String of Murder

by brett hicks

“I understand, just keep a good grip partner.”

  “No rush here, I could do this all day, but I think this mutt might like to not have a dirk buried in him forever. Not that I particularly give a damn about his feelings.”

  Bobby crouched behind the assassin, and he cuffed the man’s ankles, and not surprising to me, the assassin didn’t move once, not even to wince more than the first few moments he realized he had been stabbed. He acted as if he were a statue, not a man with his life hanging in the balance.

  “ Okay, I’m ready now, Julia.”

  Bobby said, as he fished into my back pocket, and I ignored the annoyance of a large hand on my upper ass cheek. Bobby managed to look more uncomfortable than I felt, and somehow that made this odd situation amusing to me.

  Bobby cuffed his left wrist, and then I slowly began to pull the dirk out, and he slapped the cuff onto the man’s right wrist right about the time the small three-inch blade was free of the man’s flesh.

  “I’ll go get a towel, besides, this mutt’s blood is all over me. Make him get to his knees and stay still. If he so much as twitches while I am gone, shoot him. I’m not fucking around. This bastard will kill us, and everyone we love, without an ounce of remorse.”

  I walked into my living room, watching as Bobby handled the assassin with great care. I picked up the phone receiver, and I told the operator to connect me to the CILD HQ, I called my boss directly. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest that he was still in the office this late. He was like most of us, chained to justice with a bond so deep, it likely interfered with marriage or child rearing.

  “Hello?”

  “Captain, I need you down at my apartment now, with a secure steam transport van. I caught the suspect breaking into my apartment, long story very short, I had inadvertently crossed paths with Avery Sanders, the daughter of the first chronological death. He tried to come and finish off my only surviving witness. The girl is moved, and safe, but I need you here now.”

  “What?!”

  He sounded like I had just roused him from some deep slumber. Now he was all thunder and fire, the ogre of my homicide department was going into a frenzy!

  “How the fuck did you manage to get yourself so deep into shit, and without checking in at the office, once! Once, detective! You have not been in for over three days, and you suddenly have a bloody murderer in your house?!”

  “Technically, Sir, I was out in the field non-stop, and I have yet to have a proper moment’s downtime to come into the station.”

  “I heard you were in the morgue the other night, you could have checked in, and told me about any of this, then!”

  Well, when he put it like that…

  “I’m sorry sir, but could you get the fuck down here, with all due respect sir, I have a Britannia Assassin cuffed in my kitchen, and bleeding from where I stabbed him! We can discuss this all later!”

  My heart hammered in my chest, and I huffed in frustration. I knew this poor operator was getting a hell of a performance! For a fleeting moment, I stopped to ponder how such a random, and fucked-up conversation must affect our operators? No doubt, they all must see head doctors on a regular basis, just to keep their sanity, and to keep doing their jobs.

  “Fine, but don’t think I haven’t noted your insubordination or your clear lack of respect for your commanding officer!”

  I felt my gut clench tightly, he could fire me, or demote me. I could be knocked back to traffic control duty, or worse, assigned to some corner of nowhere!

  “Yes sir, sorry sir!”

  The phone slammed down on the other end, and I heard the rattling before the line went dead. I cringed, and I muttered, “Well, it’s been fun while it lasted…”

  I walked into the bathroom to “put on my face.” I had never found that phrase more appropriate, than when in reference to what I had to do, just to walk amongst the average people of this fair city.

  Twenty-Seven:

  I was drug from one formal interview to the next for over the next fourteen-hours. Apparently, if you collar a damn assassin, then you keep getting pushed further, and further up the chain-of-command. No one knows how to handle such a case, and no one wants to be the one left holding the political bag!

  I was beyond tired, and my eyes burned as if they might be bleeding in my skull. Coffee was a distant memory, a dream from another life.

  I had managed to slip the news to Roger, who saw to it, that it was “anonymously,” slipped to his newspaper office. He had enough incriminating evidence to really rake the Brits over the coals for this gruesome affair. While he was off selling papers as fast as they could be printed, I was stuck in a meeting, this time with the Governor.

