“Trey, you’re scaring me a little bit.”
Good. He wasn’t about to tell her that, but Maggie being a little bit scared was exactly where he wanted her. And then he’d call in and ask for a protective detail to be placed on her and the baby.
Not that it had done all that much good with Mala.
“Just keep your eyes open,” he reiterated. “Darc’s on it.”
“Oh, well… then that’s all right.”
And just like that, everything was good. Trey understood it. Hell, he lived it on a daily basis. But every once in a while it stung.
Turning and looking at his bald companion, Trey noticed that Darc had cocked his head. That wasn’t good.
“Um. Babe?” he said. “Gotta go.”
Trey wasn’t sure where they were about to go, but it would be soon. And when they went, it wasn’t going to be a leisurely stroll in the park. He waited for the next sign.
There it was.
Darc clenched his fist.
Backing up to give his partner room, Trey waited for the inevitable. They were on to the next element of whatever this was that they were investigating. Considering they had just found Mala’s guards ripped to pieces, Trey hoped that their next step would be finding Mala.
But whatever it turned out to be, he knew one thing.
It wouldn’t be pleasant.
* * *
Everyone thought Janey was asleep, but she’d just been listening. One of the things she’d figured out early on was that people talked about things she wasn’t supposed to know when they thought she couldn’t hear.
Popeye snorted and said something rude, but Janey chose to ignore him. Besides, if they were going to talk about naughty behavior, her bear had her beat. Hands down.
Paws, he corrected her. Paws down.
Right.
But the listening was paying off, even if it was something that she shouldn’t be doing. Because she heard about Mala going missing. That was a hard one. And she also saw the moment that Darc figured something out. Saw the way he tilted his head to the side and formed his hand into a fist.
So it didn’t take much to clamber out of the cot and race off after the two men as they darted away from the scene. Neither one of them noticed her following until they got to Trey’s Land Rover.
“Oh, hey…” Trey said. “Maybe we should have one of the EMTs…”
“No,” Darc said, cutting him off. “She comes with us.”
Of course Darc had known that she was there. He had probably known that she was listening the entire time. It was hard to fool her favorite detective. Even though the situation was bad, Janey found a smile pushing the corners of her lips up.
They were solving the crime, and Darc wanted her along. That always made her happy. Popeye said something about her being a glutton for punishment, but he was a just a silly, silly bear.
Now that she no longer had to stay hidden, Janey clambered into the backseat. She wanted to be up between the two detectives in the front, but she knew that the second she tried, Darc would just start telling her crash statistics for children who weren’t in the back of the car.
Then they were off, racing through the streets of Seattle. Janey had expected that they would head toward the hospital, looking to find the missing Mala. That’s what she had hoped for, anyway.
But instead, they were traveling out, toward the borders of Seattle.
Where was Darc taking them?
* * *
Mala stepped off the bus, trying not to appear as paranoid as she felt. There had been a man next to her as she traveled who had attempted to engage her in conversation, and rather than assume that he was just hitting on her, Mala’s mind had gone right to possible abduction.
Was he working for the Master? There was no way of knowing. The only thing that had kept her from punching him in the face was the fact that she would be forcibly expelled from the bus.
Paranoia gripped her, causing her to eye with suspicion every person who gave her a casual glance. No, that wasn’t true. She felt the same about those who weren’t meeting her gaze. Were they avoiding looking at her so they wouldn’t reveal their true and malicious intentions?
This was no way to live.
But at least she was now less than a block away from Cat’s house. Within minutes she would be sitting in Cat’s front room, sharing a coffee, possibly laced with something stronger, while her strong and capable friend helped her figure out her conundrum.
Mala had made it three-fourths of the way there, when an instinct caused her to glance over her shoulder. There was no way to consciously identify what was happening, but the best she could describe it as was a prickling sensation between her shoulders.
Rounding the corner was an unmarked police vehicle.
Spending as much time as she did around cops, Mala had learned to identify the telltale signs. The lack of hubcaps, the antenna cluster on the trunk of the car, the municipal license plates. Everything about the vehicle screamed police to an eye accustomed to seeing the signs.
And with the lack of trust Mala had recently developed, what happened next was more instinctual than it was a clear choice. She dove behind the nearest parked car.
The unmarked sedan moved far below the speed limit, creeping up on Mala’s location. As the car idled past, she caught a quick glimpse of the occupants inside.
Laurel and Hardy.
Mala’s blood froze in her veins. It was possible that these two were here in the neighborhood as a follow up to the attack on Mala in the cathedral. That made the most sense, when she stopped to think about it.
The possibility existed that this also had nothing whatsoever to do with her. That they just happened to be in the neighborhood on some other random task.
But the way the two seemed to be eyeing the street didn’t seem to bear that interpretation out. Nor did the alarm bells sounding inside of Mala’s mind.
Whatever these two were doing, Mala needed to be as far away from them as possible. Like, now.
