Shining among Darkness
By
WingzemonX
Chapter 17
Your new best friend
Five patrol cars responded to Detective Robert Vazquez's call for reinforcements after a shooting at Providence Medical Center, and the five would end up being late. Traffic, crashes, accidents, and even a fallen lamppost covering the road were the different explanations that the officers had to give to justify their delay. "It is as if something did not want us to arrive," one of them had said in an ironic tone, although he was not quite ready to say that it was just a joke.
On the other hand, and if the situation was not quite strange in itself, the path taken by the ambulance stolen by the shooter and kidnapper was completely free. However, this was not the case for the pair of patrols that tried to follow it and ended up being rammed at the crossroads of an avenue by a huge cargo truck whose brakes failed. Again, it seemed that "something" was playing in favor of the fugitive.
They warned about the ambulance, alerted all the headquarters, checkpoints were placed and began to stop all ambulances that fulfilled the description. Everybody would expect that a stolen ambulance driven by a girl would immediately attract attention and should be easy to locate. However, after two hours, there was still no news. And the more time passed, the suspect's trail became colder.
How was all that possible? The police, at that moment, stopped questioning it. Nothing in all this seemed "possible." And yet, there was before their eyes: one of theirs was dead, another received two shots, a guard was in critical condition, and a girl was kidnapped. And all that perpetrated by someone who all witnesses described as "a simple nine-year-old girl." But, how could a kid do all that?
After their arrival, the officers escorted Cody to the waiting room and told him to wait in a chair and not move. An officer stood at the door, and although they didn't directly say he was there to take care of him, that was easy to guess. Matilda was taken at the moment to be treated for the bite in her ankle, and her pressure checked because when they found her, she looked still quite agitated and pale. They struggled to find a doctor who could help her because they were all out of their posts after what happened, and it took time to recover their rhythm. Both the wound and the pressure went well. When she questioned the location of the dogs that had attacked her, she was informed that they did not find any dog in the entire hospital. That statement, however, did not seem to surprise her. If it weren't for the bite that she could see in and feel on her own leg, maybe she would even doubt having actually seen them.
After treating her, the cops escorted her to the same waiting room where Cody was and told her to sit down too. Reluctantly, though silently, Matilda sat in the chair next to her partner. The officer at the door remained in place, without taking their eyes off them.
"Are we under arrest, or what?" Murmured the psychiatrist sarcastically.
"They would like that for sure," Cody added, somewhat calmer but notoriously tired. "How much longer will they have us here without even questioning us?"
Matilda answered nothing, partly because she didn't have an answer to that question, and partly because she wasn't yet in the right mood to start a conversation. What happened in that emergency room, what she saw, felt, and heard... Instinctively she put her hands on her neck, hoping to touch with the fingertips some mark of injury or pressure on her skin, but there was none. Her neck was totally intact. And even then, she couldn't take out the sensation of that invisible hand cutting her breath to the limit of suffocation.
The small sound of a message received on a cell phone made her jump suddenly, realizing only until that moment how engrossed she had remained in her own head. She thought it was her, but it was Cody who first pulled his phone from his pocket and checked it. He watched the screen for a long time in silence. He then turned off the phone, saving it almost immediately and with no apparent intention of reply.
"What happens?" Matilda questioned him almost without thinking about it and forgetting for a few seconds about her few desires to speak at the moment. Cody turned to her, took a quick look through his glasses, and then leaned completely against his back and crossed his arms.
"No, nothing... it's just a small matter that I left pending in Seattle."
"I thought you had asked for permission," said the brunette, somewhat confused. Cody shook his head.
"It's not about work, it's..." He cut his words himself and then rambled for a while on what to say exactly. "It doesn't matter, I don't have the head for that right now."
Matilda had no intention of insisting, and she didn't. She understood very well the part of "not having the head for that right now." However, the fact that Cody didn't want to talk about his mysterious pending issue didn't mean he didn't want to talk about anything.
"How are you?" He asked very slowly as if fearing that his guard would listen to them.
"My ankle doesn't hurt anymore," Matilda replied with normality.
"I don't mean that," Cody whispered even more slowly. He looked over his shoulder at the officer and then whispered again. "What exactly did that girl do to you? What kind of skill are we talking about?"
