.exe

  At last Brisbois softened, his shoulders drooping and his glare disappearing, replaced by a tired, but not unsympathetic, frown. “I understand that this may be hard to accept,” he glanced back to the group clustered behind Cadence and straightened, raising his voice to ensure that all could hear, “but it’s the only possibility. The medics have informed me that the marks on Minerva’s neck were caused by someone’s bare hands. The strength required to crush someone’s windpipe points to a male assailant.”

  “Mrs. Davers was visiting with Miss Eydis in her rooms just before the attack; she left to get them some drinks from the kitchen. Miss Tanith,” Belinda winced at her name, turning away, “has told me that she was the first one on the landing after the cries for help and that no one came past her up the stairs. No one from the downstairs bedrooms could have made it back to their rooms without being seen by the others. It had to have been Solomon Davers.”

  I closed my eyes, hissing through clenched teeth, “But why? Why would he try and kill his wife and then call for help?”

  “It’s possible he saw what he’d done and was so filled with remorse that he tried to help her; I’ve seen it before. As for why he tried to kill her,” Brisbois sighed, scratching the top of his head, “when I know, you’ll know.”

  Pausing to ensure that no one wished to question him further, Brisbois gave a parting nod and exited the house, leaving the front door open in his wake.

  “Henry.” I took a deep breath and swallowed, forcing myself into some semblance of composure. “You should go with your mother. Go on, go,” I cut him off before he could protest, waving him out. “I’ll handle things here.”

  Nodding, Henry left at a jog, slamming the door shut behind him.

  I turned to the others. Cadence stared down at herself, a clump of dirt stuck in her hand from when she had righted the potted plant. Desdemona hovered near Merton, running her hands over each other like scared mice, and Belinda stood to one side with Victoria, who patted the older woman on the back while she moaned, face in her hands.

  “It’s alright, Belinda, it’s really alright.” Victoria looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head, chest heaving under her skimpy negligee. “To think, we had a murderer in our midst all along. Minerva must have found out that Solomon killed Felix and he had to kill her to keep it quiet.”

  “Victoria, do you think about the things that come out of your mouth? Or do you just let them run free through your brain before inflicting them on the rest of us?”

  Victoria’s eyes went wide. Taking a step forward, her shoulders hunched, her lips curled up into an open-mouthed smirk. “I’m sorry; what did you just say to me?”

  “I must have used words a bit too long for you: shut your trap, Vicky.” I jabbed my finger at her, voice rocketing up into a shout. “Solomon did not kill my father and he did not try to kill his wife! For god’s sake, you’ve known him as long as I have, how can you even say something like that?”

  I strode past Dr. Merton, heading for the phone on the far wall, drawing blood from the inside of my cheek with my teeth. Merton followed me with his wide, wet eyes. “What are you doing?”

  “Calling my lawyer so I can post Solomon’s bail.”

  Merton threw his hands into the air and took hold of my arm. “It hasn’t even been set yet, Chance! It probably won’t be until late this morning at the earliest. There’s nothing any of us can do now.” The doctor ran his hand through his sparse hair, looking at each of us in turn. “I suggest we all go to bed and try to get some rest. We need it.”

  While the other drifted towards their rooms like seaweed on the tide, Desdemona broke away and tiptoed over to me, tucking her white-blonde hair behind her ear. “Chance? Are you going to be alright?”

  I rubbed my arms, forcing a sliver of a smile onto my face. “Yeah. I’ll…I’ll be fine. Thanks, Desdemona.”

  She nodded and darted away up the stairs, leaving Cadence and I alone.

  Still staring at her hand, Cadence’s breathing had ceased some time ago; a fact I hoped none of the others had noticed. I waited to see if she would move or speak or do anything useful and was about to give up when she sprung to attention, head snapping up as she marched past me. “You should try and get some sleep. I’ll be in the library.”

  “What? Cadence? Cay!” My shout rang through the hall, echoing against the closing doors behind which Cadence disappeared.

