Get Out Of My Dreams (Joe the Magic Man Series Book 1)

by Allan J. Lewis

  Burrows crossed her legs, opened her book again, and rested it on her knee. With pen in hand, she asked, “What did he tell you?”

  “He said the chauffeur, Carlos, looked genuinely shocked when they announced him guilty.” Alice was repeating the story Joe had told her to say, word for word as if she were reading it. “Joe had to get into Carlos’ dreams to find out if he was being framed, or if he was truly guilty, and when he found out he was being framed, he could see the justice system was making an ass out of itself again.”

  “Did he say justice system?” interrupted Burrows, “or is that your version of what he said?”

  “Those are his words.”

  Burrows was jotting it down. “Carry on, Mrs. Timberlake.” She wrote a couple of notes to herself—He must have been in court for the verdict of Carlos. Pull all tapes and newspapers’ photos to see who was in court that day––to check out later.

  Alice went on: “He said it was hard work finding out who killed Jacobson. He tried Mr. Saunders’ mind first, and he was innocent. Then he paid a visit to Mrs. Saunders’ dreams and found out she was the guilty party––the rest you know.”

  “I don’t,” John shook his head. “What happened?”

  Burrows closed her book again; her heart was, once again, racing away with this new development. “Yes, Joe is right, I do know the incident. It was some years back, and it was the one that got us interested in the Magic Man in the first place. Or, Joe, as he now wants to be called.” Burrows sighed as she tried to remember. “Mr. Saunders and Mr. Jacobson were partners in a law firm. Jacobson wanted a file that was in a safe in the Saunders’ house, and Saunders couldn’t go and fetch it because he was in an important meeting. He told Jacobson to fetch it himself.

  “The story that Mrs. Saunders gave to the police was that she was in the house at the time of the shooting. She was upstairs sorting out some clothes to give to a charity shop. She had the radio on low, but heard a car come up the drive, and when she looked out of the bedroom window, she saw the chauffeur, Carlos, getting out of the car, and thought no more of it. However, a few minutes later she heard a bang; she wasn’t sure if it was a car door slamming, or the back door of the house, so she went downstairs to find out. And there in their living room, in front of an open safe, was what she thought was her husband lying face down in a pool of blood, a hole in the back of his head. She phoned in that her husband had been shot, and they’d been robbed. It was only when the crime scene team turned the body over to put him on a stretcher that she realized it wasn’t her husband; it was her husband’s partner, Jacobson.”

  “She must have been relieved?” John said flatly.

  Burrows didn’t answer John’s question as she continued her story: “The police asked what was missing from the safe. She told them they only kept about four hundred dollars there, and paperwork that her husband worked on from home. She told the police the chauffeur must have been there at the time and heard the shot because she saw him through the bedroom window. Of course, the police went to see why Carlos left the crime scene. He acted suspiciously, and when the police searched his garage, they found a gun and four hundred dollars in his toolbox.”

  “If he was innocent,” John gave a knowing grin, “it would appear he was set up by Mrs. Saunders.”

  “True, but the law wouldn’t have known that if it weren't for Joe making Mrs. Saunders come forward and confess.”

  “But why did she want to kill Jacobson?” John asked.

  “Apparently someone had offered to buy the firm for seven million dollars. Jacobson was willing to sell and retire, but Mrs. Saunders’ husband wanted to keep it going. Mrs. Saunders tried her best to get her husband to sell. They weren’t happily married. She must have been trying to think of a way to get rid of him, so when Mrs. Saunders thought she heard her husband downstairs it probably seemed like a golden opportunity for her. She got her husband’s gun and shot Jacobson, thinking it was her husband—I guess they looked and dressed alike. The chauffeur only lived about 200 yards down the road, so it didn’t take her long to get there, plant the gun and money, get back to the house, and then phone it in. I guess she thought she had committed the perfect murder.”

  Alice was taking it all in; it was making Joe out to be a good guy. “So, what you are saying is, Joe sorted her out?”

