Chapter 7 If G-D Don’t Follow Me by. Trubdr. Adam Road
Jackie
I stared at my suitcase that sat next to my office door.
Mine and Will’s flights to San Francisco left this afternoon.
I had sequestered myself in my office all day avoiding Fai.
I hated lying to him and right now it felt like I was lying about so much.
It was easier to hide. He was under the impression that I would be going with Oliver, who also had some business he had to work on without Fai’s knowledge.
It was eating at me to lie to him, but it truly felt like the only good path forward.
I had tried to figure out why Fai had so much distaste towards Will.
Just yesterday at our usual family dinner, I subtly brought up the subject of him. By subtly, I blatantly asked Sarah how Will was doing. This caused a five minute rant about why Will was a bad influence and why I shouldn’t ask about him.
“You okay, Jackie?” I looked up to see Oliver standing in my office doorway. I was so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t heard him come in.
“Yeah. I just want to go,” I responded as I looked back down at my desk trying to hide the guilt I felt.
Oliver sighed as he sat down in his usual chair across my desk. “You are making the best decision. We are making the best decision.” I hoped he was right. “Can I ask you something?”
“Always, Olly,” I responded with a smirk, using the nickname he hated hoping to lighten the mood.
Besides an eye roll, he ignored my comment. “Are you not telling Fai about what you’re doing because of the case and its ties to a cult, or because of Will?”
I had been asking myself the same question.
Fai believed I was going to visit my sister in San Francisco with Oliver. As far as he knew, the case with Joey has gone dormant and I stopped digging. Goldie has helped, telling him some excuse that I was helping her with research and that's why I had no active cases right now.
Because of me, all of us are lying to Fai. The guilt had been eating away at me.
“Truth?”
“Always,” Oliver responded.
“I don’t know,” I stated, matter of factly. Oliver nodded his head in response before leaving my office. He knew I didn’t have any more details to give him.
I truly didn’t know.
This is why Oliver was my closest friend. He knew exactly when to push me and when to leave me be.
In life there were days that felt heavier than others, not for any reason. It was just harder to wake up, to exist, to think. Oliver understood when I had those days and knew how to help me. I was lucky to have him.
I jumped at the sound of my office phone ringing. “Jackie James, your not so humble servant at your service,” I responded with my usual spiel.
“Is that how you always answer the phone?” Will asked as he laughed on the other end of the line.
I laughed at the man who was slowly worming his way into my life. “Maybe. What do you want, Will? Why are you calling?”
“Do I need a reason?” he retorted.
It was almost as if having the phone between us allowed him to gain back some of the charm he tended to lose in my presence.
“Yes.”
Will laughed again, the sound making me forget about my previous worries. “Valid. I was wondering if you needed a ride to the airport?”
“Oliver is actually driving, but thank you for thinking about me,” I responded, a stupid smile growing on my face.
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll meet you there, Ophelia.”
“Nope. You don’t get to call me that.”
“Why not?” Will whined, in a very joking manner.
“Do you want me to call you William Jr.?” I retorted, knowing that would shut him down fast.
“Fine, I get it. I’ll see you there, Jacqueline.” With that he hung up the phone, making me wonder where he learned my middle name and why him calling me that made my heart rate speed up.
It was interesting getting to know Will. I was used to hearing stories about the professor from Sarah and Fai. However, the man I was getting to know did not match either description.
While Fai looked at him as a pretentious prick who slept with everyone he could, Sarah described him as reserved and powerful who didn’t like most people. The man I was slowly getting to know was insightful, understanding, and shockingly patient.
I knew I was a lot to handle. I had heard it my entire life.
It started with my parents being unable to control my youthful spirit as they said.
It then moved to Theo and Nate, my sister and brother, who always believed my thoughts went a million miles per hour.
Even my coworkers now knew me as a chaotic creature who never slowed down.
Most people’s patience with me withered with time.
Will, however, seem delighted by it. Maybe in that way we balanced each other.
“Who was on the phone?” Fai asked as he leaned in my office door frame.
“Oh, just Theo. Making sure I was still coming,” I lied, unable to meet his eyes.
“Is she excited to see you?” Fai asked. “I bet Vi is jumping off the walls.”
Violet, also known as Vi, was my sister, Theo’s, daughter. She was a spitfire at five years old. It was true, when she heard I would be coming to see her while in San Francisco, I went practically deaf due to her screams and cheers through the phone.
“She’s pumped.”
“Jackie, are you okay?” Fai asked, seeming concerned by my behavior.
I smiled at my friend and, doing what I truly did best, I lied. “Yeah, I really am. I’m anxious to get going. It’s been too long since I have taken a real break from work.”
Fai looked at me skeptically. I wanted to tell him everything, the whole truth. I knew it wouldn’t go well, and even more than avoiding the truth, I wanted to avoid disappointing him.
