Shell Game – Chapter 45 – Now What?

Sunlight streamed through a window and onto Evan’s face. It was nearly ten o’clock in the morning, and Evan’s eyes had stayed closed long enough. His brain spent the sleeping time trying to make sense of the past several days and played snippets of disjointed memories till his mind hurt and brought Evan back to consciousness.

He blinked as the sun’s light was more than he was ready for. First, what greeted him was a view of 12th Avenue, the tree-lined sidewalks, and lush front lawns. It took him a moment to realize that this was the first sunlight he’d seen in a week. The fog had finally lifted, and he allowed a smile to spread across his face. Then he became aware of a tightness in his neck and decided to straighten up. He turned his neck to loosen it and saw Katherine asleep in a hospital bed. Then he remembered where he was and why he was there.

No point in waking her. Evan caressed her face and moved some of the hair behind her ear. Just let her sleep. The last case was over – at least as far as he was concerned – and he wanted to be close by the moment Katherine woke up. He rubbed his stubble and faced the window again.

It was another half hour before Katherine woke up.

“Evan?” she said with a dry mouth. “Where am I?”

“Hospital,” he said softly. “You had quite the night.”

Katherine focused her green eyes on Evan’s face. Evan grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight.

“I think I’m done, Katherine,” he said.

“With us?”

Evan shook his head and smiled. “With the job. That was it. Case closed, and I’m out.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“I don’t think I want to be so suspicious of people. I don’t know. Maybe I’ve been down that road too far, and I won’t ever get back, but I don’t like thinking the worst of people. Life’s too short. I want to get back to time with you like we used to be.”

Katherine touched his face with her palm, “I don’t want to be jealous all the time.” She tried to adjust herself in her bed and winced in pain. “Was I shot? I have a faint memory of being shot. Wait, did I wrestle a guy with an eye patch, or did I just have a bad dream?”

“It’s complicated,” Evan said and then filled in Katherine on everything that happened after she entered his apartment the previous night.

Katherine was released from the hospital the following morning. She had a strange blue scar on her shoulder that matched the one on Evan’s hand. “I guess we’re meant to be together,” Katherine had joked when Evan showed her his mark.

On their way home, Evan swung by the agency office. Sophie screamed and jumped out of her chair when Evan walked through the door.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” she said, tears immediately rushing to the edges of her eyelids. “When you didn’t come in at all yesterday I… Is it true? What the newspaper said, is it true?”

Evan smiled and chuckled sweetly at his secretary, “I haven’t read the papers, but I can tell you what I saw. Look, I know you had a soft spot for Claire. Sorry, she wasn’t what you hoped. She killed Gabe. Like a cold-hearted assassin. Probably a good thing she ditched your brother’s place. Anyway, thanks for putting up with all of the craziness of the past few days.”

“So much for women’s intuition, huh? I’m just glad you didn’t get yourself killed. That was a lot of fire you were playing with.” She sat back down behind her desk, and Evan sat on its corner. “When did you know it was her?”

Evan blew out his cheeks and thought for a moment, “I’m not sure exactly. I had my suspicions as soon as she came back here after Gabe was shot, but I couldn’t quite put it all together – the how and the why I mean.”

“So, why did you string her along, make her think you were on her side?”

“I don’t know,” he said, standing up. “Maybe part of me hoped it wasn’t true. Another part of me wanted to con Claire at her own game. But I think mostly it’s because she killed a man. A man who never did anything to her but try to protect her. Killed him like his life didn’t mean anything to anyone. I can only guess Gabe wasn’t her first victim. Someone like that, used to skating through life doing evil things, she could use some hardships occasionally.”

Sophie nodded, “I’m just glad it’s off the books, and we can get things back to normal around here.”

“Normal, like not paying the bills and running from the landlord?” Evan laughed.

“Okay, maybe not that normal.”

Evan reached in his breast pocket and slapped an envelope down on Sophie’s desk. “What’s this?” she asked.

