“Any news?” I asked Holly as I walked into the security office and sat down at what I was now considering my desk.
“Yeah, maybe big news,” she said with an air of distraction. “Let me finish up this report.”
“Take your time,” I said and switched on my terminal. Under the guise of setting up my station to take notes, I opened a couple of drawers that held basic office supplies and shuffled through them. “Hey, do we still have the chargers for the Androids we had to use this summer?”
“I think so. They should all be in the drawer down by your feet.”
“Cool,” I said and pulled the drawer open with my toes. “Do you think anyone would mind if I snagged one? The dog apparently chewed through the cord for my mp3 player and I think these have the same USB connectors.”
“Have at it,” she said, still typing away. “We’re not putting them back into circulation. I just keep forgetting to send them down to be mined for materials.”
Thank god for that, I thought as I bent over the drawer and made a big show of inspecting the cables. After quickly checking to make sure that Holly was still focused on her report, I picked one particular phone out of the pile and slid it into my pocket. “Got one,” I said and held up the charger. “Sorry, I won’t bug you anymore.”
“No, it’s cool. I’m done,” she said and slid her chair away from the desk. “So, don’t lie to me. How good are you at keeping secrets?”
“Depends on the secret,” I answered honestly. “If you have something important in relation to the investigation, I won’t tell a soul. If it’s gossip then all bets are off.” I already had what I needed, but now I was curious. I was still ahead of schedule, so it was worth sticking around to find out what Holly knew.
“It’s case related.”
“Okay, then spill it,” I said. “You know everyone’s been keeping me out of the loop, so I sure as hell ain’t going to share if they won’t.”
“Okay, you know how Damien said he’s Oscar’s brother?” she asked cautiously. I nodded. “There’s a huge possibility that he’s lying.”
I had wondered about that myself after it had been revealed that vampires had the ability to take on the appearance of others, but Oscar was dead. “What led to this conclusion?” I asked.
“Well…” she looked uncomfortable. “I just sent this to Evan and nothing’s been confirmed yet, so don’t freak out, but Lissette sent over a bunch of data from the lab they secured. We found your DNA. I mean, we kind of expected to, but we also found Oscar’s, as well as an encrypted file that consisted of every modification they had ever done to him.”
“Wow,” I said and sat back in my chair. “That is pretty big news.”
“Yeah, but that’s not all of it,” she said, glancing at the door to make sure no one was going to walk in on us. “All of the files that they’ve been able to decrypt confirm that the lab belongs to the woman named Lissandre Laurie and there’s some compelling evidence that she’s the one telling people she’s Delphine LaLaurie. And that’s not even the biggest part. Last night, they found a secret panel that led to a room with a bunch of paintings and a stack of old journals. One of the paintings looks like one of Arthur’s. Fausto is reading through the journals now to see what information he can find.”
“That’s… amazing,” I said. “But how is Damien linked to the lab?”
“Apparently the computer contained a bunch of emails from Laurie to someone named Dom, who seems to be the main person in charge of running the lab when she isn’t there. In one of the emails, he specifically mentioned confronting you, saying that ‘the seeds of doubt have been planted’. Dom could easily be short for Damien. Then there’s the fact that the team hasn’t had any vamps try to gain access.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “Why would he tell me to go after the very person he was working for?”
“Unless he isn’t working for her anymore,” Holly suggested.
“Or it’s some kind of a trap,” I added.
“Either way, keep that info to yourself for the time being.”
“Yeah, don’t worry,” I said and got up to leave. “Let me know what the bigwigs think.”
“Where are you going?” Holly asked.
“This kind of changes things. I need some time to think this through before I go plundering through the archives,” I half lied.
When I got back to my room, I put the phone I had taken on the charger and powered it up. The battery was completely dead, but I still had a few hours before I had to meet Kaylee, which was plenty of time. When the network was sabotaged back in August, we were all issued normal phones on a local network. Evan’s biggest concern at the time was that there was no way to add the transmitter to the processor without catching the attention of the network. Fortunately, we were able to load an encrypted version of our own GPS system and hemograph, which meant that I had full access to the whereabouts of the team without alerting them as to where I was.
After a quick nap, the phone was charged and I was ready to go. I sent a message to Kaylee and left my phone on the table next to my bed. Finally, with a twinge of emotions that I hadn’t expected to get in my way, I took off the locket and left it on my pillow. I knew what I was doing was dangerous, but it was the only way I was going to get answers.
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to you looking like that.”
“Can it, Kaylee,” I grumbled and stepped aside, allowing her to place her hand on the panel that brought the elevator to us.
“I didn’t say it’s a bad look,” she added hastily. Actually, Kaylee’s honesty was almost refreshing. I was getting tired of watching everyone trip over themselves trying to avoid offending me.
“What time are you off?” I asked casually. Once we had arrived at G2, it occurred to me that I didn’t have a plan for getting back into headquarters unnoticed.
“Not until four, but I’m on again in the afternoon, so I’m probably going to crash here,” she said.
