By the time Melissa returned from her clandestine cigarette break, Theo had been sequestered in a small room with two of her burliest and surliest Deps. They circled his wheelchair like predators, attempting to chisel away at his good cheer with overwrought descriptions of the prison ordeals that awaited him.
Theo smiled through all their bluster. He knew more about his future than they did.
Melissa sat in the bullpen, periodically checking the interrogation on the monitor while she browsed Theo’s medical report.
“No wonder he’s so happy. It looks like they gave him every drug in the lockbox. Ephermanine? That’s for schizophrenics.”
Ross Daley yawned from a nearby chair. “Who’s to say he’s not? You should’ve heard the threep he was spewing at the hospital. He tried to tell me that San Francisco will fall to an earthquake in two years. Said it was a fixed event.”
The agent was a young and broad-shouldered man, the only other person of color on Melissa’s team. Though she never expected racial solidarity, she was dismayed that Ross was her worst backbiter, covertly casting doubt on her decisions, her qualifications, even her sexuality. Melissa didn’t have the time or energy to work on his attitude.
“Did he mention anything about a private school?”
Ross eyed her strangely. “No. Why would he?”
Theo had mumbled something odd in Marietta, just before passing out on the gurney. Melissa wasn’t sure she heard it right, but it seemed like more than babble.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “I’m grasping at straws.”
She studied Theo’s cerebral tomogram in furrowed bother. The scan revealed a foreign object in his thalamus, a metal ring the size of a mouse’s eye. The chief examiner was at a loss as to how it got there. Even with the most advanced surgical equipment, it was impossible to plant an item that deep in a patient’s brain without killing him.
A flurry of new activity on the monitor caught her attention. The agents shoved Theo’s chair, poking him. Melissa pursed her lips and hurried down the hall to intervene.
“All right. Enough. Take a break. Both of you.”
The agents looked at her with childlike innocence. “We weren’t hurting him.”
“I didn’t say you were. But as you can see from his imbecilic grin, he’s not responding to your threats. Give it a rest.”
The two men shot Theo a menacing glare before exiting the room. The augur adjusted his rumpled collar with his free hand, then reclaimed his smile.
“I really look like an imbecile?”
“You look like a homeless imbecile,” Melissa replied. “If you’d been this conspicuous two weeks ago, you would have never made it past us in that hotel lobby.”
Theo chuckled cynically. “Okay. Guess you’re not here to play Good Dep.”
“No. I didn’t come to interrogate you. Though now that I’m here, I’m darkly intrigued by a question you’re not asking.”
“And what’s that?”
“‘How’s Amanda?’”
Theo’s smile vanished. Melissa crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.
“You do remember her, right? She’s the one who risked and ultimately sacrificed her freedom to get you medical treatment. She asked about you right away.”
He fixed his dark eyes at his lap. “You really know how to sling the guilt.”
“I’m glad you feel bad about it.”
“And I’m glad you’re looking out for her. I was afraid you guys wouldn’t see beyond the tempis.”
“We’re federal agents, Theo. We’re trained to profile.”
“Well, you sure missed the boat on me. If you think I don’t care about my friends—”
“You still haven’t asked about her.”
“How’s Amanda?”
“She’s managing.”
“I knew that,” he said, through gritted teeth. “I already knew.”
He fixed his sharp gaze at the edge of his wooden desk, then let out another snicker.
“Something funny?” Melissa asked.
“Just admiring your effectiveness. You killed my buzz in record time.”
“I’m your arresting agent. Did you expect me to be your friend?”
Theo had certainly expected someone nicer. The Melissa of his visions seemed honest and noble and thoroughly kind, even as an adversary. Unless his prophecies were prone to embellishment, the woman in front of him was just a shade of her future self.
“Guess not,” he replied. “So when does the interrogation begin?”
“In a day or so, when the drugs wear off and you’re a little more lucid.”
“In a day or so, I might not be around for questioning.”
“Are you predicting your death at our hands or merely threatening escape?”
“I’m just saying anything can happen.”
Melissa eyed him coolly. “You’re trying to use your augur’s mystique to rattle me. It won’t work. If you were as good as you think you are, you wouldn’t be wearing our handcuffs.”
“And if you were as good as you think you are, we’d all be wearing them.”
“You’re assuming we haven’t been to Nemeth to pick up your friends.”