Chapter 32: What He Knows
828 Words
The investigation room hadn't looked this alive in weeks.
Maps covered one wall.
Photographs covered another.
Colored strings stretched between names, locations, dates, and timelines until the entire room resembled organized chaos.
Coffee cups sat forgotten on nearly every desk.
Empty energy drink cans littered the conference table.
Someone had ordered pizza hours ago.
Nobody remembered eating it.
Six months.
That was how long they'd been chasing a ghost.
Six months since Malaki had vanished.
Six months of interviews.
Surveillance footage.
Time-jump analysis.
Witness statements.
Dead ends.
Julien stood silently in front of the evidence wall.
He had memorized every photograph.
Every timeline.
Every report.
He could probably recite the case file from memory.
Yet somehow...
They were no closer than they had been on day one.
Cole Lucas leaned against the edge of the conference table, studying the same board.
For someone gifted with omniscience, not knowing something was a rare and frustrating experience.
He hated mysteries.
Especially this one.
"We're missing something," Cole finally said.
Julien didn't answer.
Because he already knew.
They weren't missing evidence.
They were missing understanding.
Aaron Evans walked over carrying fresh coffee for everyone.
He handed one to Cole before setting another beside Julien.
"You've both been staring at that wall for two hours."
Julien accepted the cup without taking his eyes off the board.
"I know."
Eric Tate looked between them.
"So..."
"What aren't we seeing?"
Nobody answered immediately.
The room settled into silence.
Finally Rylan broke it.
"We've searched every timeline."
Aaron nodded.
"Every city."
Eric added,
"Every dimensional signature."
Cole rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"And every teleportation event."
Nothing.
Julien walked closer to the board.
He pointed toward the center.
Malaki's photograph.
A smiling six-month-old baby.
"He isn't reacting."
Cole looked up.
"What?"
Julien didn't move.
"He isn't reacting."
His finger traced the string connecting Malaki to Zella.
"He's anticipating."
The room grew quiet again.
Rylan frowned.
"I don't follow."
Julien finally turned toward them.
"When adults time jump..."
He paused.
"...it's usually because something already happened."
Everyone nodded.
Fear.
Danger.
Survival.
Adults reacted.
Julien looked back at Malaki's picture.
"But Malaki didn't."
Aaron folded his arms.
"What are you saying?"
Julien's voice became almost thoughtful.
"He left before the danger reached him."
Nobody spoke.
Cole's expression slowly changed.
Understanding.
"You're saying..."
Julien nodded.
"He knew."
Silence.
Aaron stared.
"He's six months old."
Julien smiled sadly.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
"He's six months old physically."
The room went completely still.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody dismissed the idea.
Because everyone in that room had seen impossible things before.
Cole walked closer to the evidence wall.
"If that's true..."
He looked directly at Julien.
"...then Malaki didn't disappear."
Julien nodded.
"He moved."
"To Zella."
"Yes."
Aaron frowned.
"Why her?"
Julien stared quietly at the map.
Every route.
Every timeline.
Every possibility.
Then he answered.
"Because she was the safest outcome."
Eric shook his head.
"A six-month-old baby can't calculate probability."
Julien slowly looked toward him.
"An ordinary baby can't."
Silence.
Aaron looked back at the evidence board.
The room suddenly felt different.
Every piece fit.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
Rylan broke the silence.
"So we've been asking the wrong question."
Cole nodded.
"We've been asking where he went."
Julien quietly finished the thought.
"We should've been asking..."
"...why he chose her."
No one argued.
Because for the first time...
The case finally made sense.
Not as a k********g.
Not as a disappearance.
As a decision.
Aaron looked toward Cole.
"You've been unusually quiet."
Cole hadn't moved.
His eyes remained fixed on Malaki's photograph.
Almost as if he were seeing something no one else could.
Finally he spoke.
"I keep getting the same feeling."
"What feeling?" Eric asked.
Cole looked uneasy.
"The future keeps changing."
Everyone stared.
"Every time I try to look ahead..."
He hesitated.
"...there's one constant."
Julien's heart sank.
"What?"
Cole looked directly at him.
"Malaki survives."
Relief washed through the room.
Briefly.
Then Cole continued.
"But..."
The room tensed again.
"I can't see who raises him."
Silence.
Even Aaron felt a chill.
For the first time since the investigation began...
The future wasn't clear.
It was shifting.
Changing.
Rewriting itself.
Julien turned back toward the evidence wall.
His eyes settled on the photograph of the little boy who had somehow outsmarted every detective in the building.
He had spent six months trying to discover where Malaki had gone.
Now...
He realized that had never been the mystery.
The real mystery was why.
Why had a six-month-old child chosen Zella?
Why had he trusted her?
What had he seen...
...that the rest of them still couldn't?
For the first time since Malaki disappeared...
Julien wasn't afraid of where his son was.
He was afraid of what his son already knew.
Final Beat
Miles away, in a quiet beach house overlooking the ocean, Malaki slowly opened his eyes.
He looked toward the bedroom window.
Smiled.
And reached toward the sunrise...
As though greeting tomorrow before it had even arrived.
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