Denton closed the door to his hospital room and paused to steady himself against the wall. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. His hands and legs were shaking. All he wanted to do was to go back inside that room, lay down in the bed and go to sleep. His body needed rest, not chase after missing people, much less an interplanetary conspiracy. He knew that, of course, but it was too late for second thoughts now. His mind was made up, and he was determined to see it through. It was his case and he had been through too much just to throw it away.
He looked up, exhaled forcefully and forced a smile at a nurse that walked by with a concerned look. "I'm alright," he said and waved her off. He gritted his teeth and looked for the nearest exit sign. One step at a time, with one hand on the wall, he walked away from the comfort of his hospital bed. He paused briefly at a hallway corner and made a call for transportation and then continued towards the exit. He wouldn't make it far on foot once he left the hospital, that much he was certain of.
Denton had to stop several times to catch his breath and calm his spinning head. The last thing he needed was to pass out on the floor on his way out of the hospital, just after he had assured his boss that he'd take care of himself. He had no doubt he would be committed to a hospital bed until the doctors saw fit to let him out. That was not an option. Determined to make it out, he kept walking short distances at a time, and after a few wrong turns, the lobby of the hospital loomed vast and cavernous ahead of him. He smiled to himself and let out a sigh of relief. He had made it.
Before he could reach the door, nausea suddenly overcame him. Panicked, he looked around the hallway for a restroom but found none. He stumbled through the closest door he saw and fell to his hands and knees. What little stomach contents he had violently burst out and onto the floor. He collapsed next to the pooling transparent liquid, his body shaking, breathing heavily, his mouth desperate for fresh water.
He turned onto his back, arms stretched out and let his body recover for a few minutes before he struggled up onto his knees and looked around. The room was full of shelves filled with towels, toilet paper, and various other cleaning supply. He was immediately thankful that he had stumbled through the door to a cleaning closet and not an office. Just the thought of collapsing on the floor like he just had in front of dozens of people made him shudder. He grabbed hold of a shelf next to him and pulled himself up on wobbly legs. He noticed a water fountain tucked away between two shelves. It was exactly what he needed. Moments later, he wiped dripping water from his lips with his sleeve. He felt much better.
Denton took a deep breath, exited the closet and headed for the lobby, confidence building as his legs regained their strength. He was about to walk through the front door when he saw the receptionist at a desk by the door. He hesitated briefly and then walked over to her.
"Uh, you may want to get a janitor to clean up that closet," he said with a smile and pointed with his thumb back towards the closet behind him. "It looks like someone had an accident in there. It'll need a bit of cleaning up."
"An accident?" she said. "Oh, alright, thank you. I'll give the maintenance a call." She promptly picked up the phone and dialed a number, her eyes glued to Denton. He smiled and continued out the door. A glance over his shoulder revealed that the receptionist had completed her call and left her desk to check out the closet. He felt sorry for her, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't just leave without saying something.
He walked through the door and embraced the fresh air, greeted by the hustle and bustle of the city. People were coming and going. Cars honked. A gentle breeze was blowing down from the mountains, rustling the leaves of the trees that crowded the plaza in front of the hospital. The faint sound of an approaching ambulance alerted him to the fact that the emergency room would soon be a beehive of activity.
Denton followed the signage to passenger pickups and found the passenger transport vehicle he had requested waiting at the curb. As he approached, the door opened automatically, and he entered without hesitation. He sighed as he sat down in the back seat and reach for the complimentary bottle of water. The door closed behind him. He gave the transport AI the address of Jarell's apartment and leaned back. The vehicle pulled out from the curb and merged into traffic, leaving the hospital behind.
After the struggle to get out of the hospital, the soft seat of the PTV felt luxurious. Denton allowed himself to relax and gazed out at the city while the PTV made its way through traffic. The capital of this region of Proxima b, Balargia, had been built on an elevated mountain plateau. Many of the buildings throughout the city had an excellent view of either the south or the north side of the planet, some both. Some residents preferred to always have the Eternal Sun shining into their apartment, while others liked the solitude provided by a sky without any significant celestial bodies. Those that were exceptionally well off could afford units in the high rises that had a view of both.
