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“Yes. Dani told me about it. She said a man named Leo Darius planted the bomb.”
“That’s what we were told.”
“You mean there really is a Leo Darius?”
Tyler looked at her quizzically. “Why would you question that?”
Because Dani said he’s from the future, Gemma thought. But she decided to keep that to herself, at least for now. “I thought she made it all up. I thought she was pretending to be a police officer. So she’s not pretending? She really is with the SFPD and she really is on this case?”
“No, she’s not.” Tyler spoke tersely.
Gemma’s momentary hope fizzled.
“What else did Barsetti tell you about the bombing?”
“Not much. She said Darius was extremely dangerous, that she had to find him and stop him.”
“Stop him from what?”
“Further acts of violence, I assume.”
“How and when did you meet her?” Tyler asked.
Gemma told the sergeant the circumstances of their meeting at Stormy’s while Tyler made notes.
“Your friend, Miko, she can ID her as well?”
“Yes.”
“Can you give me her address and phone number?”
Gemma hated to drag Miko into it, but she gave the sergeant the information.
“Did you see her again after that evening when she walked you home?” Tyler asked.
Gemma felt her face flush. “The next night. We went out to dinner and dancing.”
Tyler looked up from her page with interest. “I see. So this was a romantic liaison? You were on a date?”
Gemma nodded.
Tyler leaned back in her chair. “How do you feel about Dani Barsetti, Ms. Mettler?”
“I liked her at first, but when I found out she lied to me about being a police officer, I sent her away. I was angry. Now…”
“Yes?”
“Now I just want her to get help.”
“What makes you think she needs help?”
“Because of impersonating a cop, for one thing.”
“And what else?”
Gemma was reluctant to talk about Dani’s wild story. “Look, can you tell me why you’re trying to find her? What has she done other than impersonating a police officer?”
Tyler sucked her teeth before leaning forward and planting her arms on the table. “We’re not sure. That’s what we’re trying to find out. Barsetti, or whatever her name is, showed up at a crime scene, asked a lot of questions, chased a man she claimed was Darius and shot at him.”
“Shot at him?” Gemma straightened up.
“She missed. We have only her word for it that he was Darius. How could she have known that? It’s possible he’s a red herring. We haven’t been able to locate him since. Was she trying to throw us off the trail? Maybe her trail? Is she Darius? It would explain a lot about her behavior at that site.”
“Oh, no, that can’t be true! She believes she’s a cop. She thoroughly believes it, and she’s sincerely trying to stop Darius, whoever he is.”
“Suppose you tell me everything, Gemma? Tell me what Barsetti believes.”
“Dani needs help. She’s not evil. She’s just sick.”
“Then tell me what you know so we can find her and get her the help she needs.”
Gemma went over the details she knew about Dani, which were actually very few when you threw out the stuff about time travel. There was no guarantee that anything Dani had said about herself was true.
“Did you observe any tattoos, scars or birthmarks?”
“Yes, she has a tattoo of a bird, a tropical-looking bird with long tail feathers, about six inches long.”
“Where?”
“Um, on her side,” Gemma said uncomfortably, “on the side of her right breast, and then down on the rib cage. The bird sort of curves around…” Gemma stopped talking, her right hand indicating her own breast, as she recalled cupping a portion of that bird in her hand.
Tyler had raised her gaze from her notepad, waiting for Gemma to finish her sentence, seemingly indifferent to the idea of Gemma’s intimacy with Dani’s body.
“Could you draw it for us?” she asked.
“I think so.”
“How many dates did you say you had?”
Gemma squirmed in her chair. “One.”
Tyler tapped the top of the pen on the pad, clicking it on and off. “You didn’t happen to visit her place at any time?”
“No.”
“Did anything come up in conversation about where she lives? What kind of place? Apartment? House? Neighborhood?”
“She said Potrero Hill. That’s all. No specifics.” Gemma hated this. It felt like a betrayal, even though she knew it was for Dani’s own good. “You know, Sergeant, I barely know her. There was just the one evening.”
