SEVENTY-TWO
Nora looked from Adeline to the body on the floor. “Hold on. Did you just say murdered?”
Adeline nodded. “It’s a long story. The happy ending is that you’re not going to be murdered.”
Her gaze drifted over to Elliott, who was still holding the gun, staring down at Nora’s replica. Adeline wondered what he was thinking. What had his plan been? Had he imagined himself stopping Adeline from killing Nora, and then traveling back to the future until he could take the time to develop his own replica for Nora? It was the only real solution that Adeline could see. If that was Elliott’s plan, what then? Saving Charlie was his real objective. For him, Absolom Two had always been about the son he had lost.
“It’s not over, Elliott.”
“What do you mean?”
“The night Charlie died, in his apartment, you walked out into the living room and told me never to speak of that night until we met at Nora’s house—and that I would know when. And that when the time came, to tell you that everything was going to be all right.”
Elliott cocked his head. “I didn’t see you that night.”
As soon as he said it, comprehension dawned on him.
“Not yet,” Adeline said. “Not yet.”
Elliott let the gun fall to his side. A tear rolled down his face. “Not yet,” he whispered.
To Sam, he said, “It’s good to see you again.”
His old friend nodded.
Elliott turned back to Nora. “You too. It’s been longer for us than for you.”
“I want to hear about that.”
“You will,” Elliott said. He reached down to the recall ring on his wrist. “But I need to get back to the lab before I contaminate this crime scene with my DNA. And I need to apologize to Hiro.”
He pressed the button and the air crackled and he was gone.
“What happens now?” Nora asked.
“Now,” Adeline said, moving to the black body bag, “we recreate your murder.”
Sam helped Adeline lift Nora’s replica and move her to the kitchen. They placed the body with the head protruding out into the hallway so that it would be seen from the front door the next morning.
“We need to make the incision,” Adeline said. “Syntran left the organs in and simulated a time of death, but the body still needs to bleed.”
Adeline watched her father walk to the kitchen and take the knife from the butcher block. She swallowed, heart beating faster, waiting for the moment that had been nearly two decades in the making, a moment that would change everything for them.
He paused, looking at the knife, his back to her. “We have a problem.”
He turned to the two women. “The knife was hidden in the toilet compartment, and Adeline’s DNA was found on it, but she never touched it.”
Adeline walked over and took the knife from him. “Her DNA is on it now.”
Her father stared at her, confused. Slowly, comprehension seemed to dawn on him.
“Hi, Dad.”
He reached back and put a hand on the counter, bracing himself. “How?”
“Absolom Two.”
His chest rose and fell faster as his breathing accelerated.
“How far back?”
“All the way to 2008. I was there when Mom gave birth.”
“You… you were that Adeline? The TA she told me about?”
“I was.”
He reached out and touched Adeline’s cheek. His hand was still dirty, but Adeline didn’t care. She pressed her face into his fingers. “I had surgery,” she whispered. “A few years before I met you as Daniele.”
Her father studied her face and shook his head. “I thought I was the hero. But it was you, all along. The price you paid. All those years you gave to this. Half your life. Most would have given up.”
“It was a small price to pay to get you back.” Adeline turned to look at Nora. “And to save you. That’s why I hid the cameras. I was trying to figure out what was going to happen.”
“I understand,” Nora said.
“What happens now?” Sam asked.
“Now,” Adeline replied, “we start living the part we’ve all been avoiding. The future. A wise person once said that time heals all wounds. But it won’t work if you don’t give time a chance. I think we’ve given the past enough time. Our wounds are healed. It’s time to do what we were always meant to do, the real reason Absolom Two exists. It’s time to give the future a chance. And to start helping others.”