Memorable Murder

by Vanessa Muir

  “Right. I forgot about that. I was distracted when we were here the last time.” He stared past her, still focused on the building. What was with him?

  “Droggo, are you okay, man? You look kinda pale.”

  “I’m fine. I can provide you with the access codes you need.”

  Relief seeped through her veins. She didn’t dare ask how Levi had orchestrated this little meeting, but she could’ve kissed him for it. “Wait, how do you still have access codes for this shit? They didn’t take your clearance away from you?”

  “No,” Droggo said. “They did at first, but that was until I was cautioned. Cautioned is the word they used for what happened. Now, I know better than to mess up. The consequences will be dire.”

  “You were punished?” Charlie said.

  “Cautioned.” He loosened the collar of his shirt. “Give me your phone.”

  She brought it out, handed it over.

  “The code on memories is numeric. There aren’t enough finger tap combinations in the world to create a unique code for each stored memory. Memories that’ve been stored all have the same code until they’re uploaded to the cloud,” he said and typed on her screen. “This is the code.”

  “Thank you. You have no idea how much this means, Droggo. This will change everything,” she said. She’d have the proof, at last.

  “I don’t know how you knew I’d be here,” he said, “but I’m glad I did this last thing. I’m glad I could help.”

  Charlie held the phone and smiled at the ten-digit code on the screen. A thought struck her, and she looked up. “Wait, what? What do you mean, you don’t know? I thought this was an organized meeting.”

  Droggo shrugged. “My time’s up, Spade. Keep safe. Do the right thing. For memory’s sake, look after yourself. They’ll come after you next.” He checked the road, both ways, then walked across it, toward the facility.

  “Your time is up? What does that mean?” she called out.

  But he didn’t give her an answer. He didn’t look back. He approached the front of the building, then swiped his wrist across the pad. The light flashed green, and Droggo entered. The doors swung shut behind him. Droggo disappeared from view.

  A weird sensation brewed in Charlie’s gut. She backed off toward the entrance of the alley, and closed down the screen of her phone, cut off the light. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

  Silence, even the moaners had shut up.

  Run. Run. Get the fuck out of here. Now! Her mind screamed instructions at her, and for once, she listened. She turned on her heel and sprinted into the darkness, away from Droggo and the facility and whatever the hell was about to happen.

  Buildings flashed by, streeters and cars, and folks who should’ve been in bed. Late night workers on their way home, shoulders sagging beneath their suits or uniforms. Happiness, the life the State provided was idyllic, right?

  The explosion rocked the city block.

  Charlie slowed to a standstill and cast her gaze to the night sky. A black plume of smoke arced across the stars, warm yellow light hazed beyond the buildings, a glow from the burning Mem Store Facility.

  He’d killed himself then. Whatever they’d done to him had been bad enough that he couldn’t move past it. Droggo had made his stand.

  What could’ve driven the motivated researcher who’d hero-worshipped Absalon Shamood to this point? Whatever it was, the State was responsible.

  “Solve it,” she whispered. She had to do it. For Droggo, for herself, for the rest of the regular folk in Corden Prime. If she didn’t, who would?

  19

  “I thought you wouldn’t show.” Eli held the same cubicle he’d had a couple days ago. It was a good sign. Perhaps, Boss Ink hadn’t lost his damn mind, after all.

  “I wasn’t going to.” Charlie sat down at her terminal and fired it up. Through some miracle, perhaps Boss Ink’s soft spot, her passcode didn’t reject her from the system. Her background screen flashed a view of wilderness. A mountain shrouded in fog, trees lining the meadow below it.

  Serenity.

  She brought the incorruptible drive out of her pocket. Set her phone on the table and unlocked the screen. The stink of smoke clung to her flesh, even now. Emergency services screamed by in the street below. Panic hadn’t spread. Oh no, panic was just another emotion which was State-owned.

  “What are you doing?” Eli asked.

  “Pull up a chair, kid, this is about to get interesting.”

  “I’m in charge of this case,” he said.

  “That’s nice. It’s nice you think you’re in charge of anything,” Charlie replied. “We’re both lackeys. But for once, we’re going to do the right thing. Isn’t that what you said? That you wanted to do the right thing. Consider this your chance.”

  “Seriously, what the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Grab a chair and take a look,” she said. She inserted the drive into her screen, and the list of memories popped up.

  “You’re supposed to return that.” Eli hovered behind her like an oversized fly.

  “Sit down.” She scrolled through the notes on her phone and found the one Droggo had typed, then clicked on the memory which corresponded with Natalya’s missing camera time.

  The passcode box popped up.

  “Where did you get that?” Eli finally dragged a chair over. “The code?” He lowered himself into it, folding his muscular limbs into a semblance of comfort. “I thought Droggo was missing.”