  Alexander Larson walked in, he was a short, stocky man. He was balding, with hints of blonde hair turning silver. He seemed to be in his late forties, but his appearance made him somehow seem even older. He looked shadowy-eyed, like a man who had drunk too much strong drink, for too many years. He was wrinkling, and his eyes looked hollow, like all sense of humor, and all personality had been sucked from him. He was the proxy for the king in this entire region, and the highest official of the Britannia government here in Nexus City.

  His hollow, grey eyes seemed to size me up like a cat looking at a particularly annoying mouse. He seemed to want me under heel—which might be hard, considering he was almost a head shorter than myself. I doubt this fact endeared me to this man in any way!

  I saluted and stood crisply at attention, not allowing my exhaustion to show. He was a man so far in the clouds, he didn’t care how I felt, so I wasn’t going to show anything at all.

  “This is a right big mess you’ve made me, detective.”

  He said the word like it was venom on his tongue, or like it was painful to call a woman by a title. I was inclined to believe the latter option most likely. He probably didn’t care much one way or the other about law enforcement, just the female detective, who had dared to arrest an assassin, I should be punished for my performance! I personally think a pay raise, and a nice fat Solstice bonus are appropriate punishments, but no one asked me!

  “Sir.”

  I kept the question out of my tone. I had already heard the blathering of three Britannia officials before him. He was going to whine, threaten, and yet he couldn’t really do anything to me, not while the news was painting me as some sort of urban hero to the downtrodden. (Not that I believe anything the news reports!)

  “Tell me, did they teach you incompetence in the academy, or was it just your upbringing?”

  (Julia Mullers, my identity, was supposed to have been in public education, and applied straight out of my final year of education to join law enforcement. On paper, I had no special skills, no substantial background, and no benefactor.)

  “I did my job, Sir.”

  I said it crisply, almost militaristically. He might hate me on principle, but I could at least play his game. I knew better than to show any outward defiance, that is how a girl ends up strangled with a guitar chord.

  “Your job is to apprehend criminals, rabble-rousers, and to uphold the law! You have managed to act like a bloody cannonball for this poor officer’s mission! His cover is now blown, and the press have photographs of him! He is a highly decorated British Officer, who had done more for this Empire than your small little mind could begin to fathom!”

  I said nothing, and he looked almost frustrated like he expected me to say or do something. He seemed to think women were incapable of keeping their opinions to themselves— okay so I have met a few of those, but it goes both ways!

  “Nothing to say for yourself, detective?”

  “Sir, I was doing my job. If we had received word to cooperate with the higher authorities, then we would have upheld our obligation to the crown above all else. As it stands, I only knew I had a murderer- strangling women with a cord, and people were scared to leave their homes. I stand by my decision.”

  He gritted his teeth, I hadn’t given him any politically advantageous ammuni
tion to fire back at me. He would never know how much more practiced at deception and linguistics I was, than he. My entire life had made me what I am, a woman capable of toeing the line, knowing where to push, and where to hold back.

  “Master Sargent James Cole is going to be transported back to London tomorrow morning. I am telling you this because you are the only one who knows, and any word to the press would tell me where your loyalties lay.”

  I prowled closer to me, and he glared up balefully at me.

  “You will live knowing that this man is free because he is a good servant to the Crown. You will remember your betters, and your place, detective!”

  He bile and repulsive tone made me crawl with sickness and rage. I wanted to beat him, to snap his neck, or just stab him with one of my four hidden dirks. Yes, I had been searched, and no, they had not found my less obvious weapons.

  “Your word is law, sir!”

  I saluted again, and he furrowed his brows deeply.

  “Dismissed, and don’t ever let me see you again, detective!”

