Outlined in Ink

Chapter 3-1

Chapter 3

In spite of Yager’s orders, Jarrett stuck around the office to finish up his immediate responsibilities, staying until everybody else was gone. He didn’t want to believe Durney would enforce the temporary leave, but he wasn’t so naïve not to know his boss would kowtow to federal authority without batting an eye. The man was a political player with his eye on bigger, more lucrative prizes than the mayor of a Chicago suburb. He’d get on his knees for almost anyone with a government badge, just to score extra points.

Jarrett liked and respected the man, but this one time, he wished he had a little more backbone. The job the FBI wanted Jarrett for was ridiculous, a waste of taxpayer money. If they really wanted Eli, there had to be other ways.

Baptiste had been the one to suggest emailing Eli. Jarrett almost asked why they didn’t set up a bogus account and do it themselves, but he already knew the answer to that. If Eli was underground for any reason, he would be suspicious of everybody. Whoever posed as Jarrett would need personal information to sell it. That really only left him as the possibility, so he held his tongue and waited for them to leave.

His email alert beeped at him before he polished the final press release to go out the next day. He glanced at the highlighted icon on his toolbar, then went straight back to his document. It had gone off sporadically all night, but each time he went to check it, his heart in his throat at the prospect of Eli’s response, he found only work-related messages. This one was likely to be another of the same.

He didn’t check it until he’d closed his document. The moment he saw the return email address, he saw nothing else.

Blast from the past is right! I’m still local. Can you meet up tonight?

Short and sweet, right to the point. In spite of his initial trepidation, Jarrett smiled. Eli had never been the kind of kid to mess around. Some things hadn’t changed.

When he went to type a response, however, he hesitated. He was supposed to call Yager and let him know he’d made contact. The plan was to either give over Eli’s address or get him someplace public Yager and Baptiste could get to him. Jarrett hadn’t argued when they’d made the deal, but now, with Eli’s excitement practically quivering in front of him, he was reluctant to go through with it. There was no way the kid he remembered could be involved with murder. He wrote a superhero comic, for God’s sake. A superhero who always saved the day, did the right thing, and struggled with his sense of right and wrong. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out they were the same ideals a young man might tug-of-war with, and definitely not one who’d get himself involved in the kind of corruption the FBI claimed.

He didn’t need to call them. Not yet, anyway. He needed to get some answers from Eli, first.

I would love to. Someplace in the city? I can be almost anywhere within an hour.

The answer came back almost right away, like Eli was sitting at his desk, waiting like Jarrett had been.

The Checkerboard on Pell. Does nine work? You can order the best strawberry shake you’ve ever tasted there.

He’d never heard of the Checkerboard, but that was what Google was for.

J: The best? I’ll hold you to that, you know.

Eli: I hope you do. See you at nine.

It took two minutes to discover the Checkerboard was a twenty-four hour diner up near Loyola. As he shut down, Jarrett wondered vaguely if Eli was a student there. The FBI would have known about that, though. It was a shame. Eli had been talented enough to do whatever he wanted. Jarrett sincerely hoped he’d had the chance to pursue at least some of his dreams.