Murder Through Time (World Bureau Legacy Book 1)

by A. R. Grosjean

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Marcus sat in the darkened room next to Billie as he looked around the store’s back room. The boxes in the small space were piled up against the concrete wall in two areas—exactly in front of him and on the other side of the room. The two piles of boxes were made of different materials, but Marcus wasn’t focused on that at the moment. His eyes followed the boxes on the other side of the room to the ceiling and he noticed how the ceiling appeared. It was something he learned in his training—always know your exit routine for a quick get-away. His mind began to go over a few things.

  A person could climb up those boxes and crawl into the ceiling space. That person could move around the entire mall without being seen, and if carefully, unheard as well. He thought this idea over for a little while as Billie talked. He listened to her, and when it was his turn to speak, he did.

  “So, when this is all over, are you going to start your own nursery?”

  “I don’t know. I thought about it for a few years, but I just don’t know.”

  “Well, instead of thinking, you should be doing. That’s what a friend of mine always said,” he told her, remembering a good friend’s advice to join the agency. He wondered what the old man was doing now. He made a mental note to visit him when Charles was stopped for good. “Hey, listen, I have an idea.”

  “Okay, what is it?”

  “How are your climbing skills?”

  Billie looked at the pile of boxes and then at the ceiling. “Go up there?” she asked while pointing.

  “Yep. Think you can do it?”

  “Think? I know I can.” She jumped to her feet. “Where do you think is the best place to go up?”

  “I was thinking over there but we’re going to have to pack light. It’s going to be a small space and pulling the bag is going to be too difficult.”

  “Okay. We take what we can.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.” He stood up and emptied the bag. He opened the boxes they were hiding behind and sorted through the items. There were belts and handbags in the first box. Those would come handy for holding things, so he removed some of them from the box, re-closing it before setting it aside. He tried to make it look as though he hadn’t touched the box, just in case Charles had been there before them and returned. He searched among the belts to find one to fit around Billie’s waist first. He hadn’t realized how small she was until that moment.

  “Attention shoppers—I do like saying that. Billie and Marcus, your time is up. I’m sending my men in for you. I’d like to see your faces when you see Ryan is dead.” He began laughing over the intercoms.

  Billie looked up at Marcus.

  “Don’t listen to him. He’s bluffing. Come on, we don’t have much time.” Marcus wrapped a purse’s strap onto the belt and slid some ammunition into the purse. He handed her the small weapon. “See if you can climb up there without damaging any of the boxes.”

  “Easier said than done.” She hurried to the pile of boxes and began climbing up as he found a belt for him. He made sure the box was exactly how he found it once he found everything he would need for his waist.

  He repeated what he did for her and grabbed more ammunition. The clips were already filled, so he crammed as many as he could into the purse and closed it enough to keep them in place. He pulled the strap of his weapon around his neck and shoulder and pushed the weapon to his back. He began climbing up the boxes as Billie reached the ceiling. She had already pushed the tile out of the way so she could climb up.

  The boxes along this far wall were sturdy. They must have been made from a durable plastic. He was glad they weren’t cardboard, unlike the other stack by where they had been sitting.

  When he reached the ceiling’s opening, he pulled himself up. He pushed the ceiling tile back into place to hide the fact that they had gone up. Of course, it wouldn’t take him long to figure it out, so they had to move quickly.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Anywhere we can go—forward.”

  The space above the drop-down ceiling was small and cramped. Crossing metal beams held the ceiling up and were attached to another ceiling with a wooden beam between them for employees to crawl on. It was suspended by metal wires and hung above the pipes and wires hidden by the tiles. Marcus crawled onto the wooden beam and followed Billie toward the center of the mall. The area was small and dark, but the vents scattered throughout the space lit up some of the areas to allow visibility.

  The crawl space was cleaner than Marcus thought it would be. Other than a few cobwebs scattered around, it appeared to have been used recently. He could see drag marks in the thin layer of dust.

  They continued to whisper as they moved forward.

  “What do you see ahead of you?” Marcus asked.

  “A long tunnel. It looks like it goes straight to the other side of the mall.”

  “All right. Keep going. Try to move quietly.”

  “Yeah.”

  They reached a cross-point. Billie moved forward to allow Marcus to see down the crossing tunnels, along the wooden planks. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his flashlight so he could see further down the channel. Both directions looked promising, but he didn’t think it was time to turn down either direction just yet. “Okay, keep going. When we reach the next cross-point, stop.”

  “Okay.” She paused for a moment. “What are you thinking?”

  “We should get to the center. If my memory serves me correctly, there’s a store there. It’ll be closed off from the rest of the mall due to construction. We can move freely inside the space.”

  “Okay.” She continued to crawl through the small space with Marcus on her tail. With the minimal light, he could see her feet and ass, but nothing much else. They reached another cross-point within a few minutes. By that time, Charles returned to the intercoms, which were loud from there.

  Billie pulled back and held her ear. “Damn, that’s loud,” she cried out.

  “I know, I’m sorry.” He could see where the speakers connected to the tiles below them.

