16: THE GLITCH

THE THREE OF them stared at the blue door. Hanna reached for the doorknob, but Eileen stopped her. Her hands were clammy and trembled.

“I don’t know about this,” she said.

Hanna looked into her eyes. “This is what you want, right? This is important to you?”

“I thought it was, but I never thought I would get the chance. I didn’t think I would ever see him again. Now that we’re here, I don’t know.”

“You’re nervous. That’s normal. It means you care.”

“I haven’t seen him in over ten years. What do I say?”

“Whatever feels right. Tell him everything you told us. Let him know how you feel. Say everything you never had a chance to say before he died. And remember, this is about you. Not him.”

Eileen took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Hanna turned the doorknob and the three of them entered the house. They stood in the same living room as before, but instead of a young Eileen on the couch, it was her father watching television. He aimed the remote at the glowing box, flipping from channel to channel.

Claire and Hanna stepped aside, clearing a path for Eileen.

“Dad,” Eileen said, inching forward.

Her father looked up. “Eileen, I told you not to bother me while I’m watching TV.” He turned his attention back to the screen.

“Dad,” she said again.

This time, he ignored her. She walked around the couch and stood between him and the television.

“What the hell are you doing, child?” He stood up and chucked the remote at her.

She blocked the projectile and stomped forward. “I’m not a child anymore, Dad. I’ve grown up.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whoop-de-fricking-doo. What, do you want an award? News flash, lady. We all get old. It’s not a fricking talent.”

“Don’t call me lady. I’m your daughter.”

“Oh, yeah? Then tell me, what did my good-for-nothing daughter grow up to be?”

Eileen broke eye contact, looking at her feet. “I’m a prostitute,” she whispered.

“What did you say? Speak up, girl, and don’t goddamn mumble.”

“I said I’m a prostitute.”

He nodded. “So, that’s your crowning achievement. You have sex for money. It figures. I knew you wouldn’t amount to much.”

“It’s because of you,” she said.

“Because of me? What the hell did I have to do with this? You can’t blame me. If anything, I should be pissed at you. You’ve tainted the family name. Now people will remember me as the father of the fricking prostitute. Goddamn and Christ almighty, I can’t even catch a break when I’m dead.”

“You always make it about yourself. The universe doesn’t revolve around you. You’re not the center of everything.”

“Come on. You do the same thing. A couple of kids tease you at school, and you completely blow it out of proportion. But it turns out, you’re not even good at slitting your own wrists.”

“I was a child, and you were my father. You’re supposed to comfort your daughter when she comes home weeping. You don’t yell at her. You don’t call her a whore like the rest of them.”

“But look at you now. You’ve become a professional whore. The prophecy has come true.”

“You’re not listening to me. You never do. It’s your fault I dropped out of high school. It’s your fault I tried to kill myself. And it’s your goddamn fault they think I’m a murderer.”

He smiled. “That’s right, I almost forgot. You’re wanted for murder. Tell me, did you do it?”

Eileen stared at him, refusing to answer.

“Come on, you can tell me. I’m you’re father. Did you really stab Tony eighty-eight times? That’s just ruthless.”

“You know I didn’t do it.”

“To be frank, I really don’t care whether you did it or not. What I care about is the fact that you could do it. We both know you have blood on your hands. You killed your own mother.”

“I didn’t kill her. She died when I was a baby.”

“She died giving birth to you.”

“You can’t blame me for that.”

“I can, and I do. I always have. And when she died, I was stuck with an ungrateful brat. She didn’t deserve to die. She was an angel. If I could trade your life for hers, I would do it in an instant.”

Eileen flinched. “Don’t say that. Take it back.”

“I will not take it back. It’s the truth. You’re the one thing that ruined my life.”

“No. Take it back.”

“You’re a curse. You’re the goddamn mistake. You stole your mother from me.”

She pounded on his chest with her fists. “Take it back! Take it back! Take it back!”

“No!” he yelled, shoving her away.

She tripped over the coffee table and tumbled over. When she hit the floor, she rolled over and scurried to the wall. “Please, it’s not true.”

“Not true?” he repeated, looking down at her as he walked forward. He undid his belt, pulling it from the waist of his pants and folding it in half. “Are you calling me a liar? As far as I can tell, you’re the only one who’s lying. And guess what. Liars need to be taught a lesson.” He raised the belt over his head to strike her.

Claire lunged forward, crashing into his side and knocking him to the floor. He landed on a pile of pizza boxes, shaking his head, and fluttering his eyes in a daze.

Claire hopped up and crouched beside Eileen, offering a hand. “Are you okay?”

