Welcome to Golden, Chapter 8

When Billy and Jenny arrived at the warehouse Ollie was directing his team to look at different aspects of the Golden programming. Both the computer and medical teams were on site and going about their business in a proficient manner. There was no joking in the computer room, which seemed to Billy to be a little jarring. Before either of them could ask, Ollie gave it to them.

“Lily almost died,” he said, handing Jenny a chart. Billy was left empty handed, but Ollie talked to him while Jenny looked over the paper. Death in Golden could be predicted, and when it happened outside of the computer's predictions – which was less than one-eighth of one percent of the time — it was seen as a bad thing. The technical guys would all say it was about controlling your variables. Billy, being more of an instinct kind of guy, never gave much credence to that thinking. Sometimes things happened and there was no explanation, you just had to accept it. By the look on the faces of everyone in the control room and Ollie's attitude, Billy sensed that this wasn't one of those times. Something had gone wrong.

“At 2113, her body produced an extreme amount of adrenaline, within two minutes, she had gone into cardiac arrest. We pulled her out of the heart attack, but then her brain went into a deep coma. We haven’t tried to pull her out of it. I’m not sure we can. The medical staff tells me it's only a matter of time before she dies. She doesn't have a DNR order, but they don't think that'll make a difference.”

Ollie was dressed nice and smelled just as good; Billy and Jenny apparently weren’t the only ones called away from something.

“Do you know what happened?” Billy asked. The technology they had was the best so that surprises were infrequent. While there were privacy issues about activity in Golden, the technicians could guess when something was happening.

“She went into shock which was followed by a heart attack,” Jenny said from beside Billy, an impatient tone in her voice. She was thumbing through the charts that had recorded Lily’s vitals for the past three hours. When she looked up, she suspiciously looked around the control room for government agents. She was about to say something else, but stopped.

“Where was she when it happened?” Billy asked.

Ollie expelled a humorless guffaw. Billy already knew what his answer would be — in Golden. There was no tracking movements within the program, that would infringe on privacy. What happened in Golden literally stayed in Golden.

“Dr. Watson, you are going to have to go in and see what you can find out. We’ll work it from here.”

Billy started to head to the changing room to get into his suit, with no thought about the twenty-four hours rest he was supposed to have before going back in. A doctor — a good one anyway — puts the needs of his patients ahead of his own. The process of getting him suited up and injected with his dose of nanoprobes took less than ten minutes.

What on God’s green earth was going on, Billy thought as he was lowered into his vat. He went through a mental list of what he needed to do. It would be dark in Golden right now. Ollie and Jenny stopped by before he was sent in. Jenny's face belied her concern, but Billy couldn't tell if she was concerned about him or Golden.

“I just sent Fred a wake-up call, he should be expecting you by the time you get there,” Ollie said as Billy nodded and closed his eyes.

As he slipped into the darkness, his only thought was that it had to be his luck that something would go wrong in Golden just as Jenny had decided to spend an evening with him.

He had been to Golden several times at night, but it always seemed odd, like the town never deserved to be dipped in the darkness. He stood in the doorway of the Golden Bank & Trust. It was about midnight and the town was pretty much shut down. The only place that was open on Main Street was Larry’s Lounge, two blocks to the south. Billy could hear the sound of Bill Haley and the Comets coming from the bar. The place stayed open until two most nights and three on the weekends. It was one of the few places for socializing in Golden. The other was the church, which would be shut tight at this late hour. Billy figured the place to start an investigation would be Lily’s apartment, but he knew that her place had been locked by the computers and anything that would tell him what had happened would still be there when he got to it. He decided that it would be better to check in with Fred first and see if the older man would have any insights. During the walk, Billy was sure that someone was following him, and not making much of an effort to hide the fact. He could hear footsteps echoing his own. Bushes would rustle and shadows jumped when he looked toward a noise.

“Who's there?” he asked the stranger. “Show yourself.”