Matilda sighed wearily, and ran down the back of her neck with her right hand, trying to appease a small trace of pain that had accumulated in that area. She supposed it was fair to tell Cody everything she could, that it really wasn't much. He was in all that mess, thanks to her, after all. If it weren't for her request to accompany her, he would be at that time quietly finishing his classes of the day. The least she could do was inform him.
"It wasn't her, it was someone else," she declared firmly, equally slowly enough. "I don't know who he was or what he did exactly, but it was the most horrifying feeling I've experienced in my life. I felt like my life was sucked for me like it was just air. I really thought I would die..."
Her voice trembled a little by the end, in a way that was not at all common in her. Cody kept quite surprised.
"Was there anyone else with her then?" He asked, doubtfully.
"Not physically. It was a ranged attack, I'm sure of that."
"How?" Cody exclaimed in shock, raising his voice too much without realizing it. "But it can't be, the psychic protections that Eleven placed us..."
"They were useless," Matilda said harshly, interrupting him. "That person went through them as if it were a light mist. I didn't even know that it was possible to cause so much harm to another person without even being close to them. It was... I don't even know how to describe it... just give me a second..."
A feeling of nausea went up to her throat as she remembered that moment. She put a hand to her mouth and covered it with her fingers while breathing slowly and deeply to ease the sensation. Her entire body was more affected by that than by the bite on her ankle, although this other had left no visible physical mark.
"Could you see or feel anything about him?" Asked Cody, apparently nervous about the direction the conversation had taken.
Matilda continued to breathe a little more before she could fully recover her composure and focus her thoughts on the question. If she had seen anything? Yes... or instead, maybe.
"I saw something, but I don't know if it was real or not," she muttered quietly. "He looked young, under twenty, perhaps. And had cold blue eyes... very cold. It was not physically scary, but... God, it was so horrible to have him before me like this."
"How did you get away?"
"I didn't. It was…"
Before she could finish, Matilda saw from the corner of her eye that the living room door opened, and someone came in just after. He was a tall man, quite tall, surely about two meters. It was somewhat lanky, though broad-shouldered. White skin, square head of hard features, with an almost flush cut to the sides, military-style. He wore a brown-blue suit with a gray shirt and a blue tie with white stripes. Despite his complexion and somewhat imposing appearance, he had a pretty jovial smile on his lips, and his walk could even be described as sympathetic. He looked at them both and approached them, sitting in a chair right in front; he let out a small groan, more of relief than of pain, in doing so.
Before saying anything, he took a quick look at the notes in the small white-lined notebook he had in his right hand.
"You are Dr. Honey and Mr. Hobson, right?" He murmured in a low voice, but quite harmonious. Just then, he took off his eyes from the notebook and looked at them expectantly of their answers, although these were limited to only a slight nod of their heads. "I'm so sorry they had you here waiting so long, but everything is chaos out there as you have already seen. I am Detective Malone. My partner, Detective Vazquez, informed me that you could have valuable information about what happened, and especially about the suspect.
"Well, he misinformed you," Cody said quickly. "We don't know anything about all this, much less who that girl was."
"I understand," Malone said, widening his smile more. "But Robert can be stubborn; he won't leave me alone if I even think about letting you go without questioning you."
"How is he?" Matilda asked suddenly, sincerely interested.
"He is okay, they treated him, and I think he's resting now."
Matilda crossed her hands over her legs and looked away. Once everything happened, and while she waited for a doctor to see her, Matilda had doubted what had happened to Vazquez after she left him on the floor. She wondered if it would have been better to stay to help him, instead of going after that girl. Now she was somewhat relieved to know that he was fine, and she also felt less guilty.
"Well," Malone continued, "if you could tell me exactly what you were doing here at the Hospital..."
The door opened abruptly and with some violence, taking even by surprise to the other officer, who instinctively brought his hand to his gun. He calmed down, at least a little when he saw who it was. Matilda and Cody could see him, but Malone had to turn on his shoulder to do so.
"Oh, Holy God," said the policeman in disbelief. With one arm attached to a sling, the other supported by an elbow crutch, and a face of a thousand demons, Robert Vazquez approached them as quickly as his condition allowed. In addition to the sling and the crutch, he had a bandage over his right eyebrow, where he had touched a bullet. His right ankle was bandaged, and he tried not to support that foot too much.
It seemed a somewhat unreal scene, which none of the three seemed to be able to interpret it completely.
"He seems to be much better than he said," Cody murmured.