Based on the address of Jarell's apartments building, Denton knew that he was heading to the north side of the city, closer to the mountains that rapidly gained elevation as they rose up beyond the city. It was curious to Denton that someone with Jarell's stature would live there. He certainly had the wealth to live anywhere he wanted, and Denton had expected to find his apartment in one of the skyscrapers or maybe even mountain villas, not in buildings typically reserved for families.
After another fifteen minutes of weaving in and out of traffic, the transporter pulled up to the curb at his destination and opened its door. Denton grimaced as he stepped out of the vehicle and carefully stretched and yawned. He had been out cold for twelve hours, the Captain had said, yet he felt like he hadn't slept in days. He wondered if he would regret not staying in the hospital by the end of the day.
He stepped away from his transport, which promptly pulled away from the curb and disappeared into traffic. In front of him, a twenty-story apartment building rose up towards the clouds. Covered in glass panels from top to bottom, it looked similar to the office buildings in the business district. Uniformity, they called it. Keep the city looking good everywhere. At least, that's what they said, the politicians. A small area of trees and grass had been planted in front of the main entrance, complete with a small water fountain, park benches, and a few trees. Several children were running around the trees while their parents were otherwise occupied on the park benches.
Denton sighed as he watched the kids play tag. He could vaguely remember doing the same thing in front of a building much like this. His mother and aunt would chat about what he always thought was nonsense for hours while he played with his siblings. Most of the time, they had played in the courtyard park behind the building, sheltered from traffic and prying eyes. Denton had always been drawn to the more dynamic street-side park. It was never the same and full of activity. People walked by all the time and now and then he had even witnessed a police chase or two.
Denton's trip down memory lane was interrupted by a buzzing in his ear. It was Tanner. Denton sighed. He had intentionally avoided calling him immediately after he left the hospital. He felt a little guilty for leaving Tanner hanging, but he just had to have a moment to himself.
"Staxx," he said as he answered the call.
"Where have you been?" Tanner responded a little too quickly, irritation obvious in his voice.
"Oh, and hello to you too."
"The Captain said you'd be calling when you left the hospital."
"I got tied up."
Denton heard Tanner sigh on the other end.
"So, where are we with the case?" Denton said to change to subject.
"Which one? The sabotage or the missing racer?"
"It sounds like they may be related."
"Oh, that's what the Captain said?"
"Right."
"He would know, wouldn't he?" Denton imagined Tanner rolling his eyes on the other end before he continued. "If you ask me, this is all a big waste of time."
"Well, I'm here, and we were going to interview Jarell anyway, right?"
"I suppose."
"So we'd end up here looking for him anyway."
Denton took the silence on the other end as an acknowledgment that he was right. "Do we have any clues about Jarell's disappearance?" Denton said as he walked across the plaza in front of the building and through the front door.
"I've just started looking through surveillance and network tracing. Nothing yet that's out the ordinary. He came home and hasn't been seen since. But, as I said, I just started looking when the Captain told me you were back on the case."
"What's the apartment number?" Denton asked as he called the elevator down to the lobby.
"Nineteenth floor, unit twelve."
Denton welcomed the few seconds of silence the elevator ride provided. Moments later, he stood in the lobby of the nineteenth floor. A large open area filled with children's toys, couches, and other furniture took up much of the space. Surprisingly, most of the area was empty of people. Corridors branched off in four directions to the various apartment units. Unit twelve would be on the north-east side, counted clockwise from due north. Denton quickly left the common area behind and located unit twelve.
"There's a uniformed officer standing guard outside the door," Tanner said in an attempt to break the silence.
"I see him," Denton said as he greeted the officer and showed him his identification. The officer waved him through after scrutinizing the photo on his ID for a few seconds. Denton entered the apartment and paused. The apartment he had grown up in had looked almost exactly the same. A long corridor that stretched out from the front door and entrance area. Bedrooms were on the left, the living spaces and kitchen on the right, always with a view. He had shared a bedroom with his brother while his sister, much to their dismay, had always had her own. The third bedroom had been that of his parents.
He took a deep breath and suppressed the memories of years gone by and entered the first bedroom on the left. It was sparsely furnished with a single bed, a nightstand and a closet. The bed was undisturbed, and he could see a layer of dust on the nightstand next to the bed. There were no photos or paintings on the wall. The closet was equally empty. The second room was in the same condition as the first. "He must live alone," Denton said to Tanner. "These bedrooms haven't been used for a long time. No clothing, photos. No personal items."
