At Dusk

Hector

She felt somewhat dizzy when she found her car back at the parking spot where she had left it and climbed into the driver's seat. It took a few miles of the way for her to recover her breathing rhythm.

While she drove, she placed the manuscript on her lap and kept touching it even if she looked ahead, just to make sure it remained there.

She did not know what to make of it, but she felt the importance of keeping it safe, keeping it in her hands. It might be a tool in her search for Laura. As far as she knew, the family wasn't doing much. An array of mixed sensations tried to surface and was repressed.

The thought of the family threw her back at what her mother had said, that it would be in her interest to keep it to herself.

The high-pitched honk of a truck made her jump on her seat. Her heartbeat accelerated and she made an effort to focus and pay full attention to the road ahead. She had to leave the thinking for later if she wanted to arrive safely. Her phone buzzed. It was Mathias, easy to ignore. 

Twenty minutes later, as she parked her car, her phone buzzed again. This time the screen said it was an unidentified call. She mulled over it for a second and decided to pick it up but when the device was in her hand, it stopped buzzing.

She then threw it in her bag. She had decided to leave the parcel in the car but at the last minute also stocked it inside her bag. She would take it with her, lock her room and make sure she had at least an hour of peace to read it.

As soon as she opened the door, however, someone called her name. She turned around until she realized who it was. Hector. Shit.

"Hector."

"Can we speak?" He asked rather directly.  

"It is not a good time. Is there something wrong with your dismissal papers?"

"No, it's not about my job or the job I used to have. He corrected himself."

"Then what?"

"There is something I need you to know."

"Can't you just say it to Amadeus?" He might as well dash it out on the man responsible for his dismissal, she thought. She was just a conduit for her brother's will. He must have realized it by now.

"No, it's something I need you to know", he answered. "It's something about the family." 

"Ok," she said. "Let's go to my office."

"No. There's a coffee place just around the corner there," he said as he pointed. "It's safe and public. We can talk there.

"Right."

They crossed the parking space and soon reached their destination. As soon as they arrived, he started scanning the place for the most private table possible. Not something very difficult considering that the place was empty.

He said nothing while she ordered a mint tea. 

"I'm not trying to get my position back if that's what you're thinking. I'm actually glad you were the one who dismissed me."

"You didn't seem glad that day," she observed. 

"I am now," he assured, seeming sincere. 

"So you called me here to say that you're glad you're not working for us anymore and probably thankful that we already paid in full the rescission of your contract, which if I'm not mistaken was only due in two weeks."

"No, I called you here to say I'm glad that I no longer bear any association with your family because... well, because what they do is not a godly thing."

"To construct poplar housing for the homeless is not a godly thing?"

"It's about the pharmaceutical pursuits your father chased."

"The 2-voxPr Lab? It's been closed for years. Anyway, it all happened before I was even born... Amadeus told me."

"The commercial branch closed off. The lab in the mansion is still very much operational." 

"That's only for my father's comfort since he's been..."

"Look, I don't know where your faith lies, I do, know however, that you are not involved with what they do."

"Involved? With what exactly?"

"With the cloning."

"I mean there is a lab there bent on engineering DNA, on experimentation with human genome..."

Her heart sank. Her mother had sung a similar song just hours before.

"Why do you think so? Where's your proof?"

"I know so from the many years I spent working for your father, and then for Amadeus. All the things I saw him doing, saying, bargaining for. The lab actually only stopped when the government withdrew its support. From what I gather it became unfashionable to spend money on such fantasies when the planet was so clearly doomed on a larger scale. That's when the construction thing kicked off, but I fear it was only a decoy."

"Why are you telling me that now?"

"Because I fear I don't have much longer, none of us do."

"Was that why Amadeus dismissed you in the end?"

"No, I don't think so. Amadeus grows more and more unstable by the day..."

"I don't know what to say. I agree that my brother has been out of sorts lately but this business with the DNA... I'm not buying it. And I... I have to go, I'm sorry Hector. I wish you well."

She left the money on the table for her tea and got out of the coffee shop in a rush. He did not seem to be lying to her, still, what he said didn't make any sense. Just like with her mother. 

Upon reaching the car, she felt like she was going to be sick suddenly. She put her head down and placed her hands on her knees. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

"Are you all right?" His voice echoed from a point just over her head.

"I am, thanks. It will pass in a minute."

She wished he would just go away with all his nonsense but he didn't seem to go anywhere or even move. When She felt slightly better she erected her body and looked at him. 

"You forgot your bag at the table," he showed, handing it back to her. 

"Thank you," she said hastily. She couldn't believe she had left it behind. 

"I'll be off now. You take care."

"Yeah. Likewise," she replied, half out of breath. "Thank you, Hector."

He nodded and soon disappeared from view. Only then did she open the small metal latch to look inside. The manuscript was still there, she breathed with relief, still feeling a faint sickness.