"You good, Cori?" Finn asked.
"Yeah."
Cori was up and holding the piece of metal in one hand as she looked around for Emi's gun. She spied it on the floor in front of the curtains. Knowing the woman had nowhere to go, Cori took a tissue out of her pocket and went to retrieve it.
As Cori crouched down to reach for the trigger guard, she froze. Emi Cuca's sobs were loud, but not loud enough to drown out the whispers that came from behind the curtain. She looked for Finn, and pointed to them.
With the utmost care, she reached inside her jacket for her gun as she carefully put the metal piece on the ground. Righting herself, Cori used her foot to move Emi Cuca's gun out of the way. Finn stood. The Cucas stayed where they had fallen, exhausted, and surrendered.
"This is the police. Come out," Cori called.
Behind her, Emi Cuca raised her head like a snake: aware, deadly, waiting for the moment to strike. Her nostrils flared. Her rage had only been resting.
"Come out. Show them. Show yourself," Emi howled.
"Shut up," Cori yelled.
"Stay down," Finn ordered.
Crazed with anger, Emi Cuca sprang to her feet. Before anyone could stop her, she dashed across the floor. Slipping once, she was still fast enough to take up the metal rod. She rushed past Cori, wielding the thing like a bat.
"Guns will do nothing. Nothing," she screamed. "You don't know."
With her free hand, Emi pulled aside the curtain surrounding the bed. Now Enver was up too. Wringing his hands, dancing as he watched his world shatter.
"Don't hurt her. Don't hurt her," he cried as Emi lunged for the man cowering on the bed.
"O'Brien," Cori called, but Finn needed no direction.
He was on Emi Cuca, putting her to the ground, disarming her so swiftly that she lay stunned and unmoving on the floor. Emi blubbered, begging them to understand. Her voice rose briefly and then fell to a plaintive muttering. Enver Cuca continued to beg for restraint, but the detectives had had enough.
"Everyone. Stay put," Finn ordered.
He took hold of the curtains and tore one off the hooks. It fell to the floor, revealing the bedroom in full. Cori trained her weapon on the bed, Finn was frozen where he stood. Half reclining on the mattress was Ding Xiang. Neither young nor old, he looked exactly as he had on the video. His shirt was buttoned up to his neck. His pants were belted high on his thin frame. He wore soft shoes. His eyes were moist and myopic behind his thick glasses. Here he was. The genius. The ghost. The dark web God was staring back at them, but something was wrong. He wasn't cowering in fear hoping to save himself, he was protecting someone.
"Move," Finn said.
The man blinked.
"Move away now."
Finn pulled his gun and raised his gun until the barrel pointed at the man's heart. Ding Xiang pushed his glasses with one finger. With great effort he moved aside, so they could see who was hiding with him.
"Holy Mother Mary," Finn breathed.
Lounging on the bed was Roxana Masha Novika. She wore a linen shift so sheer they could see the outline of her body. The breasts, the nip of her waist and the length of her legs were all too familiar to the detectives. Her luxurious hair hung over her shoulders. Her eyes were bright and beautiful. A twin, was Finn's first thought. The fingerprint analysis had been a mistake, not detecting the minor differences between this woman and the dead one. He opened his mouth, but she spoke first.
"Ding and I are so happy to see you. Would you like something to drink?"
It was Roxana's double who moved off the bed like she was rising from the dead, but it was Emi Cuca who wanted to send this one back to hell. With her last ounce of strength, she scrambled up and ran at the woman, screeching a cry of despair and rage. Roxana saw her coming and put her arms up to ward off the attack. The woman's fear meant nothing to Emi Cuca.
"Kill her," Emi cried. "Kill her."
Ding Xiang rolled off the bed, and scrambled away. Enver was on his feet. He too cried out in horror. Cori and Finn were quick, but Emi was superhuman in her resolve. Roxana's twin fell back on the bed, throwing her arms up to protect herself.
"Help me. Help me," she begged.