  I saluted a third time, and I marched out with a straight spine, and a proper stride. Even my Captain would have been proud of me if he had seen this part of my perfect, impeccable representation of our department. Instead, I was stuck on phone duty for the next week, his way of punishing me, since he couldn’t demote me, or fire me.

  My blood felt like it was acid, I burned, itched, and crawled inside. James Cole, he was going to be free, and unless I stopped it, he was going to keep killing for the Crown. He had far too much time to size me up, I needed him dead. I serve justice, but I cannot server her if I am dead! I felt slightly conflicted about planning to assassinate the assassin, but I had little choice. No one could walk away, much less back to London, after learning so much about me. No assassin was fleeing on my watch! I might be labeled a killer to the Crown, but I merely try to protect the people around me—like Avery. If I were to be killed off under suspicion, how long before James Cole comes back to wrap his filthy garrote around her small neck?! No, I had no other alternative but to fight, to kill again.

  Eyes followed me as I exited the Governor’s estate on the massive steel and stone construct at the very center of the city’s skyline. A massive marble and metallic mansion stood high in the clouds, it should have been beautiful, but it symbolized oppression to me, and to so many other Colonials.

  A steam zepp cab waited for me at the front entrance, and my Captain was stewing in the back seat. The pilot was sealed in the front cab, and he looked at the skyway with an unblinking gaze, unperturbed by the mood simmering just behind him.

  “Sir!”

  I said it with a lot more respect, and even some difference this time. I might not get along with my beast of a Captain, but Dan Maverick is still a great cop! He is not a bad supervisor unless you have internal genitals, and he has second to no one at solving the crime. He quirked a brow in question.

  “So, you managed to keep yer bloody gob shut long enough to leave this mansion unmolested then?”

  I raised my brows and said, “Sir, the way you say it, it’s almost like you think I have no self-restraint.”

  He made a gruff sound, something between a snort and a grunt. He waved his beefy hand in the air dismissively.

  “Have a seat, detective, you just won me 2 whole gold coins. I bet in favor of you showing restraint. Yer blunt, brash, and yer still a bit wet in the ears, but yer not a bloody daft maiden.”

  My eyes widened, and I slid into the seat beside him.

  “Sir, that is the nice thing you’ve ever said to me, literally.”

  Dan snorted like a potbellied pig.

  “Don’t let all that praise go to yer head, detective. You are on the phones as of tomorrow!”

  I sighed and rested my head against the back of the leather seat, the cab roared to life, and it pulled back the rope anchoring it to the mansion. The steam engines wined in time together, and the cab shot off without much warning. It was much like my bike but with two times the motor power!

  “How could I possibly forget, sir?”

  I said wryly, and my boss looked at me for a moment.

  “I’ll deny I said this if ye go and run yer mouth, but you did a fair job of it, even if ye managed to chap my hide in the process. Just learn to be a bit more respectful and follow bloody protocols, woman!”

  Yes, that is high praise right there! It’s the Dan Maverick form of high praise, but I’ll take it!

  “Yes sir, I’ll keep my gob shut, sir.”

  Dan snorted one last time, and we fell into silence as we rode back to the police station. From there, I was going to have to beg someone to drive me back to my house, I needed rest, then I had a murder to plot, and I had to find a boat to do it. Lucky for me, I was still on speaking terms with a particularly peeved mob sub-boss.

  Twenty-Eight:

  It was surprising to see the guards part for me, without even trying to frisk me this time. I have been a bit of a regular at this cop un-friendly establishment for years, but Thomas always had his men feeling me up for hidden weapons.

  Thomas was holding his court of nefarious business in the back of the VIP section, as was his usual spot. Even in the middle of the day, this place was roaring with conversations and clanking of glasses. Smoke was thick and ripe body odors were prominent as I walked further into the mob den.

  The guard at the VIP gate opened the wooden entrance as I approached, and he moved aside for me, giving a small approving nod. This was a new level of strange for me, on top of being in the governor’s opulent mansion, I was now allowed behind the wooden gates of the VIP section, all in the same day.