"Or maybe he's much more stubborn than he said," Matilda added to the comment.
Malone stood up from his chair and approached the newcomer, putting his huge body in the way.
"Vazquez, what the hell are you doing here?" He asked between confused and accuser.
"My job," the Latin man replied curtly and prepared to turn him around even if he had to maneuver with his crutch, his shoulder, and his injured ankle. Malone had no choice but to break through, as long as he won't end up falling to the ground and doing more damage than he already had.
"You got two shots," Malone pointed out almost like recrimination. "Do you think you are Sylvester Stallone or something? You should be resting. Did they tell you at least that you could get up from your stretcher?"
Vazquez did not answer him, and even consciously seemed to try to ignore him. He approached the chairs in front of Matilda and Cody that Malone had occupied a few moments ago; the latter just stood and watched in silence, with his arms crossed.
Robert leaned his body forward and fixed his dark eyes on the two individuals in front of him. There was such fierceness in those eyes that it almost seemed that he was seeing the face of his own father's killer directly. To Cody, that position made him somewhat nervous, but Matilda remained still; the people had seen her in more intimidating ways in the past.
"Enough of the games, you two," Vazquez said in a hard and bellicose voice that could easily be mistaken for a threat... if it really wasn't. "I'm very sick of this. I want you to tell me the whole truth right now."
"Vazquez, please..." Malone intervened, wanting to calm him down, but abruptly raised his crutch and pointed it at him, perhaps in a not-so-discreet attempt to say: Be silent and don't mess.
"Tell me who the girl who shot me was, why she took the Sullivan girl, and where they are. Now!"
Vazquez's voice rose suddenly with such power that even the other two policemen became nervous. He had a reputation for having a strong and tough temperament, and that was partly what made him an excellent cop. But on that occasion, it looked different. He seemed to be severely affected by what happened, or even to have lost his mind a little. Maybe they had given him medications, and they were disturbing him in some way. Whatever it was, he seemed out of himself. The mere fact that he was there, still severely injured, was a slightly worrying indicator of that.
"This is ridiculous," Cody snapped, more confident. "We already told you everything: we have no idea who that girl was or why she took Lily Sullivan. We were with you when the shot was heard, remember?"
Vazquez let out a wry laugh, and then sucked hard through his nose. Instinctively he tried to bring his hand to his nose to scratch it, but the hurt shoulder pain stopped him.
"You arrive by telling a series of strange stories about Lily Sullivan, and a few hours later this... madness happens. And, do you expect me to believe it was a coincidence?
Matilda and Cody were silent. Was it a coincidence? Indeed, if they had to see the situation from the other side, they would hardly believe it either. But it had to be that way, right? What had led them to that site in the first place? Doug's call, the subsequent news of his death, and what Matilda had felt when she toucher that photograph. Did any of it have something to do with what happened? They didn't see how at the moment. And then there was the issue about the river and what happened to Miss Jenkins. Had all this also happened by coincidence? Or, perhaps, were all those events dominoes that fell one after another until they were in that position? And of course, everything could also be the work of someone or something.
A fairly lively pop song, from at least ten years ago, began to sound suddenly and quite forcefully among the awkward silence that had formed between the four. Malone immediately began to feel the pockets of his jacket and his pants until he found the small mobile phone, which looked even smaller in his big hands. He looked at the screen, having to zoom out a little to appreciate it better. After a couple of seconds, he replied hurriedly.
"Yes? Malone here," he said solemnly to the phone. "Commissioner...? Yes, sir... No... Wait..."
He quickly began to walk towards the exit with the phone attached to his ear. The uniformed man at the door allowed himself to open it to pass, and he thanked him with a discreet nod.
In that time, Vazquez did not look away from the two suspects for a single second; neither the lively song nor the apparent call of the Commissioner, made him distracted. After Malone left, Vazquez only allowed himself to look over his shoulder at the door fleetingly to make sure Malone was really gone, and the other policeman was at an acceptable distance.
He leaned forward again, but now his absolute attention had focused on Matilda and nothing else.
"How did you do that? Eh?" He snapped in a quarrelsome way, albeit low enough that the policeman at the door would not hear.
Matilda did not mutate.
"What do you mean?" She replied with sarcasm so marked that it obviously only made the man even angrier at her.
"You know very well what I'm talking about. The trick of the bullet, how did you do it? That bullet was going straight to my face and stopped in the air alone. I saw it float in front of my eyes and then collapse as if nothing. How is it possible?"
