by P J Mann
Jonas remained a flabbergasted by his sudden decision. “That is a surprise, I thought he already had many chats with you about letting it go and to focus on other crimes.”
“That is true, but so far I didn’t want to listen what he was saying. For me, it is a question of honor. I didn’t want to give up just because she was a prostitute. She deserved justice like any other citizen. I felt really sorry for her fate; after all, she was just trying to survive in the best way she knew. I sympathized with her, and I didn’t want just let it go for the simple fact that she was alone in this world,” Giorgi replied.
Jonas felt relieved on that news, but there was something that didn’t convince him at all. “Are you sure you feel alright?”
“What do you mean by that?” Asked Giorgi, not quite understanding what Jonas was meaning and why did he mention something strange.
“Maybe it is nothing, but it seems to me like you are telling me something, but you don’t believe a word of what you say. Are you sure that you haven’t been forced into this decision? Have you been threatened?” Jonas wasn’t sure whether he really thought that his cousin had been threatened or somehow coerced into that decision, but the tone of his voice was strange. He couldn’t explain what was wrong, he had still to focus it, but something was just not right.
“No,” he replied almost amused. “What are you going to think? The reason is that Lieutenant Sabari was right. We had a long talk a couple of days ago, but he didn’t force me to make a rash decision. The case was not important only to me; it was also to him. Nevertheless, he realized that we were just wasting our time on a case that didn’t have any chances to be solved. There are instead crimes every day that require our full attention, and perhaps the murderer will strike again, and we will have a better chance to arrest him and charge him also for the murder of the girl.”
Jonas nodded, “yeah, sorry I might have misunderstood it. But this means that Justin and I will have a relaxing holiday in Tbilisi.”
“I can’t wait to meet him,” Giorgi replied. “Can you get married there in the States?”
“Yes, in theory, we could, but I am his direct supervisor, and we cannot even have an open relationship in the workplace. Nobody can know that we are dating, or we might lose our jobs. We are considering the possibility of having one of us transferred to another department. This way we wouldn’t have any problem with dating or even getting married. Of course, also, in that case, we could not get married right away,” Jonas replied amused.
“Everybody has problems in their life, don’t they? Here, the biggest issue is with those people who are not yet ready to accept homosexuality. I guess people need more time to understand that there is nothing wrong in being gay,” Giorgi replied, feeling relieved that the conversation turned to lighter topics. Jonas questioning his decision made him feel uncomfortable. He couldn’t say the reason why, but he knew he could not truly explain. It was like he couldn’t find the words. “So, when will you arrive?”
“We’ll be there for Christmas. I wanted to come earlier, but things got a bit complicated here at work, and we could not leave our duties. However, we will stay there until the tenth of January so we will have a lot of time to spend time together.”
Giorgi smiled, “That is a great idea, and you can show your boyfriend our beautiful country. I am sure that he will love it the same way I also do.”
“I have to be honest, there are many times when I feel homesick. It is strange; I have been living here for such a long time that I was sure I would have forgotten about Georgia…” Jonas considered.
“You can never forget your home, Iona.”
“I guess you’re right,” Jonas replied with a lower tone.
“Well,” interrupted Giorgi, “I should get going now. Let’s keep in touch.”
“Sure, bye.”
Jonas smiled as he hung up the phone.
My cousin is as crazy as the rest of the family, he thought, shaking his head. However, something that surprised me was his abrupt decision in abandoning the case. I thought he really wanted to know who the killer was. If there is something I know about our family, particularly and about Georgian people generally, is that they don’t give up that easy. I know he has been following the case for almost a year now, and I would have expected him to turn the whole country upside down to find the killer. Probably his supervisor needed his attention focused on other crimes too, but there is something that I can’t figure out.
He stood up and walked around his office, trying to focus on the chat he just had with his cousin Giorgi.
I understand that not every crime can be solved, but… I don’t know, he just sounded… strange.
He continued walking to and fro, without paying attention to what was going on around him.
As he raised his gaze, he noticed Justin looking at him with a strange expression. He didn’t like it, because it looked like he was almost laughing at him.
“Officer Sheen; is there a plausible reason why you are in my office, without knocking on the door and then entering before having the permission to come in?” Jonas ceased his pacing and crossed his arms.
“Sir, I have been knocking for some time, but you didn’t reply; I was afraid something happened to you,” Justin replied.
“Didn’t it crossed your mind that, perhaps I was busy with something else and you shouldn’t have disturbed me?”
“No, because when you do not want to be disturbed, you put the ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign outside your door,” Justin replied.
“Don’t play smarty pants with me,” Jonas snapped, then he sighed, “are we going home?”
Justin smiled, “I was just going to tell you that my day was over unless you needed me for something.”
“No, I guess we can call it a day. I am dead tired, and I wait to have the time to take a shower,” Jonas replied, switching off his computer.
“So see you this evening?” asked Justin as they were reaching their cars in the parking lot.
