Investigators

Unwilling as one might be, so long as they are men, they must abide by the rules of men. One of these rules, is that when the law is broken, a trial attesting to the guilt or innocence of the involved is held and punishment given.

In accordance to these rules, Adam went to trial next morning.

Before the clerk, he saw Paul, probably there for the same reason as him. He thought about giving him a greeting. It was a fleeting thought, and he couldn’t bring himself to act on it.

The hearing was simple. The judge explained Adam’s crimes and that he would not face jail time. He pled guilty and was sentenced to a fine. It was dry and boring.

It was boring enough that he couldn’t understand what led the four people who watched, sitting silently on the benches, to waste their time on it.

They weren’t particular to his trial, so he though they were just watching trials for curiosity’s sake. Still, one of them, in an overcoat that was slightly too warm even for the snows they were having recently, caught his attention.

He sat comfortably, with his hands crossed beneath his chin. His eyes hovered over Adam in a scrupulous way.

Once the trial was over and Adam left the courthouse, the man slithered his way. Swarthy, slender and sinister. His eyes reminded Adam of a serpent and something in the way he walked and the way his hands moved was creepy.

With an affable smile that did not suit the feelings Adam had for him he began a conversation. “Forgive me for interrupting your day, but you are Adam Good, are you not?”

“I am. Who are you?”

Adam’s guarded manner did not deter him in the slightest. “My name is Christopher Blake. I am an investigator. If possible, I’d like to ask some questions.”

For a moment Adam was silent, thinking.

“I assure you there’s nothing to worry about, Mr. Adam.”

“Am I a suspect of something?”

“Oh, no, no.” Christopher held his hands in a placating gesture, smiling. He wore thick leather gloves. “There are just a few questions I would like to ask, if you don’t mind.”

“And what if I do mind?”

He shrugged. His smile never faltered. “Then I guess I’ll have to search for answers somewhere else. However, if possible I’d like to have a brief conversation with you. It’ll only take five minutes, and you don’t need to answer anything.”

“I see.” Adam studied the man for a moment. The way he held himself, full of confidence and slyness as if only he knew the secrets that bewildered others, was infuriating. He was a liar, but an uncommon kind of liar whose deceit relied in something other than words. His eyes were cold and unrelenting. He did not care if Adam accepted to speak with him or not and would likely come after Adam again, when he could press a conversation instead of having to ask.

“About what do you want to talk to me?” Adam asked.

Christopher smiled. “Do you read the news?”

“Not recently.”

He unfolded a newspaper he had inside his coat and showed an article to Adam. It was about the attack on the hospital. “I am investigating this.”

Adam felt a chill. This was not completely unexpected, but still took him by surprise. It had not even been a full day since.

“Can you accompany me?” Christopher asked, gesturing toward a café on the other side of the street.

Adam decided to speak with him. “What about your friend?” Adam asked, pointing at a man who had been watching them from a distance. He recognized him at a glance as the same mysterious man he saw sniffing around the hospital; and that more than anything told him the two would not leave him in peace.

Christopher looked back, and gave a phony smile. “That’s my partner.”

The man approached. He wore the same clothes as yesterday, still wearing a hat and his face still half-hidden by a mask. He coughed. “Philip,” he said in a rough, deep voice.

Close as he was his tall stature and broad shoulders made him appear intimidating.

“A cold?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” Philip said, curtly.

“Well, I take it you agree to speak with me briefly, yes?”

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The three sat at the café. Christopher asked if Adam wanted anything, but ordered nothing for himself. Neither did Adam.

“Your wife is in the hospital isn’t she?”

“Yes.” There was no point in denying that. “She was admitted yesterday.”

“So you were there from… about two to four o’clock yesterday.”

“Yes, I think so.”

A series of small questions followed. Philip said nothing, though his eyes never left Adam.

“What exactly is this all about?” Adam asked.

Christopher stopped short for a moment. “No one really knows. Apparently someone used a kind of gas to take out everyone on the third floor of the hospital and no one knows why. Could be a terrorist, could be a nutter, could be anyone.” He shrugged, easily.

“Sounds dangerous.”

Christopher nodded. “There was also some property damage. A burned door, and a few broken lamps.”

“Should you be telling me this?”

He smiled strangely. “I’m not saying anything that isn’t in the news.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. The journalists arrived before us. Incidentally, they wrote those who fainted saw a ghost before passing out. Supernatural drivel, of course. The chemical might have been a hallucinogen.”

“Several people saw the same hallucination?”

“It’s been said to happen.” Christopher shrugged.

“Sounds bizarre.”

Christopher smiled widely. He seemed excited all of a sudden. “My theory is that the specifics of hallucinations are caused by the thoughts of the person having it. If perhaps they were all speaking of a similar subject before it happened or all saw something that made them think of something in particular they’d have similar hallucinations. For example, imagine that there is a tiger carpet on the floor of a room. It’s eye-catching and bound to make people dwell on it, so if they all fall in a mood to have hallucinations, wouldn’t it make sense for many of them to see a tiger?”