  “He was,” she said. She typed in the digits, excitement building in her core, then hit enter.

  The memory opened on the screen, in the form of a video, and they both leaned in. She’d never watched a memory before, though her father had sent her the access codes to many of his own. Likely, more disappointment addled recollections of her failures as a child.

  “It worked,” Eli said.

  “Quiet.”

  The memory focused on Natalya Maxis, smiling underneath blue skies, out in the countryside. Long, dark locks fell around her shoulders. She shook them back and laughed. “Isn’t this the most perfect day?” she asked.

  “It could be better,” the murderer replied.

  That voice. Charlie recognized it. It couldn’t be. Good fuck, this couldn’t be happening.

  “Come on, Jones, you’ve got to learn to relax. Everything’s going to be fine. You did what you had to do, right? You looked out for Mem Store’s best interests, and that’s all that matters. They’ll reward you for that.”

  “That’s a lie,” Jones said, bitter as bile. “I got caught, and they’ll punish me for that. You’ll see.”

  “Eh, you’re overreacting,” Natalya said. She came closer and kissed Jones. Jones, the man who Charlie had partnered with. The same man whose nose she’d broken, after discovering he’d betrayed the SSG.

  The man who was supposed to be in prison somewhere.

  The couple separated again, and Natalya’s eyes flickered concern. “You’re not the same as you were,” she said. “Before all of this.”

  “Of course, I’m not the same. I’m disgraced. The rewards I was offered were taken away from me. The bills? All of it. I can’t afford to live right now, Natalya. I can’t afford to support you. Our family.”

  She smiled softly and touched her belly. Horror bubbled in Charlie’s throat. “I make enough for all three of us,” she said. “We won’t have to hide our relationship anymore, Jones. Look on the bright side.”

  “You think that’s the kind of man I am? That I’ll let my pregnant girlfriend work herself raw because I can’t provide. No,” he said. “I’ll find a way to fix this. Maybe, get back at them.”

  “What?” Natalya’s head snapped up. “What do you mean, get back at them?”

  “I mean, get back at them. The State. Mem Store. I was supposed to be their golden boy. They reduced me to dirt. Rubble, fuck all.”

  “No,” Natalya said. “That’s not going to change anything. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”


  “I won’t get in trouble.”

  “Jones, please. We’ve got a child and our future to worry about. I don’t want to lose you because of this — this anger,” she said. Sunlight glimmered on her tan skin and probed the cleft of her slender neck.

  “Don’t worry, you won’t have to do anything. Just more of the same. Keep extracting my memories. We’ll build a database of everything they did, and when the time is right, we’ll release them. Or sell them to the highest bidder.”

  “I don’t think we should continue with the removals,” Natalya said, and her tone told of a long-hidden thought. A truth she’d kept to herself, a fear that had grown until she couldn’t hold it back a second longer. “You’re not responding well to MemXor.”

  “Not responding well? It’s the same drug everyone else uses.”

  “There have been clinical trials. Some people respond differently to the —”

  The memory cut off short, and Charlie rolled back in her chair, forced herself from the desk and the horrible realization that had slammed home.

  It was Jones. The person who’d placed her in this shitty position. The corrupt asshole had turned tail for the State, then flipped again after he hadn’t gotten what he wanted. He’d had plans to release his memories.

  That must have been what was on Natalya’s missing clipboard. A record of all the memories extracted from Jones.

  What had been in them? What incriminating evidence had been uploaded to the Cloud prior to this last week’s memory?

  And the drugs. He’d known they would make people unstable if taken. What he couldn’t see was what the drugs were doing to him. Natalya might have been giving him the expired drugs which would have made it even worse.

  It had been as Natalya had said, he’d already become unstable, and that was why he’d flipped out and killed his girlfriend. His pregnant girlfriend. Jones had always been a bit of a jackass, but he’d showed kindness to criminals. He’d never been violent.

  But just in case Natalya didn’t cooperate, he had brought the medical implement with him that day. He probably got it from an underground contact leftover from his SSG days. Bastard.

  Charlie shoved the chair back and stood up.

  “Stop,” Eli said and took her wrist. “I’ve got to call it in. I’ve got to call Boss Ink. You can’t come with me when I make the arrest.”

  She tried tugging from his grip. Didn’t work. “I solved this,” she hissed. “I should be there.”

  “No. You’re personally invested. This was your partner, Charlie. You can’t go. There are too many risks involved. You don’t even have your weapon on you. You’re not technically part of Stormshield right now.”

  His words washed over her.

  “Let me handle this,” Eli said. “I’ll tell Boss Ink what you’ve done.” He finally let go of her wrist.

