Girl in a Fishbowl (Crowbar Book 1)

by Thomas A. Gilly

  “The killer? No! I’ve never seen him here. But I did talk to his kid once. I’m surprised they’ve never mentioned her. Is she okay? I wasn’t here when the cops came to search their room, I was taking the day off. Actually . . . I had to look after my sister’s kid. So how’s his kid, is she alright?”

  “Um, I’m afraid I can’t talk about that. So . . . where did you see his kid?”

  “She was at the vending machine. She was just staring at it, she looked sad. Just moping at the vending machine. So I asked her what was wrong. She didn’t say anything. I looked in and saw a pack of gummy bears hanging there, like she paid and they got stuck. You know, I don’t know if she’s the one who paid or what, she might have just walked by and saw them there. I told her we had to shake the machine. She still didn’t do anything so I grabbed the top of the machine and started shaking it. Gummy bears are kind of heavy so they fell no problem. I mean, if it was potato chips sometimes there’s nothing you can do. She still just stood there so I reached in and got the gummys and gave them to her. I asked her what her name was and she said her daddy told her not to talk to strangers. I told her that was a very smart thing and she shouldn’t talk to strangers, although it wouldn’t hurt to say ‘thank you’ to a stranger. And then she said ‘Thank you’ and went to her room, where the killer was staying.”

  “And when did this happen?”

  Ginger put a finger on her lower lip and thought for a moment. “Um, I was with Corwin that day, he’s a regular and he always does Mondays. Yeah, the Monday before the shooting.”

  Two days before, Two-Guns thought. “And that’s the only time you saw her?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.”

  “How did she look? Did she look sick, or injured?”

  “No, she looked fine. She was wearing a funny looking dress; it was like an old-fashioned polka dot dress that was kind of puffy with a big bow around the waist. You can see something like that on a girl four or five, but she was about ten. I thought maybe she was a little slow or something and liked to dress like a little girl. I feel bad for her with a killer for a daddy. I mean, your daddy can be a real dick-head in a lot of ways, but to become a mass killer, jeez, that sucks. Especially if you’re a little slow.”

  Two-Guns nodded. “Did she seem afraid; like she was afraid of her father?”

  “No, I didn’t get that vibe at all. She was just quiet.”

  “Have any other police officers talked to you about this?”

  “Nope, you’re the first. Now how about that selfie!” She slid on the bed toward the nightstand and got her smart glasses. “Come sit next to me!”

  As far as paying for information, this was cheap. Two-Guns sat on the bed next to her as Ginger held out her smart glasses at arm’s length. “Smile!” Two-Guns didn’t smile. Ginger tapped the side of her glasses. She then put them on quickly and took them off. “One more!” She held the glasses out again and took another picture. She put them on again and said. “Okay, good!”

  Two-Guns got up off the bed. “Is there anything else you remember? Anything related to Shubert or the girl?”

  “Nope, that’s it.” She called out to the bathroom. “Hey Vic, you sure you don’t want to come out and meet the cop?”

  “I’m sure,” Vic replied.

  “Your loss.” She turned back to Two-Guns. “Hey, you have a dick, right.”

  “Yeah.”

  “A friend of mine has a dick.” She then said quickly, “I mean she’s a girl too. Maybe you know her. Her name is Diane Loper. She usually works at that other Harray’s, the one on Fourth.”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Too bad. She’s a real kick. A kick with a dick.” Ginger giggled.

  Two-Guns moved toward the door and said, “Well, thank you for your time and your cooperation. You’ve been a great help.”

  “No probs.”

  Stepping back into the hall and closing the door behind her, she walked its length until she reached the window at the end next to Shubert’s room. She looked out at the base of Mount Fuji. To the left was the road that went right into the mountain. To the right of that was the parking lot filled with solar panels. Something caught her attention that she hadn’t noticed from ground level—there was a single story concrete utility building embedded in the base of the mountain. They had apparently formed the fake rock over half of it. She could make out the top of a metal door facing the hotel, obscured by the glare of solar panels.