Billy waited, but nothing happened, the crickets went on chirping and he could hear the music faintly. The street lights glowed steadily at forty foot intervals. He began walking toward Fred’s again and again thought he heard something in the bushes. For the first time ever, Billy felt a short burst of fear, an unusual feeling in Golden. He caught another glimpse, it was Elvis again.

“Who are you?” he said to the figure, which quickly disappeared again.

Billy doubled his pace until he made it to Fred’s house. The older man was waiting for him on the porch, puffing on a joint.

“I found myself awake no more than an hour after I went to bed,” Fred said as Billy walked up the stairs onto the porch. “And I asked myself, why was I awake?”

“What did you decide?”

“I decided I’d have a toke and wait for you to show up and tell me.”

Billy sighed and sat down in a chair Fred had waiting for him. He wasn’t sure how he was going to tell Fred. If something had happened in Golden, chances were that someone screwed up somewhere; and Fred would be angry and confrontational. There was no avoiding it, though.

“Something happened to Lily.” Billy explained everything to Fred, whose joint disappeared. After he got done explaining everything, including his stalker, Fred stood up and paced on the porch like a caged animal. He stopped suddenly and threw his fist at the screen door leading into the house, tearing the material

“What do you think happened?” Fred asked quick and angry. “That you are here on my porch seems to say that you think this is something more than a simple unattended death. I hope to God that the control room isn’t in an uproar because that would be something our government inspectors would absolutely love.”

Billy knew Fred was going to ask that question and he immediately answered with several theories. He didn’t want to talk about the mood in the control room and would avoid any line of questioning in that direction for the moment.

“Well,” he said, trying to remain calm in the face of Fred’s rage. “It could be some remnant memory that caused it. We’ve seen that happen to some patients, like when Ruth first met you. Perhaps Lily manifested something from her childhood that was especially shocking or maybe a nightmare. That would do it, maybe, what with the glitches we've been having maybe a safety override didn't work. I was also thinking that maybe it was a physical problem that we didn't know about; something we missed in her medical examine and it caught up with us.”

Fred took a deep breath and nodded, agreeing with Billy’s line of thinking. Billy could see Fred’s mood changing. That was the thing about people with a temper, it usually hit in quick, brief flashes.

“The medical teams are already investigating their end of things, I assume?” Fred asked calmly. Billy nodded.

“Well, I guess it’s up to us to check on your other theory. If she manifested something, it may still be in her apartment. How do you feel about meeting the boogeyman?” Billy laughed out loud in spite of himself. Fred glanced at him with a look that said that the situation was serious and not a time for jokes. Billy immediately explained.

“My mother, when I was young, used to make me laugh because she would call him the boogerman. It was her way of making us feel less scared I guess. She said that’s what her mother — Ruth — taught her.”

Fred smiled. He had spent time getting to know Ruth, and if Billy admitted to himself, probably knew her better than Billy did. He didn’t get much time to visit with her, he was always too busy to just sit and chat.

“Your grandmother is a very special person, very smart. She was definitely ahead of her time, and she has a special insight into people. I can see where you come by your skills.”

“Are you complementing me?”

“I was complementing your genetics. I think we should get Ruth and take her to Lily’s with us. Those two spent some time together. She might be able to help us.”

“Where is she?”

“Where else, she’s at Larry’s.”

As they walked, Billy was trying to wrap his mind around the nugget of little Ruthie in a bar dancing the night away. It was a cool summer night on the threshold of needing a jacket. Billy could hear the crickets chirping and the hoot of an owl; and he was keeping an eye out for Elvis but didn’t see him. As they neared Larry’s, Billy could hear the tunes of Little Richard emanating from the joint.

Larry’s was at the south end of Main Street and it was something that wasn’t part of Golden until Fred insisted on it. Nobody had really thought about it until Fred pointed out that the town needed places for its residents to socialize — they were all adults. Of course, some of Golden’s residents complained about it, the types who felt that drinking and dancing was sinful. For the most part, though, everyone pretty much minded their own business. Creating a paradise for different personalities and people from different backgrounds had its challenges. Billy hated having to referee disagreements between residents and had pushed Jenny to hire someone else to act as a mediator. But until that happened, the responsibility fell to Billy and Fred.