Cody looked confused at his partner. She had not yet been informed him about any of it. Had Matilda used her skills to stop a bullet? Cody didn't even know that she was able to do that, or that it was even possible.
Vazquez's voice was full of demand, but Matilda immediately perceived the desire added to those words. As Eleven had told her, people usually don't want to know the real truth: they want to know the possible truth that fits their ways of thinking and seeing the world. He didn't really want to know how she had done that. He wanted to hear that everything had been false, a trick of shadows and mirrors, and everything had a fairly reasonable explanation. That was what he wanted to believe, and what he expected her to tell him.
But Matilda, at that time, was not in the mood, and that included being complacent with that guy.
"How do you think I did that?" The psychiatrist replied shrugging. "Do you really think it was a trick?"
Vazquez's face turned totally red from anger, and only until that moment, Matilda was aware that her attitude was not typical of her profession. The man before she had gone through an experience rather than traumatic. Not only had he been about to lose his life, but he had also seen something that was simply impossible to understand. His mind had to be almost in pieces, trying to make sense of all that. And she somehow helped it to happen.
They heard the room door open and assumed it was Detective Malone returning after finishing his call. Hence, none of them bothered to even turn around.
Matilda took a deep breath, tried to calm down, and then her voice took a much more serene stance.
"Listen, you are shocked," she muttered cautiously. "It is not easy to digest what happened, even for an experienced policeman like you. Try to calm down, and then we'll talk about this..."
Intuitively she put her hand towards Vazquez's intending to take it and hoping that the physical contact would help him to land, to process that moment and place were real. However, the policeman withdrew his hand before she could even touch it, and stared at it with apprehension.
The policeman at the entrance was arguing with someone, apparently with the one who had opened the door, but only Cody noticed it. This person, even against the refusals of the police, began to move towards them.
"I don't want to calm down," Vazquez declared dryly. "If you know anything about what the hell happened here, you better say it, right now. Or I swear I'm going to lock you both right now.
"Under what charges, if I can know?" Questioned a new voice, entering the talk. The three seated people turned at the same time to see an unknown man standing next to them, watching them smiling with one hand on their waist and the other held to the handle of a huge black suitcase of wheels. "Because from here, it seems that the Portland police department needs a couple of talks about police harassment and unjustified arrest."
That individual spoke jovially, and even somewhat mockingly. He was of medium height, white skin, short blond hair, and sly gray-blue eyes. His complexion was medium, neither thin nor very stocky, but he was fit. He wore a gray suit with a casual cut, with a white shirt underneath and a blue tie tied around his neck with a knot that looked somewhat improvised and rushed.
"In fact, I attended one of those a year ago," the newcomer added jokingly, "and it was quite illustrative..."
His words were interrupted when the police at the door approached him to take him by the arm and get him out, but Vazquez indicated with a gesture of his good hand to leave him.
"Who are you?" Vazquez questioned with a somewhat violent tone and made the gesture of wanting to get up from his seat.
"Please don't get up, don't get up," the stranger indicated, extending his hands to him. Anyway, a little stabbing pain in his shoulder caused him to give up his attempt and remain seated. The blond-haired man jerked off the policeman's grip, and then he could pull his wallet out of his pants, and from this one, a business card that he extended to Vazquez. "Detective Cole Sear, Homicides of Philadelphia. Sorry, I don't show my badge, but I'm not exactly in service right now.
Robert took the somewhat dubious card and held it with his fingers in front of his face. This one had his full name and ways of contact, similar to the same ones he used to give them to witnesses and victims so that they could communicate with him directly. It was a usual practice among police detectives. He also had his badge number, so it was quite easy to verify if he was a real policeman or not.
"You must be Detective Vazquez," Cole continued in the same tone as before. "The officers out there said that you are in charge of all this horrible incident. It is quite admirable to see that you are taking care of this after two shots, plus your forehead."
"Thank you," said Vazquez, more as a commitment than with a real feeling. "What business does the Philadelphia police have with this? And how did you come here so fast?"
"No business, really, and I didn't," Cole commented, shrugging. "In fact, it's a coincidence that I am here. I only came on vacation for a few days, and to meet up with old friends." He turned to the other two, pointing at them both, "Matilda and… and…"
His gaze was fixed on the professor of glasses, and he looked at him with almost the same confusion.
