“Yes, but you already know that, Mr. Rogers, because you killed him.”
“Me? I haven’t killed anyone.”
“It’s no good lying,” Brundle said. “We have the body, and I’m sure we’ll find enough evidence soon.”
“Evidence about what? I haven’t killed him. Besides, what’s it matter? Now that he’s dead, the killings will stop and we can get back to business.”
“Yes,” Prosper said, “the killings would stop if Clarke was the killer, but as you and I know, he’s not. He’s a scapegoat for the real killer.”
Rogers frowned. “You’ve lost me.”
“The escape. It was a smokescreen that allowed the real killer to pass the blame. While we concentrated on finding Clarke, the killer, namely you,” Prosper pointed an accusatory finger, “was free to carry out the murders undetected.”
Rogers held his hands up, palms facing forwards in a defensive manner. “Whoa, hold on. You’re not going to pin this on me.”
“And why not?”
“Because I didn’t do it.”
“Then if you didn’t do it, who did?”
Rogers shook his head. “You’re the detectives, you tell me.”
Prosper glared across the table and then slammed his fist down on the top, making Rogers jump. “Enough with the bullshit. Mr. Rogers, I’m arresting you. You do not have to say anything, but—”
“But I haven’t done anything. Look, ask Klement. He was there that night. He knows more than me.”
Prosper frowned. “Klement was there the night Clarke escaped?”
“Sure.”
Prosper took out his notebook and flipped through the pages to find the notes he’d written while interviewing Klement. “Klement said he wasn’t here that night.”
“He wasn’t on duty, but he popped in for some files he said.”
“What time was that?” Williams asked.
Rogers shrugged. “I don’t know. Not long before 142345 escaped I guess.”
Prosper clenched his fists. “That’s one of the things that niggled me about this case. How did Clarke know where the recordings were, and how did he manage to delete them? Now suppose it wasn’t Clarke. Suppose someone disabled the cameras just before it all went down, and then they deleted all the recordings to make it appear that they were deleted after the escape.”
Brundle stood up, sending her chair skittering back. “Klement?”
Prosper nodded. “Who else? I think he allowed Clarke to escape, and then once he was out, Klement killed him. I think Klement is the man we want.”
Brundle charged out of the room. Prosper and Williams followed. Behind him, Prosper heard Rogers shouting, “So I guess this means I’m free to go?”
They headed straight for Klement’s office, but Klement wasn’t there. A thorough search of the facility took place, but as Prosper feared, their suspect was gone.
Prosper returned to Klement’s office to search for clues. He sat in Klement’s chair, noticed the photograph on the desk and frowned. The picture was black and white and showed a man in a German military uniform. The peaked cap the man wore bore the skull and crossbones insignia of the German SS. At a quick glance the man looked a little like the American singer and actor, Bing Crosby.
Prosper wondered whether it was Klement’s father, but there wasn’t any physical resemblance. Ignoring it for now, Prosper started searching the desk for clues.
He couldn’t believe Klement had orchestrated the whole thing. The man in charge of the experiment had killed Clarke so that he could blame him for the murders, leaving him free to kill.
The lunatics hadn’t just taken over the asylum, they were running it.
CHAPTER 49
Natasha sat across the table reading the newspaper. Even though she was only a few months gone and her stomach wasn’t that large, Prosper noticed the chair was pushed a little further back to allow her more room to manoeuvre. She probably didn’t even realise, but her maternal instinct was kicking in.
Computer generated sounds emanated from the living room where Leon was playing on his game console.
Prosper leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. He sighed. He had started feeling his age, so while the prospect of a new baby was exciting, it was also scary. What with the new job taking up a lot of time, he only hoped he didn’t overlook his family. At the end of the day, they were the ones that were always there for him.
Natasha turned the page, the paper rustling. Prosper glanced at the headline: Fourth baby stolen from hospital.
He read some of the story, scanning over the words ‘… he’s just a baby’, the mother said. ‘An innocent baby. He’s never done anything to anyone. He can’t fend for himself. Please, if you have him, bring him back.’
Something itched at the back of Prosper’s mind. He bit his top lip. Something Klement had said, something about not being able to assess whether subjects were reacting out of nature or nurture due to social and environmental issues. What else had he said: to assess subjects properly, they needed a tabula rasa – a blank slate.
The implications hit him like a sledgehammer blow and he almost fell off his chair, the breath catching in his throat.
Prosper jumped to his feet. “I’ve got to go to work.”
“But it’s your day off.”
“I’m sorry. Promise I’ll make it up to you later.”
He ran out of the room, snatching his phone on the way out and scrolling through his contacts and pressing dial.
“Prosper, and what do I owe this pleasure to?” Brundle asked.
“Have you seen the newspapers? The stolen babies. I think its Klement. I think he’s taken the babies. I think he was conducting two experiments. One on the people with their memories wiped, and the other on babies. They’re perfect for his needs. He kept going on about blank slates. People with no memories. People he could program.”
