In Plain Sight

Based on the position of the writing equipment on the end desk, Thomas was used to working on the opposite side of the workbench, so Alex circled around. On the back side, a drawer was set just beneath the top. Pulling it open, he found the large square drawing pad that fit the brass holders on the bench top, a box of matches, and a worn and dog-eared notebook.

He set the pad and the notebook on the workbench, then shut the drawer. He wanted to restore the last thing Thomas had drawn, like he’d done with the map in Jerry Pemberton’s apartment, but he’d need his kit for that, so he set it aside.

“What’s that?” Evelyn asked, peeking around his side to look at the book.

Alex opened it and found page after page of the finding rune from the Archimedean Monograph. Each one was slightly different with copious notes about the things Thomas had tried while attempting to unlock its secrets. Alex turned to the last written page.

“I’ve done it,” he read. “I’ve finally cracked the damn thing. For a while there, I thought it would drive me mad, but I won. The solution was staring me right in the face the whole time. I knew the rune was written out of phase, but it’s also upside down. Once I reversed it, everything made sense. I’m exhausted, so I don’t dare try writing it now; I’d probably make a mistake and blow myself up. I’ll go home and come back tomorrow. With any luck I’ll have the monograph when Becky comes to see me. Won’t she be surprised! This is the best day of my life!”

Alex closed the notebook and set it back down on the workbench.

“Is that it?” Evelyn asked. “What does it mean?”

“It means your brother is dead,” Alex said. “I’m sorry.”

Evelyn swayed and Alex had to grab her before she fell.

“I’m sorry,” she said, clinging to his shirt. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and she rubbed furiously at her eyes, smearing her mascara. “I knew he was gone, I…I just didn’t want to believe it.”

She stepped away from him, but her knees buckled, and Alex had to grab her again.

“You’d better lie down,” he said, leading her over to the neat bed in the corner. Once he had her situated, he went to the cupboard over the sink and searched until he found a clean washrag. After running some cold water on it, he wrung it out and folded it, placing it on Evelyn’s forehead.

“Now lie there until you feel better,” he said.

She thanked him and he returned to Thomas’ notebook. The next time Alex looked up, the clock on the wall told him it was eleven twenty-two. He’d been sitting on the stool behind the workbench reading, re-reading, and re-re-reading Thomas’ quest to solve the Archimedean Monograph’s finding rune. Alex could see what Thomas had been trying to do and scribbled copious notes under and around the ones Thomas had made. It seemed to Alex that Thomas had been on the right track, but just hadn’t possessed the knowledge or skill to fully unscramble the rune.

He checked on Evelyn and found her asleep on the bed. Taking the opportunity of not being watched, Alex chalked a door onto a bare patch of wall and opened his vault. Normally he’d never open his vault in front of someone other than Iggy or Leslie, but he wanted to get his kit and have a more thorough look around Thomas’ workshop. An hour later, Alex called it quits.

The lab was just as clean as it appeared in normal light. Silverlight revealed plenty of fingerprints and signs that the workshop was used regularly, but there was no sign of blood, and no indication that anything other than sleeping had ever happened in the bed. Some of the books were more used than others, but none of them contained hidden compartments or scraps of paper.

All was as it should be.

Finally Alex pulled out his ghostlight burner and lit it. He’d been avoiding this moment, but with Evelyn asleep he’d best do it now. The multi-lamp cast its greenish glow around the room until it fell on the back wall. There, reaching out from where Alex stood and running up the wall, was the shadow of a man. It ran over the bookshelf and the little kitchen counter with the hotplate. The form showed a man with his hands thrown up over his face, as if shielding his eyes from a flash bulb he hadn’t seen coming.

It was all that remained of Thomas Rockwell.