Mystery : Cozy Mystery: Murder on Board the Macedonia (mystery, thriller, cozy, shocking, short stories) (short reads, detective, murder, suspense) (4 page)

And so without wasting any more time, Dr. Greene left the office and went straight to the bar. He knew that the tension he had when he was summoned by his boss was way too much for him to be carrying it all around. And so going to the bar to unwind was a better way for him to let go of the steam and get to enjoy some good old conversation with Tori before calling it a day.

Tori smiled as soon as she saw Dr. Greene coming through the door. It had been almost a fortnight since she talked to him and she was more than eager to do just that. And it went without saying that Dr. Greene had missed her as well. Tori was the only sane person in his life, and she always made sure that he was attached to reality at all times which was such a good thing at the end of the day.

“Look at you, growing old just after two weeks. What is happening to you?”

“It’s just the stress that comes with working around the clock to invent things that make your lives better.” Dr. Greene laughed.

But even Tori could get that his laughter wasn’t genuine at all. If anything, it seemed as though he was getting to force himself to laugh and that meant that he was in some trouble or his day was shitty.

“Hey, I know that maybe you don’t want to talk about it, but you need to unwind or else this work of yours will kill you.”

“So, what do you suggest?”

“Take some time off from work. You know, hang out with me and let’s talk about standard stuff.”

Dr. Greene smiled. He liked Tori. But why he never thought about spending time with her was something that he just never got to understand at any given moment. But thankfully, it seemed as though the most important thing at that moment was that she had made the suggestion. Dr. Greene just couldn’t stop blushing.

Chapter 5:

-Date before the big day-

It had been two very long and crazy months of working round the clock and Dr. Greene was more than sure that his project was most definitely going to fly. But before he could do a damn thing about it, he felt that he needed to have a couple of drinks just to unwind. And once he had done so, the next thing that would have followed would most definitely be something that would change his life completely.

So he decided to pay the beautiful bartender a visit just to see how she was doing. If his memory served him right, then she was the only person who got him all sorted out without having to worry about a damn thing, and that was something more or less exquisite. At that point which he considered as being the lowest in his life, he had someone who had no clue about whatever he was doing but still had faith in him and for that, Dr. Greene wasn’t going to take it for granted.

So as soon as he was done with the fixing of the time machine, the one that his friends vowed that Dr. Greene was never going to have the pleasure of inventing, he decided that maybe a stroll to the bar for a miniature celebration wasn’t going to be that much of a bad idea.

And that said, the only place that Dr. Greene wanted to be was anywhere, but with Tori. It had been a while since he had seen her and for some reason, Dr. Greene thought that maybe he was starting to have some feelings about her, and that seemed a little bit dangerous as far as he was concerned. But after thinking about it, it felt as though it was the most important thing as far as he was concerned.

Tori was such love girl, and she looked too darn innocent without the makeup and all of the skimpy dresses that her boss always made her put on to attract more customers. And at that point, it seemed as though Dr. Greene was in love with her new look to the point that he just couldn’t stop staring.

“Hey, you realize that you are staring.”

“Oh, I am sorry. It’s just that I haven’t had the pleasure of getting to see you all dressed up and looking sexy the way you are at this point.”

“Ah, it’s ok. I get that a lot. But thank you very much. So, are you going to tell me all about the secret project that you are running in your company or what?”

Dr. Greene wasn’t planning on talking about his project or his wicked boss Mr. Richardson. All he had scheduled for that day was to have a conversation with Tori about life in general. And that said, it seemed as though the result was going to be him talking about it and then maybe switching the conversation to something much more normal.

“Well, we are looking into the cure for cancer. But as you know, it’s a tough thing, and it is giving me sleepless nights.”

“Why is it giving you sleepless night?”

“Because if I don’t have a breakthrough, then it might have some consequences on my reputation. I just got a lot riding on this. But anyway, I never thought you could look this innocent. I kind of like it.”

“Once again, thanks. Sometimes I wish I could rock this look all day and all night, but you know my boss. So, when you get the cure for cancer, will you take me for a ride and spend some of that money on me?”

“Sure. Besides, you are the only person that I know outside of the world of science. It would be nice to travel the world with someone who can help me see things with a fresh pair of eyes. It could be amazing indeed.”

And at that point, the two switched their conversation into something much more simple, and they enjoyed their walk in the park. Tori somehow trusted Dr. Greene to the point that she talked about her dead parents, and she hoped that she could go back in time and tell them just how much she loved them.

Dr. Greene stopped for a moment. He imagined just how amazing it would be to kick back and imagine how amazing it would be to complete his time machine so that he could just go wherever and whenever. And so he made himself a solemn vow that if at all he was going to make some progress and an eventual breakthrough, then he was most definitely going to take Tori for a ride and make sure that she had a chance of seeing her parents one last time.

But in as much as he wanted to come clean with his plot, there was no way that he was going to do just that, not just yet.

*** 

As soon as they agreed to meet up on a date on the following day which was on a Sunday, Dr. Greene left the bar with a smile on his face. For the past decade, it seemed as though his social life had gone down the drain as he decided to dedicate his entire life to science. And that did pay off in a great way. But that said, it seemed as though he needed some of that social life back.