  She went down the stairs to the first floor. The emergency exit leading outside was propped open with a brick. She pushed open the door all the way and stepped out, walking a few meters in the sun to the cool shade underneath the solar panels. As she navigated the forest of plastic poles holding up the panels she stepped gingerly around the occasional broken beer bottle, empty fast food container, and other less pleasant detritus of hidden urban life.

  The utility building was small, about four meters wide. There were no windows. The rusted metal door was closed. She reached for the handle. She thought it would probably be locked, but the handle creaked as it turned and she slowly pushed the door open.

  The only light in the room was what was coming in from the door. She pulled out a pocket flashlight and turned it on. The room extended for ten meters, into the mountain. Thick pipes came out of the concrete floor and passed through junction boxes with large pressure dials. There were a number of beer and liquor bottles on the floor, as well as cigarette butts. A metal bucket was in the corner that someone had used as a makeshift fireplace. Toward the back near the wall there was a metal hatch in the floor.

  Two-Guns walked over to the hatch. There was no handle, no obvious way to open it. She crouched down and ran a finger over the edge. She then took out her pocket knife and slid the blade into the thin space between the hatch and its frame. She carefully levered it and felt the hatch move slightly. It was heavy and she thought she might snap the blade if she tried to open it.

  She wondered if the hatch led under the Bergs. The Bergs were hollow, the fake alpine exteriors built over a lattice of carbon fiber arches and pillars. The contaminated sections of the city were decaying in the dark, underneath their picturesque tombs. Supposedly all entrances were blocked, but what if this hatch led into there? What if that’s where the Jane Doe came from? A person could get from the utility building to the hotel without being seen underneath the solar panels. She couldn’t imagine that someone from her department wouldn’t have checked this place out—but if they thought it should be part of the investigation you’d think they would have locked it up, or at least hung up some police tape.

  Very peculiar she thought. I should bring this up with the new captain.

  She stood and brushed off her knees. She wondered if there was any connection between the disappearance of David Hicks and the appearance of Jane Doe. It seemed too much of a coincidence that people were either appearing or disappearing at the base of Mount Fuji. She had a feeling that something was going on in the ruins of the city under the Bergs—something not wholesome. She had a nearly irresistible urge to open the hatch, to see where it led. But if she was going to do that she would have to bring in some more firepower.

  Chapter 30

  Terri was shocked by Conrad’s appearance when he opened the door for her, He was pale with dark circles under his eyes and his hair was even more disheveled than usual. She had gotten an enigmatic text from him telling her to come to his apartment right away with a backpack with several hats and light jackets. She stepped inside and put down her backpack by the door.

  “What’s going on Conrad? You look awful.”

  He grinned. “I think I know where my dad went.”

  “Where? How did you find out?”

  He told her about the door to his father’s workshop opening up, about going through the computers for clues. “I found a program on one of the computers called Blink Dog. It’s really something. This thing can connect right into VuDyne. You go outside and you can see where every camera
is pointing. It overlays different colors over all of the places that are being recorded. And it gives you commands, it tells you how to walk, when to change hats, where to look—there are some places where you can’t avoid surveillance of course but—depending on where you’re going you can get around without being tracked by anyone. It really is impressive. I’ve been studying the software all night. Dad tried to teach me to program—I never really had the knack but—I know enough to see what this thing can do.”

  “That’s amazing! But how is this going to help us find your dad?”

  “He did testing. He tested this program a lot. Something this complicated you need to test. I found his data files—the results of his tests. After going out he would do searches of himself to see what the surveillance records showed. Toward the end, when he was confident in his ability to go about with as little observation as possible, he started going to one place in particular. And it falls within the area that Natalya showed us.”

  “Where?”

  “Come into the workshop, I’ll show you.”

  They went into the workshop and Conrad opened a cabinet and took out a small plastic container for disposable contacts.