Emi hurled herself onto the bed, covering the woman with her own body. Her hands clawed at the woman's face as the woman threw her head from side to side trying to thwart the attack. Emi put her hands around Roxana's neck and dug her big, strong fingers into the soft flesh. Unable to talk, unable to move, the twin Roxana lay beneath Emi Cuca and ceased to struggle. Finn, closer than Cori, was on Emi, gathering her into his arms, yanking her away from the other woman. But Emi Cuca struggled against him. She dug in, holding her ground.
Finn saw the soft skin give, he heard a crack as if bones were breaking. With a huge cry, he pulled Emi Cuca up and back until she released her hold. Together the detective and the artist's wife tumbled across the bed and slid onto the floor. Exhausted, Emi didn't fight him. She lay in Finn O'Brien's arms, captured and subdued. Finn closed his eyes and lay with his face turned toward the ceiling until he heard:
"Oh my Lord."
He turned his head to look at Cori, but she was looking at the thing in Emi Cuca's hand. It was Roxana Masha Novika's face, wide eyed and full lipped. Finn set the woman aside. She rolled over, clutching the face to her chest as Finn got to his feet. His eyes went to the bed. His breath was labored as much from exertion as revulsion of the abomination he was looking at. Cori moved to his side, her hand touched his. He understood the need for human contact, and he understood the tremor of disgust that ran through his partner.
On the bed lay a body —not a twin but a doll. A companion. A thing. The metal jaw still moved as if gasping for breath; the eye sockets clicked left as if searching for a savior. Everyone in the room looked from Emi Cuca to the body; everyone except Ding Xiang.
He was gone.
27
"What have you done? What have you done?"
The detectives were so focused on Emi Cuca, they were startled when Enver called out and rushed toward them. Finn stepped in front of the woman, but there was no need to protect Emi from her husband. The man rushed past them, threw himself on the bed, pulled the faceless body to him, and keened as he rocked it.
"Enough!" Emi's scream was piercing as she made an end run for her husband.
"Enough both of you," Finn countered.
He caught Emi's arm and pulled her close. He took hold of the plastic face, but Emi fought mightily for it. Finally, he ripped it out of her hands and twirled her to Cori. Tossing the thing aside, Finn stormed to the bed. At another time he would have had some sympathy if this were a distraught man with a woman caught up in his arms, but this was no woman. The man wept for his own creation, and from what they had just witnessed it was an abominable thing to lament. It certainly was not something to kill for.
Cori put Emi on the couch while Finn wrested the companion from the man, pulled him off the bed and dragged him, stumbling and whimpering, to the sofa. He threw Enver down beside his wife.
"Do not move an inch," Finn roared, his voice crashing against the concrete walls and bouncing back again.
Enver wept and so did Emi, but hers were tears of outrage and his were of pain. In front of them, Cori stood watch. The thing had stopped moving and Finn barely gave it a glance as he swept the room. He moved the bed and tore off the curtains. He went to the bathtub and fell to his knees, running his hands across the floor. Frustrated when he found nothing, he scoured the perimeter of the room, and when he was done he went to Enver Cuca.
"How did he leave here? Ding Xiang. Where did he go?"
Enver shook his head. "I don't know."
Finn took him by his shirt and pulled him upwards, but before he could do more Emi Cuca stopped him.
"Leave him be," Emi commanded.
Finn hesitated. It was Enver Cuca he wanted to hear speak, but Emi was determined to be heard. She swiped at her tears with the back of her hand.
"The man comes
and goes. We don't know how. We receive a message when we are to stay away from this room."
"'Tis late. I've little patience," Finn said. "Show me the texts."
"They are gone," Enver said.
Finn and Cori exchanged a glance; they were not surprised.
"Do you know who he is?" Cori asked. "Do you?"
"Not at first, but now. Until he came it was good, Enver." Emi looked at her husband. "All you had to do was give him what he paid for."
She looked away from her husband, her eyes darting between Cori and Finn.
"No one can paint like Enver, but I created the socket and it made the companion move exactly as we move. We didn't need that man. We should have stopped long ago."
"Stop what?" Cori asked.
"Stop what we did for him. The other companions, those were art and engineering. We didn't think about them once they were gone, but this time..."
