Memory Lane....(Part Eleven)

Lane ended his interview session with Detective Green once he realized it was an interrogation and not just a few quick questions. Or to be more precise Detective Green ended their session when Lane asked for a lawyer. She had tried to convince him that he didn't need a lawyer, as they were just simple questions, but when Dane pointed out that her opinion on not needing a lawyer might be different from his lawyer's opinion she stopped the interview and dismissed him.

He didn't for a minute think that was going to be the end of it though. As she pointed out two people were dead. And he realized she wanted someone to pay for that; she was seeking justice. Or vengeance. Often those seemed to go hand in hand. Justice was a difficult concept after all. What was justice? And justice wasn't going to bring back the dead. It never did. Vengeance didn't either but nobody seemed to realize that when they were in the grip of seeking one or the other.

He had gone over and over everything in his head. Had they handled it right? Gloria had wanted to tell Jean from the start what they were looking for, what they had found on her test donation. Would that have made a difference?

He didn't think so. He really didn't.

Detective Green had wanted him to say he regretted how he handled the situation. He just couldn't say that he did. If he regretted it that would mean he knew a better course of action he could have taken, and he did not have one. He was deeply saddened by what came next, but he did not think he or any one else at his company was responsible.

He opened his own files and looked through his notes from the sessions with Jean. They had started with three additional memories that Jean would share. They told her not to worry about what they were, just to choose three. Each one came back the same way the first one did. Tagged before saving it. This time they did save the files, preserving the original tag and adding their own. Then they replayed the files on the computer to see what they had. And they responded like normal donations. They were authentic memories, they just weren't original.

So then they had four. But what they didn't know was where they had come from. Jean had stated she had never had an experience before. She also said that the training session donation was the first she had ever done. But clearly she had done other sessions. The proof was staring at them from the computer screen. That was when he decided they had to tell her what they had found.

And this might be the only place where if he would let himself he might felt a tinge of regret. Not regret that he could see a way to do things differently, regret that they couldn't see the future and see what was going to happen. But that still wasn't real regret, real regret for their, for his, actions. That was the dreaded if only game and there was no way to win that one.

If only Alice hadn't noticed the tag on the memory before erasing the file.
If only they hadn't decided to pursue further information.
If only they hadn't told Jean anything.
If only Jean hadn't come to work for them in the first place.
If only...

If only was a game you never won.