Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus)

by James Litherland

  The man certainly liked giving orders. Anthony grinned at him. “Sure. I’ve been up all night. But I need to brief Officer Courdray when she gets in this morning so she can continue working the case after Kirkland and Mori go home. Maybe then I’ll be able to take a little nap.”

  “Since she doesn’t start until eight, you ought to be able to get in a little nap right now.”

  Anthony shook his head. “If I were to lie down on my office couch right now, I’d probably sleep the day away.”

  He gave Ken a parting nod and sailed out of the room. He was still steady on his feet. But he found a surprise waiting for him at the entrance.

  Sgt. Rose stood in the doorway blocking Officer Courdray from coming through. Lisa stood outside with her hands on her hips and looking like she had just crawled out of bed. Which given the early hour, she probably had.

  The sergeant opened his mouth but never had a chance to speak—Lisa had immediately transferred her glare from him to her boss and begun complaining. “Why didn’t you call me last night? I had to see the alert waiting with my messages when I woke. I hurried down here but now I can’t get in.”

  Anthony waved the sergeant off and stepped in to face his surly subordinate. “You needed to rest—you’re going to have a long day today.” He grabbed her arm and hustled her away from the door, out to the street where he’d parked the cart in the middle of the night. She must’ve taken the tram here, after dropping Joey off at the Care Center, presumably.

  Lisa shook off his arm but kept walking toward the cart with him. “This is my case, and a big development, and you didn’t bother to wake me up to let me know what was going on?”

  Anthony clenched his jaw to control his flash of irritation. “The poisoning is your case. This is murder, and it’s too big for you to handle alone. It probably is related to the poisoning, so I’ll want to have you running point—but I’m in charge now, and I’ve got Kirkland and Mori conducting the initial collection of evidence for the murder itself.”

  “Who was murdered? The message didn’t say?”

  “Crystal. And you can hear all about it from Susan when she picks you up. I need you alert. So I’m taking you back home so you can get ready for the day properly—I advise a solid breakfast and a lot of coffee.”

  Lisa shook her head. “Susan?”

  Anthony smiled as he maneuvered her into the passenger seat. “You’re not awake yet. Remember asking for a new partner? Susan was with me when we responded last night, and she knows the fundamentals of the case. If there’s anything she doesn’t know, you can find out from Officers Kirkland and Mori. Since you’re in such a rush to get started, I’ll have Susan come by your house and pick you up to take you to the scene, and she can fill in the details on the way. In an hour. That will give you plenty of time to get ready.”

  She turned and squinted at him. “I thought you didn’t approve of pairing two female officers together? It’s always one man and one woman.”

  Anthony grinned. “You’ve got your conclusion backward. As long as I have enough female officers for it, I prefer not to partner two male officers.”

  “Oh.” Lisa turned back to watch the road zoom past for a while. When she spoke again, her admission came in a peculiar tone. “I’m sorry for rushing down to the scene, Chief. A security officer should get plenty of rest, not run themselves ragged.”

  “Indeed. Zeal for the job is admirable, but it is important that we be operating at one hundred percent. Else we’re likely to do more harm than good.”

  She turned her head again to give him a strange look before taking a deep breath and starting again. “More blackouts again last night, upsetting my kid and disturbing my sleep.” She might’ve said more, but she was stopped by the need to yawn.

  “We’re still working on it—at least, Ben is. And that first blackout last night complicates the investigation. You’ll understand how when Susan explains everything.”

  “Maybe you’d better start filling me in now, so I’m not too far behind.”

  Anthony wheeled the cart down the residential street Lisa’s little house sat on. “You’re hardly alert enough to consider all the complications. Suffice it to say, Crystal was shot in the cafeteria kitchen, by someone she knew and had let in, but there doesn’t appear to be anyone that could’ve done it.”

  Lisa blinked a few times and then squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment. While she was doing that, Anthony glided the cart up the pathway to her front door and stopped the cart.

  She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Susan is a relatively new officer.”

  Anthony nodded. “But she’s got a good head on her shoulders. You’ll probably find her much more helpful than you found me, and she’s completely reliable. Wake up first. Then when she comes to pick you up, the two of you can talk over the case.”

  “I do need to get some coffee in me before I try to work this. Send her over now, and she can fill me in while I’m waking up.”

  He shook his head at her. “Officer Wellman was working the case with me until almost two. Let her get a little rest as well. I’ll send her over in an hour. I trust you can be fully alert and ready by then?”

  “Yes, sir.” Lisa climbed out of the cart and gave him a half-hearted salute.

  She disappeared into her house while Anthony backed slowly down to the street. Once he made it to the office he could now get that nap he needed. If he could sleep. Perhaps he’d stop by the north gate first and see if there was any news of Kat.

  Chapter 12

  Shifting Winds

  2:35 p.m. Monday, March 3rd

  LISA sighed as she settled back into the passenger seat and let Susan pull away from the Roses’ to head down the quiet residential street. With most people at work or school, only a few stay-at-home spouses remained. And they all seemed to be inside, cleaning or something. Like Mrs. Rose.