  “Marcus, where are you? I don’t like playing hide and seek so you better come out now!”

  “Ignore him, Billie. It’s right up there.” He could see the area where he wanted to go. He’d been to the mall several times during his jumps, so if his memory was right, the store he mentioned to her would be right where that spot was. When they reached it, he pulled up the tile slowly and quietly. He peeked through the small opening. “Yes!” He pulled the tile the rest of the way up and helped Billie down. They ignored Charles’s catcalls.

  Marcus put the flashlight back into his pocket.

  Billie dropped to the floor and moved out of the way as Marcus stuck his head out of the opening. He lowered himself enough to allow his feet to flip over his head. He held onto the metal frame, swung for a moment, and dropped to his feet.

  The store space was darker than the long thin tunnels above them, so Marcus fished out his flashlight. He turned it on and pointed the beam at the surroundings in the room. The area, as small as it was, was filled with boxes of weapons and ammunition.

  “Where did all of this come from?” Billie asked.

  “I have no idea. It was like someone knew we’d be here,” he said, taking a guess. Marcus approached the first wooden box and took out the automatic rifle that was sitting on top. He checked the clip and saw that it was full. He set it down and began rummaging through the other boxes. “Looks like someone was ready for a war,” he finally said.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Charles sat in front of the monitors, watching his copies push the customers out of the building in large groupings. He smiled, knowing he was doing something good by allowing these people to live. His beef wasn’t with them. As the time slowly dragged on, he grew tired of waiting for Billie and Marcus to reveal their locations. He had been following them through her cell phone and he knew that Marcus had destroyed the phone because he lost a signal. The last location he had for the
m was in the employee halls that wrapped around the mall’s exterior. He wondered how long it would take them to realize he’d been tailing them through GPS. Such a shame.

  The mall was big, but it wasn’t big enough to lose them. They were somewhere inside those walls. He thought he’d wait a little while longer before sending in his copies. The terror Billie was feeling must have been intense. He wanted that feeling to last as long as he could before killing her. That was the fun part. He felt like a cat who played with his mouse before devouring it—the power he had over that mouse was captivating. He could do this for hours, just as that cat would.

  Time finally came. He gave them five minutes to show themselves. During those five minutes, he sent out messages to his copies through the radio. “Once I give the word, I want you to flood the employee halls. Do not leave any rooms unturned. Once someone finds them, bring them to me.”

  He waited for a response from those who had a radio. They each came in, one-by-one, agreeing to keep Billie alive. Then something inside him began to reveal new memories. He became dizzy as the memories played out. It was during the time he had been seeing that woman—what was her name? He couldn’t even remember, but he could recall how she looked. Her red hair was the color of fire, and she had all of the things he admired in a woman. Oh, he had wished their relationship would’ve lasted. He would have asked her to marry him.

  He remembered some advice that he had gotten from someone and for the longest time, he couldn’t remember where that advice had come from but, today, he could remember—Ryan. Because of him, he sabotaged his own relationship. Thinking she was going to ask him to move in with her, he jumped the gun and asked her to move in with him. She laughed in his face and told him she never wanted anything serious. He felt like a fool, and the rejection set him to hate red-haired women. He began thinking it was that moment when he decided to frame Ryan. He would pay dearly for what he had done to him.

  The full memory had caught up to him, so now he knew that Ryan wasn’t with Marcus and Billie. He knew Ryan’s exact location and what year he was in. Knowing this new information, Charles turned on the intercoms. He clearly and calmly told Billie and Marcus to come out of hiding, or he would kill Ryan. He thought that would be an incentive to reveal themselves. When it didn’t work, he became angry.

  He threw a fist into the table, causing a cup to jump from the force as it spilled over, coffee rushing down at him. He picked up the radio, barely keeping the anger inside as he yelled, “Find them!”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  It took Ryan a little while to figure out how to use the handheld time jump unit. He kept jumping to the wrong time and place. Once he did figure it out, he arrived at Charles’s house. It was the same house he had just visited so Ryan assumed Charles had grown up there. He was anxious to see how the house had changed since it hadn’t been long since his mother lived there—according to the reports.

  Ryan chose to enter through the backyard since there was less visibility there. A private fence divided the back yards between this house and the two neighbors, and it was open to an alley behind them. There was a gate unlocked, so Ryan opened it and entered the large yard.

  He approached the back door and knocked. Charles’s father answered. He was tall and wore a dark suit, like something a lawyer would wear, even though he was a doctor. He wasn’t sure which profession he practiced over the other. A person’s attire was one thing that wasn’t recorded in history’s records. He could only guess, based on the facts he did know.

  “May I help you?” the man asked as his eyes examined him.

  Ryan felt uncomfortable from the stare. He coughed before speaking, to clear his throat and hopefully shed his nerves. “I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but I need to speak with you. It’s rather important.”

  “Sure, come in.” He looked behind Ryan in the back yard. “Is there any reason you didn’t like the front door?”

  “It will all be clear in a moment, sir.”