When they moved into Larry’s, the dance floor was jumping. Billy recognized everyone there, which was nearly all of Golden’s residents. It was Friday night after all and they were all young again. He felt oddly out of place, because he looked to be the oldest one there, even though he was the youngest. No one except Fred knew his true age. Billy looked for his grandmother, but couldn’t see her.

“Freddie!” a young woman called. She came over, about in her mid-twenties very attractive and smiling broadly. Billy took a second to realize that it was his grandmother. He was expecting the little girl. What he saw was a young woman, nubile and glistening with perspiration from dancing. Jerry Walker had his arm around her and Billy couldn’t shake pangs of … what? … jealousy? It was easy for him to think about the other residents of Golden as being young, he wasn’t related to them.

“What’s the matter Billy? Cat got your tongue?” Fred said.

“I think he doesn’t quite know what to make of a little old lady drinking rum and dancing the night away,” Ruth said, taking a sip from a glass of what looked to be rum and soda.

“Well this old lady is one cool chick,” Jerry Walker said.

Billy was still kind of shocked about seeing Ruth, but he was also watching everyone at the bar. They were all looking at him out of the corner of their eyes, some with flashes of fear. They knew that the only time they saw him after hours in Golden was when he had to make a “house call,” the slang around town for when Billy came calling to take someone away. They all tolerated Billy, some even liked him; but they were all well aware what his job was. Little Richard had stopped singing about Tooti-Frutti and the place fell silent except for murmurings among those in attendance.

“Fred,” he whispered. “I think I should leave here. I’m making everyone nervous.”

Billy cleared his throat and smiled at everyone who made eye contact with him. No one likes to be taken away when they are having fun.

“It’s okay,” Fred said with a stern voice. “It’s no one’s time tonight. The doctor's just come around because the technicians made some adjustments and he's got to make sure everything is working just fine.”

“Tough break, Doc, working on a Friday night,” an anonymous voice from the back shouted.

“Yeah, he's probably in bed by now on most nights,” another voice echoed and everyone laughed. The truth was that he probably would have been asleep by now — except not that night, he and Jenny had been making plans for breakfast.

Fred laughed the loudest and everyone else joined in, as if on cue. Billy hadn't seen Fred interact much with the residents except on an individual basis. But here in this room, they obviously deferred to him. Billy felt as though he had no authority, that everyone was looking to Fred for answers, not their doctor. And as if to confirm what Billy was thinking, Fred made a small gesture with his hand and the music started again.

Billy walked out of Larry’s with Fred behind. When he looked back, he saw his grandmother kissing Jerry Walker lightly on the lips. She followed soon after and by the time she came out the door she was the seven-year-old girl with the ponytail again. Fred shook his head as she ran over to them.

“I’m still amazed at how well you do that, most people have a hard time maintaining one avatar and you’ve got what … three or four? The kid’s a natural, Billy-boy.”

She blushed a bit and shrugged her shoulders.

“Ruth,” Billy said as if he was just remembering something. “Can you remember who has been in Larry's for the last hour or so?”

“Sure,” she said, closing her eyes. “Usual Friday night crowd. There's me, of course, and Jerry. And Dan. Carmen and Kenneth were here the whole time. Gary and James, for a while, but they left early. Nancy came by herself but was dancing most of the night with Vince. Lois, Peggy and Teresa. Steve the lawyer, ugh. Dale Goldman. A couple more came drifting in and out throughout the night.”

She opened her eyes, grinned lightly and shrugged.

“What about Lily Perez?” Fred asked. “Was she around?”

“Oh yeah, that's right,” Ruth said. “I guess my memory is not what it used to be. She came in by herself, but left early. What's going on?”

Her light manner changed when Fred and Billy told her what had happened as they walked to Lily Perez’s apartment.

Ruth was saddened because, she said, that while not close, Lily and her were starting to become friends. Lily liked the way Ruth could go back and forth between ages so quickly and Ruth said she was teaching her how to do it.

