Richard Doetsch - The 13th Hour

Marcus sat there in total shock, watching his friend’s nervous breakdown.

Nick pulled out his cell phone, opened it, and pulled up the picture of Julia dead on the floor. He had regretted taking it, thinking of it as a violation of her dignity, of her soul. It felt as if he was pulling the trigger of the murder weapon, but he also knew it would be the easiest way to convince Marcus. He averted his eyes as he passed the phone to his friend.

Marcus looked at the picture, unaware of what he was seeing…

And then realized exactly what he was looking at. “What the hell?”

Nick said nothing.

Marcus looked more closely at the picture, grief and nausea overcoming him in seconds. His breathing quickened, seeing what was left of Julia’s face filling the screen of the cell phone.

“What have you done?” Marcus exploded at Nick.

Nick said nothing, his own eyes filled with heartache.

Without thought, Marcus charged out of the room, tore open the front door of his house, and ran across the open expanse of lawn as fast as he could toward Nick’s house.

But he suddenly stopped in his tracks, coming to a standstill so abruptly he almost fell over.

“You always go for a run in a suit there, Marcus,” Julia called out, her blond hair caught in a summer breeze.

She was standing in her driveway, the rear door of her black Lexus open, pulling out a canvas bag.

Marcus leaned forward, hands on his knees, panting hard as he caught his breath, not comprehending what he was seeing.

“Julia,” he said through heaving breaths. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Julia said with a laugh. She put down her bag and walked toward Marcus. “Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“Nick said…”

“He’s with you?” Julia looked toward Marcus’s house. “He rushed out of here so quickly, is he scaring you?”

Marcus stood up as Julia arrived at his side. He looked at her as if he were seeing a ghost. The image on Nick’s phone was so disturbing, so real, that as he looked upon her now, the memory of it chilled his spine despite the eighty-eight-degree temperature.

“You look like shit, Marcus.” Julia said half in jest. “Can I get you anything?”

Marcus shook his head.

“Okay, then can you please explain why you were running over here so quickly?”

“It’s…” Marcus was at a loss for words, unable to speak of what he had just seen on the cell phone screen two minutes earlier.

“You heard about my near death?”

Marcus was in shock, confused about what she was referring to.

“I still can’t get over all of those people… dead. The plane just falling out of the sky.” Melancholy filled her voice. “I’m so lucky to be alive. I’m tasting every breath, I’ll never take life for granted again. It makes you believe in fate, Marcus. I almost died today.”

MARCUS STEPPED BACK into his library looking as if he had just been punched in the gut. He stood there a moment, trying to regain his composure.

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” Marcus said, his chest swelling in anger as he yelled. “Don’t screw with me.”

Nick sat in the leather chair staring at his friend and shook his head. “I would never joke around with something like this.”

Marcus collapsed into the high-back wing chair by his desk, emotionally exhausted. He looked around the room for two minutes; Nick could see his mind working. Marcus closed his eyes and put his head back.

“You’re asking a lot. This an awfully big leap of faith, Nick.”

“I know,” Nick said quietly. His eyes pleaded with his friend. “I’m sorry to involve you, but you’re the one person I trust, the one person I know who wouldn’t think I was insane for telling this story.”

“Do you see me in the future?”

“Yeah, a few hours from now.” Nick nodded. “You’re right by my side; you’re my advocate when they try to say I’m the one who killed Julia.”

“My God.” Marcus placed his hands over his temples and squeezed as if he was keeping his head from exploding. “This is insane.”

“I know.” Nick nodded.

“How does it work?”

“I can’t explain it,” Nick said quietly. “And this could all be some nightmare, but I know she dies if I don’t find her killer.”

“And what will you do when you find him?”

“I don’t care about the consequences.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Marcus said.

“You know exactly what I’m going to do.”

“And if there is more than one?”

Nick stared at him. “I’ll kill them all.”

Marcus walked over to his brass-rail bar, grabbed two Tiffany crystal glasses off the shelf and poured two Johnny Walker Blue Label scotches. He walked back and handed one to Nick. “I don’t know about you, but I need something to calm my mind, to keep me from slipping into confusion.”

“Thanks,” Nick said, tilting his glass in appreciation toward Marcus. “I need to find whoever pulls that trigger,” Nick said.

“If you get her out of here, out of Byram Hills, she won’t be home when the gunmen arrives.”

“True, and I do send her away, an hour and a half from now, but that’s not going to stop them from coming for her. Julia avoided death by not being on that plane, yet she was killed later in the day. Who’s to say if I pull her away from that bullet they won’t just kill her later? That’s why I have to find the man who pulls the trigger now while I still have a way, while I still have time on my side.”

“I can barely keep this straight in my head,” Marcus said.

“Believe me, I’ve been dealing with this for hours and I still can’t get my hands around it,” Nick said. “Every move I make has repercussions, consequences on the events I already saw happen. By coming here, by telling you all of this, I’m changing the future in ways I can’t foresee.

“Three hours from now, because I’ve told you what happens, you won’t try to stop me from going into my own house to try to figure out who killed Julia; three and a half hours from now, you won’t find me with her body; in four hours you won’t lead me back here to your house, offer me scotch.” Nick held up his glass, “and be a friend.

“We sat right in this very room. You called your buddy, Mitch Shuloff, said he was the best attorney but that he’d be late. Plus he owes you a grand for the Yankee win last night.”

Marcus stared at Nick as if he had just performed a miracle. “I never told anyone that. That’s totally nuts.”

“Well, everything changes now.”

“Nick,” Marcus said, looking at his friend. “Some things don’t change. I’ll still do all that for you.”

“No,” Nick said.

“Yeah-”

“No, you won’t, you won’t be here, because I’m asking you to take Julia and get as far away from Byram Hills as you can. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

“But I thought you already did that, that she leaves an hour and change from now?”

“I did, she drove off at 5:59, but if you go with her, if she leaves with you within this hour instead of an hour and a half from now, she’ll have someone looking out for her, she’ll be that much safer.”

“You know I’d do anything for you guys.”

“I know,” Nick said, his head nod saying so much more.

“You know my buddy, Ben Taylor? I think we’ll go hang out with him. She’ll be in pretty good shape at the home of an ex-military guy.”

“Great.”

“How will I know when everything’s safe?”

“I’ll find you.”

“What if I don’t hear from you?”

“Then go to the police, because I’ll be dead.”

NICK QUICKLY BROUGHT Marcus up to speed, telling him everything that had happened to him in each hour, and telling him what information he had gathered, from the St. Christopher medal, to the blue Impala, to the flying bullets at Julia’s office, to what he had just seen in Hennicot’s place.