“All right,” I smiled, inwardly cursing. “I’ll see you later.” I waved as I headed up the back staircase.
Once Kaylee was out in the main area of the shop, I slipped back down the stairs and into the back alley. As I turned on the phone, the alley lit up with the light from the screen. I had forgotten that these screens hadn’t been modified either. Fortunately, there was a setting to turn off the backlight completely and I was able to shut it off before I drew any unwanted attention. With my enhanced vision, I could see the darkened screen just fine.
I located Andre’s signal and cursed the fact that it was halfway across town in the Garden District. Getting there wasn’t easy. I stuck to side streets and ducked in between houses every time I saw anyone headed my way. When I finally caught up, I was shocked to find him enjoying a meal at one of the pricier establishments the city had to offer, and despite what the hemograph told me, he wasn’t alone.
Chapter 23
I was completely paralyzed from the shock of seeing my worst fears realized. Andre was dressed in a crisp white shirt and suit jacket. Though I hadn’t seen him, I was certain that when he left for his ‘shift’ he was probably wearing something more suitable for hunting. Alex sat across the small table from him in a low cut dress, leaning forward as if she was hanging on his every word, which of course, allowed her obscenely ample cleavage to practically pour out onto the table. Andre didn’t seem to have a problem with this.
There was no way to get close enough to hear their conversation. The outdoor terrace where they were seated bordered the busiest street in the district. I hid in the shadow of two buildings across the street and waited in agony until their date was over. Fortunately, they appeared to be on dessert. Unfortunately, if I had any doubts as to Alex’s intentions with Andre, they evaporated with her unsubtle behavior. After the fourth time she put her hand on his, I was shaking with rage. When she picked up her fork and fed him a bite off her plate, I was ready to damn the consequences and murder the bit
ch with my bare hands.
When they finally left, it became obvious that Andre had been drinking. He swayed slightly and nearly stumbled off the steps and onto the sidewalk.
“Careful, handsome,” I heard Alex giggle as she took his arm and led him down a side street, away from the crowds. I fought the urge to confront them, but I still kept a CPA firmly in my grip as I followed. In the back of my mind, I knew the possibility existed that Andre was just trying to get information and I clung desperately to the hope that he really was just following a lead.
They walked in silence for several blocks. Finally, when they had reached the neighborhood with the big houses that were supposedly owned by celebrities, they stopped.
“Have you talked to her?” Alex asked, piquing my curiosity.
“I haven’t seen her,” Andre replied vaguely.
“Aw, trouble in paradise,” Alex teased, poking him playfully in the chest. “I can’t say that upsets me too much, but you really should tell her. It would be better for everyone.”
At that moment, I realized the full meaning of the expression ‘seeing red.’ It didn’t take a very big leap in logic to realize what their cryptic conversation was implying.
“Did you hear something?” Alex asked.
I realized I was so angry that I was shaking enough to rattle a loose gutter on the house I had pressed myself up against in order to stay hidden. I wanted to confront them, but I had too much pride to allow Andre to see how much he hurt me, so I did the only thing I could and ran. Half blinded by rage and heartbreak, I ran until I found myself standing at the back door of the house we shared. Just the sight of it sickened me, but my only other option was to go back to headquarters, and now that was out of the question.
There was a slightly musty smell of disuse that I found comforting in a selfish, misanthropic way. I didn’t want to see or speak to anyone. The shreds of humanity that I had been clinging to were slipping away. I had seen the fear and revulsion that my friends had tried to hide, but I chose to believe their reassurances that I was no different. I had only been fooling myself for the sake of my fragile ego, but not anymore. I was a monster, a pariah, a living ghost, and strangely, I was at peace with this.
As I walked through the living room, intending to fall asleep in the guest bedroom rather than take my chances with the emotional rollercoaster that would await me upstairs, I noticed an envelope on the floor near the door. It must have been pushed through the ancient mail slot that we kept forgetting to close up. All of our mail went to a post office box because of how often we weren’t at the house, so I was suspicious.
The letter wasn’t postmarked and had only my name, with no return address. Part of me was curious as to what it was, but the smarter part of me remembered that people sent toxic chemicals through the mail all the time. One of my grandmother’s aids had to be sent to the hospital when he opened a letter that had a suspicious powder in it during the anthrax scare. I took out my phone to run a scan and cursed, remembering that I was carrying the spare, which was not outfitted with the sensor necessary to perform such a scan.
Instead, I ran out to the garage and grabbed a pair of gloves and the ventilator I had used when we refinished the floors, grateful that I had been paranoid enough to buy the strongest mask the hardware store had to offer. Still, I didn’t think it was rated for biological weapons, so I took the letter out to the back porch and carefully opened it. The envelope didn’t appear to contain anything more threatening than a folded sheet of notepaper with a few lines scrawled on it in the worst handwriting I’d ever seen, which was saying something because I knew several doctors.