"Our records show that he never married," Tanner said.
Denton stepped out into the hallway, put his hand on the door handle to the final bedroom and was just about to enter when the living area caught his eye. He stepped across the hall and through the doorway into the living room. Denton wasn't surprised to find that the area was configured much in the same way Denton's family apartment once had been. The kitchen was closest to the front door, on his far right. The dining area with a dining table large enough for a family of six occupied the space between the kitchen and the living room, which occupied the remaining space on his left. The living room had always been his favorite as a child. The views that the floor to ceiling windows provided, all the way from the kitchen to the living room, had always mesmerized him. He remembered sitting on the floor just staring at the distant mountains for hours as clouds and storms formed on the higher altitudes and then slowly descended the mountains to dump their rain.
"Do you see anything interesting?" Tanner said and snapped Denton out of his daydreaming.
"I'm still looking."
"Alright, alright. I have an update."
"You do? Well, spit it out then."
"There's no trace of Jarell."
Denton sighed. "That's supposed to be an update?"
"What I meant," Tanner said with an edge to his voice, "While you've been admiring the view, I have found no further trace of him. He hasn't made any financial transactions, he hasn't traveled anywhere that I can see. He's not visible on any cameras. He's become a ghost, disappeared. That's pretty much impossible these days."
Denton shook his head as he walked into the kitchen and swept his finger across the counter top. Clean and dust free. An open bottle of water and an empty wrapper sat next to the sink. Someone had been here recently, yet the kitchen felt underutilized. The dining room table was similarly empty, all its chairs pushed into their appropriate spot.
He ended up on the living room couch, in front of the coffee table that was situated between the arms of the U-shaped couch. A variety of newspapers and magazines, a handheld computer, and an empty glass shared the table surface. The handheld computer wouldn't turn on. He put it back down and made a mental note to take it back to the office for Tanner to tinker with. He picked through the pile of papers and magazines. The topics ranged from sports and the Olympics to general local news. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Beneath the pile, he found a well-worn travel magazine from a company called Terran Tours.
"Well, what do we have here?" he said to himself.
"What do you have there?" Tanner's voice echoed in his ear and startled Denton, who for a moment had forgotten he had an open channel of communication with Denton.
"Oh for crying out loud, do you have to do that?"
"Do what?"
"You...oh, just forget it."
"Well, what did you find?"
"Has Jarell ever been to Earth?" Denton said as he flipped through the magazine.
"To Earth? Why do you ask?"
"I found a magazine advertising tours to Earth. It's pretty worn out. Someone has marked it up pretty good too. It's from a company called Terran Tours."
"I'll have to go back through his travel history and see what I can find."
"Do that. I'll to keep looking."
Denton stood up and looked around the rest of the living room as he rolled the magazine up. A bookshelf with a variety of books and trinkets stood behind the couch. A picture frame on one of the shelves caught his eye. He picked up the frame and slid his finger over the smooth surface of the frame and the worn corners. The photo was of a woman and a young boy and seemed important. A quick scan of the rest of the shelf confirmed what he already knew. The framed photo in his hand was the only one of people he had seen in the apartment so far. In fact, it was the only photo.
"Tanner, what do you know about Jarell's family?"
"Not a whole lot, I'm afraid. His bio states that his mother died when he was young."
"Was he the only child?"
"Yup, he was. Or, so his bio says."
"So no siblings? How about his father?" Denton said as he walked over to the dining room table and put the magazine down with the picture frame on top.
"There's no mention of a father. No siblings either."
"Odd," Denton said and marched over to the third bedroom, across the hall from the living room. He put his hand on the door handle to push it open, but the door didn't budge. "Ok, that's strange," he muttered to himself as he pushed his shoulder against the door and gave it a push. No movement. He took a couple of steps back and then forcefully stepped format to slam his shoulder into the door to force it open. Just as his shoulder made contact with the door, it swung open, and he tripped on something that appeared out of nowhere in front of his legs. As he launched through the air into the room, he caught a glimpse of a shadow that swiftly exited the room. Then, he hit his head on the bed and collapsed on the floor.
~~~
Oh! What's happening here? What's up with this apartment? Where's Jarell? Has Denton bit off more than he can chew, in his condition? What do you think?