“I understand, but she spent the night with you, right, and you were together for several hours? You could have potentially learned a great deal about her. Who her family is, where she went to school, any number of things.”
“We weren’t talking all that time.”
Tyler’s upper lip curled slightly while she struggled not to smile.
“I do have a phone number. I gave that to the officer I talked to yesterday.”
“Yes, it turns out to be a burner phone. Anonymous. We tried it. She didn’t answer. Not too surprising.” The sergeant sat back in her chair. “But she might answer you.” Tyler looked like she had an idea. “She likes you, right? The date went well?”
Gemma felt her face grow hot. “She likes me. But the last time I talked to her, I told her I never wanted to see her again.”
“Doesn’t mean she wouldn’t want to. What do you think? If you called her and invited her over, would she come?”
“I…I…” Gemma stuttered uncomfortably. “Yes, I think she would, but…”
Tyler nodded and smiled. “Yes, I think she would too.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dani knelt on the floor of the bathroom, gripping the toilet with both hands and heaving into the bowl. Her nose and eyes ran and her stomach emptied itself. So much for Joe’s Scramble at the corner café, she thought.
She hung over the bowl, panting, willing her body to calm itself. Finally, it felt like the wave of nausea had passed. She sat on the floor and ripped off a length of toilet paper to wipe her eyes, her nose and her sour mouth.
Temporal asynchrony, she thought. It’s like stomach flu. She wished she could call her mom and tell her she was sick. But even if she could tell her mom, there was nothing her mom could do about this. There was nothing anybody could do.
During the loud and all-consuming heaving process, she thought she heard ringing, like a phone, but it could have been her ears ringing. She blew her nose, flushed the toilet, then got up and rinsed out her mouth. She went into the other room and picked up her phone. She was excited to see a message from Gemma but was even more excited when she read it. “Found your device in my apartment. Can you come by and get it?”
She found it! Dani forgot her nauseated stomach. Her entire body trembled with relief. She had searched her car and her apartment so many times she was intimately acquainted with every crumb on the floor of both. She hadn’t thought that she might have lost it at Gemma’s. Thank God! She wasn’t going to die after all!
Dani texted a reply. “Yes, I can pick it up. Need to have it soonest. Today? Thanks.”
She put the phone on the bedside table and lay on the bed. She felt tired and weak, but was ecstatic with Gemma’s news. Despite the brave speech she had given Darius, she was terrified of the anonymous death she would face here.
She turned on her side and within minutes was asleep.
When Dani awoke, she felt groggy. It was afternoon. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she remembered the message from Gemma. She checked her phone for a reply.
“Yes,” she’d written. “Come at four thirty.”
Not mad at me anymore? Dani thought. Maybe she’d get to say good-bye after all. It would be sweet to end their time together on a cordial note.
At four thirty on the dot, she found a parking space on a side street and walked to the corner. Everything looked peaceful in front of the apartment. One of Gemma’s cats, the one named Bear, was on the porch railing grooming himself. Nobody was on the street. Dani walked up to the door and rang the bell. She wore the outfit she’d bought for their second date. Why not? She hoped Gemma would ask her in, treat this like a social occasion and not just a business transaction. This could be the last time they ever saw one another. That was a hard fact to grasp. But, above all, Dani wanted her transporter beacon back. Maybe she should just take it and go and not try to make some big, emotional thing out of this.
The door opened and Gemma stood before her, a friendly but unnatural smile on her lips.
“Hi,” Dani said, feeling overjoyed to be looking into Gemma’s precious face.
“Hi. Come in.” Gemma stood aside and Dani passed her, stepping into the hallway. Closing the door, Gemma said, “Come into the kitchen. Do you want a beer or water or something?”
Dani followed her, noticing how strained her speech was. She was acting casual and breezy, “acting” being the crucial word. So apparently she wasn’t over being mad. No affectionate good-bye after all, Dani realized sadly. But she wouldn’t push it. She’d done her best with Gemma and it hadn’t worked out. She’d let her off easy this time and just walk away.
