―it's the way they make amends.
― Freya North
Static
I rued the day Bill Hay, my editor, gave me the assignment of doing a feature on paranormal events associated with the old Palace Pier site.
The only good that came out of it so far was meeting Ember my soul mate from countless previous lives and possibly being able to help Lise Phillips, the librarian, connect with her past life lover.
But even that now seemed in jeopardy since Marnie walked out on me and Bill Hay wants her involved in writing the story.
Things get murkier and murkier the more we go on.
At any rate, I have a lunch date with Ember at the university and I'll fill her in on the latest happenings and see what she thinks of how we might remedy this impasse.
The Hart House Grill was packed but we managed to get a window table and I was able to update Ember on what had transpired since we last talked.
"Well, you've been busy since I last saw you," she smiled. "I was going to ask how things were going with Marnie but I guess we were too busy to even catch our breath."
"Yeah, I don't think that's going to offer much consolation to Marnie," I sulked. "I really blew it this time. I'm not used to juggling so many events."
"Oh, I don't know, " she smiled mischievously, " you seemed to coordinate managing several women in our past life."
I shrugged helplessly, "Yeah, but how did that turn out? I made a mess of things then and I'm still doing it now."
"Do I detect a note of self-pity?" she teased. "C'mon Blake, Marnie knows your weaknesses. Women are pretty adept at seeing a man's flaws. Give her time to cool down. She'll come around."
"You may see further into this than I do, but I sure hope you're right. Marnie and I make a good team."
She rubbed my arm to encourage me. "Well, so do we make a good team. Trust me, this isn't the end of your friendship but it certainly is a wake-up call."
At that moment her cell phone buzzed and she picked up.
"It's a text from Static, " she informed me. "Apparently, he found some info regarding Lise's mystery man and wants to touch base with us."
"Ask him if he's free later this afternoon," I suggested.
"He says he's got classes straight through until 5pm and suggests meeting at Harvey's for supper."
"Tell him fine―I guess I'll just add it to my expense account."
"His stomach will thank you, " she laughed.
Just past five we caught up with Static at the restaurant. Ember wasn't joking about *Static's appetite―he downed a double order of cheeseburgers and fries and a large size milkshake.
We made small talk while we were eating and finally got around to discussing what our computer geek uncovered.
"I've got good news, Bro," he gushed, "working with Tom Edwards, the Metro cop, really helped. He steered my research in the right direction and Meg Crawford, the sketch artist met with Lise and already sent me a sketch depicting her past lover."
"That's really promising, Static," I encouraged him, "Do you have any idea how long it may take to get a lead?"
"I'm a lot more hopeful today than I was when we first talked. I actually think it's possible to narrow down the search to a few likely candidates. When we started I was looking at over 2 million men who served in both wars but Meg and Tom helped narrow it down. All I need is to utilize AI to sift through data bases to get to a more manageable number before I involve Lise again."
We're not talking months are we?" asked Ember.
Static smiled at her question and simply replied, "Not months, maybe not even weeks―through the magic of computer technology it may be just days."
"That is great news!" she enthused.
I wasn't so sure. I was beginning to think there wouldn’t be much left for Marnie to do and that was disheartening.
I hated myself for being so insensitive, but it seemed to match my track record with women.