by Lotta Smith
Okay, so I wasn’t freaking out, but someone else was….
“What the hell is going on?” Tracie, the wife of Luke Winston, demanded. She looked ready to go for Adam Johnson’s throat.
“You know, it’s complicated… and yes, you’re right,” Adam mumbled without meeting her eyes, making her even angrier.
“Hello? I didn’t say anything, so how can you say I’m right?”
“Oops… I thought I’d heard something.” Adam chuckled, as if something truly funny had happened, but apparently Tracie didn’t buy that.
“Stop your stupid attempt to make it seem light!” she snapped. “What has my Luke done?”
“Well about that…. We can’t say anything.”
“Hello? If you can’t say anything, why does your title say ‘The man with the most crucial key to the missing girls! Live on air!’? You’re talking about my husband, aren’t you? Did I mention that your title makes my husband sound like the pervert who took those poor girls? Oh, don’t forget that the general public have this nasty tendency to regard anyone as a pedophile murderer the moment you hint it on TV, and all the lawyers statewide will be more than happy to assist us suing the ass off you and the network!”
From a little distance, I was listening to Adam and Tracie’s conversation—or rather, Adam trying to dodge Tracie while she flung accusations at him like a verbal machine gun.
“Ooh… she’s really, really mad.” Jackie shook her head. “Of course, she has every right to be furious.”
Nodding ever so slightly, I pulled Rick’s arm, prompting him to lower his head so I could whisper, “Maybe you could have been more discreet about the case itself.”
“I was discreet,” he muttered. “They had the creativity to make this headline-worthy title on short notice. Still, it’s not our fault.”
“Are you sure?” I frowned. Had I been in Tracie’s shoes, I’d be enraged. Perhaps I’d even try punching Adam extra hard in his nose in hopes of seeing him sporting something resembling a rotten purple zucchini in the center of his face.
“On the phone, you said it’s the match to determine the final winner by gathering all the former winners of the show.” Tracie was still talking.
“Well, maybe the actual concept of this program has morphed into… you know, something different?” Adam said, sounding more like a question instead of a statement.
“That’s called lying!” Tracie screamed. “You conned us both and made us appear like the evilest serial killer and his accomplice or something like that. How could you do that to us? Should we call a lawyer? And I’m not talking about defense lawyers!”
“Hey, you must be shocked at this situation.” Tina Baldwin approached us. Before I stepped aside, she patted me on the back. “I didn’t like the idea of having such a true crime-esque title.”
“Oh really?” I was tempted to roll my eyes. I didn’t buy her words at all. Still, considering that she didn’t break into hives or anything, she wasn’t a killer.
“Anyway, I’m looking forward to see the juicy truth come out.” She turned to Rick and flashed her teeth, which sparkled as if she had diamonds implanted in them. Rick shrugged, and she went past us to talk to someone else.
“What’s gonna happen?” I murmured.
“No worries,” Rick said, clasping my hand. “The worst-case scenario will be Adam and the TV studio making total idiots of themselves.”
“Hmm… okay.” I looked around the studio and nodded.
Even though we were at the same studio sixteen, I couldn’t feel anything bearing the slightest resemblance to the strange coldness we’d all felt just days before.
Unfortunately, everything that happened in the corridor had been captured on video, and thanks to that, the sudden blast of cold air followed by the abrupt smashing of the huge glass wall obtained immediate notoriety, not only in the US but the whole world.
And it wasn’t only the Internet that keenly discussed that incident. Even more than a handful of big-name professors from prestigious universities jumped into the conversation. Some called it paranormal activity, and others insisted everything could be explained using science and equations.
Regardless, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to assume that the studio was more than eager to regain their loss sustained during the destruction of the glass wall. And as a result, they ended up creating the title of the show, implying something spiritual and paranormal about the whole thing. Not to mention, they went so far as to make Luke Winston seem like some sort of a serial abductor.
