Time Lost

by C. B. Lewis

  It took him a moment to understand why.

  Jacob’s quill was turned off, which meant the only person who could be phoning through the hotel for him had to be Luke.

  Kit dragged himself across the bed and curled himself around Jacob as much as he could. Comforting, he decided. That was good. He heard the quill chime as it disconnected, then another series of beeps.

  He leaned up drowsily and knocked his brow against Jacob’s side. Just a reminder he wasn’t alone and it was all right.

  A broad hand stroked through his hair, and Jacob’s voice was a low murmur. Someone else, more serious voice this time. Kit tried to force his bleary eyes open, to listen, but he was halfway back to sleep.

  A moment later, he was shaken awake.

  “Kit,” Jacob’s voice was still soft, but more urgent now. “Kit, wake up.”

  He squinted up. “Mm?”

  “Kit, I need you to wake up.” Jacob’s brow was creased. “We need to go.”

  Kit’s heart clenched and he pushed himself up to sit. “What’s wrong?” It was then that he noticed Jacob was fully dressed. Oh, that wasn’t good, not in the middle of the night. “Is it Luke? Is he okay?”

  Jacob rose from the bed and went to fetch Kit’s clothes. “He’s fine.” He handed Kit his trousers and shirt. “Temple was trying to reach me about the girl from Sanders’s place.”

  Kit pulled on his trousers, staggering. “You found her?” His brain, slow with sleepiness, caught up. “You have his tech?”

  Jacob had his own quill out and was scanning through messages. “Just get dressed. You’ll understand when we get there.”

  Kit nodded, yanking his shirt over his head. He groped around under the bed for his socks, and by the time he had them and his shoes on, Jacob was holding their jackets and standing by the door of the room.

  Mercifully, there was a twenty-four-hour coffee window two buildings down from the hotel. Kit tottered along to get them both a generous dose of caffeine, while Jacob waited for the taxi-pod. There were a limited number of taxi-pods available at night, and if you didn’t get into yours as soon as it showed up, some other bugger could ping and summon it.

  The taxi trip was made in silence, and by the time they reached their destination, Kit was more or less awake. A couple of his fingers were twitching. Too much caffeine on an empty stomach.

  Kit climbed out of the taxi and stopped short.

  It was the central infirmary, the biggest hospital in the city, all gleaming glass and chrome.

  “What happened?” he asked in a hushed voice as Jacob hustled him into the building.

  “They found our girl,” Jacob murmured, keeping his voice low. “She’s on life support just now. It looks like she fell in front of a train.”

  A shudder ran down Kit’s back. “Looks like?”

  Jacob pressed his hand low to Kit’s back, steering him along the identical hallways. “That’s what I’ve been told.”

  “Bullshit.” Kit felt Jacob’s eyes on him. “Bullshit,” he said again. “She’s kept out of sight and off your radars for this long, and we’re meant to believe she just fell in front of a train?”

  “Does seem a little suspicious, doesn’t it?”

  Kit frowned. “Why are we here, though? You….” He hesitated, not sure how to approach the subject. Directly, he thought. Easier. Like taking a plaster off. “I mean, it isn’t your job anymore.”

  Jacob stopped walking. “They weren’t calling for me. They need you.”

  Kit stared at him. “What? Me? Why?” He had barely finished speaking when he realized what was happening. “Tom’s stuff. She had Tom’s stuff.”

  Jacob nodded. “You didn’t seem awake enough to understand before coffee,” he said apologetically. “Abby needs you to look over what they’ve got if you can. She’s in charge of the case now, and if we can help her, then all the better.”

  “But why here? Why not down at the station? And why in the middle of the night?”

  “Because the minute it’s down at the station, it’ll go up the ladder,” Jacob replied. “This is TRI business. All of that is going straight to the top of the tree. Abby needs to know what we… what they have or haven’t got. If they can finish all of this….”

  He trailed off, but Kit understood.

  It was closure. Helping him finish the last case of his career.

  He rubbed his eyes. It was too early for all of it, but if Jacob needed him to do it, he was going to bloody well do it. “Right. I’ll do what I can.”