  Dragging myself up to my rooms, I soon found that any attempt to sleep would be fruitless. Lying awake smoking until dawn, I transplanted my restlessness from my bed to my father’s study, where I passed the time by calling my lawyer every half hour or so to inquire whether Solomon’s bail had been set.

  Henry returned in these early hours, swaying on his feet, his eyes red from crying. To see the dear man in such pain was unbearable, but he insisted on sitting with me awhile, truculent and weary, until I bullied him into his room to try and sleep.

  What the rest of the household did that day, I couldn’t say. Committed to staying by the office phone so I could be ready to act the moment my solicitor called, I had both breakfast and lunch in the study, alone. I was informed just after midday that Solomon’s bail had been set at 500,000 credits. The sum made me blanch, not because I was afraid to pay it, but because such a high bail attested to the authorities’ confidence in Solomon’s guilt.

  It took some time to arrange for the money to be moved from my accounts since most of the family funds were still unavailable due to the circumstances of my father’s death. But once the appropriate amount had been secured, I wired it to the authorities, who, in short order, sent me back a ticket of habeas corpus with which I could obtain Solomon’s temporary release.

  I gathered my things to make the trip out to the District 27 facilities at once. Exiting the study, I spied the library door ajar and crossed the foyer at a jog, eager to pick up my lady friend and be on our way, whether she liked it or not.

  The drive to the EO Complex took place in silence. Cadence radiated displeasure, saying nothing, her breathing stilled. I tried to cheer her by telling her about my conversation with Belinda the previous night, but the tale seemed to depress her even further, pressing her down into her seat.

  Our PT dropped us just outside the gates of the District 27 Government Service Center. We walked the rest of the way in, finding the appropriate division without incident. At no point were we allowed inside the buildings themselves, but stations outside each one offered an officer or clerk available to do business with the public. I slipped my notice of habeas corpus under the bullet proof window at one of these stations and was told to wait; the ‘prisoner’ would be outside after processing.

  When Solomon shuffled through the doors, he was a changed man. His shoulders stooped, his eyes were glazed and listless. Rubbing at the stubble on his chin as if reveling in the unfamiliarity of it, the bedraggled state of his clothes spoke to the ordeal he had been through. His face brightened when he caught sight of us, a smile flashing onto both our faces.

  “Solomon–”

  “Have you seen Minerva? Is she alright?” His hazel eyes searched my own. “They won’t tell me anything. I’m not even allowed in the hospital.”

  “I understand that she’s still comatose,” said Cadence matter-of-factly. “But they are hopeful she will recover.”

  I glared at her over my shoulder, her coolness grating, but I swallowed down the annoyance and tried to comfort the harried man in front of me, squeezing his shoulders. “We’ll go check on her as soon as we get you home.”

  “Go check on her now.” There was no arguing with the firmness in his voice as he stepped away, smoothing down his shirt as best as he could and adjusting a tie that wasn’t there. “I can get myself back to the manor.”

  Dropping my hands to my sides, I sighed, looking at him askance. “Is there anything at all we can do?”

  “Chance,” Solomon’s mouth opened and closed on its hinges as he turned, unable to meet my gaze. “You have to know tha
t I would never do anything to hurt Minerva or your father. You know that don’t you?”

  “I know. And if the Inspector didn’t have his head up his ass, he’d know it too.” I reached back and wound my arm around Cadence’s shoulders, pulling her to my side. “Cadence and I,” I licked my lips and looked into her eyes, “we’re trying to work this whole thing out. And I think we’re almost there. I’m sure there must be some way we can prove you’re innocent.”

  Cadence’s brows pushed up under her bangs. Taking in a deep breath, she turned to Solomon, tapping against the back of the hand I had on her shoulder. “Sinc, we’ll certainly try our best, Mr. Davers.”

  Solomon’s gaze moved over her face. “Amazing. I wouldn’t think you…” His eyes strayed to the hand she had over mine and he pulled himself up straight. “You’re absolutely amazing.”

  Smiling, Cadence dropped her chin to her chest, squeezing my arm once before slipping out from under it. “I’ll go call you a PT, Mr. Davers.”

