A very long day

***

Chapter two: Too many Questions

“Tru,” Davis stood moving towards the door when she disappeared out it. “Tru, where are you....
going,” What started out as a question died on his lips as it became clear that she wasn’t a part of
the conversation anymore. It was painfully obvious that she wasn’t telling him something. If Tru
knew where the would-be victim worked, why wouldn’t she share that information? She’d been
acting oddly the whole time, unusually reluctant to talk about the case. Usually, she was so
focused on helping the victim that she would be spilling details before the door could close behind
her. Today, Tru had barely spoken at all. And getting any information from her at all had been
worse than pulling teeth.

He’d never seen her so ... unsure before.

Well, except for the day that he had been shot... she’d been reluctant and evasive then too. Davis
glanced out his office door like he could still see her standing there. In fact she’d both looked at
him more and less than normal too, staring at him without meeting his eyes. //Am I getting killed
again tonight?//

Puzzlement wrinkled his forehead. While Tru hadn’t told him what happened when that day
rewound, she hadn’t lied to him either. And today she had told him the victim was female and had
been shot at work.

It just didn’t make sense, and the only person with the answers had just left. He’d give her a little
time, then he’d call and get those answers. Right now... //shot in the chest...hmm...//

From where and how Tru had described the gun shot wound, he might be able to figure out
something for her. But he didn’t have the numbers he needed. So much for waiting to call.
Reaching for the phone, Davis dialed Tru’s cell from memory, waiting eagerly for her voice on the
other end of the line. “Tru, I have a couple questions for you.”

“Davis, I can’t talk right now.” Her voice sounded weird. Something was definitely wrong.

“I just need to ask you something quick.” She sighed, almost too quietly to hear, but she didn’t hang
up. “How tall was the woman who was shot?”

There was a moment of silence on the line and Davis could feel her swallowing on the other end.
Today’s victim was really bothering her and he intended to find out why. “About my height.” //five
foot four, okay.//

“And where was the exit wound?” This time there was an even longer pause without even the
sound of her breathing to disrupt the silence.

“The, uh, bullet didn’t exit. I think it lodged against her shoulder blade.” Her voice was strained,
nearly breaking around the words. //But why?// It didn’t make any sense to Davis. Tru was caring,
but she was tougher than this. She didn’t get broken up over the wounds, just worked harder to
prevent them.

“Were there any other injuries you could see?” He wasn’t really expecting an answer, Davis just
didn’t want to get off the phone yet. Something was up and he didn’t have enough pieces of the
puzzle to figure it out yet. But he knew that Tru did. //Come on, Tru, tell me... let me in...// Davis
wished he could say the words he was thinking, but he knew better. Tru was a very stubborn girl
and there was no way to change her mind over the phone.

“No, no other wounds.” The line between them stayed open but silent for a moment and Davis
could feel her wanting to say something. What, he didn’t know. A small sound that was something
like a cough later, the moment was gone. And she was running again. “I’ve gotta go, Davis.”

“Tru...” The click and the dial tone cut him off and Davis hung up the phone. Shaking his head, he
moved back to his computer, putting the few details he had into a crime re-creation program.
Victim, female, 5'4". Single shot to the chest, bullet lodged against the shoulder blade. The first
thing to strike him was the nearly horizontal path of the bullet through the body. Odd for a person
of that height...

And why wouldn’t Tru talk to him. She *always* talked to him. In fact, sometimes he thought he
was the only person she could really talk to at all. Tru said her brother knew about the day
reliving thing, but that he didn’t really believe it. None of her friends knew. Neither did her sister.
Her brother.... “Harrison...” Her sister. Meredith. Meredith was about Tru’s height, //Isn’t
she?// And Tru had said that she wasn’t *told* her name, not that she didn’t know it. She wouldn’t
have been lying to him. //Stretching the truth a whole lot, but not lying to me.// “Damnit, Tru, why
couldn’t you tell me?” He ran his fingers through his hair in a frustrated motion of one hand.

He couldn’t wait. And he knew that Tru wouldn’t answer any of his questions right now. She might
not even answer the phone if he called her again. And part of Davis could understand why. But
whether or not Tru was willing to believe that Meredith was in danger, he had to help. Picking up
the phone, Davis dialed Harrison’s number. //good thing he’s her emergency contact,// Impatiently
he waited for the phone to pick up. “Come on, Harrison, your sister needs us.”

//And today, she won’t let me help her.//

“Hello, babe. Just couldn’t wait any longer, could you?”

//What the ....// “Harrison Davies?” An embarrassed silence later, on both ends of the phone,
Davis heard a cough.