"Cody?" Murmured Matilda's companion after a few awkward seconds.
"Sure! Cody," said Cole with momentum, then clashing his hands with each other. "How are you, man?"
He then extended his fist against Cody's arm, giving him a small blow, which was apparently stronger than it seemed. Almost immediately, Cody raised his hand to touch the hit area.
"Do you know these two?" Asked Vazquez, suspicious.
"Of course. Or, well, they are something like friends of a friend, a very important friend who doesn't want them to get into more trouble than they already are." Matilda and Cody looked at each other as soon as they heard that statement; both thought almost at the same time on the same important friend to whom he might be referring. "And I just got off a pretty long flight, with an hour and a half stop in Minneapolis. So, from a cop to another, if you could leave them alone and allow us to eat something decent, I would greatly appreciate it."
He finished his comment with a discreet wink of his eye, although, in fact, it was not so discreet.
The uniformed looked at Vazquez, waiting for some instruction. This one thought for a moment. If he really knew that two, he could serve as one more piece of this hazy puzzle. And so, with a shake of his head, he told him to stop. The police retreated back to his position but did not take his eyes off from the stranger.
"That isn't going to happen," Vazquez told him seriously. "These two are involved in some way in a shooting and in the death of a police officer. You will only leave this site on my body."
"Based on what you draw those conclusions?" Cole huffed carelessly. "What evidence do you have to support it?"
"Are you really a cop? Or are you their lawyer?"
"I can be both; no problem. Or do we really need to call a real lawyer to resolve this?"
Both Detectives looked at each other as if they were in some kind of eye competition. Matilda and Cody continued in silence, as they had chosen to remain throughout that conversation.
"Do you know why these two came here?" Vazquez inquired questioningly. "Do you know the stories that they told us?"
"I can get an idea." Cody turned to look sideways at both, and almost immediately turned back to Vazquez. "But I think it's not illegal to tell stories, whether invented or real, right?"
"What is illegal is to be an accomplice in a kidnapping and homicide. As far as I know, you could be too."
"Me?" Cole let out a carefree laugh. "As I said, I just left my plane, and if I put the right attention in my class of Research 1, I think it is simple to verify. And personally, I answer by these two, and I assure you that they have nothing to do with anything that happened here."
"And I'm supposed to believe in your word? A few minutes ago, you didn't even remember their names..."
Malone had entered the room right now and immediately headed for Vazquez. His face looked alarmed and worried. Whatever he had talked about in that long call, it had apparently affected him a little.
"Vazquez," Malone murmured slowly, close to his partner's ear. He seemed not to want the other people present to hear him. "We have to let them go."
"What?" Released the wounded detective, loud enough to be heard by Matilda and the others. "What the hell are you talking about, Malone?"
"The Commissioner spoke to me in person, and he assured me that these two individuals have nothing to do with this. They come on behalf of a highly respected organization, and their director contacted him to answer for them."
"Their director? And who the hell is?"
In the mind of Vazquez came the words that alleged detective mentioned a few moments ago, about an "important friend." He glanced at Cole, and he was looking at him with a pleased expression.
"Is something wrong, Detective Vazquez?" The man from Philadelphia questioned him. Vázquez's face once again turned red, and he completely ignored it to focus on his partner.
"They said they represent a foundation that helps supposed psychic people," he muttered in a pitiful tone, anger building up in his throat. "What kind of highly respected organization can that be?"
"I have no idea. I insisted that you were convinced that they could know something, but the Commissioner ignored me.
"This is stupid," Vazquez released quite forcefully and then began trying to stand up quickly, no matter the pain. Malone tried to stop him, but he was not left. He stood as he could and strolled towards the entrance to get out of that place. The others saw him in silence until he retired.
Malone sighed and ran his hand through his hair cut. Then he turned to the others and smiled somewhat forcedly.
"Please wait just a few more minutes. We will take your statement, and after that, you can leave. Thank you all."
Before anyone answered him, he headed straight for the door at a hurried pace. He spoke with the policeman at the door. He evidently notified him that he could leave because a second later, they both left one behind the other.
Matilda and Cody looked really confused.
"What happened?" Cody questioned.
"What happened is that Eleven just got rid of those two," Cole pointed out cunningly.
Cody's eyes widened.
"Eleven knew what we were here?"
Cole snorted, ironic.
