Time Lost

by C. B. Lewis

  “It could have been for something specific that Sanders was working on, or for something general,” Jacob admitted. “We can’t be sure. We only know that the hard drives and backup data from Sanders’s private computers were all taken by John Smith’s accomplice.”

  “And the TRI don’t know either?” Temple frowned. “That seems unlikely.”

  “Turns out Sanders was very secretive about new developments,” Jacob said. “It’s possible that someone from the future heard about the developments and decided to come back and take them ahead of their time.”

  “But they already have time travel.” Anton shook his head. “Why would they need it?”

  “Was he still working on his teleportation development?” Lender asked.

  “We don’t know,” Jacob said. “His colleagues don’t either.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Crawford said.

  “Yes.” Jacob met Crawford’s eyes. “They have guaranteed full access to all available information. I don’t believe they have anything left to hide.” He nodded across the table to Temple. “I’m going to send Temple and several of the technicians down there to work with the TRI operatives to see if they can shed some light on the situation.”

  “What about the memory chip from the eye?”

  Jacob glanced over at one of the technicians. “Leo?”

  Leo blinked in alarm at being put on the spot. He was one of the younger members of the team. “Still working on it,” he said. “The coding is a mess, but I’m working through it.”

  “How long do you think that’s going to take?” Lender asked.

  “How long’s a piece of string?” Leo fidgeted. “I’m doing the best I can, but it’s more advanced than anything I’ve seen before.”

  “Take your time,” Jacob said. “We need to save what we can. Don’t risk losing data by rushing it.” He glanced back around the table. “Our main priority has to be finding our missing woman. If she’s Smith’s partner, she’s the only one who can explain everything. We have to focus on that. Everything else pertaining to time travel gets passed up the line.”

  Crawford and Lender didn’t look thrilled about it, but frankly, Jacob knew he was dealing with shit so far above his pay grade that he deserved a raise.

  Lender rose. “We want discretion from here on in,” he said. “No one speaks to the media. If we have any information showing up in the press that is part of this investigation, believe me when I say the department will come down on you like a ton of bricks.”

  There was silence as he and Crawford left the room.

  As soon as they were gone, the tension shattered, and a babble of voices washed over Jacob, wanting to know how long he’d known, how he’d worked it out, when he was planning on telling them if the TRI hadn’t released the information.

  He pushed his chair back. “It was only confirmed to me yesterday,” he said. “Temple gave me the answer.”

  “Thanks, sir,” Temple said with a wry smile. “Not sure how, but thanks.”

  He tried to smile in return. “You gave me the idea. I just had to dig further to prove it.” He rose from the chair and glanced around at them. “Temple, you pick two people to go with you to the TRI. I’ll call ahead to let Ashraf know you’re coming. Leo, you keep working on the decryption. Anton, you’re still on CCTV and incoming. Use as many people as you need for it. We need to find that woman.” He turned his wrist up and glanced at his watch. “And I need to go and chase down Harper again, to find out what he knows.”

  He walked out of the door, only to collide with a nervous-looking sergeant.

  “Sorry, sir!” She held up her hands.

  He could only imagine how the DCIs had reacted if they walked out and crashed straight into her, when they were already on edge. “How can I help you, sergeant?”

  “There’s a Mr. Harper downstairs, sir. He said you’d left messages for him?”

  Jacob stared at her. “What? He’s here?”

  “Yes, sir. He arrived about fifteen minutes ago.”

  Jacob frowned. It felt off. What had changed? What had happened in the last hour that got Harper….

  The press conference. He must have seen the press conference.

  “Have him brought up to interview room three,” Jacob said.

  The sergeant nodded and hurried away. Jacob watched her go. He had the familiar tension running through him that came when he knew he was on the edge of something. Harper had only come in because of the TRI going public, of that he was sure.

  He hurried to the toilets, relieving himself and freshening up. He did up the top button of his shirt and straightened his tie. It was one thing to look like crap in front of colleagues. It was something else entirely to expose your throat to someone like Harper.

  By the time Harper was brought into the interview room, Jacob was seated at the desk already. He rose with a polite smile and held out his hand. Harper’s palm was cool and damp against his.

  “Mr. Harper. I’m glad you could make it.”

  Harper subsided down into one of the seats, breathing heavily. His face was flushed with exertion. “Always happy to be of assistance to you people.”

  Curious, Jacob thought, that you didn’t think so last night.

  “You don’t mind if we record this meeting?” He smiled without showing his teeth as he sat back down. “Protocol and what have you.”

  Harper waved a hand, motioning for him to continue.

  Jacob set the monitor to record, providing name, date, and time. He folded his hands on his desk. “I suspect you know why you are here, Mr. Harper.”

  “My secretary said you had some questions for me.” Harper mirrored Jacob’s pose, one hand folding around the other.

  Jacob tapped the desk, bringing up the two videos from Harper’s reception. He kept his eyes on the man’s face and saw the way Harper’s eyes moved from one video to the other. “We have examined the footage you gave us. It was very helpful.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say so.”

  Jacob gazed at him. “It was also tampered with.”

  Harper was already flushed, but now his cheeks blotched with red. “What?” he sputtered.

