A Tense Day

The sound of the phone ringing woke Harrison, who groaned and pulled the pillow over his head. It was still dark out. No one in their right mind would be phoning him at this time in the morning. If he ignored it perhaps they would go away.

The ringing persisted.

Harrison swore as he reached for the receiver. "This'd better be a life and death emergency," he muttered as he answered the call.

"Harrison? It's Davis," the voice came through loud and clear.

"Davis?" Harrison sprang up in seconds. "Is it Tru? Is she okay?"

"Tru's fine," Davis assured him. "She's having a multiple rewind day, this is the second time the day's rewound and she's back on the plane again."

"Huh?" was all Harrison could manage. After hearing that Tru was well he had looked immediately at the clock and, after seeing that it was just after six in the morning annoyance at the early morning call was starting to set in.

"I'm at the morgue," Davis continued. "I'm looking into cause of death before going to find the second victim. Tru needs you to find the first victim again and keep an eye on her like you did yesterday."

"I don't remember yesterday," Harrison pointed out. "How do I know what I did yesterday if I don't remember?"

"Tru gave me the details you gave her," Davis informed him. Harrison could hear a rustling of papers at the other end of the line as Davis searched for the notes he had obviously taken during Tru's call to him that morning."

"You got a pen handy?" Davis asked.

"No," Harrison replied as he moved to rummage through the drawer at the side of him for a pen and paper.

Finally ready he listened as Davis told him everything Tru had reported about the previous two versions of the day. Taking down the details that Davis gave to him and after promising that he would track down Veronica Carter, Harrison hung up the phone and collapsed back onto the bed.

A moment later he realised that Davis had told mentioned that Cassie had been with him yesterday when he had been keeping an eye on the victim. Feeling much better about running over the city looking for Tru's victim he got up and an hour later was heading across the city to Cassie's apartment block.

Cassie was up and dressed and holding a mug of coffee when Harrison arrived at her apartment. She looked surprised to see him standing at her door.

"Did we have plans today?" she asked with a look of confusion on her face.

"No," Harrison shook his head as she opened the door wide to let him in. "But I thought you might like to go to an auction today, for your business. Check out the stock."

"You thought that…" Cassie's voice faltered. "That doesn't sound like you. What's really going on?"

"Don't you want to?" Harrison asked, avoiding her question.

"I was planning on doing just that actually," Cassie admitted. "But it's hardly your scene, is it?"

Harrison shrugged; it wasn't his scene. He wondered if he should tell her the truth, but the only time they had come close to discussing Tru's unique gift Cassie had not believed him and had thrown him out of the apartment. He knew she knew there was something odd about his sister, but he had avoided telling her exactly what. No, he reasoned, there was no reason to tell her. "I'm just showing an interest in your work," Harrison finally offered with what he hoped was a dazzling smile that would convince her of his sincerity.

Cassie frowned slightly. He knew she was an expert liar herself, unfortunately she was also very adept at picking up on other people's lies too. Luckily for Harrison, Cassie was not big on picking arguments and after finishing off her coffee she grabbed her purse and agreed to accompany him to the auction.

They stopped off for breakfast at the diner where Cassie worked part time as a waitress and finally arrived at the auction house mid morning.

Harrison walked up to the front desk and the man who sat there. The man looked down his nose at Harrison and with a pinched expression, reluctantly offered his assistance.

"I'm looking for Veronica Carter," Harrison asked. "It's an emergency," he added when the man merely looked at him with suspicion.

"Very well," the man replied, and gave Harrison directions down the hall to where Mrs Carter had last headed.

Harrison moved towards the door, Cassie following behind him.

"Who's Veronica Carter?" she asked as soon as they were out of the earshot of the man on the reception.

"She owns an antiques store over on Third," Harrison explained. "You'll like her."

"You know her?" Cassie asked.

"Not exactly," Harrison replied. They were getting into dangerous territory now. How much could he tell her without actually telling her about Tru and her abilities? According to Davis's report from Tru, Cassie and Veronica had got along great. But how was he to explain that to Cassie when she had not even met the woman yet?

Cassie frowned again.

"Damn," Harrison muttered. He was used to having Tru come to his rescue with useful tips on her rewind days, especially when he was screwing up something in his personal life. Unfortunately it seemed like this time around things were not going as great as they had the previous day. According to Davis, he and Cassie had had a great day at the auction. He hoped that things would improve when they found Veronica Carter.

It was not long before Harrison found Veronica Carter. One of the staff at the auction pointed her out to him. She was standing looking at various items in the pottery section. Cassie looked at some of the items on the display herself as Harrison turned to introduce himself to Tru's victim.

"Mrs Carter?" he asked, wondering what story he had given the previous day they had met. Whatever it was for some reason Tru had not told Davis, or Davis had not told him. Or maybe he hadn't told Tru in the first place? This was getting confusing.

"Yes," the red-haired woman replied with a pleasant smile. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah," Harrison replied with a smile. "I was wondering if you could, er, help me out with some, er…"

"Bargains?" Mrs Carter suggested with another smile.