  “All right.” Mr. Ramsey opened the door further and allowed Ryan to enter. The kitchen was just to the right, through another doorway. The small room they entered through was a small laundry room. There were clothes piled up on the floor next to the dirty washing machine. There was another pile of clothes on top of the dryer, which was also covered in dirt. A little of the floor, done in tiles, peeked through the clothes. Ryan followed Mr. Ramsey through the small room and into the kitchen, which was massive compared to the laundry room. A square table was just off the little room and was covered with dirty dishes. “I apologize for the house being so dirty. I wasn’t expecting any company today. Ever since my wife left us, it’s been difficult keeping up with these things.”

  There was a pack of cigarettes on the counter to the right. He picked them up, slid a cigarette out of the pack, and lit with his lighter. Next to the pack of cigarettes was another pile of dirty dishes and over-flowed into the sink.

  Ryan tried to ignore the mess. He just smiled and looked at the man. “You don’t have to explain anything to me, sir. It’s quite all right.”

  “Just the same. Would you like something to drink?”

  “Chilled water would be great,” Ryan said. He revealed a smile.

  “All right.” He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water off the fridge door. He handed it to Ryan. “Will this be all right?”

  “Yes, this is just fine. Thank you.” Ryan nodded as he twisted the cap off the bottle.

  “So, what did you want to speak to me about?”

  “This is going to be difficult so I’m just going to spit it out, sir.” He drank down a swallow of water. The cold liquid tasted good. He took another quick sip. “In a couple of days, you’re going to commit suicide. I’m here to try to convince you to rethink that decision.”

  He sat down at the table and pushed the dishes to the side and flicked an ash onto one of the top plates, which had a pile of catsup on it. “You are, huh?”

  “Yes, I am, sir.”

  “Stop calling me sir. Name’s Thomas but you can call me Tom, if you’d like.”

  “All right.”

  “Why worry about me—I’m not important,” Tom said.

  “Your death affected a lot of people. The people who loved you the most were affected in more ways than I can count. Your son, being one of them.”

  “My son?” He looked Ryan dead in the eyes. His face, no expression. “Since you’re obviously from the future, what has my son done?”

  Ryan didn’t think this out like he should have. He didn’t want to say too much, but at the same time, he needed to do something to change how Charles turned out. This wasn’t easy and it was breaking the law, but he had to do something. As he searched for the right words to tell Tom, he drank the water.

  “That bad, huh?” Tom stood up and grabbed a cold beer from the fridge. He opened the can and drank it down fast. He looked at Ryan, then at the beer. “Oh, my.” He sunk into the chair with a look of sorrow on his face. It was like everything just hit him at once. His cigarette had burned down, so he lit another one. He took a drag, flicked the ash, and drew more in. He had a blank stare about him that revealed he’d been pondering over the subject for a while. He took another drag from his cigarette and smashed it into the catsup. He had found the right words to say. “I hit rock bottom and I do admit, I was thinking of suicide for the last couple of days. I just miss her so much. She was my rock.”

  “I understand that. My parents divorced when I was just a kid, too. It was hard to get over it—but they both were able to move forward in their lives, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I had so much more because of it.” It wasn’t true but he had to relate with Tom, in order to show him he cared. In reality, Ryan’s childhood was perfect—maybe too perfect.

  “It didn’t bother you bouncing back and forth between your parents?” he asked him.

  “Not at all. I had two families, I used to say. My mother lived across town in a nice, grounded area, so I had f
riends from that neighborhood who were wealthy. And my dad, well, he lived in a floating apartment on the east side, so I had a different sort of friends there. It was pretty cool being able to live in two worlds like that.”

  “I wouldn’t think that. Did they live in the same time zone?”

  “Yes, so it was different from your situation, but that’s what’s so awesome about your situation.” Ryan was trying to be as positive as possible.

  “How’s that?” Tom asked.

  “Charles has a chance to see the world from two different eras. He can meet so many interesting people—it’ll give him the advantage over other kids his age.” He took another sip as Tom lit another cigarette. He never knew anyone who smoked like Tom, but he wasn’t going to judge him, that wasn’t why he was there.

  “This all sounds great, but how do I manage?”

  Ryan wasn’t sure how to answer that. He quickly thought of something to say. “Just take one day at a time. I’m sure it won’t be easy in the beginning, but as each day passes, it’ll become easier. Before you know it, life will feel normal, and you’re making progress. Hell, you may even meet someone new—who knows.”

  “I’ve never imagined myself with another woman before. Maybe, it will be good for the two of us. I’d like to thank you for coming by. I guess it is time to stop feeling sorry for myself and pick up my life.”

  “Would you like me to give you a helping hand?” Time was something that Ryan had, so helping the man wasn’t going to hurt.

  “Sure. Maybe, Charles can learn something about this too. Would you like to meet him?” He stopped for a moment and laughed.

  It was the first laugh Ryan had heard from Tom. Maybe he was helping more than he knew. He felt proud. Ryan didn’t respond.

  “You probably already met him. As a child, would you like to meet him? That’s what I meant to say.”