  Jacob didn’t reply at once. Instead, he played each of the videos, watching Harper stare down at them.

  “You’re saying they have been tampered with?” Harper jabbed a finger at him. “You insult me, DI Ofori. I see nothing there that suggests tampering.”

  “Nor did I, at first,” Jacob replied mildly, “but it’s there.” He brought up captures from both videos. They looked identical, except for the shaft of sunlight cutting across the floor. “I passed the footage on to one of my scientists to confirm it. We’re very curious about how the clock shows five minutes passing, but the movement of the sun indicates that at least half an hour has elapsed.”

  The color drained from Harper’s face. “There must be some mistake.”

  Jacob wanted to smile. Harper had come for his own reasons. He didn’t imagine he had been compromised. “I think now is the time to stop acting innocent, Mr. Harper. Our missing woman was in your offices for over half an hour.” He inclined his head. “Explain.”

  “She was in my office for less than five minutes!”

  “Yes, I imagine she was,” Jacob retorted. “But that begs the question where she was for the other twenty-five minutes. She doesn’t strike me as the type to go and powder her nose.” He leaned forward. “Believe me, Mr. Harper, I am not having a good day, and if you lie to me, I am not likely to be lenient.”

  Harper stared back at him, those odd, pale eyes narrowed.

  It was the expression of a man trying to work out just how deep in the shit he really was.

  Finally, he sat back and unfolded his hands, spreading them flat on the desk. “I humored her,” he said. “She said I wasn’t who she expected. She got… upset. I tried to calm her down.” His lips twitched in something that wasn’t a smile. “Do you find that hard to believe, DI Ofori?”

  “Tha
t’s not for me to say,” Jacob said, though he privately doubted it very much. “Did she give you her name? Your receptionist could only tell us it was a delivery from Mr. Sanders. She couldn’t recall the company the woman claimed to work for.”

  Harper shrugged his massive shoulders. “Melissa? Melinda? Mel-something anyway.” His lips tugged again. “As I said, she was in a state when we spoke. Hardly making any sense, barely coherent. I felt it was… kinder to calm her down, rather than press her for information.”

  Jacob tapped his fingers on the edge of the table. “Did she say why she was upset?”

  “It was a lot of nonsense.” Harper was taking his time, putting thought into each sentence. “I didn’t understand much of it. Something about information she had retrieved. She was quite hysterical. I let her sit in the staff room, gave her a cup of tea, tried to make some sense of what she was saying.”

  “And she mentioned Sanders.”

  “Yes. The man from the news.”

  “And this morning’s press conference.”

  Harper was good, but he couldn’t conceal the flicker in his expression. “Press conference?”

  Jacob smiled placidly. “I believe you were aware of it: the Temporal Research Institution’s press conference this morning.”

  “Ah. Yes.” Harper’s cheek twitched. “I saw something about it on the news. Some agency has managed to travel in time or some such nonsense?”

  “Nonsense that could be very useful to a savvy businessman,” Jacob observed. “Especially a businessman who was visited by a young woman who is known to have stolen a great deal of information relating to it.”

  Harper’s mouth widened in something that wasn’t a smile. “So this is your game, Detective? Make grand assumptions that I’ve been plotting to steal this… time-travel information? Before I even knew it was a reality?”

  Jacob tilted his head to one side. “Were you? After all, it could make you a fortune.”

  Harper leaned forward, his eyes glittering slits. “Let’s say we follow this little story of yours, Detective. Let’s say she was talking about time travel. What kind of savvy businessman would even believe a fairy tale like that?”

  Jacob’s slate chimed. He tilted it up toward him, glancing at the screen. DNA confirmation was through. John Smith was definitely Baby Robertson. He directed it up to the DCIs. Not his responsibility anymore.

  “A fairy tale,” he said. “Yes.” He laid the slate back down. “Now, Mr. Harper, I need you to tell me what our mystery woman said to you. No matter how nonsensical.”

  It was nothing they didn’t already know: she had hard drives with data on them, which he—Harper—knew nothing about; she was looking for someone she knew to help her deal with them; she was laboring under the misapprehension that she knew Harper himself.

  Jacob drummed his fingertips on the edge of the table, listening to the man. Most of what he was saying had to be true, but it felt like there was something he was omitting. “She came to you, sir. That suggests she knew who you were. The fact that you didn’t immediately dismiss her suggests she said something that might have convinced you to listen, no matter how ridiculous her words were.”

  Harper chuckled. “Do you enjoy grasping at straws, Detective? I have told you what I know, and that I comforted a poor, distressed young woman, then sent her on her way. As you can see in the footage, she left still carrying her precious box of stolen merchandise.”

  “And you didn’t ask to see any of the drives she had before she left?”

  “Why would I?” Harper said. “I had no idea what was on them, or that she had killed a man to get them.”

  Jacob tilted his head slightly. The news reports had been deliberately vague regarding what had been taken from Sanders’s home. “I never said she killed a man to get them.”

  Harper’s mouth opened and shut a couple of times. “Well, I could only guess that was why she was being hunted in connection with Sanders,” he sputtered. “I assumed it was what must have happened to him.”