  She walked towards the duty desk, Solomon turning to follow her progress. He slipped his hands into his pockets, shaking his head. “To think: she still cares about us; after everything we’ve done to her and her kind.”

  My heart jumped into my throat, cutting off my air and choking me.

  Solomon glanced over at me. Mustering up a weak smile, he shrugged. “I’ve known about Cadence’s true nature for quite some time, actually. The emotion tags she uses, her mannerisms; her tattoo is a derivative of the old Halcyon Enterprises trademark. I understand many of them have adopted such adornments over the years.” He adjusted his glasses with one hand. “Artificial Intelligence is my field after all.”

  I stepped in front of him, blocking him from Cadence. “You’re not going to–”

  “No, no,” Solomon raised his hand, frowning at my incomplete insinuation, “of course not. It’s not my place to gossip about other people’s biological make-up. I’ve always been fascinated by your family’s history with the animanecrons, Chance. It’s why I started working at Halcyon Enterprises in the first place; never dreamed I’d be lucky enough to meet one though.” He leaned to see around me, nodding in Cadence’s direction. “She is quite remarkable; and very fond of you, apparently.”

  “What do you mean, ‘apparently’?”

  Solomon jerked backwards, opening his mouth to speak. But his gaze fell over my shoulder, his mouth snapped shut, and I heard Cadence’s familiar footfall behind me.

  “Someone should be here to take you back to the manor shortly, Mr. Davers.”

  “Thank you.” Solomon inclined his head to her before turning back to me, extending his hand. “And thank you, Chance. Please, call me as soon as you see her?”

  “I will; I promise.”

  He nodded again before walking down to the PT bay at the other end of the complex, shoulders hunched, and head hung low. Somehow, I should have been able to spare him this; somehow what was happening was my fault.

  I looked back to Cadence, waiting beside me, watching me with her cool inky eyes. Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I pulled her to me, her warmth easing my mind.

  20

  Chapter 20

  Armo Hospital sat just outside of Römer’s 23rd district, close enough to the grasslands to be considered a retreat, but near enough to the city to be useful to the public. I hated hospitals; they gave me chills and they stunk with sterility, a chemical cleanness that lingered on the skin for hours.

  Weaving our way through the labyrinthine corridors, Cadence and I stopped every so often at the information desks to verify that we were headed in the right direction. Minerva had been placed in the coma ward; a small collection of rooms as silent as a beach before a storm.

  Depositing Cadence in one of the hard, plastic chairs in the waiting room, I gave myself a quick once over in a nearby window before walking up to the tiny, bullet-proof, plastic-encased nurses’ station. Waiting for the attendant to turn her attention from the checkerboard of screens behind her to me, I spent several long minutes trying to figure out how the com system worked, in the end settling for tapping apologetically on the window and saying, ‘Excuse me,’ into any opening that might possibly carry sound.

  “Yes?” The large woman inside the booth spun around in her chair. “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, hello; we’d like to see Minerva Davers, please.”

  Nodding, she tapped away at an old keyboard under her desk. She stifled a yawn, but straightened after a moment, focusing on a screen which lived somewhere above my head. “I’m afraid that’s impossible, sir; there’s an EO ban against any visitors to Mrs. Davers.”

  “Oh, dear.” My exclamation of distress failed to elicit any emotion from the nurse besides a vague glare of distrust. I backed away from the booth, bending over in a bow. “Well, thank you anyways.”

  Adding a certain reluctance to my step, I walked back to Cadence, formulating a plan. When I was a few feet away I whispered, “You need to cry.”

  Cadence’s eyes darted around the room for some kind of contextual clue that would let her in on my meaning. “What?”

  “I need you to start crying. Act like you’re very upset.”

  She stared up at me, eyes widening. “I can’t cry, Chance!”

  “What?” I cast a glance over my shoulder. Sure enough, the nurse on duty was attempting to peer around me. We were without a doubt the most interesting thing that had happened to her all day, but the longer we spent arguing out of earshot the less interested she would become.