“If you’re right—”
“I am. I can feel it. We need to get to High Grove hospital, where the last baby was taken from and go through the security footage. That bastard was there. I know he was.”
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
Prosper disconnected the call and jumped into his car. First he drove to work and signed out his gun. He wasn’t taking any chances.
Once they had started investigating Otto Klement, it came as no surprise to discover that wasn’t his real name, and they had no idea who he really was.
After leaving HQ, Prosper drove to the hospital. Security had been stepped up and there were two police officers stationed at the entrance.
He walked through the automatic doors and entered a bright reception area with animal murals on the walls. He ran up to the main desk and flashed his identification to the middle aged woman seated behind the desk.
“How can I help?” she asked.
“I’m here about the baby that was kidnapped. I need access to any security recordings you have.”
“The police are already going through them.”
Prosper rested his hands against the counter. “Where?”
The woman nodded. “You’ll have to go to the security office. Down the corridor, up the stairs and follow the signs to security.”
“Thanks.” Prosper pushed himself away from the desk and jogged along the corridor. He could feel the gun pressed against his side. Whereas before its presence would have made him feel uneasy, now it felt comforting. Made him feel a little more confident.
When he reached the security office, he knocked on the door. A moment later it opened and a skinny man with dark rings under his eyes wearing a peaked cap looked him up and down. “Yes?”
Prosper flashed his identification again. “I need to look at the security recordings you have from the day the baby was kidnapped.”
The guard scowled and held onto the door. “And you are?”
“Prosper Snow.”
The man shrugged and shook his head, expression blank. “Never heard of you.”
&nb
sp; “I don’t really care whether you’ve heard of me or not. I need to see those recordings.” He started to walk forwards.
The guard pressed his palm into Prosper’s chest, holding him back. “Whoa. And where do you think you’re going?”
“I need to see those recordings.”
“I’m not letting any Tom, Dick or Harry in with some Mickey Mouse identification card.”
Prosper ground his teeth, took a step back and started to reach for the gun in the holster beneath his jumper.
“Is there a problem here?”
Prosper turned to see Brundle and Williams standing behind him.
“This jobsworth won’t let me in.”
“Then he obviously doesn’t realise that we have the power to terminate his career.” Brundle stared at the man, her eyes narrowed into slits.
The guard swallowed. “I’m just doing my job.”
“And we’re just doing ours. Now step aside.”
With a quick glance at Prosper, the guard moved away from the door. Prosper realised that his hand was still hovering over the handle of the gun. He couldn’t believe he had been close to drawing it. Of course he wasn’t going to shoot the man, just scare him into granting him access. But still …
He shivered. What was happening to him? The boundary between right and wrong had been crossed a long time ago. Now he was treading water in the murky grey area where the two interlaced.
Prosper walked past the man to find himself in a room about twenty feet square. The furnishings comprised a table, drawers, a bank of monitor screens and two chairs, both of which were occupied by plain clothes police officers that Prosper recognised by sight, even if he didn’t know their names.
The police officers looked back at Prosper, Brundle and Williams.
Brundle flashed her identification. “We’re taking over for now.”
The men glanced at each other and then stood up.
Brundle seated herself at the desk. “Okay, I need someone to show me how to play the recordings from the day the baby was taken.”
The skinny security guard stepped forwards and talked her through how to access what she needed. Prosper could tell by the look in the man’s eyes and his general demeanour that he fancied Brundle. Little did he know she would eat him for breakfast and then use his bones as toothpicks.
He pitied any man that she was intimate with.
Prosper stood behind Brundle and watched as she played a series of recordings from a camera stationed in the corridor outside where the baby was taken from.
“What time was the baby taken?” Prosper asked.
“We think it was about eleven o’clock,” the guard said.
Prosper glanced at the time stamp in the corner of the screen, saw that it was showing 11:16. “Can you go back further? To before the baby was taken.”
Brundle moved the pointer on the screen and clicked on a reverse arrow. The image started playing backwards. She speeded it up.
“Go back to about ten fifteen and then play it forwards at double speed,” Prosper said.
When the recording started playing again, Prosper leaned forwards and gazed at the screen, watching people appear and disappear, their movements almost comical as they waddled along. He continued to watch, absently chewing his thumbnail as he did so. “Hold it there,” he said after a few minutes.
Brundle pressed a key and the image froze.
“Back up a few frames.”
She did so, one frame at a time.
“There. He’s there.” Prosper pointed at the screen, felt his heart pound in his chest, his breath catching in his throat. Staring up at the camera, almost as though taunting them was Klement.
CHAPTER 50
Prosper turned to the security guard. “Can you track that man’s movements?”
The guard nodded and took control of the keyboard and mouse. “There are no cameras in the wards, only the corridors so I’ll lose him when he goes inside the room.”
“As long as you catch him on the way out.”
Prosper watched as Klement pressed an intercom button on the wall. Then he opened the door and disappeared.
