thing?” I ask him. “It will get us proof that you’re not crazy.”
“But how?”
“We’re going to have to follow you into your dreams.”
♣ ♢ ♡ ♠
I’ve had more than one lecture from my boss on how I spend his money. My office is funded by interest from the escrow account. I run a tight ship, and regularly leave money on the table at the end of the year. I still get questioned about my expenses. I would think that coming in perpetually under budget would earn me a certain amount of freedom from scrutiny, but I would be wrong. A person doesn’t get to my boss’s financial stratum without having a nose for the monetary details.
With that in mind, I contract a team to follow Ted. As far as Ted knows, the team is on the watch for paranormal activity. They’re really looking for Leslie, Ted’s brother. I call up my lead guy, Ethan, and ask him to put together a watch-and-bag team. They’re more expensive than a watch team, but worth it in this case. Evidence alone isn’t going to convince Ted and Leslie. I have to get them in the same room until they recognize each other. That will mean muscle. The paper I got Ted to sign can’t give me carte blanche to kidnap the man. At least it will make him think twice before he tries to sue me or the foundation.
I’m not sure what Ted thinks my team will be doing. He accepted a bunch of jargon and hand waving about electromagnetic this and Gaussian that. He agreed that he would email me from his dream and we would track down the poltergeist activity as it was taking place. His acceptance of this crazy proposal is more evidence that he’s ready to reconcile himself with reality.
I get a call later that evening. It comes before any of the surveillance is even supposed to take place, at least as far as Ted knows. My team is bringing in Ted and Leslie after discovering the two linking up at Ted’s house. Per my request, they bring the brothers in separately. They put them in our interrogation space and seat them back-to-back, about three feet apart. If I’m right, only one of them will have the Ted identity at a time. I don’t want to disrupt that delusion all at once.
“Hi, Ted,” I say. The two men are strapped lightly to comfortable chairs.
“What the hell are you doing?” the one on the left says. He’s my Ted for the moment.
“My team picked you up, per our agreement.”
“Our agreement stated that you would help me track down the paranormal activity coincident with my sleep.”
“Not strictly. We talked about paranormal, but it’s not stated explicitly in the contract. We picked you up because of other reasons. I think you’ll find that I’m within my rights.”
“You can’t hold me here.”
“Given the current circumstances, I believe it would be deemed irresponsible for me to not hold you here.” That’s a stretch. Hopefully, by the time he figures that out, I’ll be in the clear.
“I can’t imagine those circumstances.”
“Your name is Ted, correct?”
“Yes. You know that.”
“And you first came to me on the tenth?”
“Yes.”
“You participated in a monitored sleep study in my office?”
I can’t say that I’m shocked, but I’m definitely startled when Leslie—the other brother—answers.
“Yes,” he says.
I’m watching Ted’s face when Leslie, the one on the right, answers. Ted’s face doesn’t register surprise to hear his voice come from another mouth, and he didn’t even begin to answer the question asked. When it came time for the other half of Ted to answer, the first half simply kept his mouth shut.
I wave to two of the guys on my watch-and-bag team and they wheel over the mirrors. Ted and Leslie are now looking at themselves in a full-length mirror. Neither seems to notice the other man bound directly behind them.
I walk up to Ted and reach forward with a marker. He turns his head to the side, but I draw a lopsided black circle on his forehead.
“What the
“But how?”
“We’re going to have to follow you into your dreams.”
♣ ♢ ♡ ♠
I’ve had more than one lecture from my boss on how I spend his money. My office is funded by interest from the escrow account. I run a tight ship, and regularly leave money on the table at the end of the year. I still get questioned about my expenses. I would think that coming in perpetually under budget would earn me a certain amount of freedom from scrutiny, but I would be wrong. A person doesn’t get to my boss’s financial stratum without having a nose for the monetary details.
With that in mind, I contract a team to follow Ted. As far as Ted knows, the team is on the watch for paranormal activity. They’re really looking for Leslie, Ted’s brother. I call up my lead guy, Ethan, and ask him to put together a watch-and-bag team. They’re more expensive than a watch team, but worth it in this case. Evidence alone isn’t going to convince Ted and Leslie. I have to get them in the same room until they recognize each other. That will mean muscle. The paper I got Ted to sign can’t give me carte blanche to kidnap the man. At least it will make him think twice before he tries to sue me or the foundation.
I’m not sure what Ted thinks my team will be doing. He accepted a bunch of jargon and hand waving about electromagnetic this and Gaussian that. He agreed that he would email me from his dream and we would track down the poltergeist activity as it was taking place. His acceptance of this crazy proposal is more evidence that he’s ready to reconcile himself with reality.
I get a call later that evening. It comes before any of the surveillance is even supposed to take place, at least as far as Ted knows. My team is bringing in Ted and Leslie after discovering the two linking up at Ted’s house. Per my request, they bring the brothers in separately. They put them in our interrogation space and seat them back-to-back, about three feet apart. If I’m right, only one of them will have the Ted identity at a time. I don’t want to disrupt that delusion all at once.
“Hi, Ted,” I say. The two men are strapped lightly to comfortable chairs.
“What the hell are you doing?” the one on the left says. He’s my Ted for the moment.
“My team picked you up, per our agreement.”
“Our agreement stated that you would help me track down the paranormal activity coincident with my sleep.”
“Not strictly. We talked about paranormal, but it’s not stated explicitly in the contract. We picked you up because of other reasons. I think you’ll find that I’m within my rights.”
“You can’t hold me here.”
“Given the current circumstances, I believe it would be deemed irresponsible for me to not hold you here.” That’s a stretch. Hopefully, by the time he figures that out, I’ll be in the clear.
“I can’t imagine those circumstances.”
“Your name is Ted, correct?”
“Yes. You know that.”
“And you first came to me on the tenth?”
“Yes.”
“You participated in a monitored sleep study in my office?”
I can’t say that I’m shocked, but I’m definitely startled when Leslie—the other brother—answers.
“Yes,” he says.
I’m watching Ted’s face when Leslie, the one on the right, answers. Ted’s face doesn’t register surprise to hear his voice come from another mouth, and he didn’t even begin to answer the question asked. When it came time for the other half of Ted to answer, the first half simply kept his mouth shut.
I wave to two of the guys on my watch-and-bag team and they wheel over the mirrors. Ted and Leslie are now looking at themselves in a full-length mirror. Neither seems to notice the other man bound directly behind them.
I walk up to Ted and reach forward with a marker. He turns his head to the side, but I draw a lopsided black circle on his forehead.
“What the
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