Time to get more creative about how to reach out to Darc. Mala was a doctor. There had to be a way to figure this out. As much as she wanted the comfort of Cat’s presence, she was a big girl. She could do hard things.
She waited for the car to disappear out of sight or to turn at the next intersection, making sure to keep herself between the parked car and the two men as much as possible. For a brief moment, the dark sedan stopped, and Mala worried that they had spotted her and were about to turn around.
But then the left-hand blinker turned on, and the Commissioner and the Chief of Ds vanished out of sight. Mala waited for what felt like fifteen minutes, making sure that they weren’t going to return once more.
Then, working the stiffness out of her legs, she turned to retrace her steps. Get back on the bus, where she could figure out a good place to go.
As she swiveled on her heel, she came face to face with a young girl, one who appeared to be a year or two older than Janey. The girl had red hair that was braided in a thick strand that rested on her shoulder, and her head was cocked to the side.
“Whatcha doing, lady?” she asked.
Mala blurted out the only answer she could think of. “Playing hide-and-go seek.”
The girl studied her for a long moment. “Cool.”
She nodded her copper crowned head sagely, then skipped back up to what must be her front porch. Turning to wave, the girl disappeared through the front door.
Seeing her made Mala think of Janey, who must be less than a half-block away, playing with Jessalyn. Mala would have to check in with her at some point, but the encounter with Laurel and Hardy had left her more shaken that she had already been.
Cat would understand.
For now, Mala had to find Darc and Trey. Without letting anyone else know.
* * *
“The State Fair?” Trey asked as they pulled into the parking lot.
Darc said nothing, instead opening the door and surging out, all his attention on th
e path ahead. Moving like he was late to his own wedding… which hadn’t happened yet, Trey reminded himself, Darc pushed his way through the crowds.
Great.
There were a lot of places that he could have imagined that Darc would take them. The State Fair hadn’t even been on that list.
It might have made the other one, though. The list of places-least-likely-for-Darc-to-go. Seriously, this was bizarre.
But Trey also had enough experience with his partner not to question something random like this. If they were here, there was a reason for it.
Janey stepped out of the car, and for one moment, her eyes lit up as she viewed the fairway with its rides and games and food stands. But then she glanced ahead at Darc, and her face sobered as she moved her little legs as fast as she could.
Trey followed along behind, apologizing as he went along to all the people Darc had left in his wake. “Sorry, folks… Sorry… Brilliant detective with Asperger’s… Nothing to see here… Sorry….”
He picked up the pace, reaching out for Janey’s hand.
Something about what had happened when Janey got out of the car sat wrong with Trey. He understood her reaction. Hell, Darc was even scaring him a little these days. But Janey should be able to respond like a kid to something fun like a fair. Not have to look at the whole thing like a crime scene.
Because that was exactly what she was doing right now. Scanning the crowd, analyzing the people, the ground, the whole environment. It was a look Trey knew intimately. He’d seen it on his partner’s face just about every day since they’d started working together.
Janey was smart enough that sometimes Trey didn’t quite see her as a child. More like a little person who didn’t talk. But she was young. Young. The teddy bear clutched in her fist gave evidence to that.
“Darc,” he called out. “Wait up.”
But the bald detective kept going. Wherever his final destination lay, he didn’t feel it necessary to share with Trey or Janey.
At least this time Trey could know that it had nothing to do with him. He might wonder occasionally if Darc cared about him one way or the other. But he knew beyond reason that his partner loved Janey. And if he was treating even his favorite little girl this way, there was something big on his mind.
After they passed through the fairway at a breakneck pace, Trey saw where they seemed to be heading. The stockyards, where all the animals were housed, awaiting judgment for the various prizes handed out at the fair.
Why in the world were they headed there?
Trey wanted to shout the question out but stopped himself before the words escaped. He could figure this out, right? There was no reason a detective with the Seattle PD couldn’t put together a few clues.
Darc had mentioned the plagues of Egypt. Trey threw his mind back to his Catholic school experience. To be honest, he’d blocked out a good portion of it.
But he had always loved the stories about Joseph and the pharaoh. All the fire raining down from the sky and stuff. But that was still a ways off, as far as the killings went, right?
What came next? He’d remembered the flies… that had turned out to be wild dogs. Who could’ve seen that coming?
Darc. Darc had seen that coming.
But what was the next plague? Something about disease, wasn’t it?
Passing by the first animal stall, the calf within jogged his memory.
Livestock.
The next plague was the death of livestock.
Trey looked around at all the animals there in the stocks.
This did not bode well.
CHAPTER 11
Near misses, every single of them. This shouldn’t be possible. The Servant of the Master felt the need to pull out massive chunks of hair.
Mala, escaped and out of the hospital, then found once more on a bus, then vanished again. It was as if she realized that she was being followed.
But how could she? It’s not like she could have recognized her pursuers. Those who waited on the Master’s pleasure were legion. The network was spread wide, but remained surprisingly thick. When the Servant had been introduced to the breadth and scope of the Master’s ties, it had been a revelation.
