Key in hand, Hal peered out the opening of the kitchen then took the key to the counter. He looked at both sets of his father’s keys laying there. Seeing the set with only two keys, Hal held up the small key on Joe’s ring next to the one that fell from Johnny’s coat. They looked the same. And when he held them right against each other, that Hal knew they were the same. Carbon copies.
Hal was aware, without a doubt, that the small key unlocked the phone in his father’s office. Hal knew that unless Joe authorized it, there was no reason for Johnny to have a copy of that key. It could have been innocent. It could have just been his father’s back up key. Without justification for his feelings, warnings went immediately off for Hal. It was a tricky situation. He could say something to his father, and if it was innocent, everyone would come down on him for jumping to conclusions. But if Johnny was up to no good with that key, the problem would be getting his father and brothers to see that. The only thing for Hal to do was find out. The solution to doing that was easy enough. Hal would just keep the key and tell no one, because the key was of high importance. It locked away the only outside means of communication in Beginnings. If anything was mentioned about Johnny’s key being missing, then Hal would know he was wrong. But if nothing was said, the key never brought up, then the gut instincts Hal was unfoundedly having of a family member were correct and he’d have to pursue.
But for the time being he was taking too long. Hurrying to fetch a drink, Hal slipped the key into his pocket and walked to the dining room. Everyone clapped.
“It’s about fuckin time,” Frank complained.
“Couldn’t decide. Alcohol or not,” Hal stated and looked at the board. “Let’s see . . .”
“Hal!” Frank yelled. “Take your turn.”
“Frank, wait!” Hal snapped. “I have to have a moment to see what . . . oh, yes. Here.” Smiling, he grabbed some tiles. “Off your ‘F’.” He happily laid down his letters. “There.”
Robbie shook his head. “Nope. Try again.”
“What?” Hal laughed. “I used the word ‘Frank’ and it isn’t only a proper name so I can use it.”
“No, you can’t,” Robbie told him. “I forgot to tell you a rule. Only Frank can use his name.”
“Damn it.” Hal took the tiles off. “Here. This describes how I feel.” He added two tiles to Frank’s original word.
“Hal, good one. Fucked,” Frank nodded impressed. “I never thought of doing that.”
Reaching for his tiles, Hal looked at him. “That’s because your swearing vocabulary consists of only the word ‘Fuck’. You fail to see there are many derivatives of it.”
“Hey, Hal.” Frank lifted his hand. “Here’s a derivative of it.” He flipped him off.
“Nice, very nice.” Ignoring what he thought was childish, praising laughter on Robbie’s part, Hal sunk into thought and reviewed his tiles. He tried to plan ahead based on the spelling mentality of his brothers.
“Oh, man, John,” Frank said proud and loud. “Good word.”
“Double word too.” Robbie added and wrote down.
From his own forming of words with a shifting around of tiles, Hal looked up to see what Johnny had laid down. A hard shiver went through him. Stunned, he muttered in a whisper the word Johnny spelled. “Society.”
“That’s correct,” Frank told Hal. “And it’s spelled right. Good job with the ‘I’ before ‘E’ thing, John.”
“Thanks.” Johnny snickered and grabbed tiles.
Clenching a little letter in his hand, Hal’s unblinking stare went from the word to Johnny. The word to Johnny. His thoughts were racing and there was no justification for them. He was angry at himself for even thinking.
“Uncle Hal?” Johnny called out when he noticed the stare. “Is there a problem?”
“Um . . .” Hal smiled. “No.” He laid the tile back down. “I thought I had taken eight but only had seven. My fault. Good word, Johnny.” Hal looked at the word again. “Very . . . good . . . word.”
CHAPTER NINE
November 9
Music not only soothed the savage beast, but it helped keep Grace quiet as she rode in the Jeep with Hal to Beginnings. It limited his conversation for the ten miles that seemed like an eternity. But somehow, Hal wished that Grace would start complaining. At the very least it would take his mind from where it was at. His family.