  “I can’t cry, not even a little, why would you even – I’m not built that way!” She gritted her teeth and squared her shoulders, staring into my abdomen as she worked herself into a panic. “Can you think of anything more stupid than a highly sophisticated and sensitive computer system that intentionally pipes salt water through itself? What would be the point in–?”

  “Pretend!”

  Glaring at the ceiling with enough malice to melt holes in it, she let loose with a deafening wail. The cry rolled up into her higher register, sounding like a diamond dragged down glass, and then wavered down into hearty, body-vibrating sobs.

  Cadence buried her face in her hands and continued blubbering while I slid into the seat beside her, wrapping my arm around her. “Now, now! Oh, you dear child, I’m so sorry!” Dropping her head onto my shoulder, she let out a nerve-jangling shriek into my ear, which I was certain was one hundred percent intentional.

  Her nurturing instincts taking over, the nurse stepped out of her bullet-proof box and bustled over to us, eyes shining with concern. “Is she alright?”

  I patted the back of Cadence’s head, attempting to extricate myself from her monkey-like grip. “Yes, yes, I’m–” she tugged me back down onto the seat and one of my pats turned into a sharp slap. Released, I stood before she could change her mind. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She and Mrs. Davers are very close, you see, and she’s leaving for Paraesepe today – a death in the family. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be back, and, of course, Mrs. Davers may never wake up.”

  “How awful!” The nurse put a hand to her heart and cast a pitying glance down onto Cadence, who had lowered her wail to murmured cries and violent sniffling, hands covering her dry face.

  “It’s just such a shame that she can’t…can’t even say goodbye.”

  Cadence let loose another pained yell, the unexpectedness of which caused both the nurse and I to jump. Contorting in her seat, Cadence buried her face into the back of the chair. “She was like a mother to me! Oh, to have lost my real mother and my surrogate mother all in one day! I can’t go on!”

  “You poor, poor thing!” The nurse rushed over and hugged Cadence to her not inconsiderable bosom, suffocating her with tenderness. “I am so sorry, honey, so sorry!”

  Cadence continued to whimper. The woman looked around the empty wing, biting her lower lip. Leaning back, she squeezed Cadence’s shoulders. “If it really means that much to you, I could get you in to see Mrs. Davers for a f
ew minutes.”

  “You could?” Cadence sat up, rubbing her face and eyes so hard they appeared red and blotchy. “Really?”

  “Ye-es, but…” She looked around the waiting room and back to Cadence’s sorrowful face. “Honestly, just for a moment.”

  Cadence smiled her awkward, shaky smile. “Thank you! Thank you so much, that would be wonderful.”

  “You stay here and I’ll be right back, alright?” Beaming, the woman put a hand on my shoulder as she passed.

  I sat next to Cadence, who had curled up into her seat, hugging her knees to her chin. “Anta, well thank you so very much for making me feel cheap and used.”

  “You’re welcome; it’s something I do for all the women in my life.” I risked a glance at her and regretted it, her eyes pricking into me like needles of hate. “Well, how else were we going to get in?”

  She didn’t respond right away, stewing in her own unpleasant juices before answering with a pointed wave, “I thought, perhaps, that I could use the rapport I have developed with the Inspector to–”

  “I’ve had quite enough of you two ‘rapport-ing’, thank you very much.”

  Cadence watched me, still scowling, but now in an unfocused sort of way. “You seem troubled by my connection with Inspector Brisbois. Why?”

  “Because,” fixing her with an aggravated stare, I chewed the inside of my cheek, “he obviously only wants to get to know you so he can sleep with you.”

  Lips pursed, she ran her fingers along her brow before nodding. “Yes…but you only wanted to get to know me so you could sleep with me too.”

  “It’s different.” Cadence opened her mouth and I raised a finger, shaking it at her. “And don’t you dare ask me why because I haven’t figured it out yet, but it is!” The vein in my neck throbbed. I took a deep breath. “For once, let’s just do this my way, okay?”