Eileen stared back at her in awe. “I still don’t get it. Why are you helping?”

“I told you, I believe you’re innocent.”

A wooden bat slammed into the side of Claire’s head. She dropped to the floor, bouncing off a wall on her way down. The man stood behind her, winding up for another swing.

Hanna charged forward, lifting the man up by the waist and throwing him onto the kitchen table. Empty beer bottles smashed under his weight, sending shards of glass through the air.

He pushed her away and hopped off the table to wind up another swing. Hanna raised her arms and caught the bat as it came down. She yanked it from his hands and jabbed his gut with the handle.

He keeled over, clenching his stomach, but recovered with an unexpected burst of strength. He lifted her up by the legs and slammed her down on the floor, sending the bat out of her hands and knocking the breath from her lungs. She squirmed on the floor, gasping for air as the man sat on top of her, straddling her stomach.

He raised his fist and smashed it into her face. A burst of stars invaded her vision. She tried to lift him off, but another fist caught her cheek, draining all of the strength from her body. Her arms fell limp to her sides, too exhausted to fight back anymore. Anticipating a third punch, she turned her head away.

Claire ran over and kneed him in the temple. He flopped over, landing beside the wooden bat. He fumbled to pick it up, when Eileen walked over and snatched it away.

He glared up at her, letting out a nervous laugh. “Hold on there, honey. You wouldn’t hurt your own father, would you? You’re not the monster they say you are. You’re my girl. My daughter. My princess.”

“Cut the crap,” Eileen said. “You’re just as pathetic as I remember. You never supported me when I needed you most. I’m glad you’re out of my life.”

His laugh turned maniacal. “Crazy bitch. You’ll never amount to anything. You’re a whore, and you’ll die a whore. You’ll piss off a client, and he’ll shoot you in the head. He’ll put you down like the dog you are.”

She lined up the end of the bat with the top of his head and wound up her swing. “Burn in hell.”

The bat slammed down, crushing his skull. His body went limp, and he crumpled over.

Eileen let the weapon roll out of her hand, wiping the tears from her face. “Thank you. Both of you.”

Claire patted the dust from her shirt. “I wasn’t going to let him hurt you.”

“We know what you’ve been through,” Hanna said. “We saw the relationship you had with your father. We wanted to give you a chance to confront him.”

The man’s body vanished in front of them.

“He’s gone,” Eileen said.

Hanna guided her toward the front door. “That’s right. You stood up to him. Now, he’s gone for good.”

Claire opened the door and escorted her out of the house. Hanna followed, glancing back to see Eileen’s father reappear on the couch, flipping through channels on the television. “Gone for good,” she repeated. She stepped outside and shut the door.

“I was wrong about the two of you,” Eileen said. “You’re decent people. I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

“Good,” Hanna said. “But remember, when you wake up, pretend like you despise us. The rest of the SCB thinks we tortured you.”

“That’s easy enough. I excel in despising people. So, you want me to take you to this truth place?”

“Yes. It’s called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.”

“Honey, I ain’t calling it that. It’s called the truth place.” She glanced around at the identical houses. “How do I take you there? Which one of these—”

Time hiccupped as she finished her sentence, pausing for a moment, and then skipping ahead.

“What was that?” Claire asked, twisting her head in confusion.

Hanna rubbed her chin. “I don’t know. That’s never happened bef—”

Another hiccup cut her off. She looked at her hands, which were fading away. Claire and Eileen were transparent as well.

“What’s going on?” she muttered to herself. “Claire, are you seeing th—”

Before she could finish, there was one last hiccup, and then everything went dark.

 

*****

 

Hanna woke up in the lab, confused and disoriented. She turned her head to check on Claire and Eileen. Claire was also awake, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light. Eileen was still unconscious.

“What happened?” Hanna asked, removing her headband.

Russell mashed at the keys on the keyboard. “I have no idea.” All of the monitors shut off at once. He stopped what he was doing and stared at the blank screens. The computer emitted a loud extended beep, and then shut down.

“No,” Hanna said, hopping out of her seat and scurrying over to the giant machine. “Please, no.”

“Is this normal?” Charles asked, watching from the back. “Does this happen a lot?”

“No, this isn’t normal,” Russell said, leaving the control panel to join Hanna. “Did it die?”

“I really hope not,” she said, pressing her hand to the side of the case. “It’s hot.” She leaned back and pointed to the counter next to Claire. “Can you hand me the screwdriver?”

“Sure thing,” Claire said. She searched the area for a screwdriver. “Where is it?”