And thankfully, Tori was there to make sure that he was attached to the real life since lots of experimenting could lead you into some very dark places that you would find it very difficult to escape from if you weren’t that careful. In the end, Dr. Greene was glad to be doing this, especially before the big day.

The date was nothing fancy. The two just planned to walk around the park and get to talk about their lives. Dr. Greene was also hoping that he would get that golden opportunity of getting to know so much more about Tori. He had some feelings for her, but since he was the Real McCoy definition of a geek, he just didn’t know the best way to approach her and most importantly, get to express his feelings.

Tori knew that. But she was one of those old school girls who always wanted the man to man up and proceed to do something incredible. And for a moment, she wanted to confess that she had feelings for him. But each and every single time she wanted to come clean about her feelings, it did seem as though words were doing such an excellent job in failing her and for a moment, she almost just gave up in everything that she was doing.

Dr. Greene sensed that Tori was trying to tell him something, but still, he just chose to keep it quiet for a while.

Tori was starting to feel as though the walk was getting a little bit awkward and so she decided to say something.

“Well, do you think you are going to be a doctor forever?” Tori asked, trying as much as possible not to glance back at him since she could have pretty much blushed almost immediately. 

“I have been thinking about that same question for a while now. And to be honest, I don’t even know what I will be doing with my life after this. I mean, researching and inventing have been something that I have been doing for a very long time now. And now that I am starting to think about the future, I just can’t come up with something else to do with my life.”

“There are plenty of things that you could do with your life, trust me on that one. First and foremost, you can end up being one of the very best teachers out there. And I am not talking about being a lecturer in a university. Take up something much simpler. For instance, you can make sure that you are a science teacher in grade school or something.”

Dr. Greene smiled. For sure, it was a very brilliant idea since he loved kids. But still, after getting to think for a while, he just realized that maybe such things weren’t meant for him. The point was getting away from science and everything to do with it.

“That’s brilliant, but I want to do something totally difference, away from the scientific world as it is. I thought maybe I would become a writer. I love writing.”

“Well, that’s a new one. Do you have any material that I can get to read sometimes?”

“I haven’t written in ages, but I am sure that I can get something for you the next time I visit the club.”

“Make sure you do that!”

The walk didn’t last that long since Dr. Greene had to go back to his private lab and continue working on his time travel machine. But even though that was the case, it seemed as though the walk was worth every single second. It felt as though Tori and Dr. Greene had connected on yet another level and it went without saying that they were going to have such an amazing time together.

They parted with Dr. Greene giving her a kiss on her cheek.

Chapter 6:

-The Breakthrough-

Finally, it was time for the moment of truth to be revealed. It went without saying that everything was most definitely going to be a little trickier than it looked. Dr. Greene was nervous simply because it was the very first time that he was getting to do something of that nature.

And as if that wasn’t all, he was also nervous since if it wouldn’t have worked, then it would simply mean that all of his work was going to go down the drain, that meant years and years of researching.

But still, the good doctor wasn’t going just to kick back and allow the fear of failure to get the better of him. If anything, he had been working too darn hard on that experiment, and that said, the only thing that would have made some sense at the time would have been to work as hard as possible to ensure that he was in a position to stay focused at all times.

The little rat was well fed and looked healthy. And for a moment, Dr. Greene just stared at the little fellow, trying to convince himself of just how bad it would have been to kill it in the name of an experiment. But still, haunted by his conscience or not, Dr. Greene knew that it was a necessary evil that needed to be carried out or else nothing good would ever come out of the whole experiment, which would have been very unfortunate indeed.

Eventually, the only thing that would have made some sense would be to put all of his fears aside and proceed with the experiment. If it were to fail, then the good doctor would just do the necessary – which was pretty much getting all of the data needed and to ensure that he found out where he went wrong and proceeded to fix it pronto.

And if anything were to go the right way, then Dr. Greene would not only celebrate. But also, start thinking from a much bigger point of view which had every single thing to do with making sure that he had started preparing for an attempt to teleport a much bigger mammal, probably a monkey or a goat depending on the subject that will be available.

So without further ado, Dr. Greene made sure that he had the rat prepped for the procedure by getting to inject the wrong creature with the serum which had been diluted in a ratio of its size against its metabolic rate. The calculation was just a theoretical one, and it only had two ways of going just about it. It was either going to succeed, or it was going to fail. At that moment, they weren’t sure just yet and so the only thing that would have made some sense at the time would be to cross his fingers.

He took caution as he injected the poor thing and put it in the time traveling machine. He then put the time it was supposed to take in the other realm right before it could come back and without wasting any more time, he punched the red button and stepped aside, his fingers still crossed.

***

A couple of minutes passed by and it was still very difficult for the good doctor to try and place where the heck the rat had chosen to disappear. In a moment or two, it appeared as though the experiment had failed and Dr. Greene almost got crushed by it. But then again, he just figured out that he was just very impatient – one quality that destroys very many brilliant scientists.