“Yes, I have also printed the flight tickets, as we planned, we are going to Tbilisi for Christmas. However, I need your opinion on one issue.”
“Sure, I am all ears, see you later, then,” Justin replied.
Chapter 16.
Laura remained blankly staring at the computer screen. Regardless she could finally sleep for the whole length of the night, she wasn’t sure it was something to be happy about anymore.
I cannot understand why I keep having those nightmares. Apparently, they do not have any meaning, but it is like my brain is desperately trying to recall something. I feel like it is constantly trying to go through the memories of that night to find something important, she thought.
Her gaze traveled from the computer screen to the clock hanging on the wall and from there to the windows on the other side of the room.
Nothing seemed to make sense, and as she stood up to walk to the window, those flashing images came suddenly to her eyes.
“I know I have been drunk, there is no need for you to recall every embarrassing moment of that night,” she said aloud as she was trying to talk to herself, that unconscious part of her, that still tried to reconstruct the pieces of that puzzle.
“What are you trying to tell me?” she said looking outside the window. “I can’t believe my brain is making all this fuss just to recall a drunken night.”
Suddenly, an idea started to swirl in her mind, and she grabbed her telephone and dialed Sabina’s telephone number.
“LaMotte…” she replied hurriedly.
“I am so sorry to disturb you in the middle of a workday, but I needed to talk you as soon as possible,” Laura replied without even greeting her back.
“Laura, my beloved!” Sabina greeted in a flirtatious tone. “You sound a bit shaken, and don’t you worry, you are not disturbing me. I have a free day, but as usual, I find myself being busier than during a normal workday.”
“I am a bit worried indeed, and I wondered whether you continued having those strange d
reams about that night in the hotel,” Laura replied feeling embarrassed for her impolite behavior.
“Hmmm no, I haven’t dreamt about it anymore. It seems like that dream remained buried under the many other dreams I had,” Sabina replied giggling.
“Instead I continue to dream about it. It is like my brain wants me to recall my behavior during that drunken night. To be honest, I am not sure I want to recall anything about it. If I behaved poorly, I prefer not to know about it and be sure that whoever saw me, understood that I misbehaved because of the effects of the alcohol in my blood.”
“I understand, but could it be that instead there are details that your brain considers important to be recalled? Have you tried getting in touch with Dr. Wright?” Sabina proposed.
“I was actually considering the possibility, but I am afraid that if he helps me to recall everything, I will feel embarrassed for the rest of my life. On the other hand, I cannot be constantly wondering ‘what if’ this way either,” Laura replied.
“You can ask him to help your brain to forget about it completely and not trying to recall any detail. In any case, you should call him and explain to him your problem. I guess there should also be a sort of warranty on his therapy. If something didn’t go the way it was planned, or if the therapy has undesirable side effects, you have the right to have him fix the situation without paying any extra, if this is what you are afraid of.”
Laura remained thinking about it. Why am I reluctant in scheduling an appointment with him? Sabina is right, I should ask him to take care of this problem, he is the only one who can help me.
Suddenly she felt like a fool for having called Sabina when instead she should have called Dr. Wright. “You are right, and I cannot explain the reason why I am so reluctant in calling him. You know what? I will call him right away.”
“Well done and let me know afterward. I want to know what Dr.Wright says about it and when he will schedule an appointment with you,” replied Sabina.
“Of course!”
As soon as Laura hung up with Sabina, she dialed the number of Dr. Wright’s office, knowing that she would have talked to his secretary. She was surprised when the secretary said that Dr. Wright will call her within the next few days.
I was mostly expecting to have an appointment scheduled right away, but perhaps it is reasonable to see whether there is a solution that can help me without going to meet him. Although I would have preferred to talk to him face to face.
The wait wasn’t long, and the following day, her telephone started to ring one more time from the known number of Dr. Wright’s office.
“Hello,” she answered, calmly after having drawn a deep breath.
“Good afternoon Ms. Jefferson, this is Dr. Wright, how are you doing?” He asked with his usual kind tone of voice.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Wright. Generally speaking, I am fine, but as I have explained to your secretary since I started to sleep longer, I began to have quite strange nightmares,” Laura explained.
“Yes, my secretary has mentioned something like this, but before scheduling an appointment to have you come in, I would like to know more about the nightmares you have been experiencing.”
“Well there is not much to say, but I see myself coming down from my room during the night. Sabina is also there with me, but although I try to call out to her, she doesn’t reply and seems like she cannot even see me. After that everything starts to be confused with many images that overlap each other. I feel like there is something my brain is trying to recall at any cost, but if it’s trying to recall that drunken night, then I am not sure I want to remember anything,” she replied, trying to be as concise as possible.
Dr. Wright remained for a silent for a moment. His blood froze in his veins, and he felt scared about what was happening to Laura.
This was not something I wanted to happen, it might be that the new dosing caused a slight failure in the final test. I need to fix it as soon as possible; before she is able to put the pieces together and discover what happened that night.
“That is very interesting,” he added. “Could you come to my office tomorrow afternoon at… say five o’clock?”
