Chereads / Damage Controllers / Chapter 42 - Setting Up the Meeting

Chapter 42 - Setting Up the Meeting

The morning comes, Jack wakes up, still feeling tired. After a night's sleep, he now feels kind of annoyed by whatever Nitte is doing. Any little bit of positive thought about her is all gone now. She's weird. She can do she wants with the fox tail or whatever. He wants to concentrate on the real matters at hand.

Jack is back at the police records department.

"Arghh! Oh my gosh!" Jack yelps out of frustration.

Bob walks over, "What?"

"I think I need to do some old-fashion detective work."

"Oh no," Bob puts a hand over his face, "You are not talking about going out and kick someone, are you?"

"Well, I will not be kicking somebody right away. I just want to go out and physically check things out. Sitting inside the office is not helpful." Jack stands up, not wanting to hear more objection. He decides to go to that university hospital and talk.

Jack hasn't been driving his car around ever since Keith told him he had bugged his car. Although, using his knowledge about monitoring devices, Jack is sure the monitoring device has to be out of battery by now. And, if the bug has been recording all these days, it would sure run out of space to record more.

Even so, Jack thinks Keith has a good point. His car is too recognizable. Jack will only drive the car if he really needs to.

He has taken a bus and arrived at the hospital. He walks in.  Since he is not sure if the girlfriend nor the hacker work for the hospital, Jack decides he will pretend to look for an employee working at the hospital first.  The only name he knows for sure is the name he saw on a computer yesterday.  It was "Jonathan Cohen."    So, he asks the receptionist if there's anyone working in the administrative area is called "Jonathan Cohen."

"Um, I'm not sure," The receptionist looks confused. Jack then suddenly recognizes that she is the same receptionist that almost stepped on him when he was a spider.

"Sorry, I'm not too familiar with all the staff here. I can ask someone for help. But, May I ask who you are?" The receptionist asks.

Jack was hoping he could just get the information and leave, but of course, he has to show his ID.

Jack flashes her his NYPD badge, "I'm with the police. Can you not just type in the name in some system and search? I'm not asking you to personally know who Jonathan Cohen is."

He hates that he is using NYPD credential to do work for Keith. He is going to have to talk to Keith about it. It's interesting that Keith wants him to quit the police job, but then, if Jack really quits, how is he going to be able to investigate around? He has to show some kind of authoritative status to do Keith's ground work for him.

The receptionist obliges. She goes into a hospital system and types in the name.

"Oh. Yes, there is Jonathan Cohen. He is in our billing department."

"OK, thanks.  How about, can you search the name, Amelia?"

The receptionist seems to be a little bit afraid of Jack, so she quickly searches Amelia without asking more questions.

"There is no Amelia working here. There is Amanda." The receptionist tries to be helpful.

"No.  I'm looking for Amelia only."

And then Jack hears high heels clicking on the floor loudly. Someone is taking some very forceful strides. It's that short hair tall girl that Nitte tried to pretend to be.

Wait, that's the hacker's girlfriend, Amelia?  Nitte says she was pretending to be her.

Amelia has a model type of body. Jack once again thinks it's shocking that a hacker who spends all day hiding behind computers can get a girlfriend, let alone a model-looking one.

Jack thinks he should talk to this girl.

But this girl speaks to him first: "Hmm. I overheard that you are looking for the name, Amelia. That's my name. What do you want?" She says, hands on her hips.

"Oh, hello, Amelia. I'm just a fan of your boyfriend's work. Do you work here?"

"No. I have friends who work here, and I come here to practice playing the violin with them. We have a performance coming up."

For a moment, Jack is confused as to why someone would come to a hospital to practice violin. But he quickly remembers, a lot of doctors have formed a quartet or some kind of classical music band in this city. These doctors even get to perform in real concert halls. Jack always finds that ridiculous. If everyone's little hobby can be considered as a real performance, then he would have been a millionaire. He would be performing flying kites. Running. Boxing. Reading comic books and give critiques on comic books.

He hates how people allow doctors to hold real concerts as if they are professional musicians. Screw them. Do they not make enough money as doctors? They have to steal real musicians' job? F* them. Jack f*ing hates doctors.

As Jack is remembering how pretentious those violin-playing doctors are, Amelia crosses her arms and takes a step closer to him. She is super tall already, and she wears high heels. She is now basically Jack's height. Jack is about six-foot-two.

"So? You say you are my boyfriend's fan. I never knew I had a boyfriend." Amelia says. Her voice is cold.

"Can we step outside to talk, Amelia?" Jack asks.

Amelia laughs, "No. I've got no time for you. I am going to practice violin. I just told you."

"Well, can I follow you to wherever you are practicing your music?" Jack figures, whichever place they are going, it has to be spacious and quiet enough. He might as well follow her and they can talk a little.

"Sure. If that's what you want," Amelia then turns around. She is holding a violin case.

As they walk down the hallway, Jack asks, "Well, I was told you are a famous hacker's girlfriend. Are you not?"

"Even if I am, why would I admit that to you?" She smiles.

"I don't see why not. Unless you think you've got something to hide. Or he has something hide. Normal people don't have to hide their relationships." Jack answers.

Amelia seems to be a little bit stunned by Jack.

"Is there anything you want from me?" She continues to walk.

"All I want from you is to take me to your boyfriend, of course." Jack continues to follow her.

"I can ask him if he wants to meet you. Not many fans have tracked me down. Maybe he will be impressed enough to meet you."

"How do I know if he has agreed to meet?"

"Phone calls? I'll call you or you can call me. I also come here three days a week. You can surely find me here." Amelia then takes her phone out. They exchange phone numbers.

"Alright, I'm going inside here," Amelia points at a door. It looks like it's leading to the hospital chapel or something.

"OK. Please let me know as soon as possible." Jack says.

"For sure." Amelia winks.