Third Time Unlucky

Scowling Harrison looked at his watch. Tru would just be arriving at the morgue about now. Maybe she would have a way to sort out the latest mess he had landed himself in.

"Hi Harrison," Tru greeted him as he walked into the office at the morgue.

Harrison mumbled a hello before sinking into a chair.

"What's wrong?" Tru asked in concern.

"Cassie," Harrison muttered. "We just had a bit of a fight."

"How come?" Tru asked. "I mean, you didn't yesterday."

"Well that was yesterday wasn't it?" Harrison muttered with am unnecessary hostile glare at his sister.

"I take it, the fight had something to do with me?" Tru guessed.

"Cassie knows we're keeping something from her and…" Harrison faltered.

"I thought you'd told her already?" Tru asked.

"Not exactly," Harrison sighed. "She said she believed that you knew she was in danger. I just never told her how it was you knew."

"Why not?" Tru asked.

"Because she'd think we're crazy!" Harrison declared, as though that should be obvious to everyone.

"Not because you're scared she'll throw you out again?" Tru asked.

Harrison turned away to look out of the window into the main area of the morgue. Tru was too astute for his own good sometimes.

"Harrison," Tru said quietly as she came to stand behind him. "If you don't tell her, it'll tear you apart. Just like it did for me and Luc."

"Luc didn't believe you," Harrison pointed out.

"He might have done if he hadn't interfered," Tru reasoned. "But this isn't about me and Luc, this is about you and if you're going to continue helping me out, then sooner or later you're going to have to tell her."

"And if I don't?" Harrison asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

"Then you'll lose her," Tru stated simply.

Turning back to his sister, Harrison gave her a hug and realised that she was right. He might lose her if he told her, but he would definitely lose her if he didn't.

"Davis," Tru said with a grin when she spotted him in the doorway.

"Welcome back, Tru," Davis greeted her. "So how was Europe?"

"Great," Tru said with a smile. "No rewinds at all until this one. But I've already told you all about it, twice. So let's just concentrate on the victims this time around and if there's no rewind I'll fill you in again afterwards, okay?"

"Deal," Davis agreed as he sat down at his computer. "Daniel Winters is alive and well and appears to be in the best of health, as of," he glanced at his watch, "thirty minutes ago."

"Veronica Carter was alive when you last saw her, right?" Tru asked Harrison.

"Yeah, she was going back to work," Harrison nodded.

"So now we've had two victims on two rewind days and no way of telling how they died. Both are alive and well today and there's nothing to connect them?" Tru frowned. They were missing something but she had no idea what.

"Actually Harrison came up with a connection," Davis pointed out.

"Not much of one," Harrison shrugged.

"But the only one we have," Davis insisted.

"Well what is it?" Tru asked.

"Winters is a client of Cassie's," Harrison said. "She got a vase for him at the auction today."

"I wonder if that happened yesterday or not," Tru wondered. "You took Cassie with you then but never mentioned any purchases."

Harrison shrugged, he couldn't remember yesterday and had no way of knowing if she had bought anything for the man yesterday too.

"So what's different about this second day to the first rewind?" Davis asked.

"You," Tru said simply. "First rewind I could only contact Harrison and he somehow saved Veronica. This time he stuck with her and you went to find Daniel. What did you do today to alter things?"

"I went to his office, he had an appointment slot free and agreed to see me," Davis paused. "Then I hung around to keep an eye on things. Everything seemed fine. He spotted me mid-afternoon though and I just bombarded him with financial questions to keep him talking. He had the afternoon off and I just figured if I kept him talking he wouldn't go home until after whatever the danger was had gone."

"That was when I phoned?" Harrison asked.

"Yes," Davis nodded. "Then the time of death passed by and I left him to go on his way and came here."

"But there was no sign of danger or anything?" Tru asked both Harrison and Davis.

Both shook their heads in response.

"I don't get it," Tru said. "We're missing something but I don't know what. I have a feeling this isn't over and done with just yet."

"There's one other thing," Davis said. "You said Winters' hair was white."

"It was," Tru said.

"Not this afternoon it wasn't," Davis shook his head. "This afternoon it was black."

"Yesterday, you said Veronica's hair was red instead of white," Tru said to Harrison.

"If you say so," Harrison shrugged. "It was red today too."

"Strange," Tru said. "This isn't over."

"You think the day could rewind again?" Davis asked.

"Yeah," Tru sighed. "I think it could. And I'm really starting to hate flying too."

Harrison laughed and stood up.

"You going to try and sort things out with Cassie?" Tru asked.

"Yeah," Harrison nodded. "And if I screw it up at least it sounds like the day'll rewind again and maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow."

Tru rolled her eyes and shook her head.

It was nearly dark when Harrison reached Cassie's apartment building. He walked slowly up the stairs as he ran over in his mind what he was going to say to explain about Tru. He wondered if he should phone Tru and get her to come and help him out. It's not like he could prove anything and Tru might be able to, or if not this time round then certainly on the next rewind day.

He pulled out his phone and started to dial Tru's number. He could just wait out here until she arrived and then they could talk with Cassie together and take things from there.

The phone rang once before Harrison cut it off.

No, he thought. He didn't want to prove things to Cassie. He wanted her to trust him, to believe that he was telling the truth, without Tru and her abilities being on hand to save him.

Knocking on the door, he waited for Cassie to come and let him in. There was no answer. He wondered if she was working the evening shift at the diner. Or maybe she had gone over to deliver the vase to Winters.

He knocked again, a little louder this time and the door swung open slightly.

"Cassie, Cassie," he muttered. "You don't just leave your door open like this."

Shaking his head he stepped inside and looked around. Surely she wouldn't mind him waiting inside for her to get back?

Settling down on the sofa, Harrison shifted slightly and pulled out a purse from where it was digging into his back. It was Cassie's purse, the one she had been carrying today. She hadn't gone out without it, had she?

"Cassie?" he called out. He looked around the large airy room. Wherever she was in the apartment she had to have heard him.

He stood up and walked cautiously to the bedroom. He stopped at the door and hesitated. A feeling of dread swept over him as he looked round the room. She wasn't there. He breathed a sigh of relief before moving further into the room to look inside the open door of the bathroom.

He saw her immediately. Laid out on the floor of the bathroom, her long, black hair was now a stark white and spread out on the floor around her.

Her eyes were fixed and staring at the ceiling above her. He knew instantly that she couldn't see it, couldn't see him, couldn't see anything.

For a moment he stood in shock in the doorway. Then he rushed over to her and sank onto the cold, hard tiles of the floor. Pulling her into a seated position he realised immediately that there would be no chance of reviving her. He took one of her hands in his own and it was ice cold to the touch.

"No," he whispered, his voice catching on the single word of denial.

Pulling her limp body into his arms he sat back against the bathtub unheeding of the tears that had started to fall.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he whispered. "I'm so sorry I didn't trust you."

The phone in his pocket rang. He ignored it. Eventually it stopped.

A/N - I was going to post parts three to five over the next two weeks but it looks like I am not going to have time now. So you get them all at once. But the price of the mass of updates is an evil cliffhanger.

Will get part six done as soon as I can but no promises as to exactly when. Please read and review in the meantime. The more people who are nagging me to update, the quicker I will get it done.