“Well, good. You deserve a break,” Fai conceded. “You might want to head out soon. Knowing Oliver, he’ll want to be three hours early for your flights.”
I chuckled, knowing he was right. “You’re right. Olly!” I yelled.
“Yo!” I heard him call back from his office.
“Let’s bounce!” I responded. I stood and grabbed my suitcase and gave Fai a tight hug. “I love you, Fai.”
“I love you too, Jackie. Call me the second you get there,” Fai said as he hugged me back.
“So, you going to tell me what you are going to do for the few days Fai thinks you’re with me in California?” I asked Oliver as we approached the airport.
“Just stuff for my case I’m working on. If it’s important, I promise I’ll call you,” Oliver responded as he looked out the passenger window. “I have Theo’s number so I can just call her. You’re staying there, right?”
“Yeah, cheaper than a hotel, plus I get my Vi fix so worth it,” I responded to him as we pulled up to the departure doors. “Take good care of my car, Olly. She is brand new and I rather like her.”
“Her?” He asked before putting the pieces together himself. “Oh yeah, Shannon, I forgot.” Oliver chuckled as we got out of the car and he rounded the hood to get in the drivers seat. “I promise I’ll take care of her. You take care of yourself for me. I need my best friend back in one piece.”
“No promises! Love you!” I yelled over my shoulder as I rolled my suitcase through the doors and made my way to my gate.
I had always loved airports. They were the start to so many great adventures. Every person that was there was either excited and anxious as they prepared to start their adventure or tired and weary after the end of one.
I found it fun to try and guess where each person was going and why. Maybe it was the journalist in me that brought on these feelings.
When I found my gate I promptly took my seat and settled in, knowing I still had a solid hour before my flight boarded. Luckily I had brought along my current favorite book, The Stand by Stephen King. I had gotten thoroughly lost in the story when I heard his throat clear to get my attention.
“Do you know what that book is based on?” I looked up to see Will standing in front of me, looking way too attractive for a person about to board a plane.
“Nope, but I have a feeling you do,” I lied as I got a solid look at him while he took the seat next to me. He had a baseball cap and a hoodie on with his carry-on bag in his hand.
I knew all about the history of this book.
“It’s called the Dugway Sheep Incident,” Will began as he grabbed the book from my hands.
“It was in the late sixties. Essentially an army base released nerve gas into the air near a town called Grantsville, a place called Skull Valley. Thousands of sheep were killed. There are conspiracies that it killed people as well. It’s all very hush hush in the government. ”
“I actually read your paper detailing the incident,” I responded as I stole my book back from him and placed it in my bag.
“You read my paper? When?” he asked, but I could see the excitement lurking in his eyes.
“Calm down, Doctor, it was a while back. When it was first published. Sarah gave it to me to read. At the time I had no idea you wrote it.”
That was a lie. I knew he wrote it, I just didn’t know him yet. I was getting really good at lying.
“Doctor, huh?” Will had a gleam in his eyes as he looked at me with a smirk.
“That’s what you are, Doctor,” I flirted back.
Two could play at this game.
He smirked, as he leaned back in the chair next to me. “I like it. You should call me that more often.”
“Because of that remark I am never calling you that again,” I challenged, turning myself in my chair to face him. God, even the way he sat turned me on. The more I was around him the more I wanted to learn about the ladies man aspect of his personality. “Can I ask you something?”
“Always.”
“Why are you here, Will?” Sarah told me the truth. He did have work. He had other places to be, but he put it aside for me.
I still wasn’t sure why she decided to tell me, she was usually a vault of secrets. She must have been up to something.
Will looked at me, really looked at me. It was almost as if he could see all my questions about him swirling around in my head. “For you, Jackie. I came for you.”
I couldn’t respond.
How do you respond to something like that?
Will made me feel things I didn’t understand. It made no sense. I had known the man for only two weeks now. Yet every time he looked at me it felt as though my entire body was on fire.
Will cleared his throat, clearly feeling or at least seeing my shock at his words. Luckily for me he changed the subject. “So what are we doing today once we land?”
I breathed, grateful I could stop trying to figure out these complicated emotions he was eliciting in me.
“Taxi straight to Janice and Joey’s house.
Give you a second to talk to them if you would like.
I want to see the drawing. It’s what ties the case into the cult.
Maybe even try and get some more information about what happened while Joey was gone, if he remembers anything. ”
“I’m curious if we can find anything else that will further tie the case to the Cult of Creatio. What we have is subjective at best,” Will responded.
Just as I opened my mouth to respond, the plane began boarding.
I had a feeling we would find more in San Fransisco than expected. The case I was developing was subjective and bare. I was working on a gut feeling, a hunch. Maybe Joey’s disappearance had nothing to do with the Cult, but the chance it did was enough drive for me to dive as deep as I could.
This is why I was good at my job, I was too stubborn to ever give up.