It had been two days since Hal was in Beginnings. He had no intentions of staying very long. He’d drop Grace off–she was above the Dan-tram mass transportation–say hello to his father and head back. Short trip.
But the trip to Beginnings brought to mind the one thing Beginnings symbolized, his family. And with that thought, came the thoughts of Johnny.
Was he wrong? Was he overreacting? Somehow, even though he was a Slagel, he still had a bit of an outsider point of view when it came to Johnny. His brothers and father, he knew well. But what of the young man did he know? The last he remembered of Johnny was a nine year old boy who barely spoke to him when he came home for leave.
Johnny.
Hal had to wonder if perhaps the key wouldn’t have been that big of a deal had he not heard Robbie’s comment that Johnny hated his father. Hal, Robbie, Frank, and Jimmy had all gone through that phase that Joe spoke of. But never, in any of Hal’s recollections, did the rebellion phase of their youth ever get misconstrued with hatred. What had Johnny done to make Robbie spew forth such a comment?
Hal thought a lot the night before. It was accompanied by so much tossing and turning. He debated on whether the restlessness was a result of his gut instincts or guilt for thinking so badly of a family member.
He traced back in his mind since he had met Johnny a few months earlier. Had he ever seen Frank and Johnny argue? No. Had he ever seen Frank and Johnny just hang out . . . .no. But the one thing that came to Hal’s mind was when he question whether Johnny showed concern for Frank. And again, another no.
Frank was believed to be dead. Why was Johnny not exhibiting any grief? And then came the ‘wheres’. Frank had returned from his episode with the Society. Where was Johnny? There was a homecoming celebration. Where was Johnny? And when Frank was shot on the field during Neville competition, everyone gathered around. But where was Johnny?
If Johnny showed no concern or went out of his way to make time for Frank, then why all of the sudden did he tell Frank he wanted to be pals? That, in itself, made Hal think. Did Johnny have something to gain by getting close to Frank? Frank was Security in Beginnings, but surely Johnny would have tried for Security secrets sooner if that were the case. The only recent and new thing that Frank endeavored was heading off the Bev investigation. That wouldn’t be the reason because Johnny was in on the investigation, unless there were things that Frank knew that Johnny had to find out. But why would Johnny care.
Who was Bev to him? Unless . . .
Hal’s hand squeezed the steering wheel in his thoughts in frustration when he thought of the one word. The same one Johnny lay down on the Scrabble board.
Society.
Bev was more a part of the Society than any other insider Beginnings had ever encountered. She was the leader’s daughter. Because of cut off communication in fear of retaliation, George Hadley sat on the other side of the country ill informed about his daughter’s death.
The only way for George to find out was if another insider lurked in Beginnings and the only means to communication was a single phone, in Joe’s office, under lock and key.
His father had the key. However, would he entrust a duplicate to just anyone? No matter who it was? There was no reason for Joe to mistrust his family, so why give Johnny a second key? Why not Frank, Robbie, or himself. The key was like gold and Johnny had that treasure? It made no sense.
It was the key that was the final straw and the one that emotionally killed Hal. Letting it rest would be something he could not do. Even if he had to look into it quietly on his own, Hal would. Something was just screaming ‘amiss’ about the whole thing.
“Captain,” Grace’s call of his name snapped him out. Her eyes looked to his hands that fidgeted on the steering wheel. “Are you . . . .are you all right?”
Hal quickly shifted his eyes to the older woman. “As a matter of fact, Grace, no. I’ve a lot on my mind.”
“Though I highly doubt the answer will be yes, would you like to talk about it?”
“No.” Hal shook his head and ejected the tape that played in the Jeep’s player. “I however, would just like to talk about anything.”
“Wonderful.” Grace smiled. “Maybe you can share some pointers on how I can capture the interest of Dr. Godrichson.”
Usually, Hal would grumble, but he didn’t. He smiled politely and sunk into thoughts that could help her. Hal enjoyed doing that because, finally, he was sinking into thoughts that weren’t eating him away.
^^^^
The buzz of the cryo-lab door brought in a fast moving Dean. “Sorry.”