  Burrows nodded. “What got us interested was, an hour after confessing, Mrs. Saunders wanted a lawyer. She reckoned she had been hypnotized into saying those things, and writing the confession. Anyone with that kind of power—for getting the truth out of someone just like that––could be of enormous help to us. So, that’s when the FBI took an interest in who they now call the Magic Man.” A faint smile came to Burrows’ lips. “So, tell Joe I look forward to working with him.”

  Alice concurred: “I’ll tell him.”

  “I have to go back to Virginia today, but I’ll phone you tomorrow to see what Joe’s answer is now that he is aware there are rewards.”

  ~

  Joe was flabbergasted at the size of the potential of the rewards. He had watched Special Agent Burrows the whole morning, through Alice’s eyes, and he had jumped from mind to mind. He decided to stay in Burrows’ thoughts as she drove back to her hotel, and discovered her thoughts were of getting him to work with her. He would be a feather in her cap, and help her to climb to the top of the Bureau. Joe found out that Burrows’ enthusiasm was genuine––she sincerely wanted his help. Joe spent the rest of the morning thinking about what was best to do. He popped into Alice’s mind. She was reading through the letters sent into Agony Aunt, and John was outside cleaning the car.

  “Alice, can you hear me?” Alice jumped a mile. “Shit, you’ve done it again. You won’t be happy until you give me a heart attack.”

  “I’m sorry, it’s the only way, and I wasn’t sure if I could contact you again. I still can’t work it out how we are talking like this.”

  “I’ll have to get used to it, I guess––and, it’s called telepathic communication.” His thought patterns were so clear to her, she had to look around the room to make sure he wasn’t there. “I guess I’ve got to adjust to you popping into my mind because Burrows wants me to work with you.”

  “Why, what did she say?” Joe could feel her discomfort as she looked around the room. He already knew what was said in the meeting, and had worked out what he thought was the best way to go about it. At the moment, money was not a problem for him, but in the near future another wage would come in handy.

  “Tomorrow morning I’ve got to phone her up in Quantico with your response.” Alice gave a sigh, hoping Joe would take the job.

  “Right. The only way I can think of helping the FBI is through you, though.” He could feel the excitement rising in Alice. “I’m going to have to trust you a lot, so I think we should be partners in this venture. Whatever wage or bonus they pay us, it’s all to go in your name. When I need money, you’ll have to transfer it to me discreetly. The Feds will try to trace the money, hoping to catch me. I know they can trace notes, as well, and if I try to open an overseas account, they’ll follow that money straight to me. So, how we are going to do the transactions, I haven’t worked out yet.”

  “Partners? They want you, not me.” Alice and John had been talking about that reward, and were hoping they could have a share for her help. Alice nearly choked with excitement at the thought of being a partner with a man who could possibly be the only telepathic man in the world.

  “I want you to tell Burrows that you’ll be working with whatever agent they assign to us. You are going to be a freelance reporter. And when we wrap up each case, the FBI will have to give you the scoop. Is that what they call it these days?”

  Alice was dumbstruck. “You want me to be a freelance journalist?”

  “If they want me that bad, they’ll agree to anything.”

  “We need to talk this over. How can you help them if you don’t get to meet with them?” Alice’s mind was in a spin as she tried to work it
out, and as Joe told her the idea he was working on.

  By the time John came in from outside, Joe had told Alice everything. But she wasn’t to tell John. He would want to know how she had contacted Joe while she was awake, and for now she had to keep that to herself. The excitement of being a freelance reporter was killing her. How she was going to wait until the morning to tell John the plan Joe had just told her, she didn’t know.

  Chapter14

  John was up and had left for work before Alice could tell him what Joe had proposed. With John back to work, she had the house to herself. Alice phoned Burrows, and she nervously

  told her what Joe wanted if he was going to help. She hoped that Burrows wouldn’t detect the nervousness in her voice. Burrows was sitting at her desk, half excited that Joe was willing to work for them, but she wasn’t happy with the stipulations Joe had set out. “Let me get this straight ... Joe says that if an agent gives you the information needed, and shows you a photo of whom we want investigated, you’ll read it and study the photo. Then he will come to you in your sleep and glean all the information off you, and he’ll be able to recognize the photo that you looked at earlier.” Burrows shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t buy that.” She laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. “You being a freelance journalist, we can work around. And, how we pay him is up to him. But he’ll have to work with our agent, or we can’t be responsible for his safety.”