"This time you played God," Cori said.
"It wasn't that way," Emi snapped. She swung her head toward her husband. "Tell them, Enver. Tell them how it happened."
Emi started to stand up, but Cori put her hand on the woman's shoulder and kept her down. When her husband stayed silent, Emi shook her head.
"Fine Enver. I will say." She swallowed hard and composed herself. "We didn't see what was happening. First a portrait was ordered. Enver painted it from a video and pictures. We sent it away. We thought nothing of it. One day a contract is sent saying Enver may not use that image. Enver signed it. What did we want with the girl's face? There are many beautiful girls he could paint. One portrait didn't matter.”
"Then Ding Xiang came and asked for a companion. It was the same girl, but this time he had many things he wanted. He told us how to make this room. He paid the rent for six months. He ordered a companion with the face of the girl Enver had painted. We signed an agreement to speak of none of this. He paid so much we didn't care what he did here."
Emi's shoulders fell. She put her palms to her cheek. Enver never moved, but he spoke as if remembering a long lost love.
"All of her," he said. "I knew all of her, every shade of her."
"When did you first meet her?" Finn asked.
"She came only once to see the room," Emi said. "We saw her with Ding Xiang then. We spied and saw them. She never came back. We did not meet her."
Suddenly she stood up and began to pace, needing to move even if there was nowhere she could go.
"We put her to bed every night in this room, as we were told. I didn't know why Ding Xiang didn't want us to send her to him. Then I thought he was like the other men, eccentric, odd. Enver finished painting, but I had not sealed her. A package came for me. Inside was a chip, and a wiring schematic. I knew what this was. I was to make her move."
"But there are moving dolls, missus? This is nothing strange," Finn said. Emi looked at him and her eyes darkened, her voice lowered.
"Not like this one." Emi's steps slowed. She wrapped her arms around herself as she wandered in and out of the light that came through the big windows. "I followed instructions. I wired her. I embedded the chip. Soon only Enver put her to bed. He said it was so I did not hurt myself lifting her. She was beautiful in the moonlight. She was the best we had ever done. One night Enver did not come back so quickly from this room. I went to see what was wrong. Enver was stroking her hair. He came away when I called. He was embarrassed. I thought he was only admiring his work."
She turned and looked at Cori and Finn, sighing when she realized they did not understand what she was telling them.
"Ding Xiang came and went. I don't know what program was in her head but each day, each week, he did something to make her more human. Sometimes we were still working in the night, and we could hear her moving. At first she was like a child, stumbling, hitting things. I would find her leg chipped, and I would repair her skin. Enver would repaint her. For months we did this. Then we heard them together. She spoke."
"We couldn't understand her words," Enver said, as if that was an excuse for something.
"Did that matter, Enver?" Emi said.
"She cried," he said, his voice tight as he remembered the moment "I heard her crying."
Emi uttered a sound, guttural and primal. She went for her husband, but Cori stopped her. Emi raised her hands and backed off.
"You made this happen. You are shamed," Emi said, her voice dripping with disdain.
"Missus. Look at me. Look at me," Finn said. Reluctantly she did as she was told. "Did you not fear for yourselves knowing this man could come as he pleased?"
"He needed us." Emi shrugged away that concern. "And money makes you think unreasonable things are reasonable. You cut off your arm. Enough money tells you it was never there, so you learn to use the one you have left."
"Emi." Enver roused himself with a warning to his wife. "We can be sent away if you speak of this. We have a right to a lawyer. We ask for a lawyer."
Emi's voice rose, her neck stretched as she looked around Finn.
"I want no lawyer. I want this to end."
She pushed past Finn. She cast a withering glance at Cori. Emi Cuca took a high backed chair and waited until she had their attention. Enver could not look at her, but he would hear and that was enough for Emi.
"That girl is dead because of Enver," she said. "Sometimes he didn't hear me speak. Sometimes he did not come to bed, and I would find him asleep holding her hand after Ding Xiang was gone. Enver brushed her hair. Only Enver touched this one unless I was adjusting her wiring or her joints. Sometimes I found her in the closet, locked inside instead of in this room as she should be. Enver wanted to be alone with her; he wanted to hide her so that I couldn't see them.”