“So how does that intercom work?” Brundle asked.
The guard replied without turning around. “People have to talk to whoever’s on the reception desk to gain access. If he’s not a relative, he shouldn’t have gotten inside.”
“Well I guess the system is flawed,” Williams said.
“Having been through all this, I know all he had to have done,” Prosper said, “is stand near to the intercom when people are visiting. Then if he heard the name of one of the mothers, that’s the key to gaining access as he only had to use her name, say he was there to visit, to get inside.”
“Speed the recording forward to where he leaves the room,” Brundle said.
The guard did as he was asked.
When Prosper saw the door open, he shouted, “There,” and pointed at the screen.
The guard paused the recording, went back a couple of frames and then restarted it.
Prosper watched as Klement walked out of the room, a plastic carrier bag in his hand. “He put the baby in the bag.”
Brundle clenched her fists. “So now how do we find him?”
“Can you track him on the cameras until he leaves the hospital?” Prosper asked.
The guard nodded.
Prosper watched as Klement casually walked along the corridor. At one point he thought he saw something move inside the carrier bag and his heart turned to ice as he thought of that poor baby. A sick feeling bubbled in his stomach.
Klement continued uninterrupted until he exited the building.
“There are cameras outside too,” the guard said, as he tracked Klement on the screen.
Prosper observed Klement walk to the car park where he got into a silver BMW. Movement was visible inside the vehicle as Klement leaned over the seat, probably securing the baby in the rear. Then he started driving. Prosper made a note of the car’s number plate in his notepad. Seconds later, Klement was gone.
“Well we know he’s not at home, but he must be somewhere,” Prosper said.
“Great deduction,” Brundle snapped.
“What I mean is he must have a hidey hole. Somewhere secure. If he’s kidnapped babies, he must be keeping them together where he can experiment on them. We need to run a check, see if there are any buildings registered to his name. And put out an APB on that vehicle.” He passed across his notebook with the registration number.
“I’m on it,” Williams said, taking the phone out of his pocket.
Prosper waited patiently until Williams disconnected the call. “There’s nothing on record for any buildings under his name, but of course, he could use an alias.”
Prosper ground his teeth. He had hoped they’d get a break.
“So now what?” Williams asked.
“We just need to hope we can get a lead on the car. Now that we’ve flagged it, hopefully it’ll be spotted by one of the automatic number plate recognition cameras. We need to keep an eye on places he’ll need to visit. Supermarkets and places like that.”
It hadn’t escaped Prosper that although he was new to the team, they were letting him assume control. This surprised him, especially as there was tension between himself and Brundle. In normal circumstances, he believed she would want to assert her authority and put him in his place. So why wasn’t she?
But he didn’t have time to ponder it now. He had a job to do. And that job was finding Klement and those babies.
CHAPTER 51
Klement settled the baby on his lap and put the bottle to its lips. The baby looked up at him with big blue eyes as it suckled at the milk. It had no comprehension of anything. A blank slate.
Klement was disappointed that he had been rumbled. But it didn’t matter. Despite the drugs and conditioning, the adult subjects’ memories were too ingrained. Babies were another matter all together.
He had been able to eavesdrop on the police as th
ey interviewed the prison guards by way of the security camera in the corner of the room, and as soon as he heard Prosper Snow announce that they had recovered Peter Clarke’s body, he knew the noose would tighten.
Blood ran down the walls of the circular room he was in, the gory display emanating from two projectors set in the ceiling. Each projector covered a 180 degree portion of the wall. After a while the image changed to show scenes of carnage, people being blown to pieces, traffic accidents, anything where people died. Klement liked it in this room. He called it the nursery.
Another baby crawled towards him, then stopped and rocked back to watch the display on the walls. The infant reached out a hand towards the image of a man with his legs blown off and chuckled.
When he’d finished feeding the baby on his lap, Klement put it down on the ground and stared at two older babies that had recently progressed from crawling to a tottering walk. One, a boy, had a rattle. The other, a girl, scratched the rattle holder’s face, making the boy cry. The girl then snatched the rattle. Klement reached into his pocket and took out a chocolate bar. He broke a piece off and passed it to the victor. Weakness was not something he would tolerate, and he certainly wouldn’t reward it.
He knew it was going to be hard to continue the project on his own, even more so now that the police were hunting him, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He was going to prove once and for all, whether behaviour was based on nature or nurture. And the babies were going to help him. They were going to be raised in an environment of fear and brutality. None of them would receive any compassion or any form of emotional bonding. To Klement they were just test subjects. Feral beasts, pure and simple.
He watched the girl suck on the chocolate and shake the rattle.
Rattle
Bones
Death
Decay
Klement wasn’t a father. He was a mentor. And what he taught was the art of death.
CHAPTER 52
“So what are you going to do?” Wolfe asked.
Prosper shrugged. He didn’t know. Two days after the last baby had been snatched, and they were still no closer to catching Klement.
Prosper Snow Series Page 48