Chapter 40
Jack was sitting with his legs lightly spread, leaning his elbows on his knees, his head dropping like mine had, in what was half tenseness half boredom. He raised it when he heard Detective Avery and I talking in the hallway. There were questions in his eyes when I walked in the waiting room, but he looked at me without asking. I noticed his face was weary too, and felt guilty for having dragged him there.
“Hey”, I said, touching his shoulder
“Let’s go”, he said smiling and pushing himself up from the chair.
We walked to the car without speaking. The night had plunged in the sky now, punctuated by the loud voices of the cicadas and illuminated by grains of light from far away stars. I raised my head a moment before stepping in the car, inhaling the air deeply, trying to take in the scent of the earth. I knew it was a beautiful night, but it was hard to feel it, oppressed as I was by the worries and the heaviness of the day spent at FoodTech labs. When I turned around I saw that Jack was already in the car, observing me from the driver seat.
“Sorry…”, I said, climbing up on the truck.
Jack lay his hand on my leg, and pat me smiling, then shrugged.
“It’s all good. So what did the detective say?”, he asked while turning on the engine
“That she’ll look into it”
“And did she mean it?”
“I think so. She looked worried at a point, or at least I think she did. Maybe she was just worn out, like you and I are now. I cannot tell what she thought, she was quite impenetrable”
“But did she ask you to stop working with the polymer?”
“I wondered if I should, but she told me to keep doing my job as if nothing happened, until further notice”
“Until further notice?”
“Yeah, she’ll contact me if she needs to”
Jack shrugged.
“Ok…”, he said uncertainly
We merged into the provincial road, not speaking for a while, till I broke the silence.
“But what is your gut feeling about this? I mean, about the polymer causing the bacteria to change…”, I asked
“My gut feeling about the hypothesis of bacteria undergoing mutations and harming people, perhaps even killing them?”
“Yes”
“I don’t have enough elements to say, but I cannot say it’s impossible”
“This means that you think my polymer killed somebody”
“No, this means I don’t know. I’ll call Fred tomorrow, he’s a good one to talk to when you need science or life advices”
“Your former PhD boss”
“Him, yes”, he said
“Do you want to look at the stars when we get home?”, Jack asked after a pause
I smiled and nodded.
“I was just thinking before getting in the car that it was such a waste to let a night like this be soiled by worries”
“I know”
“How do you know?”
“I saw you looking up at the sky when I was in the car”
“You know what Jack?”
He turned around to take a quick glance at me. “What?”
“I really love you. And maybe there’s a reason for all this”
“I love you too”, he said, glancing at me once more before turning his eyes to the road, his face tired but the smile unfading from his lips
“And for sure there’s more than one reason for what is happening”
I shook my head. “I mean, a reason for what is happening with the polymer. Think about it. I met the daughter of the detective I spoke to on the lake and…”
“Who?”
“The daughter of the detective, Mirth. I saw her picture on the detective’s desk tonight, that’s how I know Mirth, the kid I saw on the lake, she is Mariam Avery’s daughter”
“Mariam Avery?”
“Yes, the detective”
“So, what about her daughter?”
“I met her on the lake where her previous babysitter drowned”
“And?”
“Nothing, but it seems like there’s a scheme behind all this, although I cannot see what it is”
Jack didn’t reply. I knew he was thinking about Lisa and how she had drowned in the ocean. I lay my hand on his leg, but he didn’t react.
“I’m sorry”, I said
“Don’t be. We should stop thinking tonight. The stars are waiting for us. We’ll make a full load of starry peace and then we’ll go to bed, what do you say?”
“I say it’s an awesome plan”, I smiled.