Parallel Predicaments

5

Holding the phone, I stared in shock at the ashes in the trash bin, taking a moment to gather my thoughts. My voice trembled slightly, "Are you really me from the future?"

"What time is it there?" she asked.

I glanced at the wall clock and responded, "It's two in the morning."

"The same here, it seems our timelines are parallel, aside from the year difference. Remember to be cautious around Brattle St near the school at dawn; there will be a construction accident."

The next afternoon at school, everyone was talking about the collapse on Brattle St that morning. The site, close to the school, was cordoned off, with workers busily making repairs.

Sheldon was always the first to arrive at the lab. When I entered, he was tinkering with the quantum device.

I powered up the computer and said to Sheldon, "Coco often used this computer. You're the expert here; you have to help me find any information—social media, emails, photos, anything that could lead us to the killer."

He seemed not to hear at first, then stood up, muttering, "It's not broken, so what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" I inquired.

He looked at me, "Oh, nothing. What did you say?"

"Coco used this computer a lot. Help me check her social accounts, emails, photos, anything. We might find a clue to the killer."

"Nami, you know this is the police's job."

"I can prove I'm right if you just help me."

Reluctantly, knowing he couldn't dissuade me, Sheldon sat at the computer and entered a few lines of code. Soon, he accessed Coco's email and opened her inbox, "Coco didn't log into anything else on this computer, just her email. I can only... wait, what's with these photos? Are these of you and Coco?" Sheldon looked up at me, puzzled.

Indeed, Coco's inbox contained many covertly taken photos. The one Sheldon referred to was taken as Coco and I entered a phone store. I remembered Coco acting strange then; she'd seen this photo but lied about it being a prank video to avoid worrying me.

The previous night, the future Nami had told me Coco was harassed by a stalker who often took photos of her from hiding. Initially, it was just photos, then disturbing packages followed. Despite reporting to the police, the stalker was never caught. Coco was restless until the stalker was apprehended by security while following her home one day.

"Are you suspecting him?" I asked.

She calculated, "The stalking happened in 2024. Don't you find that coincidental? You seemed to have taken the security guard's place, but unlike then, you couldn't save Coco. The events didn't unfold as they originally did."

"Who was the stalker?"

"A courier named Andy. He claimed it was just a crush on Coco during questioning. Since there was no physical harm, he was released after a few days."

"And in the future?"

"He was executed for the rape and murder of four female students four years ago. I checked the news again today, and it hasn't changed. Coco wasn't among the victims, but I believe he's connected."

I snapped back to reality and said to Sheldon, "It's the courier who was stalking Coco. He's a prime suspect in her death."

Sheldon looked at me, astonished, "How do you know he's a courier?"

"I'll explain later. Let's call the police first."