“Open it.”

Sophie counted the bills. “And what should we do with this windfall?”

Evan slid his hands inside his pants pockets and looked to the ceiling, “Well, I guess after we get clear with all the people we owe money to, and after you wrap up things with Henricksen, that should leave just enough to sell the business and set you up with my lawyer.”

Sophie looked her boss in the eye. “What?”

Evan looked down. “Sophie, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t do this if it’s going to bring so much misery to the people closest to me. Katherine and I have a real chance to make our marriage work, but I gotta shut the doors on this place. If it was just me, I could walk away and not look back. Don’t get me wrong, I have no idea what to do to make money, but there’s time for that. What I couldn’t do was leave you without a leg to stand on. My lawyer’s a good guy in desperate need of some expert administrative help. You’re perfect for it. And trust me, the pay is a lot better.”

Sophie searched Evan’s eyes for a long time. Then smiled and said, “I’m glad for you and Katherine. I can’t say I’m jumping up and down yet, but I will.”

“Thanks.”

“We going to be strangers, then?” Sophie asked.

“Probably for a little bit. Don’t worry, Sophie, Athens ain’t that big a town; we’re sure to bump into you here and there.”

Evan pointed to the street, “Katherine’s out in the car. She took a shot for me in the scuffle. I told her I needed to talk to you and grab some papers. So…” Evan opened his arms and began to walk toward his office, “here’s to us.”

Evan closed the door behind him and enjoyed the momentary stillness of his office. He went to his dingy window and looked out at the busy people scurrying through their lives on the streets of Athens. Reaching into his pocket, a wave of sadness surged through Evan’s chest, remembering that the pearl was missing. It was a painful reminder of how circumstances didn’t always work out the way he wanted. He had fought for the justice of one and succeeded, but he had failed with the other.

He took in a long breath and let it out slowly before turning to his desk. Evan had no idea what he needed to do to start packing up the place. Katherine would know. She was good at that kind of thing. He would bring her in a day or two when she was feeling up to it. Evan grabbed a handkerchief from his coat and started to remove the grime from his window.

A sudden burning sensation covered his right hand. Evan let out a loud grunt of pain as he looked at his palm.

The wound Lillian had left him glowed brighter and brighter. Sophie entered the office to see if her boss was alright. Evan stood grimacing as the light radiating from his wound took on a form floating above his hand. Like his hand was projecting the image. It was a shape he’d never seen before, like a character from a forgotten and ancient language. The character transformed into an image of a man – a man Evan didn’t recognize.

“Lillian is a prisoner, but all is not lost,” the image said. Evan looked at Sophie, who couldn’t take her eyes off the strange vision. “Evan Gold, make your way to the Cassantian Dimension and join the fight. If you are unable to do this, pass this along to someone who can. The time is critical.”

And then, just as suddenly as the image had appeared, it vanished. Evan’s wound returned to normal.

“What was that?” Sophie asked.

“A message,” Evan said.

“What does it mean?”

Evan looked at her with a worried look on his face. Just then, Katherine walked into the office. She pressed her hand to her shoulder; the same place where the stranger’s shot hit her. She looked straight at Evan. “What was that, Evan?”

“I’m not sure I know.” He looked at Katherine and then at Sophie.

“Sophie, make sure the front door says we’re closed.” She hustled to the front of the office and was back in seconds. “Now, sit down, both of you, you each know some things, and I don’t know everything, but…” Evan turned to the window and rubbed his thumb along his right palm.

“What’s all this about?” Katherine asked.

“Claire Porter and her schemes are over. I’m certain of that. No way the courts don’t send her to Leavenworth for the rest of her life. But there’s something else about the past few days. The reason all this evil came to Athens in the first place. It started the day Gabe was killed. I swung by a flea market. I didn’t know it, but I picked up this pearl. It seems that Lillian isn’t finished with me just yet.”