Some Hours Later

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Scene Title Some Hours Later
Synopsis A message is found.
Date December 19, 2008

Apartment 101 in the Dorchester Towers

The entry hall has room for anyone carrying larger objects to move without much trouble and five doorways. First, on the left, is a kitchen with the usual appliances, microwave, toaster, blender, coffeemaker, and George Foreman grill. Cherry cabinets with brass handles above and below the marbled counter fill the spaces. In the center is a table of dark cherry wood with comfortable wooden chairs for six people on a waxed cedar floor.

The living area, second on the left, has a peach colored couch with cherry wood end and coffee tables along the far wall. On either side of those is a recliner chair. Atop one of the end tables is a caller ID phone with NYC phone books. Electronics line the left wall: a 60" thin plasma HDTV, cable box with DVR, stereo equalizer, radio tuner, twelve disc CD player, iPod dock, home theater system, and speakers. One of the other walls has a piano placed against it and a wide window overlooking Nuked York. Pale wine colored pull curtains, normally kept closed, hang before it. The fourth wall has a line of electric and acoustic guitars, a few amps of varying sizes, and a cello.

The first door on the right opens to the smaller of two bedrooms. The second right hand door leads to the main bedroom.

At the entry hall's far end is a bathroom with standard fixtures, a white tile floor, and products a woman would have. Bright and warm glows from overhead track lighting bathe the place. Deep wine colored plush carpet covers the floor, stopping only at the kitchen and bathroom.


Outside the Dorchester Towers apartment building, a Dodge Neon which had been frequently seen there is gone. It was moved not long after Cat was released. A brand new Corvette which had generally been parked next to it hasn't moved since before the abduction. The main room of Cat and Dani's apartment is mostly like it was when Ethan and Odessa took the two women. The furniture is unmoved, every piece in the same place. The Christmas tree, a real one decorated with an angel at the top and ornaments among the branches, is also still there. Wrapped presents rest under it, with tags indicating they're to Kit-Kat or Stilts from Dani and vice versa. The stockings, full, bearing the names Cat and Dani remain attached to a wall by that tree.

A few of the guitars are missing, however. Someone took them away. Should the other rooms be explored, he will find the bed in their shared room turned down as if someone was soon to be getting into it. The closet door is partly open, inside it one can see amounts of one woman's clothing are gone, but some remain, as if the taller of the pair took some things and left others. The shorter woman's clothing is untouched. The entire apartment is cold, someone turned off the heat, and no lights are on.

All these conditions the Wolf would have found if he chose to explore.

Some hours later, in another place, Cat sends someone to the apartment so more things can be retrieved and brought to her somewhere in Nuked York City. The man she hired, a classmate from law school at Yale living in New York now, arrives there an hour or so later. He enters, turns on a light, and stops. The wrapper is lifted up and looked at briefly, then put back where it lay. He pulls out a phone and taps in a number, then lifts it to his ear.

Her iPhone sounds off, and she answers it. "Cat," she says simply. The male voice on the other end speaks solemnly. "You need to come to the apartment. Communication from Miss Hamilton was left for you here." The call ends.

A short time later, choosing for the only time to go against Helena's wishes and return here, Cat is at the apartment. She closes the door behind her, looks at the man with an expression which showcases her guilt and grief, her heartbreak. Not a word is spoken, she simply picks up the wrapper and reads it. When she reaches the end, concluding by the way those words blur that the moment of death was upon her right then, she numbly walks to sit by the tree and stare at a wall. It's confirmation of what she's suspected happened days ago. "Thank you, Colin," she tells the man in a hushed voice. "I want to be alone with her a while." He leaves with just a nod, choosing not to speak. There are no words to say, really. He won't breathe a word of anything he knows about this whole thing, and he doesn't ask questions. He only provides what Cat asks for.

Alone when the door closes, she stays seated there by the tree, her eyes still on the message in her fingers. There are no tears. "I'll try," she tells it, "to let go of the guilt, throw away the pain. And I will make your dream come true, do all I can to make the case of Kazimir Volken and his plans become the big story you wanted when you came to the city. I love you. Forever."

Moments later she's moved away from the tree and brought one of the guitars over to it, plugged into an amp. She begins to play, for the first time since before they were both wheeled out of here, choosing a Pretenders tune. No lyrics are sung through most of it, only near the end does Cat apply her voice to it, singing lyrics adapted to fit the situation with strength and conviction.

The powers that be

that force us to live like we do

bring me to my knees

when I see what they've done to you.

But if I died as I sing here today

I know deep in my heart

they'll fall to ruin one day

for making us part.


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December 18th: How Not To Eavesdrop
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December 19th: To Save Rickham, Part One
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