Flow (8)

….

Kay tried Cameron's cell and felt a surge of frustration as it went straight to voicemail. She turned back to Mike. "We're sure about this."

"Whatever 'this' is, yes."

She tapped the laptop keyboard to bring up the image again. "This is what Jacobus Stein drives."

"Yeah," Mike nodded. "A 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale, midnight blue. We'd already run his vehicle registration after figuring out he made the 'haunting machine.' When Cameron told you he'd been followed here, I checked that first."

"Dark blue and old, just like Cameron said."

"Yeah."

"This makes no sense, Mike."

"I know."

"Nothing on the footage. Nothing at all?"

Mike sighed. "I went through it. Then I went through it again." He settled on the edge of his desk, slouching a bit. "Then I ran Cameron's cell phone records, and after I got those back yesterday afternoon, I paid a visit to Jonathan."

Kay felt like she was being pulled into some bizarre alternate reality. Scanning the cell records, she shook her head and tried to rationalize it. "Mike, you're telling me that none of this happened. He didn't get a call from Jonathan 2 nights ago. He wasn't followed by this car. And he didn't go see Jonathan after he left here yesterday afternoon, even though that's what he planned to do?"

"That's what I'm telling you. Jonathan confirmed: he left a few voicemails, but he hasn't actually seen or spoken to Cameron since their visit, which was about 10 days ago. We've got Cameron's phone records and a week's worth of traffic footage around the Archive and his apartment. No dark blue mystery car. And Jacobus Stein's car turned up last night off the BOLO – it's been in long-term parking at JFK for the last 4 days. Stein was probably on a flight out of New York the day after Cantor's murder." Mike blew out a frustrated breath and scrubbed both hands over his face.

"That means Stein wasn't following Cameron. What – was he just being paranoid?"

"I don't know, Kay," Mike admitted. "But I got a call from Dina just before you got here. Cameron dropped off the radar yesterday and the team couldn't reach him, so this morning they finally tracked his phone to a little diner off the interstate, near Woodbury."

Kay stared at him. "Woodbury."

"Yeah. When Dina called the place, a waitress told her Cameron was there all night, drinking coffee and staring out the window. And this morning he had a pretty nasty argument on his phone. Apparently he raised his voice like he was responding to some kind of threat. It was enough to scare the other customers. Then he just left."

"He's still not answering his cell." Kay tried it again, held her breath through his chipper greeting. "Cameron, it's me. Call me back, please, as soon as you can." She ended the call and pivoted to face Mike. "Where is he right now?"

….

"That's Dina's car," Mike said, pulling into the visitor parking area beside Cameron's building.

"Yeah," Kay replied. "There they are." She was out the door as soon as Mike had nosed into a spot. "Guys!" she called, heading for the building's front steps.

Dina hurried toward them, Jordan and Gunter close behind. "We decided to come check on him ourselves," she said without preamble. "He was gone all yesterday and we find out he hasn't even been home all night. Is this about the case you're working?"

"We don't know, Hon," Mike said, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze as they climbed the stairs.

"It's weird, whatever it is," Gunter commented.

Kay showed her credentials to the concierge and they headed for the elevator bank. The ride up was silent, pensive.

"This is kind of weird," Jordan said. As Kay and the others glanced at him, he shrugged. "The whole gang showing up at his apartment at" – he checked his phone – "8:00 am. What if he just had a late night and now he's in the shower or something?"

Kay eyed the floor indicator. "I don't know what's going on," she admitted, "but we've had a murder, a phony 'haunting' at a warehouse, and now Cameron seems to have gone off the rails. So we check."

They left the elevator and walked down the quiet hallway, Mike at her side. Kay was reaching for the doorbell when the door flew open and Cameron was there, dishevelled, moving. She started to say his name before realizing something was wrong when he threw a clumsy punch. Then chaos: voices rose as she easily sidestepped the attack, surprise yielding before her training. Cameron overbalanced, recovered and tried to bolt. And Mike moved in, deftly securing the magician's arms behind his back and taking him to the floor.

For a moment Cameron fought, wide-eyed and seemingly oblivious to them. Then his eyes fluttered shut and he was unconscious.

….

Day 24 (again):

Cameron stared at her, stricken. "I took a swing at you?"

Kay smiled gently at the magician's horrified look. "Don't worry – your coordination left a lot to be desired. And when Mike tackled you, you went down pretty fast."

"I don't remember that at all. It's just…blank."

"Dr. Singh said that's common. You would have been deteriorating pretty rapidly the last day or so. You probably won't remember much, if anything."

Nodding, Cameron lay back in bed and tried to suppress a yawn. "I feel like I fell down a rabbit hole."

Mike stood up and snagged his jacket from the back of the chair. "No falling. No more getting hit in the head, either."

"Amen to that," Gunter said.

Cameron sifted through a pile of memories – the dimness of the Archive, the car's gleaming chrome grill and the sense that something sinister was after him. He could see the low, cloud-studded sky over the prison road. He could hear the menacing voice on his phone. 'Rabbit hole' didn't begin to cover it. "It's amazing that my mind could have come up with all that," he wondered. "It seemed so…real."

"It was for you," Kay said. "Dr. Singh told us these types of injuries can cause vivid delusions and even hallucinations. So you were living a different reality."

Dina swept down and kissed Cameron on the cheek, eliciting a tired smile. "Now that we've done away with all this drama," she said, "I think it's time for you to get some rest." The others gathered jackets and bags and headed for the door in silent agreement. Gunter patted Cameron's knee as he passed the bed.

"You heard Dina," Kay ordered. "Get some rest."

Mike grinned. "I wouldn't argue with either of them, Cameron."

Cameron nodded. "I don't plan on it." As Kay and Mike started to turn away, it occurred to him. "How'd I know about the car?"

They turned back. "What was that?" Kay asked.

"The car," he said again. "You guys said you found out what kind of car Stein drove while you were checking into whether or not I was being followed."

"That's right," Mike said slowly. "And we also figured out that he was never following you, because he'd parked that car at JFK and left the country."

Cameron considered it. "Okay, but if it was all in my head, how did I know what kind of car to imagine? I know Stein's reputation but I've never met him – other than that old photo you showed us, I wouldn't even know what he looks like. And before a couple days ago, I'm pretty sure I'd never seen his car."

Mike opened his mouth to respond, then blinked and frowned. He and Kay peered at each other, silent.

….

End

Note: Thanks to all for the patience! This update was supposed to come a few days ago but the site wouldn't let me log in (it's a plot!). J

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed it.

Re the campaign: still much signature activity on the petition, and I'm still sending feedback to ABC regularly, as well as encouraging others to email Amazon, HBO, Netflix, CBS, NBC, etc…. Hopefully those efforts, along with anything else being done on other venues, will pay off! I've seen petition comments from around the world. I had no idea that Deception attracted such a wide ranging and diverse audience, but apparently it has! I told ABC they've got a lot of eager fans out here waiting.