Jack And Anna - Back To Winnipeg

3. Oh Goodie! The In-Laws!-2

Arthur was on his feet in an instant, towering over her. If he thought his superior height would give him an edge, he was dead wrong. Larani could toss him around like a cat playing with a ball of string.

Despite that, he still blustered in her face. “No, you don’t get it! I was a beat cop for years! I know these people! And others…They’re not crazy. And they’re not suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. You think we didn’t check for that sort of thing? You think we’re so primitive-”

“We had a case like this a couple years ago,” Anna cut in, hoping to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. “A telepath came to Leyria and tormented the residents of a small town. He made them see hallucinations of their worst fears. He projected the images directly into their minds.”

Larani froze, eyeing her suspiciously. “How do you know about that?”

“Because I’m the one who cracked that case.”

“Is that what this is?” Arthur asked. “A telepath?”

“It’s possible. We’d have to do an investigation to make sure.”

“We’ll go to Winnipeg,” Jack said, coming forward to stand beside her. “We’ll do a little digging, talk to anyone who saw these…things.”

A sharp glare from Larani cut him off. “Must I remind you again that you are not Justice Keepers?”

not“We’re private citizens, Larani,” Jack countered. “We can go to Earth if we want to. You have no legal authority to stop us. If my father wants me to talk to some of his friends about some strange experiences they’ve had, you have no legal authority to stop that either.”

Larani’s scowl revealed just how much she didn’t like that idea, but she didn’t argue. She could have; it was a bit of a gray area. Going to Earth and speaking to Arthur’s friends was perfectly legal, but arresting a telepath – if indeed that was the source of all this weirdness – definitely fell into the realm of imitating a Justice Keeper. If they tried, there would be consequences. Larani knew it, and Jack did as well, but neither one of them felt the need to point it out.

Instead, Jack strode toward her with that imploring look he used whenever he needed to convince someone to do the right thing. “I’d rather work with you,” he said. “We could use your help.”

“I suppose I can’t stop you,” Larani grumbled. “But you should know that I’ll be keeping an eye on things. As for whether or not I will support this little mission of yours, I’ll make that determination once I see how you conduct yourselves.”

A few minutes later, she was gone, and Jack had gotten his father settled away in the kitchen. Anna was already searching for ships that could take them to Earth. The next one wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow afternoon. “Are we really gonna do this?” she asked when her partner returned from the other room.

Chuckling, Jack squeezed his eyes shut as he trembled with laughter. “I’ve got to say it!”

“No, don’t say it!”

“That’s it!” Jack shouted, thrusting one finger up toward the ceiling. “Back to Winnipeg!”

* * *

They had to book passage on a starliner. It was a Leyrian ship which meant their quarters were nice, even if they weren’t as big as the ones she’d had on those high-priority diplomatic missions.

A neatly-made bed with gray sheets sat in the middle of a black floor with just enough room on either side for a single person to shuffle through. The ceiling was low; Jack would bump his head if he tried to jump, but she had no trouble with it. Sometimes, being short was an advantage.

The only storage compartment was a gray, duroplastic cabinet across from the foot of her bed. She pulled it open, exhaling noisily as she shoved a gym bag full of clothes inside. Jack’s luggage sat on the top shelf, so she took the lower one.

In her mind, she saw the misty image of Arthur Hunter standing in the doorway while people walked past in the hallway behind him. “I want to thank you for doing this,” he began in a hesitant voice.

Shutting the cabinet, Anna spun to face him with a forced smile. “It’s no problem,” she said. “This is what we do.”

Arthur’s lips parted as if he intended to say something, but he couldn’t find the words. After a moment, he grunted. “I take it you and I didn’t get along.”

“You could say that.”

“I’m…I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m not sure what I did, but…”

Folding her arms, Anna went to the door, her shoes squeaking on the polished floor. She held his gaze, waiting for a reaction, and decided to press on when he looked away. More shame? Until yesterday, she wouldn’t have thought he was capable of it. “You have a hard time respecting women. The way you treated Larani, for instance. You were way out of line.”

Arthur wilted, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, his face a mask of pain. Could it be that he actually agreed with her? Any doubt she had vanished when he nodded. “Can I assume that Jack is different?”

“Very much so.”

“That’s good.”

Anna’s eyebrows tried to climb up her forehead. “That’s good?” she spluttered. “You spent twenty-five years filling his head with that toxic crap! ‘Be a man! Toughen up! Grr!’ It’s a miracle he didn’t buy into it.”

She was shocked to find sincerity in her father-in-law’s eyes. Sincerity and maybe just a hint of vulnerability. “I don’t know what I did to him,” Arthur mumbled. “Until three weeks ago, I didn’t even know he existed. But trust me when I say that I wouldn’t want any son of mine to end up like me.”

He left her to think on that, the door sliding shut once he was gone.