Laura was surprised to have gotten an appointment right away and started to be slightly worried about the gravity of the problem she was experiencing.
“Of course,” she replied. “Do you think is there something I should be worried about?”
“No, Ms. Jefferson, there is nothing serious, but I would like to know more about it and be sure that your sleep is going to be from now on as peaceful as possible. I aimed to give you back a normal sleeping pattern, but the way you described your problem it makes me think that you also need to get rid of the nightmares,” he replied amused.
“Yes, of course. Fine, see you tomorrow afternoon, then.”
As soon as he hung up the phone, Dr. Wright called Prof. Doyle immediately. Never more than at that moment did he felt threatened by that project.
“Hello, I wasn’t expecting your call, is there a problem?” Prof. Doyle asked.
“I hope this is not something we can’t fix, but yes, there are some problems,” Dr. Wright commenced. “I just received a call from Ms. Jefferson; I hope you remember her. She was one of the patients who had the dose recalibrated during the therapy.”
“Yes, I do remember her…”
“I talked to her a few moments ago, and I gave her an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. She started to have strange nightmares about the night of the final test. I am afraid her brain remembers a few details, and it is trying to reconnect them to reconstruct the whole night. If she is able to recall it all, we will be in trouble,” Dr. Wright said.
“We need to act fast,” replied Prof. Doyle. “Can you come to the lab this afternoon?”
“Of course. I will be there around four,” Dr. Wright replied. “I will bring with me all the documentation about Ms. Jefferson, be ready to have your data at hand so we can figure out a solution.”
“Perfect, see you later.”
Dr. Wright looked at the clock, just three hours, he thought, and although it was not much time, he felt it was like an eternity.
He started collecting all the material he had about Laura from his archive. He was glad not to have any other patients for the afternoon, but he didn’t even think about it. His attention was entirely focused on the telephone call he had with Laura and the incoming meeting with Prof. Doyle.
“I am wondering whether our client knows about this detail already,” he said as he hurried to gather everything. He rushed to the car to avoid the peak of the traffic jam he knew would have kept him waiting an insane amount of time before he could reach the University clinic.
“I cannot let her recall what has happened; I don’t want to be in the position of deciding between her life and my life. I need to have this problem solved without any more victims,” he said almost whispering as he drove to reach the University.
He knew perfectly since the beginning that to test the new drug a few victims would have been chosen, but during this stage, there have been more victims than he ever dared to forecast.
I cannot understand how Prof. Doyle can remain so calm when we talk about those victims. It is almost like he sees them like laboratory mice; they do not serve another purpose other than the results of the research. I cannot even think about mice being killed… I am wondering how in the world I could be convinced to participate in this project, besides the need for money, he thought as he parked his car close to the entrance.
He didn’t need to pass through the info desk; he knew perfectly where he had to go, but as he reached the door of Prof. Doyle’s office, he hesitated for a second. As he felt ready to start the process and brainstorm, he knocked at the door.
“Come in,” said Prof. Doyle with his usual busy tone.
“Hello, I came as fast as I could,” Dr. Wright replied closing the door behind him.
“Well let’s get this started, we do not have all the time we want,�
�� commenced Prof. Doyle. “I have checked the dose given to Ms. Jefferson. We had to change it because she was getting influenced by Mr. Abbey, who was chosen to experiment with the drug within a short timeframe.”
“Since he could remember what happened, we needed to eliminate him, and with him, every trace of evidence of the test,” added Dr. Wright. “We might think that she might soon remember everything as well although we had her drugs recalibrated during the whole month.”
“That is my fear. The drug was not supposed to have any change in dosing; it was a mistake, to accept the order of our client, and now we have to deal not only with three more murders but also with this problem. What is consoling me is that we have the chance to fix this problem without adding another victim. As first, I show you one result about the new drug for which I have been running some models. It was shown to be adaptable to changes in dosing, so in case our next patient will show some signs of intolerance, we can recalibrate it without losing the effectiveness. Moreover, it can be used coupled with the usual hypnotic routine we used before to fix this issue,” said Prof Doyle, opening the results he obtained on his computer.
“Do we dare test something new? Wouldn’t be safer to use the same drug we used originally and go through another hypnotic routine to order her brain not to care about what happened that night,” Dr. Wright shook his head. “We are playing with fire. We should start packing our things and leave the country. We can work from somewhere else, we are risking not just this young lady’s life, but ours too.”
Prof. Doyle smirked, “I wouldn’t worry about her. We are not doing anything that hasn’t been successfully done in the past. Hypnosis can give great results in many cases, but it does have its limitations. Now with the help of our revolutionary formula, hypnosis will be a more powerful tool. This will not just have the political application our client is aiming for, but it also can become a solution to handle patients with serious mental issues. You need to think in a wider perspective, and once you can see the potentials, the few casualties we accrued along the way will appear to you as a necessary sacrifice to achieve what, so far has been impossible. Think about the possibilities!”