Jack slipped through the door marked for police officers only as soon as the coast was clear. He hurried quickly towards the cells where he knew Tru would be held, picturing her seated down, morose and beaten. She would be only too happy for him to bail her out when he offered, not that he had any intention of doing so, but she didn't know that.
"Ah Tru, there you are," Jack greeted her with a feigned sigh of relief at finding her. "I was so worried about you. You were needed at the school, Emma needed you at the school, but I guess you had a prior engagement."
Tru glared at him from the other side of the bars but did not bother to reply.
"Aren't you pleased to see me?" Jack asked as he leaned forward to look around the cell, which was empty apart from Tru, who instead of sitting weeping as he had imagined was pacing the floor like a caged animal.
"Are you going to tell the police you set me up?" Tru asked with a sweet smile that Jack knew she knew annoyed him.
"Now why would I do a thing like that?"
"In that case, no I'm not pleased to see you," Tru replied. "Don't you have someone else to annoy?"
"No one who rises to the bait like you do," Jack grinned. "So how long do you think they're going to hold you here?"
"Not long enough to let you win," Tru snapped. "I'll be out of here soon and you better hope you're far away when I am."
"Is that a threat?"
"You bet."
"I wonder how much longer the police would keep you if I told them that you'd threatened me…" Jack let his voice trail off as he pretended to contemplate his options.
"Probably they'd release me on the spot and lock you up in here instead. You're not supposed to be down here anyway."
"Clever girl," Jack smiled. "Well I can't stay here chatting all day, places to go, people to see…"
"Lives to ruin, deaths to cause," Tru continued with a look of despise before turning her back on him.
Jack stood watching her for a few minutes more before he turned to leave. She really did hate him and it was something he had never actually considered would hurt him. No matter how many times he told her that he was only doing his job, that it was nothing personal, she could not seem to accept that he believed what he was doing was the right thing. Although he enjoyed baiting her he knew that he would rather she didn't fight against him, as a team they would be unstoppable. It was a pity she had her own team already in the form of Davis and Harrison and they had no room in their group for a second opinion on the whole issue of altering fate.
Turning away Jack walked back the way he had come, stopping to pause at the door and look back once. Tru still had her back to him and he again felt the sharp sting of disappointment that she was so set in her ways. If only Richard had located him sooner things might have been so different.
He thought back to before the day Richard had arrived to tell him that he was not alone, that there were others who relived days, that he had once been one of them. He had been in the psychiatric ward he had checked himself into when Richard Davies had made the request to see him. He hadn't believed him at first, not that he had relived days, not that there were others, but when the alternative was to believe he was crazy there was a lot to be said for putting his trust in the older man who offered to guide him.
He had wondered at first why Richard had not taken his own daughter under his wing, why he had not guided her in what to do, why he had never even told her about his own ability. He had asked once but Richard had simply said that Tru's gift was not from the same source as their own and she was too much like her mother to ever stop interfering in fate. It rested in their hands, and primarily Jack's own, to ensure that the day played out as it should.
The sound of a door opening further down the hall brought Jack out of his reverie and he quickly ducked into a darkened doorway until the officer had passed him by. As soon as the coast was clear he stepped outside again and walked down the corridor, carefully checking the rooms on his way, until finally he came across an abandoned desk where the police computer was still switched on and the careless officer had not logged out of the system.
Quietly taking a seat he kept one eye on the door as he picked up the phone and quickly dialled the number he had seen on Emma's phone. He waited a moment as the phone rang through to the answering service. He breathed a sign of relief that Gary had seen fit to not only leave a personalised message but to leave his full name on it.
Tapping the keys on the computer, Jack saw the list of potentials on the screen and quickly eliminated those who were too old to be the Gary Matthews he was searching for. His luck was in as he realised there was only one person on the list who was of school age and assuming Dylan was right about the criminal record, he had just found him. Clicking the name Jack grinned as he saw the face of the boy who had tampered with the car appear on the screen.
"Quite a career," Jack muttered as he looked down the list showing lots of petty thefts, joyriding and a couple of assault charges too. Noting the last known address of the youth he exited the screen and was about to leave when he had another idea.
Doing a second search he found Tru's newly created record and after checking he was still alone he clicked the edit button. Tapping the keys quickly he chuckled to himself before saving the changes and then leaving the computer the way he had found it.
Jack managed to slip out of the corridor and back into the public area of the police station without any trouble. He was walking towards the door when he heard the sound of a familiar voice; he paused wondering whether to leave or stay around for the fun. It was no use. He couldn't resist the temptation to hover and wait to see what happened.
"Tru Davies," Davis pronounced loudly and clearly for the police officer at the desk whom he seemed to think was either deaf or stupid.
"Davies," the officer repeated as she looked at the computer screen in front of her. "Ah yes she's here."
"I know she's here," Davis said. "She called me."
"Of course," the officer nodded. "We're holding her for questioning in relation to a number of matters."
"I thought she had been brought in for allegedly interfering with a car?" Davis asked in confusion.
"It seems she's also wanted for questioning in relation to other matters that we can't disclose at this time," the officer replied with a shake of her head. "You'll have to take a seat if you want to wait, it could be a while though."
"This is some sort of mistake," Davis insisted.
"If it is then it'll soon be sorted," the officer confirmed. "But our system is the most comprehensive and extensive in the country. It's never wrong."
Davis glared at the officer's computer like it had just come alive and bit him before he turned away from the desk and saw Jack staring at him from across the room.
Jack grinned and walked forward.
"You had something to do with this," Davis stated with considerable venom.
"Me?" Jack asked in surprise. "I'm not the one hacking into computers from the morgue. Isn't that your department?"
"I only do what's necessary to help Tru save lives," Davis said, as though he expected Jack to believe that justified his actions.
"And I only do what's necessary to preserve fate," Jack stated before turning to leave.
"She'll still win," Davis called after him. Jack raised a hand in a casual wave but did not bother to turn round as he stepped out into the fresh air once more.
A/N - Hope you are still enjoying the story. For those who are waiting for the story that comes after Switched Again please be patient. I do intend to write a follow up but will not be starting it until after this story has finished. I want to work it so that I have only two Tru Calling stories continuing at once. One second season continuation story and one alternate season story. Just to make it easier for everyone to follow what is what.
As always reviews are much appreciated. hint hint