Story: The Disappearance (X)

(Part IX , XI)

There was a duality about the time I'd spent talking to the owners and managers of McGonagle biscuits over my tenure on the force. Personally I had gotten on with every single one, and had planned to do that or better with Agnes. At the same time, we treated the whole crooked business with the greatest of suspicion and no-one was above our gaze. That was why the appearance of the spectre of Rolf McGonagle, supposedly dead for six months, didn't surprise me all that much.

Never turn away from a bull. "For someone who was electrocuted and then fell through a floor, you look surprisingly lifelike." I had never liked Rolf McGonagle on a deep gut level.

"Ha ha. You're looking for a face full of dough." Rolf looked beyond me after this gem of articulacy and presumably was examining his niece. "Agnes. You staying there? It'll be easier on you if you join the family instead."

"No, Uncle, it seems that my family is not what I thought it was. I'll stay here and take it like a stupid honest person."

Rolf scowled his little tough man smile and I realised that this man looked no different to how he had appeared at his last meeting with us in the factory. He was unchanged. The three tough guys standing outside the door were standard issue muscle that I didn't pay much attention to. This dead millionaire pushed further into the room, like a ninny, so I grabbed him as a shield and kicked the door closed.

I used a few words, just for novelty. "Controls, Agnes."

Agnes looked confused and then realised that the one way out was not going to be through the door. Rolf was struggling so I bopped him on the head, nice payback for some few things, and then dumped him on the teleporter bed. The date and time indicator showed us as being fifty years into the future.

"Well, well, well. It was time travel after all, or at least a more organised hoax."

"You know, you're not telling me a thing!" Agnes was not pleased.

"Hey, kid, you know something? I'll tell you everything I know, on the other side." The controls were pretty self-explanatory and I set the space-time coordinates to what I'd written in my phone that morning. Previous bursts of time and space travel had left me with an acute sense of how important it was to always have a place to go back to. Planets do travel through space after all. "Ready?"

"Not really."

"Bad choice. Get on. I have no plan, no ideas, and an acute knowledge of having fallen into a trap. Let's get out while we can. We'll test it on Rolfie first." I pushed the activation key and 'Rolfie' faded out in a sparkle. A moment later the verification light flashed green. "It's now or never. Ten seconds."

Agnes mounted the platform, and I joined her. We avoided the space where Rolf had been. Who needs a mess?

And then the world glittered and changed. And Rolf had of course vanished. Some times I hated the world of stupid events.


More will follow...