Chapter 4
Janice stares out of the grimy warehouse window, rain pelting the world outside as she waits for Simon and Elizabeth to show up with the files in hand. Behind her, Jarred and Jock are setting up a table with one of the computers that Jarred had built and brought to use to take notes on. Jock sets up an extra table so that they can spread out the reports for Janice to be able to pick them in order from the first case to the last.
Janice turns away from the window and looks back at the other two, “What if Simon doesn’t get the reports? What will we do then?”
Jock chuckles, “Then he will steal them and place copies in the folder so no one can tell. You said that you needed the originals right? Well, Simon will get us the originals so we can finally crack this case and stop that maniac.”
Janice looks surprised for a split second but it washes from her face when light from an outside source can be seen behind her and she quickly turns to see a car pulling into the yard. She races to the door of the warehouse and hits the button so it slides open for the car to drive in out of the pouring rain. She waits until the dripping car is safely inside before she hits the button to slide the door shut to stop any prying eyes from the streets that may grow curious and look their way. She walks over to the car, being careful to not slip on the water, and looks anxiously at the driver’s door as the car turns off. The driver and passenger doors open as Simon and Elizabeth step out, both a bit damp from having been caught in the storm once they had left the office. Clutched in Elizabeth’s arms are the files from the case, a triumphant smile on her face, and she shuts the car door before she walks over to the table to get started in separating the reports.
“We got the original files from Mr. Stephens. We told him what we are going to do and what had happened when Janice did the last past touch. He jumped all over it and said that we have to keep him in the loop. He wants one of us with Janice in the past at all times and the rest of use taking notes of everything that they see,” Simon tells them as he closes the driver door, pressing a button on his key chain to lock the car. “So, we have the green light on this little journey of ours and he said to call immediately if we find out anything.” He walks over to the table and begins to help put the reports in order of from the first death to the latest, there being almost 10 murders already.
Janice walks over and watches them, biting her lower lip as the reports get spread out, taking up the entirety of the tabletop. She walks around the side so that she can read the first one, seeing that the first death was of a young man two streets over from where they are standing. She looks up at Jarred who steps up beside her, Jock already sitting in front of the computer and flipping it on. The low hum of the computer fills the stifling silence as they wait for the computer to boot up so that they can take notes and easily transfer them to Mr. Stephens who will most likely be planted in front of his computer waiting for the information.
“You ready for this?” Jarred asks her, picking up the first report and handing it to her.
Janice nods and takes the report into her hand, walking a bit away from the table, giving herself and whoever goes with her into the past some space. She always makes sure that there is space if she takes someone back because, like her boss, the other person may let go and rush forward without realizing it, possibly bumping into things and getting hurt. Jarred looks at his team and takes a seat, allowing for one of the others to go back with her.
Simon takes the opportunity to walk over to her, taking her hand and grinning, “This will be a really interesting trip.”
Jock nods, “The computer is on and the note page is up. We are ready to get this going.” He quickly types in the name of the victim and the date so that they know which case they are jumping back into. “Janice, Simon, are you ready?”
Janice closes her eyes for a moment, clearing her mind while breathing slowly, before nodding her head. She opens her eyes and lets her magic filter through her and into the report and into Simon who jumps a little. Each person senses something different when her magic touches them and it always amuses her when she feels their reaction through their hands.
She tightens her grasp on his hand, feeling him do the same as the magic begins to warm them both up, the blue light being all that they can see for a moment. Then the blur of blue disappears and they are standing on a road without a name. They follow the man as he goes off to work, a smile on his face as if he is happy about something. They talk throughout the memory but it ends abruptly around the time of the death, the actual death missing. Simon and Janice look at each other, once again shocked at what they have found. Simon taps into his own magic and feels around, the memory, hissing a bit as he too feels like a big chunk of memories has gone missing.
“Something big is missing besides the death scene. The memory thief has taken a huge piece of this man’s life, some huge event is missing,” Simon tells the others as they walk towards the table, the blue light vanishing and both of them able to see inside the warehouse again.
Janice looks at the other reports, “We can go through all of them but I have a feeling that all of them are missing the way their death has happened as well as whatever other big event happened.” She looks defeated, “If I only knew where to look, I could tap into the part of the brain that I am hoping the memory thief has forgotten to erase.”
Jarred looks intrigued by this bit of information, “A part of the brain that he might have missed?”
She nods, “Yes, there is a what you call a backup drive in the brain that even if a part has been erased I can tap into it. Like those with amnesia…I used to help them gain their memories from time to time as my volunteer work.” She points to the back of the head, “It’s there hidden away. It’s where we also push back the traumatizing information we wish to forget.”
Jarred taps the table, “Can you check on every single one of these people to see if they have hidden memories?”
“I can definitely check even though I hate meddling in memories and the past, this calls for drastic measures so I…” she suddenly stops, having spotted one of the pictures on the table. Her eyebrows wrinkle together as she examines the body in the picture, her eyes scanning every inch of the picture to see if anything is out of the ordinary. She gasps and points at the picture, all eyes shooting down to look at where she is pointing.