gloved hand. “For now, let’s follow your advice and not close ourselves in the room. I want you to go home, Jim. I know time is of the essence, but I’m working this hard from my end and I will continue to do it into the wee hours of the night. If your theory about the full moon is correct, we still have tomorrow to come in here if we need to.”
“You sure I can’t be helpful?” Jim protested.
“The best help you can provide right now is to rest. Spend time with your pregnant wife. I will call tonight if and when I have anything to tell. Got it?”
“Okay. Detective, thank you for your help. Thank you for believing.”
Magen gave him a solemn nod. “It’s my job. And I will do it the best I can. Go home, Jim.”
Chapter Nine
After what Dylan felt might have been one of the most frank and honest conversations of his life, and one that had made his feelings for Emma blossom further, the two of them had engaged in another passionate make-out session that had left him both breathless and eager to get back to a normal life. He thought there was a chance that both of them could take care of that whole virgin issue at some point once they returned to their proper time. As they held each other on the floor of the store, he realized she made him think positively about their chances of escape. It had to happen because he needed it to happen. He needed to explore what he and Emma had found between them.
“I want to try something different,” Dylan said after a while.
“That’s an ironic thing to say, don’t you think?” Emma asked.
“Well, yes. But that’s the point. The situation is always the same and nothing we do makes any difference.”
“So what have you got in mind?”
“A few things, actually. But for right now I’d like to take a look around a little more.”
“Around the store?” she asked. “Or around the town?”
“Town. I just want to walk down the street a little.”
“Okay. You think this will trigger some kind of idea?”
“I hope.”
They started to walk out of the store.
“Hey, you know what’s crazy?” Emma asked.
“A lot of things.”
“Well, yeah. But I’m thinking about how nobody gets too weirded out by our clothes being from 2018.”
“People see what they want to see, I suppose. Just be glad. It’s one of the few breaks we’ve had.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Left or right?”
“Let’s say right. I want to see about getting some things to spruce up the store. We’ve spent enough time on the floor already and it skeeves me out.”
“You going to go steal cleaning supplies?”
Dylan feigned shock. “Madam, I am appalled you would suggest such a thing. I am simply going to ask politely to borrow some cleaning items, like the fine gentleman I am.”
She smiled. “All right, just please let’s not be gone long.”
“You’re gonna miss the store?”
“Ha. No. It just feels safer in there. That’s weird, I know… What?”
“Emma… I really like you.”
“I really like you too.”
They took off down the street. Being in the strange world of the past was becoming more and more familiar. Dylan wished he still had the bike for these excursions, but the exercise was nice, if a little draining.
“The Butler Theater is a block down the street,” Dylan said. “It’s not far from the café.”
“You’re thinking about eating again?” Emma asked. “Damn, you are a growing boy.”
“It’s just familiar. Which is a weird thing to say. It’s how I navigate.”
“Whatever works, my friend.”
They stopped next to the glass double doors at the entrance of the theater and walked inside.
A boy about Dylan’s age stood alone inside the ticket booth. Dylan realized the teenager might have been a classmate of his father. The boy, whose name-tag revealed his identity as “Frank,” looked up at him.
“Hey, have you been standing there long? I get kinda lost in thought standing around by myself.”
“Oh, no,” Dylan said. “We just walked in.”
“Oh okay. How can I help you?”
“I was actually wondering if we could borrow some cleaning stuff. A mop and paper towels maybe?”
Frank raised an eyebrow. “Where are you from?”
“The pharmacy up the street. Customer slipped and had an accident. Spilled some stuff all over the place.”
Frank’s eyes went wide. “Oh boy. That’s awful. They okay?”
“Yeah,” Dylan said. “It’s all fine now, but there’s a mess.”
“You work for Dr. Mike?”
“Well…no,” Emma said, “but we happened to be in the store and volunteered to go get some stuff.”
“Dr. Mike doesn’t have cleaning supplies?”
“Um…he does, but it’s a pretty big mess and—”
“Okay, it’s not a problem. Just listen, my boss will kill me if this stuff goes missing. Make sure to get it back to me, okay?”
“You got it,” Dylan agreed.
Frank disappeared for a while, then came out a side door carrying a mop and bucket and a roll of Bounty paper
towels. “Anything else?”
“No, that should be fine,” Emma said.
“Dude, those sneaks are totally rad!” Frank stared at Dylan’s feet with a goofy smile on his face.
“Thanks…I really should get going.”
“I didn’t even know Nike made anything like that. Where’d you get them?”
“Oh, you know, the mall.”
“Willow Grove?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Wow. I have gotta get those for myself. Awesome, man.”
Dylan nodded and he and Emma turned to go. At the door he turned back. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
Frank was almost back inside the theater. “Sure,” he said as he turned around. “What’s up?”
“Do you go to school with a Brian Merchant?”
Frank looked surprised. “I do. He your cousin? You actually look a lot like him.”
“Yeah, that’s it. First cousins. Anyway, thanks for the stuff.”
“You got it. Just bring it back, right?”
“Sure.”
They left the theater. Emma turned to Dylan and smiled. “So much for nobody knowing our clothes are from the future. You jinxed it, you know that?”
“Yeah, totally did.”
“That kid knows your dad, doesn’t he? That’s who Brian Merchant is.”
“Yep. This just gets more and more bizarre, doesn’t it?”
When they got to the pharmacy, Emma stood in the doorway. She turned and looked at him with sly amusement on her face. “We got a mop,” she said.
“Yes, and a bucket too…” Dylan said with some confusion.
“Do we have water for this bucket?” she asked.
Dylan’s face fell. “Oh. I guess not.”
“Well I guess we’ll have to find a way to get it filled. In the meantime, can you elaborate on what you were saying before? On the topic of doing something different… not that bringing back cleaning supplies with no water isn’t different…”
“Hilarious,” he said. “But yeah, well, for one thing, I keep thinking about how nobody sees us.”
“What do you mean? Lots of people have seen us. The kid we just talked to, for example.”
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