“I’m really glad you found my beacon,” said Dani. “I’d feel a lot better if I could get my hands on it.”
“Oh, sure. No beer, then?” Gemma turned to face her, her back to the kitchen counter, her demeanor oddly nervous.
“Maybe after.” Dani watched as Gemma’s eyes moved slightly to the left to focus on something behind Dani. The creaking of a floorboard caused her to spring into action. She spun around and leapt back, grabbing Gemma around the waist and flinging her in front of her body like a shield.
Gemma screamed, then put both hands up in front of her face as if she could block the gunfire threatened by the two cops who stood in the hallway with their weapons drawn. They won’t shoot her, Dani told herself, and she was confident of that.
But Gemma, terrified, yelled, “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”
Both cops were frozen in place. One of them was Palmer, and she knew he was beating himself up that he had let this happen. It should have been easy. Dani was unprepared, unarmed. Their job was to get the suspect inside the house with the door closed, then grab her. But they should have put themselves between Gemma and herself. Stupid mistake.
Dani repositioned her arms so she held Gemma more securely, then stepped backward toward the door, dragging Gemma with her.
“Let her go,” said Palmer. “Nobody needs to get hurt here. Sergeant Tyler would like to talk to you, Officer Barsetti. You just come along peacefully and everything will be fine.”
Dani was determined not to spend the last week of her life in a jail cell. She knew what would happen if she went with them. Tyler would grill her and she’d have no way to answer. She wouldn’t even be able to give her a name that would satisfy her. She’d be charged with impersonating an officer, failure to identify herself and who knows what else. Tyler would show her no pity. She’d put her on ice until she felt like talking, and that would be the end of her story.
“I’m going out the back door,” she whispered into Gemma’s ear. “I’ll let you go outside. If you get away from me before then, they’re going to shoot me. I don’t think you want that.”
Gemma shook her head.
“Let her go,” Palmer said again, “and put up your hands. Don’t make things worse for yourself. You’re not in serious trouble right now, but if you kidnap this woman, you can be sure you’re going to be locked up.”
Dani reached behind herself with one arm to turn the doorknob, gripping Gemma like a vise with her other arm. She eased open the door, then positioned herself and Gemma in the doorway. There were two concrete steps from the small back porch down to the patchy grass of the yard. Dani backed toward the steps, clearing the doorway.
“Please let me go,” Gemma whimpered. She was scared, near tears, and it sliced through Dani’s heart to be causing her so much anguish. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“I would never…” There’s no point in trying to talk to her, she realized, and no time. “Look, Gemma, where’s the device? Give it to me!”
Gemma was now sobbing. “I don’t have it,” she cried.
“Oh, God!” Dani exclaimed, realizing that Gemma had lied to lure her here. “Gem, how could you!”
“I’m sorry,” Gemma gulped.
The two cops, Dani saw, had taken steps toward the doorway. Any minute they would rush her. She had to go now if there was any chance of getting away. In her head, she planned her route precisely. Then she kicked the door shut in the faces of the cops and let Gemma loose. She’d bought herself maybe a four- or five-second lead.
She took off running to the back of the property, going up and over the fence with the aid of an upturned wine barrel planter. She knew the neighborhood, the layout of the lots, who had dogs, and where her car was parked, all information her pursuers did not have. She ran through the Carltons’ yard, then scaled their back fence into the Yees’ flower garden. Coming down the other side of the fence, her hand encountered an exposed nail, ripping the skin open. She suppressed her cry, holding her hand up for inspection. Blood oozed out of a jagged tear. She ran across the Yees’ yard, her shoes sinking in the muddy earth of a colorful primrose patch. In order to skirt the dogs in the Werners’ yard, she had to take a circuitous route to her car. The dogs were already barking, hearing her nearby. She scaled another fence using an upside-down wheelbarrow. She dropped down into Old Man Reimer’s yard where he was standing, stooped over in his tomato patch, a running hose in hand. He looked up at her, startled.