  “It’s his safety he’s worrying about!” Alice answered sharply. “Joe doesn’t want to meet any of your teams. He’s afraid someone in the Bureau might be scared he will get into their dreams and find out something they want kept secret. Just think about it.”

  Burrows swiveled in her chair. “I see. Yes, I suppose we’ve all got our secrets. But I’m sure our agents wouldn’t…” she struggled for the right word, “wouldn’t retaliate or hurt Joe in any way.”

  “Joe doesn’t want to take that chance. He doesn’t want to put any of your teams in that predicament. A man with Joe’s gift won’t have any friends, especially in the FBI. Everyone will think Joe is reading their minds; they’ll be afraid to talk to him. If anyone was to look into Joe’s eyes, knowing what Joe’s capabilities are, then they’ll be too afraid to go to sleep at night.” Alice could picture the worried look on Burrows’ face.

  “I see what you mean.” Burrows’ mind was in overdrive as she tried to figure a way around the issue. She couldn’t believe Joe could recognize someone from a photo that Alice had looked at. That seemed impossible, but then again, she couldn’t believe he could get into people’s dreams and take part in a sexual fantasy with them, either. In reality, she shared her team’s fear of meeting the Magic Man if he could do all he said he could.

  “Okay, Mrs. Timberlake, I’m going to put Joe to the test. I’m going to email you some photos, and the ones you recognize we’ll leave out, but the other ones you don’t know you can ask Joe if he knows who they are. I don’t want you to cheat by asking your husband or a friend who they are, and there’s no way I can corroborate the test so I’m going to have to trust your honesty on this.” It was a childish test, and she was sure he’d fail it; however, if he didn’t, how else could she go to her boss with such a ridiculous, far-fetched plan as Joe had suggested without some proof he could do it?

  An hour later, Alice had six photos to look at that Burrows had emailed her. She phoned Burrows. “I know two of them––Martin Luther King, and the other one is an old film star. He was in Shane … something … Ladd. But I don’t know the others.”

  “Okay, good. Tonight, you ask Joe if he recognizes the other four in the photos, and we’ll talk tomorrow.” She couldn’t believe she was asking Alice to do something so unusual.

  John didn’t have his normal welcome when he came home from work. Alice went to greet him with a big kiss as soon as he came through the door. Surprised, and thinking the warm welcome was because he was back to work, John returned her kiss and gave her a hug, “Hi honey.” He waited for her to ask him how his first day back to work had gone.

  Instead, Alice stepped back from him with a big grin on her face. “Well, aren’t you going to ask me if Joe came to me in my dream last night?”

  Taken aback, John chuckled, “Yeah, but can we have a cup of coffee first?”

  Alice looped her arm through his and led him to the kitchen. She had so much to tell him, she didn’t know where to start. “You’ll never guess what Joe wants me to do!” She didn’t give him a chance to reply. “He wants me to be a go-between, between him and the FBI, and a freelance journalist––and Burrows agreed!”

  “Whoa! Slow down! Why don’t you start by telling me about the dream?”

  Alice went about making the coffee as she told John all about her dream, and what Joe had proposed. Then she went on to tell him what Burrows had said and wanted.

  They talked it over as they drank their coffee, with John getting excited along with Alice at the thought of her having a good job at last.

  “Oh, by the way, the clinic phoned and both our blood samples came back clear, no drugs in our systems,” Alice said as an afterthought.

  “Of course they would be clear,” John replied selfconsciously. “We both know now how Joe got us doing whatever we did.”

  “Yes, you know, I don’t think I can ever forgive him for what he put us through,” she gave John a stern look. “He did all this just to get revenge on your bad driving!”

  “But you are still going to work with him, right?” John held his breath as Alice took a moment to answer.