  Jacob caught his hand and gave it a grateful squeeze. Wordlessly, he led Kit on into the hospital. Kit didn’t want to ask how Jacob knew his way around without checking the signs. It spoke of many visits, and that was something Kit didn’t want to think about.

  When Jacob finally stopped, it was at a nurses’ station in the cross-section of four corridors. The nurse was sitting in the circular booth and looked up as he approached. She was only a little older than Kit, and rose from the desk when she saw Jacob. “DI Ofori.”

  “Louise. Temple said she would meet me here.”

  The nurse—Louise—nodded. “Room nine.”

  She glanced askance at Kit.

  “One of our consultants,” Jacob said smoothly. “He’s been working with us on this case.”

  She seemed to accept that, pointing down one of the spurs. “Fifth door on the left.”

  Kit glanced at him as they walked. “You forget to tell her something?”

  “Necessary,” Jacob replied tersely.

  Temple was sitting inside the door when Jacob opened it, and looked up at him, then at Kit. There was something in her expression that gave Kit the impression he was being assessed and taken apart.

  He forced himself to look beyond her at the bed.

  The time jumper was covered in a mess of tubes, wires, and bandages. The machines were beeping, and he could hear the hiss of air being pushed into her lungs then released. He could barely see her face at all, and a glance down the bed showed one leg sheared off at the knee.

  He turned away, feeling sick.

  “Do we know what happened?” Jacob asked. “Suicide attempt, accident, or something else?”

  The policewoman shook her head. “No witnesses, and the CCTV at the station was out of order. The train was one of those high-speed mail trains. Skeleton staff. The driver didn’t even see her until the proximity brakes shut the whole thing down.”

  “Well, that’s convenient,” Kit muttered. It earned him another sharp look from the woman and a hand on the shoulder from Jacob. “What am I here to look at?”

  Temple went over to on the girl’s belongings on the table beside the wall. They were all bagged up and labeled already. Some had clothes in them, and Kit could see the bloodstains. He took a deep breath. Temple pushed through them, pulling out a single small bag. “This.”

  Kit approached, accepting a pair of rubber gloves from her. “This is it?”

  “This was in her pocket. Whatever she was carrying was smashed to pieces by the same train that hit her. CSU are recovering what they can from the scene, and we’ve got someone coming in to get what evidence they can from her body.”

  “So the only person who could tell us what happened and was carrying valuable information is practically dead in an accident that no one witnessed and all of the data is destroyed or missing?” Jacob shook his head. “It’s all too neat.”

  Kit tilted the lamp to examine the small object inside the bag. It was rectangular, metallic, the size of a box of matches, and looked dented. There was one small socket, and it looked like it was blocked up. Kit smiled. Typical Tom. “Only the old data.”

  He heard Temple catch her breath. “Explain.”

  Kit looked up at her. “Tom likes to….” His voice caught, as he remembered. “Liked. Tom liked to keep new data to hand, somewhere only he could reach it until it was ready. Somewhere no one would notice.” He turned over the bag, pressing the barely visible sensors in Tom’s usual pattern.
The seamless sides slid open, and Temple swore under her breath. The inside of the drive was flawless and undamaged. Kit looked over at the patient. “She knew what she was looking for. She kept this on her. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

  Jacob and Temple exchanged looks.

  Temple said, “She didn’t trust whoever—”

  “We don’t need to mess about, Abby,” Jacob interrupted. “She didn’t trust Harper.”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “Who else could it be?” Jacob countered. “You heard him yesterday. He practically admitted hiding her away, and now that we finally have her, she’s in no state to answer any questions about his involvement? If that’s not ringing alarm bells, I didn’t train you well enough.”

  She nodded. “Unfortunately, it’s only conjecture now. We need evidence.”

  “Where was she hiding anyway?” Kit inquired. “Somewhere nearby?”

  “We still haven’t found that,” Temple said. “But the station was one of the rural ones. Nowhere nearby she could have stayed.”

  “And where there’s less upkeep and fewer people,” Jacob murmured. “Handy place to stage an accident when you need to get rid of a pesky living piece of evidence. Get them to check under her nails. Could be she fought someone off, whoever it was.”