It was nearly impossible to read, but a few ominous lines stuck out, specifically, “Your life is in danger,” and “You have been poisoned.” Whether it was a threat or a warning, it wasn’t anything I didn’t already know. No matter how hard I squinted, or how close or far I held the note from my face, I couldn’t make out much because the handwriting got progressively worse, as if it had been written in haste. But there was an address written at the bottom of the page, along with a date that, to my dismay, was nearly a week ago, which made me think the illegible parts might have been instructions of some sort.
The note was signed by someone named Sam. Whether this Sam was a friend or a foe was up for debate, but I decided to check out the address as soon as it was dark. I tucked the letter into my jacket pocket and climbed into bed, grateful to have something else to occupy my racing mind other than the scene I had witnessed earlier. Unfortunately, my mind wasn’t being cooperative and it was well past noon before I finally passed out from sheer exhaustion.
It didn’t take long for the folks at headquarters to figure out my careful deception. By the time I awoke the next evening, I had several text messages from Evan and Holly demanding to know where I was and to get back to headquarters. There was even one scathing message from Kaylee telling me that using her to sneak out was a low blow. Notably absent were any messages of concern from Andre. I sent a message back to Evan telling him that I was alive. Not even a minute later he sent another message asking me to return to headquarters, to which I replied ‘no’ and left it at that.
I tried not to dwell on the situation with Andre as I prepared everything I would need for the evening, but there were too many questions bouncing around in my head. He knew Alex was a vampire and he would have to be a complete idiot not to realize that she was closely connected to whoever was intent on killing all of us. The fact that she didn’t show up on the hemograph should have been the first clue. Not only that, she freely admitted to being behind the murder of several vampires and Andre typically took issue with vigilante justice.
I checked my own hemograph and saw that he was already out for the evening. At least he was in the French Quarter with a couple of other members of the team, so it was unlikely that the bimbo was with him. The address I was going to check out was on Royal, so it was possible I could do a little spying if he stuck around. Using the map on my phone, I found the address on the letter and paused, realizing exactly where I was headed. Spying on Andre took a backseat as I raced through the alleys of the Quarter until I reached my destination.
Ahead of me loomed the large corner property where Delphine LaLaurie once tortured her slaves. Beside the house, bearing a number plate that matched the address on the letter, was a one-story storefront with its windows and doors boarded up. Wedged between the mansion and another large building, it was almost invisible. I realized that this must have been the storefront Nick had mentioned, but by the looks of it, that was impossible. The entire building couldn’t have been more than fifteen feet wide. From the faded outline of a sign stenciled over the door, it appeared to have been a shoe repair shop at one time. I checked the address once again to make sure that I had read it right. Despite the bad handwriting, there was no mistake.
I circled the block in search of the alley, realizing that if the building held any secrets, I wasn’t going to find them on one of the busiest streets in the Quarter. There was a back way in, but getting to it proved to be tricky. Because of the construction on the LaLaurie house, a high chain link fence had been erected, complete with barbed wire to keep the vandals and curiosity seekers away from the incomplete windows and half-restored walls. It was almost ironic, standing in the dark alley, looking into the abyss of the house that had always shaken me, and feeling nothing. Somehow, knowing the former tenant might still be alive, and more deadly than ever, took away all of the foreboding mystery that had surrounded the mansion, leaving just a shell of brick and timber no more intimidating than any other house on the street.
The back entrance to the shop had been blocked by the fence, but I noticed that on my side, at ground level, there was a small opening that was covered in plywood and likely led to a utility area under the building. I crouched down and attempted to pry the wood away, but it had been nailed firmly in place. I made a mental note to come back with a crowbar and some tools that I could use to investigate further. In
stead, I went to inspect the small gap between the shop and the next building where there appeared to be a window that had not been boarded up.
It was a tight squeeze, but I was able to turn sideways and shimmy between the buildings until I reached the window. The brick ledge prevented me from going any further, but I didn’t need to. Leaning ever so slightly, I could see directly into the building. Though it was dark, my enhanced night vision allowed me to see what appeared to be exactly what the faded sign advertised: a long disused shoe repair shop.
As I shimmied my way out, I thought I saw a shadow flutter across the entrance and paused, holding my breath. The only sound was my own heart hammering in my chest, but I still had an eerie feeling that I was being watched. Unless they were specifically looking for me, no one should have been able to see me. As quietly as I could, I crept back toward the alley and glanced out. I was still alone. I was about to chalk it up to the creepiness of the situation and my own paranoia when out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement in the shadows.
“You can come out, Lucy. I’m alone.”
My father materialized suddenly from the shadows. I realized he had been creeping around using the same invisibility technique that I wore involuntarily.
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“EJC may not be able to track your phone with the GPS off, but 911 still can,” he replied.
“Oh,” I said as my heart sank, “I forgot about that.”
“Don’t worry, so did everyone else. Your secret is safe with me…for now,” he added with a hint of warning. “Any particular reason you took off last night?”
The Eyes of the Sun: The Complete Trilogy Page 85