Ellen looked up from the counter. She had her goggles on,. “That’s all right. You having things situated above means more time down here.”
“True.” In his pass of her, Dean kissed her on the cheek and moved to the sink. “All ready?”
“Yep.” Ellen looked at the microscope looking contraption on the counter. It was encircled with vials and Petri dishes. “Let’s conceive some rabbits. This thing is so neat. I wish it worked for me.”
Dean dried off his hands. “If you had bionic vision, as Frank calls it, it would.”
“Does it work for you?”
“Yeah.” Dean nodded. “It really helps. It kind of tunnel visions the object I have to focus on. It doesn’t magnify . . .”
“it only concentrates your focus so you can.”
“Exactly,” Dean said then pointed back to the window. “Does he know what we’re doing?”
Ellen quickly looked at Frank in his little Bev investigation office. “Nah. Hasn’t a clue and really he couldn’t care less.”
“Hey, El.” Dean leaned his hip on the counter. “I was thinking of trying the experimental acceleration enzyme.”
“Dean, we can barely get the embryos to attach . . .”
“Yeah, I know. But think about it. If we speed up the formation process, maybe we can speed up the attachment process so much that there won’t be time for it to detach.”
“That’s a good theory,” Ellen said. “But we never tried it.”
“Why not now?” Dean asked. “I mean, we’re working on embryos anyhow. How long ago did we copy the acceleration gene sequence from the Society embryos? A while ago. And how long have we been saying we’re gonna try our version.”
“For a long time, but we never . . .”
“Exactly,” Dean said without Ellen finishing. “We never really got a chance to do embryo work.”
“Dean, if this works, we could end up with eight killer rabbits.”
Dean smiled. “That would be so funny.”
“Yeah.”
“Or, you know . . .” Dean’s smile dropped. “They could be normal. I mean the enzyme wasn’t designed to aid in mutating fetuses.”
“But you’re talking about a ‘Dean and Ellen’ experiment.”
“True. So . . . what do you say?”
“Why not?” Ellen said. “Oh Dean, I just had a thought. Tell me what you think. O.K., now, we’re doing this artificial wombs to make a uterus that is what?”
“Suitable for all forms of mammal life. Why? What do you want to create. Our supplies of ovum and sperm are limited.”
“A human.”
Dean laughed. “No.” He shook his head. “That’s highly unethical in this phase of our experiment.”
“Dean, everything we do is highly unethical. What’s the difference?”
“It will probably abort.”
“That’s a chance we take. But . . .” Ellen held up a finger. “It could rocket us so far ahead if it implants successfully and stays attached.”
“Would you want to inject it with the acceleration enzyme?”
“It was designed for humans anyhow . . .”
“It could be deformed,” Dean stated. “What then?”
“We watch the developmental phase. Learn from it. If the embryo is deformed, we abort.”
“Will you be able to do that? I mean, your ovum are the only ones we harvested. That child will be yours.”
“I won’t look at it that way.” Ellen held up her hand. “I won’t. We harvested my eggs for science, not for anything else.”
In thought, Dean tapped his hand on the counter. “The only problem is the sperm. The supply of human sperm is frozen. To do a successful conception today, we’d have to take time to defrost it and break it down. Fresh sperm would work.”
“We’ll get fresh sperm.” Ellen raised her eyebrows.
Dean cringed. “El, I’m not in the mood to do that.”
“Not in the mood?”
“Yeah. As hard as this is for you to believe, it’s a chore to produce a sample with you outside that door. Even if you left the lab, the pressure will still be there. I really don’t want to be stressed.”
“I understand . . .” Ellen paused to think. “Hey, what about . . .” She pointed.
Dean looked over Ellen’s shoulder. “Frank? Frank will never do it.”
“He might. It’s been a while since he had sex. It won’t hurt to ask.”
“All right.” Dean shrugged. “We’ll ask. He looks like he’s coming out now.”
