Page 65 of The Show

Cody nodded up to the giant screens where an official looking image of a woman stared down at us, the type of image you’d find on an access badge.

“Meet Marnie Matthews.”

So that was Marnie Matthews, the woman who had Jupiter Reeves losing his shit. And his cool. Not that I’d ever seen Jupiter with a woman, but I had imagined her being a little less… science-y than her photo suggested she was. Though given she was employed by N.A.S.A., it was hardly surprising. You probably weren’t allowed to be hot and study the wonders of the universe at the same time.

“Huh.” Rafe summed my thoughts up perfectly. “You sure you’ve got the right person? She looks like the woman who used to run the library at school.”

“There’s only one Marnie Matthews at N.A.S.A.” Cody replied with a shrug. “According to her history, she was at Santa Monica High School the same time as Jupiter Reeves, so I assume it’s the right one.”

“Okay, cool. So, we got her… what else did you find? Is she there right now? What does she do? Who is she?”

“Hey, Pennington?”

I spun round to face Rafe.

“Wanna ask any more questions? You might have forgotten some there…”

I flipped him off then turned back to the screen and ignored anything else he had to say while waiting for Cody to continue.

“According to what I can see, she’s tagged in the engineering department, but that’s all I can see. I don’t know what she’s working on right now, but I found a paper she co-authored from a couple of years ago. Looks like she’s a junior physicist specializing in aerospace and flight technology.”

Linking my fingers behind me, I pulled down hard on my neck and stared at her picture. It wasn’t often I felt out of my depth - if ever - but even for me this was a stretch. I’d expected her to be smart, possibly work in administration, but this… this was serious shit.

“She’s an actual rocket scientist? What the fuck do I do with that?”

I could hear Rafe chuckling quietly behind me.

“Yeah, seems that way.” Cody continued bashing the keys on his keyboard, and I watched the main screen change from Marnie’s image to a series of folders with ACCESS DENIED marked across them all. “It’ll take me a bit of time to get further into her file. Nothing I’ve tried so far works.”

Rafe’s laughter got louder. “Oh, man, what have you gotten yourself into? If Cody can’t get in, that means it’s really top secret and you should be staying well away from it.”

Huh. Jupiter and a rocket scientist. Never in a million years did I think this was where I’d end up.

“That paper I found had her quoted as being part of the team to develop the formula for a space mission.” Cody looked at me like I’d know what to do with that information.

I didn’t though. I didn’t have a clue.

“A formula for what? What does that even mean?”

“Basically, how to get the rocket into space.”

I stood up and started pacing, taking a deep breath with every step to calm my frustration and the onslaught of a headache. “Jupiter said he’d only come to New York if I got her to come to New York. How the fuck am I going to persuade a rocket scientist to give up her job and work on a baseball team?”

“Maybe she’s bored with space.”

I shot Rafe a look that told him exactly what he could do with his unhelpful comment.

“Cody, can you find me anything I can work with? Anything?”

We all turned to the elevator doors at the end of the room to see Beulah stepping out as they opened. I don’t think it was possible for Rafe to get out of his chair quicker, jogging down to meet her.

“Hey.” He pulled her into an embrace I didn’t want to witness.

My mind drifted off to Lowe. I’d dropped her back at her place en route to here, with a kiss that lasted longer than the one Rafe was planting on Beulah, and a promise to return later. If I didn’t know Lowe was the cause of the way my heart had been squeezing tight and my belly fluttering more than usual, I’d have been straight to the emergency room.

The quicker I got this Jupiter situation sorted out, the quicker I’d get back to Lowe.

“Raferty, put her down, we have work to do!” I hollered to them.

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