L'affaire Bob

42. The Big Finale

-"Hello, hello, dear friends!" Jonathan strode in, seconds after the recording got saved. Jonathan, in all his 6-foot glory and his blond, almost white platinum hair, which fell on his brown, swirling eyes.

Despite that, his appearance wasn't what stroke me the most. Oh, no. What caught me off guard was his attitude, his friendly tone. It was the first time I've seen him like that, the first time I've heard his voice not bellowing orders simultaneously.

And strangely, this Jonathan was far more terrifying than the scowling, hostile one I usually saw at lunch or in the hallways.

-"I see you've discovered how your friend died, eh?" He happily added. "That's brilliant, loves! You know, you may not be aware of it, but I accompanied you during your whole journey and walked with you every step of the road. I made sure I kept clues and drawers open for you at all times, to make it easier," he smiled.

His smile was cheerful, innocent, which made it a hundred times worse. Had he been displaying a wide, evil smirk on his face, I would've felt more comfortable than I was now, facing his childish and ignorant expression.

-"Still shocked?" He observed, fake compassion draping his velvety, venom-filled, yet somehow purely immaculate voice. "Don't worry. I would be, too, if I'd just discovered that. It's, after all, in our human nature, am I right?" He shot us a thousand-dollars sparkling white smile.

Walking over to me, he then said: "So, Paul, did you expect this? I doubt it. I truly do. I mean, even the best detectives can make mistakes or overlook evident clues."

Reaching out his hand to me, he tried to pat me on the shoulder, but I sharply pushed him away.

-"No pats, I see," he raised an eyebrow. "That's fine. That's completely fine. After all, that wasn't the purpose of my coming here, was it?"

-"What do you want?" Mike went straight to the point.

-"Well, firstly, Michael-" 

-"It's Mike!" Davis groaned.

-"Oh, my apologies, lad. Well, Mike, I wanted first of all to thank every single one of you."

-"Thank us?" For what?" I barked.

-"For helping me, of course! Without you, that wouldn't have been possible," he cheerfully replied. "And naturally, I'm also thanking you for finally solving the case of one of our most hard-working and beloved employees. I'm also thanking you for reading those beautiful letters out loud. Speaking of which, yes, I intercepted that letter before Bob could send it to his wife. Yes, user X001 is, in fact, me. And yes, I was also recording everything that happened earlier."

-"Why?" Amanda spat out with all the hatred and anger she could muster.

-"Oh, I'm sure the other camp of time-travelers would love to hear how you're going to 'exterminate them all, and not leave a single one behind,' am I right?" his lips wickedly-- yet at the same time angelically-- twitched.

-"You're a... a criminal!" she shouted, unable to come up with anything else.

-"I try my best," he grinned.

She jerked forward, her fist about to make contact with his sharp, strong jaw, but I held her back, to not make things any worse.

Shooting me an "are-you-crazy?" glare, she tried to tug out of my grip, without much success. With my eyes, I attempted to warn her and prevent her from doing anything stupid.

However, I couldn't help but agree with her.

Because indeed, he was. The worst kind, if possible.