  “You knew.”

  “Of course I didn’t!”

  Jacob smiled thinly at him. “Let me put forward what I think happened: this woman comes to you. Why, I don’t know, but she seems to think you will assist her, and something she says convinces you to listen. She’s distressed, as you said, and she tells you she may have killed a man to get the information she is now carrying. You hear something useful in what she says, so instead of reporting her, you let her go on her way and cover up after her until your receptionist recognizes her on the news.”

  Harper’s face was like thunder. “You are bordering on slander, DI Ofori.”

  “And you, Mr. Harper, have perverted the course of justice,” he retorted, voice as sharp as a pistol crack.

  Harper rose. “You can’t prove anything, DI Ofori. I stand by what I said. I spoke to a confused and upset young woman. When she was calmer, I sent her on her way. All you have is a glitching video. That’s hardly evidence.”

  Jacob looked up at him. “Give me time.”

  Harper’s eyes blazed. “You’ll hear from my lawyer first.”

  Jacob rose from the chair and smiled. He had perfected a slight crook of his lips that always pissed off anyone he was interrogating. “Until then, you’re free to go.”

  He followed Harper into the hall and watched the sergeant escort the man away. Harper was the last piece of the puzzle. They had to find the girl to make sense of it all.

  “Sir?”

  Jacob turned. Anton was leaning out of the incident room. “Yes?”

  “You have a call.”

  Jacob nodded. He had been expecting it since the previous night. “I’ll be there in a second.” He glanced back along the hall, as the lift doors closed on Harper. God, he wanted to bring the bugger down. He turned and headed back to the incident room. “Keep on it,” he said to Anton as he passed. “We need to find her.”

  Chapter 40

  THE STREET outside the TRI building was filled with reporters.

  Kit stared down from the canteen window, watching them milling around. There were a few police officers around as well, just to make sure things didn’t get out of hand.

  He’d watched Mariam leave earlier in the day, and it made him think of cheesy old horror films, when piranhas scented blood in the water. The police had to flank her on all sides to get her to the squad pod, but it hadn’t been enough to stop her getting buffeted around.

  They’d left a few officers and technicians inside as well.

  Kit had spent two hours with one of them, explaining the technical side of things. It wasn’t as if he could have passed her off onto anyone else either. They had lost around 20 percent of their staff across the board. People were on edge, especially since they were under siege by the media, and Kit knew there would be more departures before the week was out.

  The policewoman had only left him to move on to a different department, and he had fled to take refuge in the one room the police weren’t actively interested in. After all, food couldn’t answer questions.

  He heard someone approaching him from behind.

  “They will still be there,” Janos said. “For days, they will be there. We are a new thing. It is exciting for them.”

  Kit pressed his forehead against the window, looking down. “How long will that last?”

  Janos’s reflection shifted in the glass. “Until they find another new thing. It is always the same with them. They are like small children with a new toy. For now, we must wait. They will go eventually.”

  Kit turned his head to look at the other man. “It’s now I’m worried about.”

  Janos patted his shoulder. “They will not hurt you. Push, yes. Shout, yes. But they cannot hurt you.”

  “I guess you’ve had a lot worse than cameras in your face, huh?”

  “Mm.” Janos’s hand rested on his shoulder. “This is small fish. Frightening if you have not had small fish before, but not so frightening when you have been bitten by a s
hark.” He smiled briefly. “If you want, when we leave in an hour, you can leave with us. Dieter wants to shout at them. You can run while he shouts.”

  Kit was surprised. “He wants to shout at them?”

  Janos grinned suddenly. “You only see the cheerful man with words and history. He is not happy all the time. He is angry a lot when people are stupid and judge on first sight. He does not like news people. He does not like the way they spoke of Sanders before. He is still angry with Sanders and for what happened. Until now, he had no one to shout at.”

  It wasn’t unusual to see Dieter yelling, but usually, it was good-natured. There was always a lot of swearing, even when he was in a good mood. Especially when he was a good mood. It made Kit wonder how bad it could get if he was really pissed off.

  “Are you sure it’s a good idea, letting him out there?”

  Janos shrugged. “Maybe not, but it will give them something to distract them from Mariam, and it will give him someone to let steam out on.”

  Kit looked back out of the window. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll leave with you.”

  Janos patted his shoulder again. “Where we can find you, in an hour?”

  Kit considered it. “The engineering bay. I’m working on the gate lock again.”

  “Any luck?”

  “I’ve almost finished the prototype based on the schematics, and it should work.” Kit shrugged helplessly. “Until I can test it, I have no idea, and I have no idea if we’ll still….”

  “Still do our job?” One side of Janos’s mouth tilted up. “We will. Everyone will want to know about time travel.”

  “Yay,” Kit said morosely. He pushed his fingers through his hair. “I should get back down. Standing around here and watching the vultures circling isn’t good.”

  “You will be well,” Janos said as he walked away. “We all will.”

  Kit wished he could believe it.

  He felt like he was walking across broken glass, treading carefully to keep from causing more damage. It wasn’t just his life that was bollocksed, or Janos’s, or Dieter’s. It was every bloody person who’d come in contact with the TRI.