  “Harper was locked up from the moment I arrested him,” Temple said, then caught her breath. “Shit.”

  Jacob was looking at her, and Kit had a feeling there was some kind of psychic police communication going on. “When did he call the lawyers in?”

  “As soon as I had him in the cell. It took them an hour to get in, and they stayed for almost forty-five minutes. He was making a call as he left the building.”

  Jacob nodded. “Do we know when she was hit?”

  “Around four hours ago,” Temple replied. She rubbed the back of her neck, frowning. “So we have a five-hour window.”

  Kit had been looking from one to the other, trying to see what he was missing. “What happened in the five hours? How does that help?”

  Jacob looked at him, his expression grim. “It means we might be able to work out where our mystery lady was picked up from, before she was brought to the train station and pushed in front of a train.”

  Chapter 47

  “WHAT THE hell were you playing at?”

  Jacob stepped forward. “Ma’am—”

  DCI Crawford turned a blazing look on him, her dark eyes flashing. “The question was not addressed to you, Mr. Ofori.”

  Jacob flinched, retreating a step. He had made the mistake of agreeing to accompany Temple to the station. It was just bad luck and bad timing that DCI Crawford was still in the building. She was a stern woman at the best of times, but the matter of the TRI was weighing hard on her. They had been summoned to her office at once, and now she was tapping a fingertip on the desk in front of her.

  “I would appreciate an answer, DI Temple.”

  Temple straightened up. Her hands were in fists by her side, and Jacob couldn’t see her face, but he could imagine how tense her expression was. “Jacob was in touch with Mr. Rafferty. We had tech we needed identified. I thought it would be advisable to do it as soon as possible.”

  Crawford’s lips thinned. She leaned forward. The lamp on the desk made sharp shadows cut across her face. “And neither of you considered the fact that this case now hinges on Mr. Harper? The very man that Mr. Ofori sacrificed his career to apprehend? How do you think his lawyers are going to take it if they find out that Mr. Ofori has been impersonating a police officer to gain access to a hospital ward? And that his… companion from the TRI has been involved too?”

  “Ma’am, I didn’t—”

  “You are in quite enough trouble, Jacob,” Crawford snapped. “Don’t make this worse. Perhaps you didn’t mention to the nurse that you were no longer in our employ, but you know as well as I that a lie of omission is still a lie.”

  Jacob nodded reluctantly. It had been the height of stupidity, agreeing to go to the hospital, but if they hadn’t, there was no saying what would have happened to the tech. Kit wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near it: he was as compromised in the case as Jacob himself.

  “Ma’am.” Temple was doing a good job of keeping her voice level. “Ashraf has previously said that Mr. Rafferty has the best knowledge of Sanders’s technology. If we hadn’t asked him to examine it, it may have been overlooked by his other colleagues.”

  Crawford raised an eyebrow. “And this couldn’t wait to be done in the station, following the correct protocol?” She shook her head. “You were aware of the circumstances, Temple. You knew about Rafferty’s involvement, and that Harper was aware of him.”

  “Ma’am, the information was vital—”

  “That’s as may be.” Crawford rose from her chair. “But the point remains that Rafferty was not meant to be involved in this anymore.” She leaned forward, her fingertips whitening against the surface of her desk. “We have no idea if Harper still has eyes on Ofori. We have no idea if he’s had people tailing Rafferty. For all we know, his people may be aware that an ex-police officer and a member of the public who works for the TRI have had access to evidence that they had no business with.”

  Temple’s shoulders slumped. Jacob wished he could say something to make things right, but he knew he and Temple had both made a bad call. Perhaps it was for the right reasons, but Crawford was right. They had screwed up.

  “What happens now?” Jacob asked. It was true he wasn’t working under their auspices anymore, but he had technically broken the law by impersonating a police office and allowing a civilian to handle evidence.