“I think Gloria said Lily was waiting for a date, but he didn't show up. She doesn't socialize much. It's been tough here for her, she really misses her children. We had spent the whole afternoon a week ago playing in the park. I taught her how to be a little girl again. She really enjoyed it.”

Fred said, “Did she seem okay then? Did she show any signs of problems?”

Ruth furrowed her brow, and Billy found himself thinking how cute she looked, like a girl pretending to be an adult. Except it was the other way around.

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t know. It’s not like I could see her turning pale or anything like that. If I’m wrong tell me, but there isn’t really any physical signs of illness in Golden, is there?”

Billy answered this question.

“You wouldn’t think so, but there are signs. Residents have been known to cough if their physical self was having lung troubles. Mostly, physical problems manifest themselves in difficulties controlling the program. Like someone may want pink fingernail polish but can only make green.”

“Green fingernail polish?” Ruth said. “That’s disgusting. No one would wear green fingernail polish.”

Fred laughed. Although Ruth was sharp, she sometimes did sound like a grandmother.

“If anything, it was the opposite,” she said. “Lily was doing things she said she had never even attempted. She said she was able to manifest the wagon she had when she was a child. No, she had full control of herself. You don't think someone hurt her, do you?”

“I don't know,” Billy said, “but we have to make sure.”

By that time the trio had found themselves in front of the hardware store and the stairwell that led to the apartments above. Billy explained to Ruth that the computers were programmed to leave living quarters exactly the way they were at the time of death — a diorama of sorts. It stayed that way until Billy authorized it to be deleted from the files, a requirement of Golden's charter. So Lily’s apartment would be the same as she left it, including any nightmares that had been left behind. Because of the great amount of computing power that was needed elsewhere, a copy of the diorama was never kept. Billy figured that might change because of what happened. The diorama was essential for Golden's research, it gave him a chance to see if the deceased had left any information that might be important. Patients were never completely forthcoming with their doctor and everyone held secrets. It was for research, but now it was looking like foresight.

Outside of Lily’s door, Billy warned Ruth that what was in there might be something disturbing.

“How so?” she said.

Fred jumped in. “Have you ever had a really scary nightmare, with monsters and what not?” Ruth nodded.

“Imagine your worst nightmare, only when you wake up that dream is real. In Golden, that happens sometimes. It’s one thing to lose yourself in your thoughts, it’s another if you lose control of them.”

“Well, don’t you have safety switches for that kind of stuff?”

Billy and Fred looked at each other, a little embarrassed.

“Yes,” Billy said. “But when you are dealing with the mind, nothing is foolproof. The good part is that adjustments can be made quickly, but it can still be very shocking. We haven’t had anything but minor problems before, mostly involving swimsuit models and another time with a giant cockroach. But there is no telling what Lily may have left in there for us.

“She was afraid of spiders,” Ruth said. Fred nodded his head in agreement.

“Okay then,” Billy said. “Is everyone ready?”

The door easily opened and showed them the entrance hallway to the apartment. On the walls were photos of Lily’s family. The kitchen was immediately to the left and the hallway led straight for about ten feet into the living area. They could hear a television playing in the living room. Despite the noise, Billy felt tense, not sure what to expect.

In the end, there was nothing any of them could see right away. The apartment was in a state as though someone had left to run to the store. A couple lights were lit, and the television played some old movie with Charlton Heston.

“Well,” Ruth said, “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but there doesn’t seem to be much here.”

Fred had sat down and was watching the television, almost studying it. On the screen, Charlton was telling a blond woman that it was her fault that some guy had injured himself. Billy didn’t recognize the movie and went about walking around the living room, picking up knick-knacks and setting them back down. He had a theory, but he wanted to see what Fred had to say before offering anything.

“What do you think, Fred?” he said.

“I think I know what happened. Well, not the specifics, but what if someone attacked Lily?” Fred asked, still studying the television.

“Why would anyone attack her? What makes you think that?” Ruth asked.

