He didn’t want to have to watch and be made to feel all of that along with his double, along with his son. He didn’t want to get swallowed up in that kind of sorrow. He couldn’t risk losing the jagged edge of his anger if he wanted to carry out his plan. He had to stay angry. He had to stay sharp.

So, when Brent arrived about an hour before they were set to watch, he told him to call Charles Scott and ask for a reprieve.

“Tell him I need a few days,” he said. “Tell him whatever you want, but I don’t want to see it. It’s going to turn me all around. I can’t.”

“I don’t know, Jeremiah. I doubt he’d go for it.”

“He must have seen your report from yesterday, right? You must have put down that I cried. Just tell him you think it’ll do me some good. Tell him I just need some time. He’s got to understand that, doesn’t he? Just call him. This is important, Brent. I need to stay focused. Watching this isn’t going to help.”

Brent shook his head and took out his cell phone. “I’ll try,” he said.

Fifteen minutes later, Scott walked into the living room, a look of feigned concern on his face.

“Mr. Adams,” he said, and he nodded his greeting to Brent. “Mr. Higgins tells me you don’t want to watch your scheduled viewing today. This is rather unorthodox.”

Jeremiah tried to swallow his anger before he spoke.

“Look, Dr. Scott, I just need a little time, a few days without watching. After yesterday, it’s just hard, is all. You gave me a day after my mother died. This is the same thing. I just need a little time.”

Scott tightened his lips into a failed attempt at a smile and sat down on the edge of a chair across from Jeremiah.

“The viewings of the wake and the funeral were not monitored,” he said. “That can be considered your time off in this case. You are required to watch for four hours every day, Mr. Adams. The continuity is crucial to this experiment. I can understand that you’re in mourning, and I’m sorry for that, but we can’t just take more time off because you don’t feel up to it. I’ve allowed you too much already with the shortened viewing we saw together the other day. I’ve made that concession. Now it’s time we get back to work.”

Inwardly, Jeremiah was reveling in a fantasy that ended with Charles Scott in a bloody heap on the floor. It almost made him smile.

“With all due respect, Dr. Scott, everyone is entitled to bereavement time. Isn’t that a law or something? ViMed is giving the clone time off, aren’t they? You don’t see him being called into the office. I’m only asking for the same thing. I mean, come on, he’s just going to be sitting around moping at home. I don’t see how my watching that will be of any benefit to the project. What difference does it make? I already know what he’s going to do. I can tell you right now that I would do exactly the same thing.”