was a construction vehicle loaded with steel rebar just ahead. Damn woman nearly killed me. She ended up skewered by a dozen long pieces of steel.”
“My god!” Jake exclaimed. The story matched what he knew, but clearly this guy wasn’t playing the loving brother role well. What bothered Jake was he told the story in such a manner that it made one understand he’d been there and narrowly escaped with his own life. Then there was that scar.
They talked for another half hour, Jake providing a lot of fake details on what else his friend had told him, including a reference number to the FBI file that supposedly contained the information. Ray seemed quite interested. More than a little. He watched Jake carefully as he told the tale and provided details. Jake used the number of the real file, as he wanted to be sure he didn’t make up a number that was obviously false. There was no chance this guy would ever see the file that Carlson had on the event. Jake intended to wait and see how this developed when he left here rather than immediately back-track and erase all memory of his visit. He’d do that later. As he left, he couldn’t decide how much was news to Ray. He’d acted like it was something he’d never heard of before, but several times Jake had thought he detected more than a simple reporter interest, especially given the far out nature of the story.
Not certain what to expect from the man he’d just spoken with, whoever he was, and what the information, both true and false, that he’d passed along might cause him to do, Jake knew the next step was to watch and see what developed. He climbed into his Highlander, drove across the street and through a fast food joint to pick up something to tide him over, then drove halfway down the block and parked to see what might happen.
Henry Ray didn’t leave the office until 5:30 that afternoon, and then he drove home without any side trips. By nine that evening, Jake was convinced he wasn’t going anywhere, so he started the car and started the long drive back home. He called Karin to tell her he was coming home. On the way he tried to make sense of the situation. Today was Wednesday. Four days from now the fake Ray would be starting a new job across the Bay. Four days from now, someone else would be Henry Ray and this man would disappear. Ray appeared to know less than made sense, and he didn’t act like someone planning on disappearing in a few days.
“What does it mean?” Karin asked when Jake arrived back in San Jose. She had a warm meal waiting. Janna was long since asleep, so they could talk uninterrupted.
“I wish I knew,” he admitted. “I have been watching the wrong guy for weeks now. Ray is being clever. He decided to disappear long before I expected. He knows enough to guess what might have happened during the Kerns attack, but he doesn’t know names. At least I think he doesn’t. He knows, or will know later, that the person involved can loop backwards and change things, otherwise why would he have made the demands with regards to his sister? Somehow in the weeks ahead he comes up with names and puts a plan into motion. He anticipates I’ll check back when he acts. That means he needs to disappear. But he correctly assumes I’ll check. But instead of just simply slipping away, he gets clever. He chooses a time to go. But that isn’t enough. I’d find him. So he arranges a new job, one where no one knows him. He hires a replacement to take over for him at the new assignment. This substitute stays in place for many months, until he is directed to make his own disappearance. The real Henry is free all that time to set up how that will work, and I’ll bet that somehow he is in the background directing the fake Ray all the time.”
“Wouldn’t he worry you’d do just exactly what you have done, and find him out?” Karin asked.
“It would be a risk,” Jake admitted, “but he gave me a disappearance I’d be likely to believe, knowing I wouldn’t pursue it too far. It was tricky and he had the fake Ray give the impression of having no reason to have triggered the crimes the real Ray had planned. Hell,