“Because,” Billy said, “there is nothing out of the ordinary. If someone attacked her, it would essentially be the same as if someone did great emotional damage to her. You can’t get hurt physically in Golden, but your mind can be damaged. If you think you are hurt, your body reacts to that. We’ve seen that sometimes like when one resident got his finger smashed in a car door, Remember Fred?”

“Yeah. With his body back in the tank, his finger actually swelled up because he was so convinced he was injured. As far as he was concerned, he was hurt and he convinced his body of that. But something like this … this could be a problem.”

“Can’t you just ask the computer who was here with her?” Ruth asked.

“It's not that easy, plus it's not something that is tracked,” Billy said. “I imagine that will change, though, if we don't find some answers. We better check the rest of the apartment. I'll take the bedroom, call me if you find her ghost.”

“Ghost?” Ruth asked.

“The computers will maintain an exact copy of an avatar when a person is pulled out of Golden because of medical reasons,” Fred said.

They spread out, Fred toward the bathroom and Ruth to the kitchen. When Billy opened the door to the bedroom, he saw Lily's ghost laying in the bed. He called the other two.

His first thought as he looked at Lily was that no one had attacked her, that she had some unknown physical problem that caught up with her. She was laying under the covers, her eyes open and inviting — she looked real and alive even though Billy knew that he was seeing an empty husk. It had to be natural medical problem. Billy took a couple of steps toward the bed, scanning everything close by. On the bedside table, the lamp was lit and there was a book with its spine up as if she had laid it down to save the spot where she was reading. Next to the book was a cup and saucer.

“Don't touch anything,” Fred said behind him.

“Why?” said Ruth as she came in.

“Someone was in here with her.”

“How can you tell?” she asked.

“The reflection in the spoon,” Billy said, moving toward the saucer, which had a spoon lying next to it. “When the room locks down, everything is frozen, that includes mirrors and other reflective devices, such as a spoon.”

On the curvature of the spoon the three of them could make out a foggy, distorted figure; no distinguishable features were apparent, but it definitely was a person and they could tell it wasn't Lily herself.

All of them were silent, trying to figure what to do next.

“Boy,” Ruth said. “There’s never a cop around when you need one.”

“Okay, let's not jump to conclusions here,” Billy said. “Just because there was someone in the room doesn't mean that someone tried to kill her.”

Fred slowly moved the covers down off Lily, exposing her and hopefully more clues. She was wearing nothing but a pair of pink panties, but the thing that caught their attention was three bloodless stab wounds over her heart.

“Oh my goodness, poor Lily,” Ruth said, tears streaming down her face. “Who would do something like this?”

The three of them silently stood looking at Lily's ghost, which stared right back at them. Fred leaned in close and examined the wounds, furrowing his brow. Ruth quickly regained her composure and leaned in close, too.

“How come there isn't any blood?” she asked. “He hit her heart, shouldn't this place be a mess?”

“Probably happened so quick that she didn't have the time to manifest blood, or if she did, she didn't know what it would look like. Her ideas of stab wounds probably came from old television shows and movies. They weren't allowed to show how graphic a violent crime really is,” Fred said, he was now looking at Lily's face, which belied no emotion.

“Maybe whoever did it cleaned up after himself, used Golden to get rid of his mess?” Ruth said, busy looking at the spoon with the eye of a detective, then moving to each of the several framed photographs and art works on the wall of the bedroom, looking at them from different angles hoping to find a reflection of the person who was in the room. She noticed her own image wasn't in the glass.

“He wouldn't have had time before the room was locked down,” Billy said. “Everything was left exactly as it was when she was pulled out. It's not something patients know about, and most likely our attacker didn't know it. He does now, though.”

“So you anticipated something like this?”

“Anticipated? No,” Billy said. “But that doesn't mean you don't plan for it. Of course, just because our killer wasn't able to manipulate the program doesn't mean that he wasn't able to clean up some of his mess. You can move the objects in a locked down room, even take them from the room. He could even move the ghost, put it in bed, cover it up.”