  Thomas turned as I approached, and he smiled a wicked smile. He waved his hand in the air lightly, and calmly said, “Ladies, gentlemen, please we need to speak alone.”

  As if fire had broken out under their hind-quarters, everyone hopped up and began to find other places to be—mostly at the VIP bar. At moments like this, you were reminded how powerful a man Thomas McNeil really was. He could make many people with more titles, and arguably, more money, snap to attention and do exactly what he ordered.

  “Julia, I would say you look lovely, if not for the dry blood staining yer clothes. Blimey, that git knocked ye a good one in the lip, did he?”

  Thomas said by way of greeting, I did not ask for permission, I seated myself across from him and I leaned in conspiratorially.

  “I have something you need to hear, bear in mind, we are on the same page until this matter is resolved.”

  His humor faded, and I began to fill him in on my day, and I repeated the Governor’s words back to him, verbatim. His fists tightened, and his jaw clenched.

  “That’s quite the tale yer spinning lass. What do ye expect me to do about this, not that I don’t want to do something? It’s not as if I have Caribbean pirates on loan!”

  I leaned in closer still, conspiratorially, and said, “I need to know what ship he’s leaving on, and what time it is leaving the port. The government does not exactly keep books on their shadowy military operations transportations, but I know you are connected enough to hear when, and where the ship is departing.”

  He scratched at his jaw, and said, “Hypothetically speaking, if I could manage a name, and a time, then how do I know ye won’t start looking into how I managed to know such an unknowable fact?”

  I Huffed, and I rolled my eyes, “You have my word unless you start killing people at the damn docks, and I get a case, I will keep this one to myself. In return, you can never try to blackmail me with the fact that we had this exchange. If you were to try, then it would end all friendly decorum between us.”

  His lips spread into a wicked smile, and he said, “You’d try to kill me, wouldn’t you, Julia?”

  I bat my lashes at him, and I said, “Please, a girl can think of many ways to make a man suffer for crossing her.”

  I said cryptically, and he snorted in amusement.

  “Aye, that she could, blue-ball
s being amongst such punishments.”

  “Do we have an accord? No backstabbing, and peaceful tolerance on both sides after this is through?”

  He looked me up and down, and said, “Sure Julia, we have an accord, but if you do manage to pull this off, then I will like to be left out, in case this all explodes like a keg of gunpowder.”

  I shrugged, and said, “You don’t even know what it is we’re talking about. All you know, is someone asked about some ship, that’s not a crime.”

  His smile was somehow more wicked now, and lust glazed his eyes.

  “You are a very special breed of woman, do ye know that lass? One of these days, either yer going to cuff me up, or I’m going to cuff you to me bed, and I can work out all this professional tension rising between us.”

  I grinned, and I managed to hide my repulsion at this idea.

  “I’ll be sure to make those cuffs extra tight when that day arrives.”

  I said ominously, and I stood, and I strut out of the club, Thomas’ laughter was rolling and booming behind me.

  ***

  When I finally reached the safety of my home, Bobby was standing sentinel at my door. I smiled at him, and he shook hands and he clapped a hand on my shoulder.

  “Dear God in heaven, I was worried about you! Then all the rest of the department starting laying wagers on what kind of trouble your sassy mouth was about to land you in. God, how I wished they were just joking! Here I was, expecting to hear that the hero cop who saved the day, was now going to have her head on a damn chopping-block.”

  I laughed in good-naturedly humor, and I said, “It’s good to see you too Partner, and to be home. I am overdue with a date with my pillow. Is Avery doing okay?”

  I asked my worry for the small brunette girl was about to burn a hole in my stomach! He nodded, and said, “Teddy Angel sends his best, and he is surprisingly, a decent child-sitter! I thought I was going to piss myself around him, but he was uncharacteristically warm towards Avery. She was chasing him around the yard, playing with a football. I had never thought I would live to see the day Teddy Angel was playing football with a twelve-year-old, hiding her from his own unit of the government!”