"Then one day Ding Xiang came through the front door to thank us for our work. He invited us upstairs. She was on the bed as instructed. I was happy that Ding Xiang would take her away."
Emi fell silent, thinking about the hope she had harbored; remembering the moment when she thought Ding Xiang would be gone from their life.
"But he didn't take her, did he?" Cori spoke.
"No. We stood just there." Emi pointed to the dining room table. "Ding Xiang opened the curtains around the bed. I looked at Enver. I thought it was funny this sad little man was so dramatic, but Enver was hardly breathing. He knew what she was. You should have told me, Enver."
Enver Cuca turned his head as if his wife had slapped him. Emi looked triumphant. The edge of her lips tipped up.
"Ding Xiang called to her. 'Roxana' he said. The doll stirred as if she had been sleeping. She got off the bed, and smiled and spoke. 'Hello, Ding. I've missed you'. Ding said 'we have guests'. The thing said 'Enver. Emi. How nice to see you. Sit down.' He did not say it was us in the room. He didn't have to. She saw us. Then Ding Xiang asked her how she was. The thing said 'a little tired'. How can a thing be tired?"
Emi shivered. The pride she had felt in her accomplishment was gone leaving her with a mix of disgust, terror, shame, and grudging fascination. Now that she'd begun she was determined to finish the story
"She thought. She saw. She cried. What Ding Xiang gave me—what I put in her head— made her a woman. Ding Xiang loved her. Enver loved her. What was left for me who made her?"
Emi hands were clenched so tight her knuckles were white.
"Ding Xiang went away again. He told us when the people came and saw her they would want many more companions like this. He told us to be ready, as if we should be happy to make more. I did not want a world of those companions. My husband was sick with love for this one thing. He did not want anyone to have a companion like her. I knew what had to be done."
Tears rolled down Emi's cheeks. They were hot, angry, tortured tears that spoke of human pain.
"I heard you speak to her like you used to speak to me. You made her look like a goddess. I made her move like a woman. It was him, Ding Xiang, who made her wicked. I had to do something to stop it. I wanted you back for me, Enver."
"You killed Roxana." Finn said,
his voice flat.
"I did not mean to." Emi buried her face in her hands and sobbed only once before hands fell away. She looked at Finn and confessed to him. "I didn't know the woman was upstairs. I didn't know Ding Xiang's plan to show the companion and the woman together. It was always just the companion on the bed. Always."
Emi shook her head, her hands clasped and unclasped. She gasped for breath as her eyes went from Finn to Cori, searching for some understanding.
"You saw her eyes. You heard her voice. Would you know? Even if it wasn't dark, would you know the difference between that thing and the woman?" With one great breath, her shoulders rose and fell. She looked at Enver, but spoke to them all. "Don't you see? She wasn't real. None of this is real."
28
"The DNA on the dress from the dumpster is Emi Cuca's," Cori said. "And the blood she tried to wash off was Roxana's. And Roxana's blood was on the inside of the smock where the dress rubbed against it. I can't believe I missed that extra layer when I patted her down."
She swiveled her chair and filed the report in the box she would be sending to the D.A.
"I wouldn't have known that smock wasn't her dress, and I sure cannot make sense of these contracts. I think the Cucas handed themselves over to Ding Xiang completely." Finn tossed his reports to Cori for filing. "Access to their unit, their bank accounts, their computers, and all with the threat of deportation hanging over them. Ding Xiang came pretty close to getting everything he wanted."
"Except love," Cori laughed. "Too bad making a woman was the only way he was ever going to get that."
"'Twas about more than love, Cori. That man knew the value of his software and Emi's socket joint. He was on the verge of realizing a new world order," Finn said. "And there were four men from Asylum who were going to be in on the ground floor."
"The whole Asylum thing seems like a lot of drama for nothing," Cori mused. "Why not just call the guys with money and go for it?"
Intimate Relations: A Finn O'Brien Crime Thriller Page 23