I could almost picture a bunch of hotshot lawyers warming up to sue the studio for defamation.
“I’m not taking any more of this crap! We’re out of here,” Tracie declared and turned on her heels. She seemed ready to march out.
“Oh now, not so fast. Please!” Adam begged. He went so far as kneeling on the floor and bowing his head. “We’ll play it really fair. Don’t worry, we’d never disclose your names. Also, we won’t capture your faces on camera, so….”
“Still, it’s a live show. If you accidentally capture their faces, they’re screwed,” Rick muttered under his breath.
“Stop jeopardizing my show!” Adam snapped at Rick, then turned to Tracie. “Mrs. Winston, will you please give us a chance? If you walk out of here without appearing on the show, I’m going to be fired.”
“That’s fine with me.” Tracie snorted, and I couldn’t agree with her more. “We’re out! It’s a free country, and I’m entitled to leave here any moment I wish to. If you attempt to keep us here, I’m gonna call the police!”
“Oh… please!”
While Adam desperately followed her, a guy looking calm, well-composed, and good-natured with a medium build and height came toward them. I recognized him as Luke Winston, Tracie’s husband.
“Hey, Tracie, darling. We’re good,” he said, clasping his wife’s hand.
“Still, darling, I really hate it that they’re treating you like a suspect.” Tracie shook her head.
“We have nothing to worry about since I had nothing to do with the girls’ disappearance,” he said matter-of-factly. “Besides, I’m quite interested to see how everything is going to turn out.”
“Hmm… he looks different in person,” Jackie commented.
“Right.” I nodded, pretending to be talking to Rick. “He looks different from the video,” I informed Rick as he gave me a curious glance.
“Nice seeing you again, Luke.” Adam perked up immediately. “Your appearance on the show had a huge impact, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you.”
Jackie was so right. When we decided to take this case, the first thing we did after talking to Darren Fender was watch the video of the game show. In the video, Luke Winston looked like he was truly in the zone, but in person, he appeared a lot more normal—though I wasn’t sure if normal was the right word.
“Still, are you sure the names I mentioned on air matched those of the missing three girls?” Luke tilted his head, frowning slightly.
“Yes, the names you said exactly matched,” Adam confirmed, then hurriedly added, “Look, I’m not judging you in any way.”
“Darling, we should really leave,” Tracie said. She didn’t bother with discreetness. Glancing at Adam, she went on. “I don’t like him. We have no reason to play along with this circus.”
Luke rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, but after a while, he said, “Still, I might be able to help these girls be found, right?”
“Right!” Adam said enthusiastically.
“If that’s the case, I’m willing to do whatever I’m capable of,” Luke offered.
“Thank you! Thank you very much!” Adam was almost choking on tears.
Then Luke glanced at us. “Hello? Have we met before?” he asked Rick.
“He’s Rick Rowling, the guy who found a kidnapped girl a couple weeks ago, the one who’d been held hostage for seven months,” Adam informed him. “And the lady with him is Mrs. Rowling.”
“Oh, s
o you’re the security company executive with some whimsical skills. I’m Luke Winston. Nice meeting you.” He came close to us and extended his hand to Rick.
“Nice meeting you too,” Rick said, shaking hands.
“Hello, Mrs. Rowling.” Before I had a chance to pretend I didn’t exist, Luke took my hand and I was shaking hands with him.
For a moment, I feared he might drop dead, but he was fine.
Still, his eyes widened as he muttered, “Oh… you have very unique energy,” as he touched my hand.
I felt the same, and I couldn’t say anything.
“All right, so let me walk you through the basic processes of the show,” a staff member said, taking Luke to the inner area of the studio.
Rick watched them closely, but as Luke walked without collapsing, he said, “Hmm… so he’s innocent.”
“Hey, why didn’t you stop him from shaking my hand?” I gave him a dirty look.