  Crawford gazed down at her desk. She looked tired. He wondered how long it had been since she’d seen her house. “Rafferty’s involvement can’t be avoided,” she said finally. “The evidence has been altered since it was bagged up. I don’t imagine we can gloss over that.” She raised her eyes to him. “If anyone asks why you were there, you were dropping him off. That’s all. You didn’t see or touch or discuss anything. Am I understood?”

  “Ma’am.”

  Crawford straightened up. “As for you, Temple….” She sighed. “I already lost one of my best DIs because of this damned case. I don’t have the manpower or the capacity to suspend you until this blows over. We need evidence and we need it now. Everything you do from this moment must be by the book. Clear?”

  Temple nodded sharply. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Crawford looked at Jacob. “Where’s Rafferty now?”

  “My office,” Jacob replied at once. “He wanted to wait for me.”

  He’d tried to persuade the younger man to return to the hotel, but Kit was having none of it. He wanted to help and even offered to work on the scrambled video footage from the eye. As sleep-deprived as he was, Jacob had known at once that was far from a good idea, given the circumstances.

  The DCI nodded. “You’re free to go for now, Jacob, but please explain to your friend that he will be helping us with this investigation. Go and get some sleep, but make sure he comes down here first thing.”

  Jacob shot a look at Temple, but she was keeping her eyes ahead. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied and retreated from the room. He had a feeling Temple was about to receive the bollocking of a lifetime, but he couldn’t help her now.

  He made his way back down to his old office and wasn’t surprised to find that Kit had located the recline function on his old chair and was curled up, asleep, on it.

  Jacob circled around the desk and crouched down, gently shaking Kit’s knee. “Hey.”

  Kit squinted at him blearily. “Hm?”

  “Time to go.” He caught Kit under the elbows, drawing him to his feet. “We need to get some sleep.”

  Kit, barely awake, leaned into him, putting an arm around his waist. “Mm. Sleep’s good.”

  The few officers who were in stared at them as they headed for the door. Jacob ignored them as best he could. No doubt they had all heard about his indiscretion and w
anted to have a good look at the man Jacob had sacrificed his career for.

  By the time Jacob helped him into the waiting taxi-pod, Kit was more aware of his surroundings. “Sorry.”

  Jacob slid in beside him. “For what?” he asked as the pod moved off.

  “Being clingy.” Kit picked at his fingernail, something Jacob had noticed he always did when he was nervous or uncomfortable. “They were staring. The other police people.”

  Jacob leaned closer to him and slipped his arm around Kit’s shoulder, pulling his lover back to his side. “Let them. The cat’s out of the bag now, anyway.” He pressed a kiss to Kit’s temple. “I need to tell you something.”

  Kit tensed. “You’ve not been arrested, have you?”

  Jacob chuckled wearily. “I’m in a pod with you, not a cell.”

  “Oh. Right.” Kit gave him a sheepish look. “Tired. What’s up?”

  “You’re to help them on the case.”

  Kit’s eyes widened. “Me?”

  Jacob nodded. “Since we were seen going to the hospital, and you’ve opened up the tech for Abby, DCI Crawford thinks it’s necessary, in case questions are asked about why we were there. It won’t be anything complicated. Just dealing with Sanders’s tech. You don’t need to cover anything up anymore.”

  Kit was silent for several seconds, then in a very small voice said, “Shit.”

  “Shit?” Jacob echoed. “What’s shit?”

  Kit fidgeted. “There’s something I should have told you.”

  Jacob’s heart sank. “Don’t tell me you covered up other stuff.”

  “Not… exactly.” Kit knotted his fingers together. “The picture of that girl. The anonymous one….”

  A suspicion crept up on Jacob. “How did you know it was anonymous? That was never mentioned in the press reports.”

  Kit stared at his knuckles. “Something they didn’t tell you about Janos: he’s a bloody genius with computers. He… might have cloned your slate, so I could decode the video.”

  Jacob thought he heard wrong. “What?”

  “Your slate. Janos copied the files.” He took a shaky breath and the words came out in a torrent. “We just… it was just that we kind of knew what was going on, and we couldn’t tell you, but we couldn’t not tell you either, so we… the video… I undid what I did to it, and Janos sent you the picture, so you knew who you were looking for.”