"Yeah," Harrison replied, clutching at the suggestion. Anything to keep her talking. This was just not his scene at all.

"Well the first thing to remember," Mrs Carter began, "is not to get caught up in a bidding war with others. The prices shoot up very quickly if you're not careful. You have to know your limit and stick to it."

"Like gambling?" Harrison asked, something familiar at last.

"Something like it, yes," Mrs Carter laughed.

"So the best thing is to find something no one else is bidding on?" he suggested.

"If you can," Mrs Carter agreed. "I buy for my store and only bid on items that no one else is interested in. Have you been to my store?"

"No," Harrison shook his head.

"Oh," Mrs Carter replied. "I thought perhaps you got my name from there."

"No," Harrison replied, wondering how to explain how he knew her name. Somehow, you died and asked my sister for help didn't sound very believable.

"Well never mind," Mrs Carter said with a smile.

"Harrison, what do you think of this?" Cassie interrupted from near the next display case.

Harrison excused himself for a moment and went to join Cassie who was pointing to a hideous looking vase.

"Not for me?" Cassie quickly assured him when he pulled a face. "I have a client who's interested in pieces from this time period. I can't get him on the phone though to find out if he wants me to bid on it for him."

"Someone would actually buy that?" Harrison asked, pulling another face at the revolting piece.

"He's got lots of similar items," Cassie said as she chewed on her lip. "I don't know whether to bid on it anyway and then take it over to him in the hope that he likes it."

"How much is it reserved for?" Mrs Carter asked from behind them.

"Two hundred dollars," Cassie said.

"That's awfully cheap," Mrs Carter agreed.

"That's cheap?" Harrison exclaimed.

"At that price, even if he doesn't like it, he'll almost certainly profit if he sells," Mrs Carter pointed out.

"I agree," Cassie nodded.

Several hours later Harrison, Cassie and Veronica Carter were eating a late lunch at an outdoor café. Just as Tru had reported, Cassie and Veronica were getting on like a house on fire.

Harrison sat back and drank his coffee as the two women chattered about every aspect of interior design he could think of and many he had never heard of.

"Well, it's been lovely," Veronica said with a sigh as they finished their meal. "But I really have to get back to work now."

Cassie sighed and nodded in agreement. "I should try to get hold of Mr Winters again to see if I can bring the vase over to his place."

"Mr Winters?" Harrison asked. Wasn't that the name of the victim on the second day? The one that Davis was presently keeping an eye on?

"My client," Cassie explained with a sigh of exasperation. "Don't you ever listen?"

"I've got to make a call," Harrison said as he jumped up from his seat and hurriedly dialled Davis's number. Making sure that neither Cassie nor Veronica could hear him he waited until Davis picked up the phone.

"Davis?" he asked.

"Yes," Davis replied. "Is that you Harrison?"

"Yeah," Harrison replied with another glance to where Cassie was saying goodbye to Veronica. "What's the name of the second victim again?"

"Daniel Winters," Davis replied. "I'm with him now actually."

"So you can't talk," Harrison stated, pointing out the obvious. "Ask him if he's getting his apartment done up will you?"

"What?" Davis asked in confusion.

"Ask him if he's getting his apartment done up," Harrison repeated.

"Okay," Davis replied. The phone then went muffled as he asked Daniel Winters the question. He came back through clear a moment later to confirm that he was.

"He's Cassie's client," Harrison said.

"Wait a minute would you Harrison?" Davis asked before the phone went muffled again.

"Okay, I can talk now," Davis said. "I doubt if it's a coincidence."

"No kidding," Harrison replied sarcastically. "So what does it mean?"

"I don't know," Davis admitted. "We've already passed the time of death for Veronica. Daniel's time is due to come up soon. I'll keep an eye on him until then."

"I'll meet you and Tru back at the morgue later then?"

"Okay," Davis replied.

Harrison ended the call and turned back to the table. Cassie however was directly behind him and had clearly heard every word.

"Funny place to meet up," she said. "The morgue, are you even allowed to be in there?"

"Sure," Harrison replied with a shrug. Now that he thought about it, he probably wasn't supposed to be in the place at all but Tru didn't seem to mind and today was important.

"Are you going to tell me what's really going on?" Cassie asked, a hard look in her eyes that told him that she was not going to let this one go and that the argument he had avoided this morning was only temporarily suspended.

"I can't," Harrison said as he pocketed his phone and avoided the cold gaze of his girlfriend.

"So the 'no more lies' agreement we have means nothing to you?" Cassie asked in a deceptively casual voice.

Harrison groaned and realised for the first time why it was that Tru had had such a hard time telling Luc her secret.

"It's not that easy," Harrison argued.

"I know there's something odd about your sister," Cassie continued. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you at first, but I've told you since then that I do. So why don't you just tell me what's going on?"

"It's not my secret to tell," Harrison countered.

"When your sister's secrets mean you're lying to me, I disagree with that," Cassie snapped as she turned on her heel and walked away.

"Cassie, wait up," Harrison called after her.

She didn't bother to turn around and carried on down the street.