  Charlie hovered on the brink of sprinting off, but she couldn’t find Jones without help. SSG had the resources. “Fine,” she said.

  The case was solved. Natalya’s death would be avenged. But the answers she’d received only muddied the waters further.

  What else had the State hidden from them? What was wrong with the drugs?

  20

  “You’re back.” Boss Ink placed the gun on the desk between them, followed by her badge. “Well done.” The sun had only just crept over the tops of the buildings, and cast orange-yellow hues on the carpet and her scuffed boots.

  “Well done?” Charlie said. It didn’t feel like it.

  “Yeah. I received messages from both Councilor Orcation and Councilor Herod. They’re impressed by your deductive reasoning.”

  “They are?” She would’ve thought the operatives of the State would hate her, after this. She’d exposed their corruption twice, now.

  “Yes, Orcation, in particular, sent her thanks. They’re giving you an award, Spade. Naming you a friend of the State.” Ink presented each sentence in a matter-of-fact tone which belied his own disbelief. She’d gone from zero to hero in a day.

  “I — are you fucking with me?”

  “No. You uncovered a dangerous operative of Black Mars. They’ve arrested him and put him on trial for treason. It’s an open and shut case. He’ll be dead by next week,” Ink said.

  “Black Mars?” She pinched the bridge of her nose and inhaled, sharply. So, that was it. They’d twisted this to their advantage and buried whatever truth Jones had had to share. Finding Natalya’s killer had equaled a win for the State.

  How had it come to this? At the beginning of this week, she’d been just another SSG trooper. Now, she walked with eyes wide open, constant backward glances had become the norm.

  The State had to know she’d found something they didn’t like. They wanted to keep her close, it seemed. Keep track of her movements. Had they bugged her apartment yet? Her terminal?

  “You okay, Spade? I thought you’d be happy about this.”

  “I’m ecstatic,” she said and picked up her weapon. She stood and strapped the holster to her body, then attached her badge to the front of her uniform. “Can’t you tell?”

  “I never know with you,” Ink said. “Listen, the Councilor suggested I give you an extended, paid vacation. They’re offering to send you out to the countryside as a reward to rejuvenate.”

  Ah, the countryside. Had Droggo gone to the countryside too?

  Droggo had acted nervous before he’d disappeared. As if he knew they were watching him. Why would the State be watching a researcher?

  He had been evasive about his reason for not picking up the expired drugs the night Natalya died. And how did Levi know Droggo would be at the Mem Store at 10 pm? Could it be… that Droggo had been a Black Mars agent?

  Charlie was definitely going to ask Levi Daniels the next time he contacted her. And she was sure there would be a next time.

  The State had already covered up the explosion. The news said it was a freak accident with the wiring — they’d blamed shoddy workmanship. Somewhere, an innocent electrician had taken the fall. Droggo Boersma had ceased to exist for the second time this week.

  “A holiday?” Charlie asked and checked her weapon hadn’t been tampered with. All looked normal, but she’d have to take it apart and put it back together again to be absolutely certain.

  “Yes,” Ink said. “What do you think? Should I put it through?”

  “No,” she replied. “No, boss, I want to stay on. A couple days of sabbatical was more than enough for me. In fact, if you have any cases for me, I’ll be happy to start, right away.”

  “Right. That’s probably for the best.” Tension he’d withheld leaked out of the boss man. Perhaps, he’d realized that the vacation equaled something other than down time, too. “I don’t have anything for you today. In fact, take this day off, at least. Go enjoy yourself. Do something you enjoy. Hang out with friends.”

  “I don’t have any friends,” she said.

  “Family?”

  She shook her head. She’d rather be choked out by Councilor Oration.

  “Fine. Just get the fuck out of my office and smile for a change. You did a good thing, Spade.”

  “For once.” She gave him a smile, one of the rare genuine ones, then left his office behind.

  Eli was outside it again, this time wringing his hands, those broad shoulders hunched over. “Listen, Spade, I’m sorry about this week. I had to take the case over. Ink said if I didn’t do it, he’d have my badge too. I didn’t mean to go against you, I just wanted to —”

  “Do the right thing. I know.” Charlie sniffed. “You drink, Eli?”

  “Who doesn’t?”

  “Fair point. Did the boss give you the day off too?” Charlie asked.

  “Yeah, they wouldn’t even let me make the arrest on Jones. Not that I was keen to meet the eye-ripper, thumb-chopper in person,” Eli said.

  “Good,” Charlie said and clapped him on the back. “I’ll buy you a shot. I get the feeling that next week is going to be a long one.”

  “W
hy?”

  Charlie caressed her gun. “Just a hunch.”

  THE END

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