"If Eleven knew you were here?" He turned to Matilda, pointing at Cody with his thumb. "Are he kidding, or is new? Of course, she knew you were here. She always knows, doesn't she?"
Cody turned red, partly out of grief, and slightly out of annoyance after that comment.
"Who are you?" Matilda questioned bluntly, feeling quite suspicious of that individual.
"Didn't you hear me just now?" Cole replied, sarcastically. "I'm a homicide detective, and your new best friend, apparently." He then dropped himself into the chair in front of them, the same one in which Vazquez had been sitting a few minutes ago. He rested his arms against the backs of the side chairs, in a comfortable and carefree pose. "And I'm also a boy from the Foundation, just like you two. Eleven sent me to help you with the case of the girl in Salem, but I was getting off my plane when she called me and asked me to come and help you with this other matter as well."
Matilda was startled slightly, and her face filled with barely appreciable amazement.
"Are you who she was going to send? The person with... another kind of experience?"
Cole raised an eyebrow, intrigued by that strange description.
"Another kind of experience? I don't know about that, but yes, I'm the one who comes to help you, Doctor."
"I've never heard about you," said Cody, somewhat incredulous.
"And you know all the children of the Foundation, perhaps?"
"To most, yes."
Cole did not expect that answer. He shrugged and then crossed his right leg over his left.
"I didn't go much at meetings and anniversaries," he began to explain, "because... well, I don't usually relate to people in general. I'm from friendships that are something more... peculiar. Also, my work, as you have to assume, is quite strenuous. Even so, when Eleven asks me for help with these types of cases, I always try to make time for her.
Both Cody and Matilda, but more the latter, did not seem very convinced with that explanation. However, they also had no reason to suppose that he was not who he claimed to be. He knew Eleven, he knew about the case in Salem, and all this matched the last thing her director had informed Matilda. But what she had just lived just a couple of hours ago, added to the discomfort that caused her the issue of Eleven going to send someone else to help her for not considering her capable enough, made her feel quite paranoid and incredulous.
Cole suddenly leaned forward and looked closely at both of them.
"But I started to investigate a lot about you," that statement surprised both of them. "Well, more about you." He pointed to Matilda and then turned to focus on Cody. "Eleven wasn't sure how much help they had asked you for, so I didn't know if I'd know you or not. But I still didn't find much. Three adoptive families, you are a high school teacher... and basically, that's it. It didn't even occur to me to ask someone which are you… you know, skill.
Cody was silent. That "is everything" was something far from reality. There was enough of his life that apparently that detective had not found. And that, for now, was better.
Once he finished with Cody, Cole turned and focused his full attention on Matilda.
"You, on the other hand, are a whole traveling movie, Matilda," he declared with a funny smile.
"Dr. Honey, to you," Matilda muttered curtly, so much that even Cody seemed to be surprised at that.
"Very well, Doctor," Cole murmured, letting out a mocking laugh. He seemed like the kind of person who didn't take anything seriously. Or was it the type and image that he tried to project to others?
He pulled himself back, leaning on his seat and crossed his legs.
"Well, Eleven told me a little about what happened, but I don't think she has all the details. Why don't you tell me the rest?"
"We don't need help, thanks," Matilda replied flatly.
"What do you say?" Cody exclaimed incredulously. "I think we do. The situation is quite serious, Matilda. A man died, and we know nothing about who attacked you."
Matilda didn't answer anything. He grimaced with his lips and turned away.
"I detect some hostility here, Doctor," Cole said, ironing a little. "You don't like me? If you don't even know me yet."
Matilda turned at him, giving him a look so hard and sharp that it might well have felt like a shot.
"Good, funny. Do you want to know what happened? I'll tell you."
Matilda told him about Doug and his death, as well as Lily Sullivan and the suspicions they had about her. From there, she continued with the shot they heard, and everything related to it that the police had told them. The next subject was the strange armed girl who kidnapped Lily, wounded Detective Vazquez, and was about to stop her... until "that" happened. Matilda finished her story by explaining about the strange attack she had suffered, and his mysterious perpetrator. Some of the things she told him were part of what Eleven had told him, but there were a couple who didn't, and those left him more impressed than he expected.
"Wow ..." Cole exclaimed a few seconds after Matilda finished speaking. "You look bored in appearance, but apparently you know how to cause disaster where you go."
