Rearview by Mike Dellosso Read Free Book Online Page A

two activities he rarely engaged in. If he had believed the deal Constant offered was for real, he could have replayed the confrontation with Erin, handled it totally differently, then gone home and immediately told Sue what had happened, somehow provided an alibi for himself. Or at the very least, he could have chosen to go back to last night so he could see Sue and the boys and spend the whole evening with them. He could have played Uno and Skip-Bo with the boys, could have stayed up late with Sue, until his final second ticked away. But pinned beneath the car, he had been under such stress, his body had gone through so much trauma, so much pain, and Constant’s proposition had seemed so absurd . . . it was so absurd. Dan had no idea his strange visitor could really control time. Now here he was, wanting to see his family one last time, and he would have to waste two hours of his final moments sitting in a car.
    Unless . . . He fished for his cell phone. Sue could meet him halfway, cut the driving time in half, and he’d have an extra hour to spend with his family. He quickly dialed her number and waited. It went right to voice mail. She was forever forgetting to recharge the battery. He didn’t leave a message; she wouldn’t get it until he was long gone anyway. He’d just have to drive there. With rush hour nearly passed, the roads would be mostly clear and he could make good time. The Volvo had an engine full of horses and would get him to New York quickly.
    First there was something he had to do, business he had to take care of. He hated to because of the time it would take, but for Sue and the boys’ sake, for their ongoing peace of mind, for their future without him, he had to. If he was going to leave this earth, he didn’t want them having to deal with the fallout of the whole Erin thing. It was too late to prevent her accusations, but there still might be a way to make it right.
    Dan pressed the accelerator, and the tires chirped on the concrete as the vehicle left the garage. The campus was only a couple short minutes away by car, but weaving through the curvy roads, slowing for students in crosswalks, and stopping at intersections all ate up precious time. Finally Dan stopped in front of Rebecca Residence, a large two-story dormitory named after Daniel Boone’s wife. The residence was fairly new, having been built just a few years before Dan joined the faculty. It had been carefully designed to blend in with the rest of the centuries-old architecture of the college. The builder had done a good job, too. To the untrained eye, it appeared to have been sitting in its same location for over two hundred years.
    He glanced at his watch—6:03. 7:57 a.m. Erin should be up and getting ready for her first class, and if she wasn’t, he’d do the job. He needed to talk some sense into her, convince her to recant the ridiculous accusations she’d leveled against him. She had to understand the damage they would do, the damage they’d already done.
    Stepping out of the vehicle, Dan drew in a deep breath. The air felt the same as it had before—cold and moist. Thousands of feet above, snow pushed on the clouds, weighed them down, and threatened to break loose.
    Feeling a lot like Lucy Pevensie about to enter that magical wardrobe for the first time, he crossed the sidewalk and climbed the steps to the dormitory, not knowing what to expect but hoping Erin would listen to reason. He wouldn’t leave until she heard what he had to say.
    But he had to make it quick.
    Time was not on his side.

9
    A picture of Lady Gaga, torn from a magazine, was taped to the door of room 216. Beside it hung a wooden Santa Claus with a string attached to a small brass bell. When the string was pulled, Santa danced a festive jig and rang his bell. Written on the jolly elf’s stomach were the words “Ring for Service.”
    Dan made a fist and knocked on the door.
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