“That guy was fast,” he said, pulling me closer. “Also, having him touch you gave us some crucial info.”
“Good thing he looks fine.” Jackie let out a sigh of relief. “No, actually, that’s not good. We’ve just found our prime suspect to be absolutely innocent.”
As we chatted, I heard a familiar voice from behind. “That’s him.”
“Hi, Darren.” Rick turned back and raised his hand. “I wasn’t expecting you to come here.”
“Actually, the TV studio asked me to come,” Darren said. “I wasn’t sure if I could make it, but I felt unexpectedly well this morning, so here I am. I’m supposed to give them a little interview about the circumstances of the three cases.”
“But I just shook hands with him and he’s fine—” I was going to tell him a little more, but the assistant director’s voice boomed.
“We’re ready to begin the rehearsal!”
* * *
At airtime, the first thing done was show the video of Luke under the influence of hypnosis by Monsieur Albatross.
When the video ended, Tina Baldwin, who was leading the show, said, “What did you think as you watched yourself under hypnosis?”
“Actually, I don’t recall anything about the time while I was hypnotized, but… well, I’m surprised to see that I did indeed mention those three names. Even though Lucy and Meghan are common, I don’t have close friends or acquaintances with those names. And as for Skyler-Miz… Mizu…”
“Skylar-Mizuki?” Tina offered.
“Yes, Skyler-Mizuki. Sorry, I’m not accustomed to pronouncing it. I’d never heard such a name before now.”
“So the names you mentioned aren’t your ex-girlfriends?”
“No.” Luke shook his head. “In retrospect, I’m afraid that I wasn’t really listening to the question itself. Besides that, I don’t have that many ex-girlfriends. My wife and I met in high school, and I developed a huge crush on her immediately.”
“Oh, so it was love at first sight.” Tina offered a small smile. “If that’s the case, what made you utter those names?”
“I have no idea,” Luke said matter-of-factly.
“Do you mind being put under hypnosis again, to recreate the scene in the video?” Tina asked.
“I don’t mind at all,” Luke agreed. He didn’t seem the least bit nervous.
“Hmm… can’t we have some more tension?” Adam muttered, shaking his head. “A little climax would be nice.”
“What do you think of him when you see him in person?” Rick asked Darren in a low voice.
“Well….” He furrowed his eyebrows. “To be honest, he doesn’t seem like the man I thought.”
“You mean he doesn’t match the profile of your potential abductor?” Rick said.
“You could say that.” Darren touched his elbow with one hand. “Still, considering that five years has passed, people change. Even the culprit could have gone through some kind of metamorphosis.”
As they talked, a guy in a rainbow suit came out under the spotlight.
“All right, Monsieur Albatross, let’s do the hypnosis process the same way as the last time,” Tina said, encouragingly. “Mr. Winston, will you stare at the camera over there?” She indicated with her palm.
The red light of the camera blinked. As Luke looked at it, his face appeared on the monitor screen. Though Adam and Tina had promised to never broadcast his face, I doubted they would keep their word.
“All right then.” Monsieur Albatross took the same chained watch out of his jacket pocket. Held by the end of the chain, the watch started to swing.
“Please follow the watch using just your eyes,” Monsieur Albatross said.
His voice was low and deep, with a little sweetness peppered slightly with bitterness. I had a feeling that he’d turn out to be a great actor.
“Make sure you focus on the sound of the watch ticking, okay?” he went on. “Aaaand you’re feeling drowsy. Your eyelids are so heavy that you can’t hold them open anymore….”
Luke was staring at the swinging watch just as he was told, but he seemed fully alert.
“You’re feeling sleepy… sleepy…,” Monsieur Albatross continued, but apparently it wasn’t working at all.
“Well, how do you feel?” Tina interjected. “Do you feel sleepy?”
“No. I’m not sleepy at all.” Luke shook his head, looking skeptical about the whole thing. “Sorry about that.”