"Of course not," Cody explained with alarm. "We had nothing to do with this. We were only there to see the Sullivan girl, and we didn't even achieve that. We don't know who that other girl was, or who Matilda's attacker was."
"And you?" Matilda asked, sarcastically in her voice. Cole just smiled.
"No... But I think I know where we could find out some information about it."
Without further ado, he almost jumped to his feet and hurried toward the door. Matilda and Cody stayed in their seats, looking confused. Noticing that they were not following him, Cole stopped halfway and turned to them again.
"Are you coming or what?"
"They told us to wait here," Cody said, somewhat doubtfully.
"And you always do what a police officer tells you?"
"Usually…"
"Go on, I take care of you," Cole said playfully, finishing off with a wink of his right eye.
Cole continued towards the exit, no matter if they came with him or not. Cody looked at Matilda, seeking her opinion.
"What should we do?"
Matilda sighed heavily and stood up.
"If Eleven trusts him so much, I want to see why."
"Hey, what exactly happens between Eleven and you?" Cody questioned, imitating her and also standing. Matilda's attitude towards Eleven had been quite strange since the day he saw her in Seattle.
"Nothing, nothing... let's just finish this."
Matilda began to hurry to the door, and Cody had no choice but to follow her, in silence.
Cole did not know where to go in the beginning, but after engaging in conversation with a couple of officers, they managed to tell him the exact place. However, they were probably not fully aware of that. Matilda and Cody didn't understand why he wanted to go to that place, or what he expected to see that the other cops didn't. And he explained nothing to them as if trying to keep the mystery.
They climbed the elevator to the floor they had been pointed out. However, in the corridor they were looking for, they saw a policeman standing guard in front of a yellow police line. The safest thing was that he was there to take care that no one approached. The three remained hidden in an equine as bland criminals.
"And now what?" Matilda questioned. "Will you also use your charm with him?"
"I don't think I'm charming enough," Cole replied eloquently. "Would any of your skills help to create a distraction?"
"Distraction? For the police? Seriously?" The brown woman muttered annoyingly. "Are you really a cop? You haven't even told us what you want to go there."
"I told you; to gather information about the suspect."
"The police already checked everything there. What do you expect to see? You are just a talker."
"If you help me get there, I will show you."
Matilda sighed in frustration and then walked away from them with her hands raised.
"I'm not going to participate. My days of using my skills for childish pranks were a long time ago."
"Yes, I heard something about that," Cole said softly, confusing the psychiatrist a little. His attention now focused on Cody. "How about you? Is there anything you can do to give me a hand here?"
Cody hesitated. He looked at Matilda and Cole, respectively, uncertain about what to do. Matilda only shrugged, and with her gaze indirectly told him to do what seemed best, as if that were simple.
The biology professor withdrew his glasses and focused his gaze on the hallway. He remained silent, a profound silence. He seemed so focused on whatever he was doing, that he appeared not to be blinking... or even breathing. Cole was about to ask what he was doing when he suddenly heard a giggle echoing down the hall. He looked up and could see what was going on like a girl or a boy dashing in front of them, and he left laughing and running to where the policeman was.
Cole peeked out. The policeman was alert when he saw the boy running towards him, and then stopped a couple of meters away, staring at him with a wide smile.
"Hey, you can't be here," said the officer, but the boy's only response was to run to another hallway and lose from his sight. "Hey, wait."
The policeman rushed behind him, and in a few seconds, they no longer saw him, nor listened. Cole and Matilda stared at Cody, waiting for him to react in some way. That happened about a minute later, in which he took an extended inhalation, and just after he put on his glasses again.
"That will keep him busy for a couple of minutes," the teacher said seriously.
"Impressive, you're an illusionist," said Cole, slapping him on the back. "Well done, but you didn't have to make us see that too just to show off."
Cody looked at him sideways, and with one hand, he adjusted his glasses again, after they moved behind his slap on the back.
"I didn't, and I'm not an Illusionist," he said curtly, and then he began to walk where they were going before he tried to ask him any other questions. Cole looked confused and curious but preferred not to push more than he should.
The three advanced towards the police line and stood right in front of it. From that position, Cody and Matilda could clearly see the horrifying scene that their "new best friend" insisted so much on wanting to see...
END OF CHAPTER 17
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
—Detective Malone, as well as Vazquez, is an original character of my creation. However, it is based on the context of the Case 39 movie. Still, it is not a character that has appeared directly or indirectly in it.