Ruth took a moment to wrap her mind around this new information about Golden, how something that didn't really exist could be moved.

“Look at her expression,” Fred said. “She's not frightened.”

“She looks more surprised than anything else,” Billy said.

“She knew her attacker, it wasn't someone who broke in. Whoever did this didn't break in,” Ruth added. “Fred, she was supposed to meet someone for a date. You don't think it could have been him, do you?”

All three fell silent. Whoever she was supposed to meet would have to be the prime suspect, and it was apparent someone would have to find out who that was.

“I think at this point we have to consider just about everyone a suspect,” Fred said.

This was the last thing Golden needed, Billy thought. He debated whether to tell Fred and Ruth about the troubles going on with Congress, and funding, and everything thing else that made an attempted murder the one thing that could kill Golden. In circumstances such as this, Billy was required to immediately tell the Health and Human Services Department, that would lead to a shut down, and more than likely, whoever did this would get away with it.

Plus there was the question of whether this was really a crime. Lily had been stabbed and in real life, the body, was still very much alive. Maybe not for long, but she was still alive. So how do you assault someone's mind? And if you can, could you prosecute it?

In the end, though, Billy decided that Fred and Ruth deserved to know everything that was going on, so he told them about Jordan’s investigation and Congress. He told them about the personnel files being seized and the upcoming hearings. With each word, Fred sagged, as if someone were punching him. Soon he wouldn't be able to stand, and he did indeed plop down in a chair.

“In essence, Congress, or at least Peterson, is trying to close us down. With something like this...” Billy said.

“We'd be turned off tomorrow,” Fred said, burying his head in his hands.

“Turn off Golden?” Ruth came up to Billy. “What does he mean turn off Golden? You can't turn this off, you'd really be killing people then. We'd all just die.”

Ruth sat on the edge of the bed, being careful not to disrupt the ghost lying in the bed. Both Fred and Ruth were looking at him and next to Ruth was evidence that something had gone wrong in Golden. Something really wrong. A murderer was walking within this world created in a computer. Could you really kill someone here?

The question had been asked before during a congressional hearing. Billy hadn't been there, but he remembered it on CSPAN and all the news channels; Jenny McKenzie answering “No, there is no such thing as murder in Golden. Candidates will be screened with the utmost of care.”

It didn't matter, part of the charter for Golden gave Health and Human Services a lot of power in the decision on who got in and who didn't. Within the confines of Golden, Fred served as a benevolent dictator. He made the law, and with his control of the town, he enforced the law. Almost no one was bothered by that, a few didn't like it, but they respected his authority. Fred ruled over his kingdom with a gentle hand. His No. 1 rule was live and let live. The second was do no harm.

Outside, the regulations governing Golden's existence totaled 133,000 pages. One of those regulations was that any anomalies had to be reported immediately to Health and Human Services. Failure to do so could result in jail time, large fines and possible revocation of Golden's charter. Billy and Fred knew that, according to the process spelled out in crystal clear language. Billy would have to notify the government when he left Golden. That was the law.

“Are you going to …?” Ruth asked.

“No, don't be silly,” Billy said. “My loyalties lie with those who I love the most, and two of them are here in Golden. It's a risk, but I think Jenny's got a couple things up her sleeve. If anyone can handle that side of it, it's her.”

“You could go to jail and Golden would be shut down anyway,” Fred said.

“Then we better do this right, Lily deserves that much. She is a sweet soul who may die because of what someone did. She deserves justice and everyone else here in Golden deserves their safety. We may have to make some changes, but for right now, we have to find out what's going on and who's behind it before we get shut down,” Billy said.

“How long do you figure we have?” Ruth asked.

“We're lucky because it's the weekend and that Lily is still alive. At this point, I don't think we’ll have any problems. From what I can tell, this looks to be an unattended medical event. It doesn’t occur that often, but it does happen. All the proper procedures were followed both in the warehouse and inside Golden. That will go in my report, which will promptly be filed with the proper agencies on Monday morning. If my report raises any red flags, there will probably be an investigation launched by Monday afternoon. Nothing serious would happen until at least Tuesday or Wednesday — whatever agency wanting to shut us down would have to get a court order from a federal judge to do so. It’s all in the charter.

