Chapter 49: January 27th 1982

“Hello?” I slept in this morning, having the day off of work. Melanie had brought Elliot to daycare, and I woke to the phone. The phone rings of these old landlines are so much more ear-splitting than even the digital tones of my old Nokia. I assumed it was either the daycare or Melanie calling, but I was wrong.

“Mike…” a sobbing voice mumbled into the phone. It took my brain a minute to recognize that it was Judy.

“Judy?” I straightened up, and the sleep dissolved from my eyes in an instant. “Is everything ok?”

“Yes. Everything is great. My lawyer just informed me that the state’s attorney is dropping my case.” Her words were slurred and nearly unintelligible.

“That’s amazing. What happened?”

“Evidence was anonymously given. It didn’t show my innocence, but it led detectives to a case in which several people were killed with an almost exact likeness. And I had rock solid alibis for three of the four other murders.”

There was a silence between us as I absorbed the information, and she took a moment to collect herself.

“Are you out already?” I finally asked when my brain caught up.

“No, they have to process some stuff, but the warden was kind enough to let me call from the office phone. I’m going to try to take the bus up to Massachusetts. I really want to see Elliot.”

“Don’t take the bus. You’ve been through enough. I’ll drive down and get you. By the time I get there… They’ll have you processed?” I didn’t actually know how long that took. I just assumed that the six or seven hour drive should be enough time.

“Ok. But you won’t be able to call me back probably.”

“That’s fine. If you don’t mind waiting in the visitor waiting area, I’ll call the front desk.”

We hung up, and I called Melanie. She said not to worry about Elliot, she’d take care of it. She thought that the ride would be a lot longer if I took him, and she didn’t want Judy sitting there alone too long. 

I packed an overnight bag quickly, and was heading out the front door when I saw the black man from the park getting out of a mustard yellow 72 ‘Vette. It was a sweet car, and I had seen it parked around the area several times, admiring it, and wondering why I kept seeing it. It gave me a sort of Truman show feeling.

“Mike… We need to talk,” he said from across the street as he approached me.

I stopped two feet off the curb. He knew my name is Mike, he had to be Wells. I had been right that day at the park.

“Who are you?” I asked, without approaching or backing up.

“Can we go into the house and talk? It won’t take long, I know you have to go to Pennsylvania.”

I nodded, and led the way back into the house. The evidence that had anonymously come up must have come from him. If I had gotten in my car, and driven I think I would have figured that much out within the first ten minutes.

“You gave the evidence to the cops?”

He nodded, and sat on the couch. One of Elliot’s toys was in the way, and before he sat down he delicately picked it up, and placed it on the arm of the couch.

“Why didn’t you do it earlier?” I remained standing.

“I couldn’t. There were things that were going to happen that I couldn’t change, but I had to wait for them to play out in order to help exonerate… Judy.”

“Some of the other killings have happened since her aunt.”

He nodded again, infuriatingly.

“She had the perfect alibi. The problem was, that in this time, there is still a limitation on information sharing between cities and states. There is no internet database where they can cross reference MOs. As it is, it will be another several years before DNA leads them to the killer. That part is shitty, but I actually think I can prevent the deaths that will happen between now and then. That’s what I’m going to be working on.”

“That’s the reason you came back? To stop a serial killer?”

The nodding was driving me crazy, but it seemed he was giving me time.

“Why? Someone you love a victim?”

“Sort of, my mother got caught up in all of this.”

There was a quiet between us, he looked at me expectantly, but my brain was still caffeine free, and there was too much unknown floating around. I hadn’t had this kind of mental exercise since travelling back. The future had been so clear for most things.

“Elliot?” I asked the moment the thought popped into my head.

“Yeah, it’s me dad,” he was tearing up, he stood up and he hugged me.

“How?”

He shook his head, and smiled. “You need to go get my mom. You can tell her about me, and you can bring her to my place. Ok?”

It was my turn to nod. He slipped his address into my hand. It was written on a bar napkin.

I thought about it the whole time that I was driving down here. I’ve been sitting in the parking lot of the prison for over an hour, because they’re processing her slower than I expected. She’s going to be so happy. I wish I had a cell phone so I could tell Melanie. Everything’s been upended. So, I suppose it’s time to ask again, now that I know you’re Elliot and not Wells, are you reading this sometime in the future? Is this also going to end up being the guidelines for you to help me in my past?