“No need for apologies.” Tina offered a small smile. “But the last time, you were immediately under the influence of hypnosis, right?”
“I believe so, but this time, it doesn’t seem to be working.” Luke tilted his head.
“Okay, can we try again?” Tina said, and as Luke nodded, she raised a hand at Monsieur Albatross.
“All right.” Monsieur Albatross rolled his shoulders, as if attempting to work out the kinks, then resumed working with the chained watch. “Follow the watch as it swings, okay? You’re sleepy. You can’t even stay sitting. You are in your dreams….”
Luke stared at the watch for a while, then shook his head. “Look, I think I’m getting more and more alert.”
Tina glanced at the director of the show, who flashed a large cardboard that said “Proceed to commercials!”
“Stay tuned during the commercials!” she announced perkily, and as soon as the screen switched to the commercials on air, she let out a deep sigh. “Oh my God,” she muttered. Then she came toward Adam, who had been sitting close to us the whole while. “What do we do? We’re not getting anywhere.”
CHAPTER 9
Adam glanced at Luke, who stayed sitting uncomfortably on the same chair in front of the camera. “Perhaps he’s willing himself not to be hypnotized,” he said in a low voice that was loud enough for me to hear.
“Then again, in terms of visuals, he’s been very cooperative.” Tina crossed her arms. Turning to Rick, she said, “Hey, why don’t you star in the show and talk about the girl you found? Mandy, will you please sit in front of the camera with your husband and supplement his story?”
“No!” I said, rather harshly.
Rick shook his head. “We’ll pass.”
“Plan B would be asking him to fake a hypnotic status, and—” Adam said, tapping the iPad on his lap.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Rick interjected. “You can’t solve the cold case by faking hypnosis.”
“Still, having him and the fake hypnotist at the studio, even though he’s not getting hypnotized at all, is disastrous! Think about the sponsors complaining about the lack of climax in the show,” Adam said bitterly.
“Ha. The geeky kid I used to know is now talking like a real TV producer. I’m impressed.” Rick harrumphed.
“Of course, I do. I’ve been working in this industry for years!” Adam narrowed his eyes. “Are you implying I’m fake?”
Touching his jaw, Rick responded with a new question. “Hey, can I see the video of the previous hypnosis session?”
“Why?” Adam frowned.
“Just show me!” Rick snapped.
Meanwhile, Adam showed Rick the video on his iPad.
After seeing the brief scene of Luke falling under the influence of Monsieur Albatross’s mind manipulation, he nodded. “All right. Now I know how he got hypnotized.”
“What?” Adam knitted his eyebrows. “Don’t tell me you’re bluffing.”
“No way.” Rick chuckled. “Look at his eyes on the video. They’re not following the watch.”
“Hmm… you have a point.” Adam nodded. “So does that mean he wasn’t hypnotized at all during the previous session as well?”
“Wrong.” Rick raised an eyebrow. “He was diligently playing along with your scenario. I believe he’s a good man who’d normally comply with the rules and orders.”
“Unlike you,” Adam muttered.
“Shut up.”
“Still, Luke didn’t follow Monsieur Albatross’s orders.” Adam raised his eyes. “Do you still describe him as a man who complies with orders?”
“Come on, Monsieur Albatross is merely a fake hypnotist.” Shrugging, Rick eyed the studio. “Hey, are you using the same camera from the previous shooting?” he asked, pointing at the camera facing Luke.
“Camera? No. We’re using different cameras.” Adam shook his head. “It’s the same studio, but as you might have noticed, the sets are completely different.”
“Bring in the same camera,” Rick told him.
I exchanged a glance with Jackie, who said, “Why is he obsessing with the camera so much?”
I tilted my head ever so slightly. I had no idea why, but I knew better than to assume it was a random request.
Adam didn’t look happy, but he gave in. Turning to the director, he asked, “Which camera did we use to shoot the winner’s hypnotic act during the game show?”