“If Lily dies, it could be a matter of hours. Deaths are automatically reported, and my report has to be filed immediately. My paperwork is checked within an hour for a preliminary investigation, a full inspection could take a week, but I imagine Jordan and his flunkies would expedite that.”

They stood looking at each other going over in their minds what Billy had said. Fred picked up what the doctor was telling them quicker.

“You’re going to put in your report that it was an unattended medical event?” Fred said. “You can’t do that Billy-boy. That’s too much of a risk.”

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

Ruth still didn’t understand what they were talking about. So Billy was going to fudge a bit on his report. Big deal. What was more important was figuring out what happened before everything came crashing down.

“So we better hurry,” said Ruth. “We need a list of suspects.”

“Everyone except Billy-boy here is a suspect,” Fred said. “We need to eliminate people, it could have been me, although it wasn't. It could have been you Ruth. Billy, what time was Lily taken offline?”

“10:39.”

“So that's essentially when our perpetrator, and it could be a man or a woman, did the deed. Where were you at that time, Ruth?”

“I was dancing down stairs, I was there with Jerry. We were there from about nine to the time you walked in,” she said.

“What about Dan? Was he there?”

“Sure,” Ruth said. “Dan is always wherever Jerry is. I was dancing with both of them. Dan asked Lily to dance before she left. She turned him down.”

“When did she leave?” Fred asked, leaning forward a bit to listen. His body was relaxed and inquisitive. Ruth hadn't shown any indication that the questioning bothered her. She said she wasn't the one who did it, and that she knew she had to assure Fred and Billy of that fact. But she could be as suspicious as Fred.

“Before we go on, let me ask you where you were at 10:39?” Ruth asked, her jaw set.

“I was in the company of a young lady until 10, and then I went to bed. Billy can confirm that I had to be awakened before he showed up,” Fred said.

“Who?”

“I don't think ...” Fred started, but Ruth held a steady stare at him indicating that they were wasting their time with his hemming and hawing, that she didn't care who he was with and she was serious.

“Rita. I was with Rita,” he said.

“It's not what you think,” he quickly added. “She asked me for some help with improving her avatar.”

Ruth laughed at that. Billy could see by the look on Fred’s face that the subject of what he was doing with Rita was closed for discussion. They moved the conversation to who they saw around the lounge, who was suspicious and, finally, who they saw with Lily before the assault. They came up with a plan, Billy was going to go back to Real World and check the background of all the current patients, to see if there was something in their past to indicate any violence and to head off any government interference. He'd try to get the original files, if not, look over his own notes on the patients, there could be a psychological clue in there somewhere.

Ruth would interview everyone she remembered being in Larry's Lounge, cut down the list of suspects while Fred would talk to those who weren't in the Lounge. But first, the two of them would go through Lily's apartment to search for more clues. Finding out who was supposed to meet her was the biggest piece of the puzzle.

“I just thought of something,” Billy said as they talked. “What if it's the person who is manifesting himself as young Elvis?”

Fred sighed and sat down on the bed. Ruth stood with confidence, Fred seemed to have something on his mind, but was unwilling to tell them.

“I guess it's something we have to consider,” Fred said, “that Elvis took it upon himself to attack Lily. I just can't imagine what the motivation would be.”

With a few last words, Billy left the apartment and headed to his office so that he could go through the closet door that would take him back to the Real World. Normally, he longed for an easier way to be taken out of Golden — the door in his office usually was inconvenient. If it had been a normal shift, he would have been pulled back no matter where he was at the allotted time, but if there was a time he had to go back before, there was this one door he had to walk through. If there was an emergency, he could pull one of the numerous fire alarms throughout the town — but those were more for the residents' use than his. As he walked down Main Street, he went over in his mind what he was going to say when he got back.