“Uh, sorry, dude, I, uh, thought you were someone else. Yeah, I’m Harrison. Who are you? And
what can I do for you?”

“You can tell me where your sister is.”

“I can tell you to go to hell. Who are you and why the interest in my sister?” Davis was suddenly
grateful that he’d just called Harrison and not gone in person. The man might have some problems,
but hitting someone to protect his sisters.... definitely something he was capable of.

“It’s me, Harrison, Davis. I work with Tru.” He took a deep breath, now was when Davis had to
put it on the line. He was trusting Tru’s little brother. “She told me you know.”

Silence filled the phone line between them for what felt like a very, very long time to Davis. “You
mean about her ... love of reruns.” Relief flooded him. Harrison wasn’t going to play dumb. //At
least something could be easy, the brother if not the sister.//

“Yeah, those pesky reruns, especially the ones with family members getting in trouble.” Two could
play this game.

“Hey, hey, hey. She tells me if I did something stupid like that, I’m nowhere near the track or a
deck of cards *and* this morning she just looked panicked and ran out. Tru usually goes to see you
when the reruns are a problem.” Harrison took an audible breath before trying to start it up again.
Now Davis could understand why Tru looked so hassled a lot of the time. “So it ain’t the brother
in the rerun that’s in trouble.”

“No, it isn’t. How tall is your sister?”

“Five four, what you wanna buy Tru something and need her size? Is that allowed within a
professional boss-employee relationship?”

//No, it isn’t, but I would never.... admit that I want to.// Shaking his head, Davis tried to put the
idea out of his mind. The image of him and Tru and anything to do with clothes ... or their
absence... not something Davis should ever let himself think about. And *certainly* nothing he
would ever admit to. “Your *other* sister, Harrison. How tall is Meredith?”

“Mer...? Well, she’s five four, five six, I think. Why?”

//Not the smartest whip in the rack, man, try to keep up.// “Well, I think she might be in danger...
from the reruns.” Part of him winced at the way that sounded, but well... mysterious things that
couldn’t really be discussed over the phone... required pathetic sounding codes. “I need to know
where she works.”

“She... asked for help yesterday?” And there was the other half of Harrison... the part that really
could care about people. He must have gotten it from his sister, too bad he didn’t get more from
her.

“I’m not sure, Harrison, so don’t freak out yet. But I think she did ask for help. It’s just that... Tru
won’t tell me anything about the show that’s on rerun so I don’t know how to help. Where does the
sister work?”

“A law office downtown, called ? And someone. So, sensei, what do we do?”

//Sensei?// Weird boy, Tru’s brother was. Now... what was the game plan? As much as he might
want to sent Harrison to Meredith and go after Tru himself... maybe just take her in his arms and
shake the truth out of her... no, neither Tru or Davis was ready for that just yet. He didn’t know if
he’d be able to keep up that line between them if he saw her right now. Davis just wanted to hold
her and make her talk to him. “You call Tru, don’t tell her about Meredith yet. Just act like... like
you’re checking on her. Like you’re worried.”

“She’ll buy it, when she woke up this morning she gave me her ‘there’s something wrong’ hug.”
Harrison laughed into the phone. “Tru even said your name before she was awake. She’ll be
expecting some more good, old, brotherly teasing about that.” //She woke up saying my name....//
“I asked her if it was a rerun day this morning so I can ask her what stupid things I did yesterday
too. So what info am I trying to get from her?”

//uh, yeah. Good question...// “I... I just want to know where she is and that she’s okay.” //I just
want to help her and have her talk to me... to be there for her.// “So nothing big.”

“You got it, crypt-keeper, one Harrison special coming up. What’ll you be doing?”

//Going into denial...// “Checking out the law office and your other sister. Check in with me on my
cell when you find Tru.” //The crypt-keeper... hmm... I can’t really argue against that, can I?//

“You got it, Davis. Talk to you later.”

A click and a dial tone later, Davis hung up the phone and sat down at his desk. He knew he should
be leaving the office and heading downtown, but his knees weren’t quite up to that task right now.
//Tru woke up saying my name...// Dragging his fingers through his hair, Davis tried to not imagine
it. Tru, with her hair all rumpled, skin warm from sleep and his name on her lips... //Working,
rewind day...people to save, man, get to work...//

“A law office downtown. Should I call first or just show up?” First task, find Meredith. Turning to
the computer, he opened up a search engine. An address and phone number would be the first step.
“She’s gonna think I’m insane...”

Sadly, Davis wasn’t sure if he meant Meredith... or her sister.

***