  “I don’t know where he had these things made but they must have cost a bundle. Here, take out your contacts and put these in.”

  She took out her own portable contact case and put her contacts in them. She then took two contacts from Conrad and popped them in.

  Text scrolled at the bottom of her field of vision. “VuDyne Inc. Palantir build2.0.2.004.042 DOD access release candidate: Retina configuration in process. Retina configuration complete. Attempting network connection . . . unable to complete handshake with DoD subnet . . . local Wi-Fi connection GetTheFuckOffMyWiFi successful.”

  “Did you get on the local Wi-Fi?” Conrad asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” Conrad made some hand gestures and a map appeared in front of Terri. On the map was a red line that zigzagged through the city, going from Conrad’s apartment to the base of Mount Fuji.

  “I think that’s where he went,” Conrad said. “I think he went under the Bergs. He has iodine pills in the medicine cabinet. When I was little I once asked he what they were for. ‘Nuclear fallout from the next dirty bomb’, he said. But I remembered that they were full when I was little. Now they are about half gone. I think he’s been taking iodine and going under the Bergs.”

  “That’s incredible,” Terri said. “What do you think he’s doing in there?”

  “I don’t know, but that’s what we’re going to find out. We’re going to use Blink Dog to follow him and see if we can get under the Bergs. We’re going to go in there and see if we can find him.”

  “Why use Blink Dog? Why not just go straight to Mt. Fuji?”

  “He wanted to keep his destination a secret. I don’t think we should go to Natalya with this. I want just us to go there and find him. I need to talk to him. I’m still worried that something’s not right. I don’t think he expected to be gone this long. Who knows what could happen under the Bergs. He might have broken his leg and got stuck somewhere. I don’t know, there’s just so much I don’t know.”

  Conrad never looked more miserable, and Terri had to admit that Conrad was experienced at looking miserable. “Okay, I’m in. So we’re going to change our appearance as we travel? That’s what the jackets, sweatshirts, and hats are for?”

  “Yeah, we start off in layers. We’ll each have a fanny pack for some bottled water and supplies. We need to keep the fanny packs covered. We’ll start off with back packs with some extra light jackets, then we’ll switch them out to plastic bags, which will eventually be discarded. The best time to go is midmorning, after rush hour but before lunch. We need the right amount of foot traffic around us, not so much that lots of people can record us, not so little that we are the only people out. We have to go soon. Are you ready?”

  This was a lot for Terri to take in. When she got up this morning she didn’t expect to be using a hack into the internet to sneak through the city to find a secret entrance under the Bergs.

  Then she remembered something—something Conrad wasn’t going to like.

  “I um . . . I brought my gun.”

  Conrad’s eyes widened. “You brought your what?”

  “I didn’t tell you . . . Natalya bought me a gun and a carry permit. It’s in the fanny pack.”

  Conrad looked stunned. “You’re a gun owner? Natalya made you into a gun owner?” He sat down on his father’s recliner. “You know I’m a pacifist. The person most likely to be shot by a gun is its owner! What, did she make you join the NRA too?”

  Terri shook her head. She cared for Conrad deeply, and his convictions were some of his most endearing features, but sometimes she wished he was a bit more pragmatic. “You just asked me to come with you to explore an abandoned part of the city where your father has been missing for days. We have no idea what’s in there. I’m thinking it’s not a bad idea to have a gun. Who knows who we might run into. There might be radioactive rodents of unusual size for all we know. And I can’t just leave it here, it’s my responsibility.”

  “Fine, fine. I don’t want to see it. Just keep it hidden—or concealed I guess, whatever you gun people say.”

  An hour later they stepped out of the apartment. She had a green wind breaker over a sweatshirt and already felt herself starting to sweat. Text appeared: “DoD subnet connection successful.” Great curved splotches of color spread across the road to the left and right of them, while the area around the apartment remained clear. Different shades of red and purple indicated different cameras.