From behind his desk, Frank stood. He placed a stack of papers into a folder and picked it up. “I’m out of here for now,” he spoke softly, pushed in his chair, and looked to the long freezer case that set behind him. “I’ll be back later, Bri.” After giving a smile, Frank walked to the door, looked back one more time at the freezer, and shut off the light.
They waited patiently for him to emerge.
Frank stopped in his stride when he saw Dean and Ellen staring at him with what seemed to be forced smiles. “What?”
“Hi, Frank.” Ellen smiled.
“Frank.” Dean grinned.
“I’m leaving.” He started walking, but he never stopped staring in oddity at the pair.
After an exchange of nudging, Ellen spoke up. “Frank, what are you doing?”
“Leaving,” he answered. “I have some questioning to do. Why?” He walked back to the counter.
“Well . . .” Ellen sounded innocent. “We were wondering if you could help us out with something.”
“Yes,” Dean added. “We need your help with an experiment we’re working on.”
“You don’t wanna blow me up or electrocute me do you?”
Ellen snickered. “Don’t be silly.”
Frank looked at his watch. “How long will it take?”
Dean answered, “That depends on you. A few minutes maybe.”
Nodding, Frank set down his folder. “What do you need?”
Ellen hesitated before she told him. “Sperm.”
Frank’s eyes widened. “Sperm? My sperm?”
“Yes,” Ellen answered. “That’s why we’re asking you. Only your sperm will work. Because, see, we need strong sperm and since you’re strong, we thought we’d ask you.”
Frank understood. “O.K., I’ll do it.”
Ellen smiled in her breath of relief. “See, Dean, I told you he would. Thanks Frank.”
Frank shrugged. “Sure. Hey, it’s not gonna hurt when you take it, is it?”
Curiously, Dean looked at Ellen then back to Frank. “Take it?”
“Yeah, Dean.” Frank rolled his eyes. “You know, my sperm. You asked for it. Did you forget? Is it gonna hurt when you take it.”
“Um, Frank,” Dean said. “We don’t take it. You give it.” He saw the confused look on Frank’s face. “Let me see if I can clarify.” He lifted a small specimen cup and gave it to Frank. “Here.”
Frank looked at the cup in his hand. “What’s this for?”
Hearing Dean groan, Ellen decided to
answer. “It’s for your sperm. You put it in there. We have a back room for privacy so you can make the deposit.”
,Frank looked From the cup to Ellen. Calmly he nodded, set down the cup, picked up his folder, and walked out of the lab.
Ellen slammed her hand with a moan. “Damn it.”
“I told you,” Dean said shaking his head.
“You were right. I’m upset. I wanted to do this.” Slowly her eyes lifted to Dean and they took on a pleading look. “I really wanted to do this. Dean?”
With a flutter of his eyes, Dean let out a wince. “Oh . . . all right. But no knocking on the door to see if I’m done yet or singing bad porno movie music.”
“Promise.”
After a grunt, Dean, with irritation, swept up the specimen cup and went to the back room.
^^^^
The anticipation of waiting made it worse on Jenny and Joe knew it. After looking at his watch, he glanced to Grace who was going to be at every questioning as a silent, impartial observer, just to ensure fairness. “Grace, this really isn’t an all out thing. Do you suppose it would be all right if I didn’t wait for Frank?”
Grace nodded.
After a deep breath, Joe looked at Jenny. “O.K., I kind of think you know what is going on.”
“I sort of do, Joe, yes.” Jenny stared down at her folded hands.
Joe looked at her. “The reason I called you here is not to question you. That will be done later. I just wanted you to know, based on the bad history and incidents, you’re being considered a suspect in Bev’s murder.”
Very calmly, Jenny bit her bottom lip with a nod. “And you’ll let me know when you need to question me?”
“Yes. Not yet. You’re pretty low priority.” Joe winked.
“All right,” she said almost sweetly. “Will that be all? I have rolls baking.”
“Yes, that will be all. Thank you.” Joe watched her stand up. “Jenny, thanks for taking this very calmly. A lot of folks aren’t.”
The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20 Page 158