  “Yes, it’s an offer I can’t refuse. But there’s not going to be any hanky-panky in my dreams.” She lifted her head and put on a brave face. “It’s going to be strictly business, with both sides trusting each other.”

  John gave her a kiss. “I’ve got a good feeling about this.” He didn’t know Joe had planted that feeling in his mind, and in Alice’s. “Now, what have we got for supper? I’m starving.”

  Alice realized she hadn’t even asked her husband about his day: “Oh, how did your first day back to work go, love?” Happily, she listened to him rattle on about it, as she busied herself getting their supper prepared.

  ~

  The following morning Burrows phoned Alice. “Mrs. Timberlake, how did the test go?”

  “All right, I guess.” Alice had the photos and the answers on the table in front of her. “The photo of a soldier in the jeep was a British leader in the Second World War. Joe can’t remember his name, but the soldiers were called the Desert Rats.”

  “That’s close enough, his name was Monty, and, yes, they were called the Desert Rats.”

  “The others were Al Jolson, the singer; Broderick Crawford, the actor; and Ben Johnson, the Canadian runner.”

  “Well,” Agent Burrows felt a little embarrassed at the silly test. “Joe has passed with flying colors.” She still found it hard to believe someone could do something so extraordinary. “He really came to you in your sleep, you told him everything we talked about, and he could see those photos in your mind?” Burrows was sure it was unheard of.

  “I was under hypnosis; I told him everything he wanted to know,” Alice lied, “and I assume he saw the photos in my mind.”

  “That’s remarkable.” Burrows couldn’t wait to tell her boss, who was thinking along the same lines that she was––if Joe was for real, then he’d be an asset to them. “Mrs. Timberlake, Special Agent Jones will call you in the next couple of days. You’ll be working with him for Joe’s first case. He’s been told about Joe being the Magic Man, and he’s to use Joe through you, the best way he sees fit. You can also tell Joe that the Magic Man is no longer on the most wanted list.”

  “Wow, that’s good news! Joe will be pleased to hear that.”

  “I’m sure he will be. I’ll be keeping an eye out, as well. Tell Joe not to let me down—my ass is on the line here.”

  Alice put the phone down and couldn’t wait for Joe to contact her. She paced the room, whispering to hersel
f: “Come on Joe, where are you?”

  Joe was in her mind, and was just as excited, but he didn’t want her to know that he could be with her at any time, and her not know he was there. He felt guilty about it, but he waited a little longer before whispering, “Alice, are you there?”

  Alice jumped, even though she was expecting to hear from him. “Hi Joe, I think we’ve got the job.” Alice went on excitedly, telling Joe what Burrows had said. “Joe, I don’t mind telling you, I’m shit scared about meeting this Agent Jones.”

  “Yes, but we’ve got some time to think about that.” Joe took a deep breath, because what he was about to tell Alice could spoil it for the both of them. “Alice, if we are going to be working together from now on, I’ve got a confession to make, and I’m glad I’m not standing next to you because you’re probably going to want to hit me.”

  “Why would you think that? You didn’t have a fantasy with me last night, and erase my memory, did you?” Alice screwed her face up in disgust.

  “No, I said I wouldn’t do that again to you and John, and I meant it, but it’s just as bad.” He cleared his throat. “You know that I can talk to you now in your mind while you are awake, but, I can also see what you see right now. It’s part of my gift.” Joe held his breath while he waited for her reaction.

  “So you can see what I’m looking at now?”

  “You are looking at the phone.”

  A cold shiver ran through Alice. “Oh my God, this is freaking me out.” She breathed in deeply. “I couldn’t understand how you could see in my dreams what I had seen earlier in the day, and now you’re telling me you can see what I’m looking at right now!”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. But I’ve got to be honest with you so you’ll know in the future that when we are talking like this I can see everything you can.” Joe could feel the tension in her. He tried to make a joke of it: “So don’t go and have a shower when you are talking to me, unless you keep your eyes closed.” Alice didn’t laugh. “You know the night that you dreamt that I came to take your photo for the boys in prison?”