  “I’ll go first,” Conrad said. “You wait fifteen minutes and follow.”

  “Roger that captain,” Terri said. Conrad gave her an annoyed look. He wasn’t all that fond of military references either. “See you at Fuji,” he said and started walking to the right. He approached the first splotch of red and turned another right before touching it, going into the alley. After he was out of sight she reached into her fanny pack under her sweatshirt and felt for her handgun to make sure it was secure in its pocket holster.

  Chapter 31

  Natalya and her father were eating dinner in the Varnier restaurant inside the Denizen hotel. A cozy restaurant situated off the lobby, they sat at a small table for two in the middle of the floor. They were the only patrons, the quiet of the room only disturbed by the clinking of plates and silverware from the kitchen. Natalya was wearing a conservative ruffled blouse buttoned up to the neck, her hair pulled up in a tight bun. She had the barest traces of makeup on. The waitress had just brought them their bottle of wine and had left after pouring and taking their order.

  “I’m rather surprised you invited me for dinner,” Walter Borgan said. “I thought you would still be mad at me.”

  “You may not realize this, but I am growing up. And growing up can sometimes lead to maturity, even for me.”

  “I’m happy to hear you say that.” He lifted his glass. “To maturity.”

  She clinked and took a sip. “Part of being mature is swallowing one’s pride,” she said. “I have learned recently that there are things in life more important than pride. So of course I will get together with Marja and we will make up and I will swallow whatever pride I need to do it.”

  Walter raised both his eyebrows, deeply wrinkling his bald head. “I am impressed. So what force has moved you to this newfound maturity?”

  She tilted her head. “Would you believe a boy?”

  “Actually no. You’ve never been the type to let some infatuation change any portion of your character. This must be some boy.” He squinted at her. “It’s not one of those boy-band people from Brazil, is it?”

  “Oh no!” she said scoffingly. “Pop stars are more trouble than they’re worth. This person is the complete opposite of a pop star. No one knows about him.”

  “Oh god, it’s not that vagrant you were with at the Green Inn?”

  Natalya smiled. “You’ve
been following my social life! I’m flattered. And yes, it is that vagrant, and his name is Conrad.”

  Walter looked at his daughter in disbelief. “I thought he was some sort of charity case. Where on Earth did you meet him?”

  “He’s an old friend of Terri’s from the Rocks. As it turns out he is a unique individual. He has shown me that a cultivation of personal ethics is essential to becoming fully human. He lives his life by three core virtues; truth, freedom, and compassion. It gives him a moral strength that I now see has been missing from my life, and is missing from most of humanity.”

  Walter’s expression turned to concern. “Is this some sort of cult?”

  “It is not a cult, there are no supernatural elements to it. It is simply a way to make a superior human being.”

  “Has he asked you for money? That’s what these cults do, they suck you in and then they suck you dry. If you give him one penny I will cut you off.”

  “Quite the opposite, he’s reluctant to take anything from me. I have to practically force him to take anything. It’s one of the things that’s refreshing about him.”

  Walter tore off a piece of bread from a small loaf on the table and dipped it in a bowl of olive oil. “I know it might not be obvious to you, but I had hoped to demonstrate a life of ethics by my example, not by some hokie ‘three virtues’ thing. Look around you.” He waved the bread at the trappings of the restaurant. “This is what a life lived by my ethics can bring.”

  Natalya looked at her father condescendingly. “Oh Dad, a strict, anal retentive obsession with pragmatism is not really the same thing as a core set of personal ethics.” She reached out and pat his hand. “But yes, the restaurant is beautiful, and the bread is very good.” She pulled off a chunk for herself and dipped it in the olive oil, taking a bite.

  Walter poured himself some more wine. “I see this new ethical system hasn’t completely obliterated your snarkiness.”

  Natalya dipped her remaining bread into the olive oil. “Truth Dad. Truth is one of the core virtues. Anyway, I need a favor from you to help spread these virtues to the masses.”