She ran past him, through his side yard and out his gate to the street. She knew that one of the cops, probably not Palmer, had followed her over the first fence and may have been blocked from going farther by the Werners’ dogs, who were still fiercely barking. Palmer would have radioed for help and already be out on the street looking for her. Her plan was to be out of here long before backup could arrive. She dashed the hundred feet down the street, hopped in her car, and made a U-turn, her heart pounding hard from adrenaline. She could avoid Gemma’s street altogether and, hopefully, escape without being seen. Even if somebody got her car’s license number, they couldn’t trace it to her. She hadn’t registered the car. The teenaged girl who had sold it to her would only be able to give them a name and description, which they already had.
Feeling relieved, she turned another corner and knew she’d made it out. She drove down to Bay Street and headed east, feeling much calmer. She held her bloody left hand in her lap and drove with her right. The cut was painful, but the bleeding had slowed. The blood that had run down her fingers was sticky and drying. It was nothing. Just a scratch.
Only now did she have a chance to think about what had just happened. It was so hard not to think of Gemma as an ally. It had never occurred to Dani that she was walking into a trap. But it wouldn’t happen twice. She couldn’t trust Gemma and she wouldn’t see her again. That thought made her heart ache.
Gemma would be okay. She’d eventually find someone who would inspire her to quit her dead-end job and strike out on her own. To be courageous and fly. Like Bloody Betty.
She smiled to herself. She’d forgotten about Bloody Betty, Gemma’s fearless alter ego. Maybe the blood on her hand had reminded her. Bloody Betty was derived from an unlikely place, a sex education film Gemma had seen in sixth grade. It was to teach girls that menstruation wasn’t a curse, that you could go about your regular life while on your period. The way Gemma had told the story was funny. The girl in the film, Betty, was shown running hurdles, playing tennis, ice skating, dancing with boys, going to movies with a large convoy of girlfriends, working as a volunteer at a hospital, paddling a kayak and hiking in Yosemite. Menstruation, it seemed, turned a girl into a superhero with scads of friends and a rewarding job, capable of doing anything. She was a phenomenon! Gemma had made a private joke out of the idea, naming the heroine of the film Bloody Betty. So whenever Gemma felt timid, she would invoke Bloody Betty, the part of herself that was confident, talented and fearless. Bloody Betty was the woman who had quit her job at the FDA and started her own business. Gemma was capable of more than she knew. She had reserves of strength. She simply had to bring them to the fore.
As Dani drove, the sun dipped below the taller hotels and apartment houses, and another unwelcome bit of reality seeped into her mind. It was all over now. Briefly, she had thought she was saved. But it had been a trick. The beacon was still lost. She had no way to get to safety after all. Her fate was sealed. She had been here almost one week. She had just one more left. She recalled Darius after his week and a half being in the past. He was still getting around, but wouldn’t have been much longer. If there’s anything I need to do here, she told herself, I’d better do it soon.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When Gemma got home on Monday, she picked up Smokey and walked to the kitchen, retrieving a can of cat food from the cupboard. She put Smokey down and popped the lid. Bear came running in, sending up a chorus of demanding meows. Both of them crowded close to the food dish where Gemma dumped the contents of the can. Tossing the can in the trash, she saw the blinking light on the phone. Land line messages were usually telemarketers, but they were occasionally friends or the always-dreaded calls from the nursing home. She punched the play button.
“Hello, Gem. It’s Dani.”
Gemma froze.
“I just want to say that I understand why you did what you did. I hope you don’t feel guilty. There’s no harm done, really. It actually took a lot of guts to do it. I wonder if you dredged up old Bloody Betty for the job.” She chuckled. “Anyway, I have no hard feelings. I’m fine and everything will be fine. I wish you nothing but the best life has to offer. I’m glad we got to know one another, at least a little bit, and I hope you remember me with a little fondness, despite all the weirdness. Don’t worry. I won’t bother you anymore. Take good care of yourself and be happy. I love you.”