Something about that woman defied easy explanation. Every time there was an expectation of how Mala might behave, she stepped outside of that box.
Even with the expanded respect the Servant now afforded her, Mala continued to beat the odds. There should have been no way for her to escape the trap laid for her there at the hospital. Many favors had been called in to do away with the guards protecting her.
When it was clear that Mala would manage to leave the hospital, the choice had been made to allow her to do so. To then keep an eye on her from a distance.
That had not worked.
Now she was in the wind once more. She shouldn’t even have been able to walk. Not with her recent surgery and the amount of drugs the Master’s inside plant had continued to pump into her.
There were those to whom Doctor Charan could be expected to reach out, and agents had been placed at each possible point of contact. But so far, there had been nothing. No sign of any contact.
The Master had Mala’s cell phone, and while there had been multiple text messages and a few calls, all had seemed related to her surgery. No one seemed to know she was even missing.
The two detectives had to have realized by now. If not because of an alert from the police department, then definitely from the bodies left behind at the last crime scene.
But rather than chase Mala down, as had been anticipated, they had rushed off toward the next area of attack. Plans had been thrown into motion last minute. A rush job.
That never made the Master happy.
Now, at least, there were traps laid in plenty for the detectives. The fact that the girl had gone along for the ride was unfortunate, but perhaps was for the best. Her attachment to the bald detective was well known, as was all the trauma she had gone through since the beginning. She never should have survived Father John.
It was time for the girl to stop suffering.
The Servant pushed down the emotion that surged up to the surface with that thought. This was just another part of the plan that needed doing. That was all.
The pain caused in the process was an unfortunate necessity.
* * *
Janey was getting tired of Popeye’s complaining. When he said something about the pigs’ smell for the seventh time, she accidentally let his head whack against one of the metal posts of one of the stocks as they passed by.
He accused her of doing it on purpose, but Janey was too busy watching what Darc was doing to pay much heed. If Popeye didn’t like it, maybe he should be nicer.
The bald detective was peering into one of the stalls, looking at a young colt that leaned up against its mother. Both the animals seemed sleepy, like they couldn’t really be bothered to pay much attention to what was going on around them.
“Who is the owner of these animals?” Darc called out to the crowd who surrounded them. “I must speak with him immediately.”
“They left this morning,” said a stocky man dressed in faded blue jeans and cowboy boots.
He rolled toward them with a rolling stride that made Janey think of a galloping horse. No, not galloping. What was that other one called? Canter. That’s what it looked like when this man moved.
Standing in front of Darc, the man leaned to one side and spat a stream of brown-looking spit at the ground. It was then that Janey noticed that he seemed to have something stuck between his bottom lip and his gums.
“Will they return soon?” Trey asked, stepping up to Darc’s side. “It’s important.”
“What’s so important?” the man asked. “Ain’t like the horses are going anywhere, you know?”
“They will die within minutes,” Darc said, looking at the other stalls around them. “As will at least half the animals in these stockyards.”
“The hell you say,” the cowboy-looking man said, sp
itting again before looking Darc in the eye. “A fair number of these animals is mine. You saying I don’t know how to care for ‘em?”
Darc pushed the man out of the way, not listening as the cowboy man casually swore at his retreating back. He was using words that Popeye said all the time. Then the man glanced down and saw Janey.
“Sorry, missy. You shouldn’t have to hear language like that.”
Janey shrugged at the man. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard it before. Then she grabbed Trey’s hand as they pushed on after Darc. From behind, there was a sharp inhale, and when Janey looked back, she saw that both the horses had collapsed onto the dirt.
“Son of a bitch, if that asshole wasn’t right,” the man muttered, rubbing at his forehead with a dirty hand. “Maybe I should call in the vet…”
But then Janey and Trey were further along, out of hearing range of the poor man and his ailing animals. Up ahead, there were the sounds of screams. Janey had no idea where Darc was going for sure, but she knew it was for something important.
And all she could do was try to keep up.
* * *
Darc scanned the area ahead, seeking the optimal pathway to move forward with the least amount of resistance from the crowd. The route opened up in a thread of green light that lit his way, the green ribbon limned in black.
The exclamations of surprise and irritation from those he passed were irrelevant. Based off the cries of anguish and alarm, the next plague had already struck, and Darc intended to be there to discern the next step.
In the back of his mind, a red and pulsing string of logic-light kept time with metronome precision. Each throb of the information was another second that had passed without further news of Mala.
The black streaks that propped up Darc’s inner workings spoke of dark things, of torture and fear and pain and death. Their reasoning appeared sound, but some spark of silver within kept Darc’s thoughts from turning unrelentingly bleak.
She was injured, and there was no way of knowing for sure if she had been captured or had intentionally escaped. The fact that the guards had been slaughtered spoke strongly to the first scenario, but Mala had proven her resourcefulness in the past.
The 2nd Cycle of the Darc Murders Omnibus (the acclaimed series from #1 Police Procedural and Hard Boiled authors Carolyn McCray and Ben Hopkin) Page 63