“I get it,” she said. “I really do. I just wondered if more than one person is making these mocking comments or whether it’s really just one person using multiple accounts.”
“That’s an interesting point too. People do have multiple accounts in various places, so it’s possible. I don’t know why they would though.”
“Because it would appear to represent opinions from more than one person. Often people can shrug off a single negative or differing opinion, but, if there’s more than one, it tends to make people stop and think like, ‘Are they both right? Am I the one who’s wrong?’”
“Jesus,” he said, under his breath. “I really don’t like your thinking on this thing.”
“Like you,” she said quietly, “the mind-set comes from time on the job.”
“I know,” he snapped, “and it all sucks.”
“It does, indeed,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean it’s any less valid.” And, on that note, she hung up.
She had access to the camera feeds now for the bridge, so she took it back an hour and watched. Several people walked up and down the length of the bridge, but the traffic was heavy, and the cameras were pointed more at the actual traffic than the pedestrians, which is what they were there for, but, at the same time, it was frustrating when she was looking for something specific. The controls gave her a little bit of a Zoom function, plus a Focus feature that she could manipulate, but the bulk of it was not that easy.
If she found something of interest, she could get the tech guys on to it to get her a better image. She watched carefully, as people came and went and as vehicles traveled, and, at one point in time, she did see what looked like a teenager stand at the side of the bridge. Noting what Simon had mentioned, she watched as the teen’s hands reached out and gripped the railing and looked over.
But it was a motion that a lot of people would have done. If you’re walking along a bridge like that, and you see all that beautiful water underneath, scary water, with the wind blowing the whitecaps, a lot of people would grip the railing and then carefully look over. So, on the surface, it didn’t appear to be deadly or threatening or in any way indicative of somebody looking at suicide.
Just then the person jolted, when somebody else called to them. The person lifted a hand, shook his head, and kept on walking. Not sure exactly what was going on with Simon, she kept watching and watching, and by the time another ten minutes had passed, she was about to let it go, when Simon appeared on-screen and raced to the area.
“Well, he’s at least being consistent,” she muttered.
At that, Rodney came up behind her. “Who’s that?”
“Simon,” she said quietly.
He looked at her, then at the screen and said, “What’s he doing?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Look. After the last scenario I’m not saying that I don’t believe. I’m just saying that I have to be convinced each and every time.”
“You and me both,” she said quietly. She pointed, and they both watched as Simon looked around, looked over, and walked up and down a few times, then raised both hands. Afterward he pulled out his phone. “There he is, calling me,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because,” she sighed and then said, “he felt as if somebody were there, ready to commit suicide, that he connected with a vision of somebody else, pushing that person to do it.”
Rodney pulled up his chair, plunked down beside her, leaned closer, and said, “Seriously?”
She nodded. “He keeps getting these visions. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about this one specifically, but he sounded pretty shaken.”
“Oh, I would be too, if that were the case,” he said, staring down at the frozen image of Simon, who was almost close enough to determine it was Simon there on the bridge. “He looks a little shocked and shaken right there.”
She nodded. “It’s happened a couple times.”
“Different people?” he asked, looking at her in surprise.
“Yes, but nothing conclusive. Nothing that he could give me and say,Hey, this person’s committing suicide.”
“Which vision would, of course, be of zero help,” Rodney said, leaning back, crossing his arms and frowning at her.
“I don’t know that he knows whether these visions are happening at that moment or if he’s connecting to something that happened before or if he’s seeing something that could still happen.”
At that, Rodney’s eyebrows shot up, and he pinched his nose and said, “Besides the whole mind-bending concept of somebody connecting to someone thinking about committing suicide, how the hell is it of any help to him or to us if we don’t even know if it’s current news?”
“Exactly,” she said. She motioned at the video feed. “You can see he believes it’s current. And, for this vision, he is seeing it currently, just got to the scene ten minutes later. Yet I don’t know how to help him determine whether each vision is current.”