“There should be one on the counter.”

“Well, it’s not here. All I see is a boxcutter.”

“Throw that over. That should work.”

Claire tossed the boxcutter across the room. Hanna caught it and used the tip of the blade to unscrew the fasteners along the edge of the case.

“See?” Russell said. “The boxcutter is always useful.”

She removed the side panel and placed it on the floor, already feeling the heat emanate from within. “Why is it so hot?”

“Look,” Russell said, pointing to the back of the machine. “The cooling fans are unplugged from the power supply.”

Hanna could see the loose wires dangling freely. “How did that happen? I can see maybe one of them coming loose, but not all of them at the same time.”

Russell shrugged. “Who knows? Anything’s possible, I guess.” He plugged the cords back in. “There we go. All fixed up.”

Charles stepped closer to peek inside the case. “Can you continue the session from where you left off?”

“We can’t do anything until it cools down,” Russell said. “We’ll have to wait. I don’t want to risk any permanent damage.”

“But you will be able to continue once it’s cooled down?”

“We should be able to, assuming no damage is already done. It’s an old computer. This kind of thing can put a lot of stress on the processor.”

“If there is damage,” Hanna said, walking across the room to talk directly to Charles, “our investigation is over. I’m afraid this is our only system. We have no backups. We’ll know for sure once the temperature stabilizes.”

“How long until we can start it up again?”

“An hour. But like yesterday, we shouldn’t overdo the sedatives. We can test the equipment to make sure everything is working properly, but until the sedative is out of Eileen’s system, we shouldn’t go back in. Tomorrow morning is safer.”

“Will it save today’s footage?”

“It should,” Russell said. “We store all of the raw data on this external storage server.” He patted the plastic box on the counter. “We can’t process the data until the computer has cooled down, but all of it is saved on this box.”

Charles nodded. “Good. Tomorrow morning we’ll continue from where we left off. How did today’s session go before the glitch? Did you make any progress?”

“We did,” Hanna said. “A lot of progress, actually. Our plan worked. She thinks we’re working against the SCB. We’ve gained her trust and she’s agreed to cooperate. I think we’ll get results tomorrow.”

“Excellent news,” Charles said.

Howard stroked the stubble on his chin, watching Hanna. “You sound confident.”

“I am confident. For once, things are going our way.” She glanced at the overheated computer. “For the most part.”

“Okay, folks,” Charles said. “No more thought-hopping for today.” He turned back to Hanna. “If it’s okay with you, I would like to work in your building for the rest of the day. It’ll save us a drive back to SCB Headquarters. We’ll be out of your hair in the evening.”

“Yes, of course,” Hanna said. “Make yourselves at home.”

She glanced at Eileen, who was waking up from her slumber. Her eyes opened, squinting under the bright lights. She searched the room, twisting her head around until she found Hanna. They locked eyes, and with the exchange of a subtle nod, they confirmed their agreement. Eileen adjusted her posture, snorted, and then shouted at the top of her lungs.

“You pigs will never break me! You call that torture? You’re embarrassing yourselves. No wonder the SCB’s reputation is in the gutter. This is how you investigate? Pathetic.” She turned to Claire, who stood beside her. “You make me sick.”

“There goes my peace and quiet for the day,” Russell said, walking back to his seat.

Claire patted his shoulder. “You’ll miss her when she’s gone.”

“I highly doubt that.” He spun in his chair to face Eileen. “No offense.”

Eileen flashed an ugly face.

“Good luck with her,” Claire said, leaving the room with Hanna.

They walked side by side down the hallway together.

“She truly believes she’s innocent, doesn’t she?” Claire asked.

Hanna shrugged. “Maybe she is.”

“Do you really think that?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore. All I know is that there’s no other reason for her to cooperate. Either she’s telling the truth, or she has something else planned.”

“Like what?”

“We’re lying to her to gain her trust. Maybe she’s doing the same thing. She could be leading us into a false sense of security, and when she finds the right opportunity, she’ll pull the carpet right out from under our feet.”

Claire scrunched her face. “Now that I think about it, we did just set her free. She couldn’t hurt us when she was trapped under that light, but now she can do whatever she wants.”

“That’s right. It’s her mind. She has control. I don’t think she realizes how much power that gives her. If she figures it out, we could be in a lot of trouble. Although, the more likely scenario is that she loses control altogether and throws us all into unfathomable danger.”

“Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that. I’m sure everything will go exactly as planned. She’ll bring us to her truth center, and by the end of tomorrow, this case will be closed.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

Claire shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe it will be.”

“Nothing’s ever easy.”