Adam was a little taken aback by his enthusiasm. “Sounds possible.”

“Well, I’m not a doctor. I could be completely wrong,” Christopher continued, faking humility.

“But in that case, why a ghost?”

“It’s a hospital” Christopher gestured airily. “It’s filled with medics and nurses all wearing white, and people’s thought are filled with death.”

Adam pretended to ponder it. “You might be on to something.”

Christopher nodded with his eyes closed, looking very sure of himself. “I realize you are very calm for someone whose wife could have been the victim of an assault.”

Adam frowned. “If something had happened to her, I think you’d have told me by now. Or the hospital for that matter.”

“The hospital tried to contact you actually. But you were not at home.”

“I slept in a hotel.”

“Why?”

“To go see my wife in the morning,” he said, somewhat harshly.

Christopher laughed. “I might make you late then?”

Adam sighed. “It doesn’t matter. My wife is well, right?”

“As a matter of fact, she is.” For a moment, Christopher simply observed him. Then, he spoke again. “You’ve not been to see your wife since then?”

“No.”

Christopher said nothing. His smile continued plastered on his face.

“Is that all?” Adam asked.

“There is another thing.”

Adam sighed, audibly.

Christopher chuckled. “Sorry. It’s a small question. You are one of Oliver Good’s children, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“A recluse local landowner, recently deceased, left a large inheritance among an equally large number of children.”

“What can I say? He was like a rabbit.”

“Ha ha. Well, I’ve seen some with as many as forty children. Anyway, that is all. Thank you for your time. Just to confirm, you saw no one suspicious while in the hospital, right?”

Adam denied.

Christopher rose. If anything, Adam felt the man was mildly disappointed. It seemed Adam had broken his expectations.

His partner kept looking at him. It was unnerving.

Adam went to the toilet.

He had no business to take care of. What he wanted was an empty place where no one could see him. Inside the stall, he uttered choice words and waved his fingers as he focused.

He felt space rippling before him. Then he saw the small spider on his finger. It was smaller than a thumb and at a glance looked like a common spider. He smelled the spider and himself, but detected no smell of dreams.

This was a looking-spider. It did nothing but spy on people, but could only move as a normal spider did. According to the journal, the spider had no smell, and could hide from anyone.

Adam rushed outside. He looked around, and saw Christopher and Philip arguing on the walkway. He walked toward them.

Soon, Christopher noticed him, and waited. “Something the matter?” he asked, amiably.

The spider crawled down Adam’s leg.

“I was wondering if there is anyone else in my family you are investigating.”

Christopher blanked for a moment, but soon laughed. “I don’t think I should tell you that. But, well, we are.”

The spider crawled on the ground.

“I wouldn’t really say I’m investigating you either. You are a witness, not a suspect. We are speaking with everyone who had been to the third floor of the hospital that day.”

The spider climbed on his shoe.

“I suppose that’s fine then,” Adam said with a heartfelt sigh.

“Good. Farewell.”

“Farewell.”

The two left right after. The spider went with them.

Adam sat on the table were all of them were previously and ordered breakfast, and focused on the spider.

“Do you think he is clean?” Christopher asked. Adam heard him through the spider.

“He doesn't smell of sorcery,” said Philip’s deeper voice. Its sound sent a chill down Adam’s back.

“But why would that cloud be in his wife’s room?”

“Clouds are capricious,” Philip said. “It may very well have been a whim.”

“The door to her room was broken as well.”

“You tried to make him mention that did you not?”

“Yes, and failed.”

“You can’t summon a cloud without impregnating yourself in the stuff of dreams. I never thought it was him. I only mentioned him because he was wandering suspiciously around the hospital. I don’t think it was someone present in the third floor either, that would be too suspicious. It might be anyone with a grudge on one of the patients on that ward. Hell, even someone with a grudge on the doctors or the staff.”

“Why would anyone in their right mind summon a cloud in a hospital?”

There was a silence where all Adam could hear was the sound of the motor.

“You think it was an amateur?” Philip asked, gravely.

“Yes, that is what I think. Someone new to this, who doesn’t understand how all of this works, or about us. Someone doing their first rites.”

Another silence descended, and Adam heard nothing more from that spider.

His breakfast arrived. He ate in silence, pondering over their words. They knew about the monster, and seemed to understand how it worked. They didn’t know that Adam knew about these supernatural events too, but suspected him. What would they do, if they knew what he could do? Would they arrest him as a terrorist? What would they do if they discovered it was John who summoned that cloud, and what would that implicate for him and the other members of his family?

There were many things to think about, and it seemed everything got more complicated by the minute.