  Susan drove along at a modest even pace, as she had all day, and Lisa thought about asking her if she could drive any faster. But if she did that, her new partner might hit the accelerator right away. And at least for the moment, Lisa appreciated having time to consider the case and the various interviews they had been conducting all day long.

  Lisa glanced over at the woman at the wheel. “I need more coffee.” It had been a long day and gotten quite warm this afternoon, but in the office air-conditioning, she could appreciate that coffee. And she did need it to keep going.

  Susan nodded without taking her eyes from the road. “Then I should head back to the office.” And of course they’d already been headed in that direction.

  “At least there’s a bit of a breeze now.”

  “It’s blowing in off the bay. It’ll probably bring us a storm later.”

  Lisa sniffed. “A brief respite from the rain and then it will feel even more humid. Still, it might be enough to dampen the passions of any hot-heads.”

  Susan turned off onto the main circle that traveled between the regular residential section and the central ring of the compound. Up ahead on the left was the Community Hall—but if they’d begun preparing for tonight’s meeting, there was no sign of it yet. Everything looked quiet and peaceful, but that would change.

  Lisa squinted at the windshield. “It was disappointing enough that we couldn’t completely eliminate Sgt. Rose from suspicion, but I can’t believe we had to learn about tonight’s meeting from his wife. The chief or somebody should’ve told us.”

  Susan nodded. “Indeed.”

  Lisa felt her jaw clench. “Although it shouldn’t have been a surprise, the way things have been leaking out all day. Of course, by the end of yesterday it seemed the entire kitchen staff and the guards knew all about the poisoning so that was bound to get out. But since the kitchen is still being processed, they’d no choice but to cancel today’s meal services. They had to tell the cafeteria workers to stay home, sure. But no one had to tell them why.”

  Susan nodded. “People talk.”

  “Far too much. And murder makes
a hot topic for wagging tongues. Even Sgt. Rose called home to tell his wife what was going on. Of course now they have to hold a community meeting to tell everyone what they’ll already know by then. And then there’ll be nothing for them to do but argue.”

  Susan nodded. “I suppose so.”

  Lisa sighed. “There was no urgent need to talk with Mrs. Rose. Or Mrs. Hudson. But we’d already interviewed the most important subjects. And since we were in that area anyway, we might as well have seen if we could knock either or both off our list.”

  “But we couldn’t.”

  “No, unfortunately neither had a cast-iron alibi, but at least we can keep them both at the bottom of the suspect list. Mrs. Hudson has everything to lose from what’s been happening. And she’s sweet.” She had fed them home-made cookies and pie.

  Susan nodded. “She likes her work.”

  Lisa glanced back at the Community Hall passing away behind them and then ahead to the squat diamond shape of Security HQ. “And the Roses are the stereotypical suburban family with two teenage kids, a dog and a nice, big new home. Not really the profile of a traitor, but you never know.”

  “True.”

  “And there’s not that much left for us to do, not until we get the results from the ballistics tests.”

  “But Michelle went off duty at noon.”

  Lisa frowned. “I know. Until she finishes those tests, I won’t get my weapon back.” Arriving back at the crime scene this morning, Lisa had been forced to turn her handgun over to Officer Mori. It wasn’t fair. The newer officers like Susan were still getting accustomed to wearing weapons, but Lisa was used to carrying. Without a gun she felt naked.

  Glancing down at the flares of Susan’s pant legs which concealed the woman’s own weapon tempted Lisa to ask to borrow it. But guns were very personal, and her new partner might not give it up. “Why are you wearing yours in an ankle holster?”

  Susan shook her head. “It’s the most comfortable. And I don’t like people knowing I have a gun.”

  Lisa sighed again. These rookies didn’t seem to understand that the mere sight of a weapon would often help control a difficult situation.

  Feeling like she was starting to get cranky, Lisa knew she needed another mug of coffee. “Anyway, those test results will either make our job very simple, or a lot harder. And since we can’t expect them until tomorrow morning at the earliest, there’s not much we can do now.”

  Susan pulled the cart up next to the side of the building and parked. “We can take a break.”

  Climbing out of the cart, Lisa stretched. “That’s exactly what we’re doing. We might as well enjoy it while we can. Although we should probably talk the case through while we’re relaxing.”

  Susan blinked back at her but didn’t say a word. Lisa unlocked the secured door and strode down to the break room, making straight for what remained in the pot, not caring if it was stale. After she’d sat down and started sipping, Susan came in and began making a fresh pot.

  She leaned against the counter while it brewed. “So, if Sgt. Rose and Mrs. Hudson are at the bottom of the suspect list—who’s at the top?”

  Lisa shook her head. “That’s a good question. I wish I had a prime suspect to focus on like with the poisoning. Now she’s dead and left me without any good ideas who killed her.”

  “Crystal?”

  “Yes. I think she poisoned the guards and it got her killed. But that doesn’t tell me the who.”

  Susan turned around to pour coffee for herself. “David said he thought she knew something dangerous and was killed to keep her from talking.”

  Lisa took another sip before answering. “David believes she witnessed something—I don’t. She was in this up to her naturally blonde eyebrows, but I do think someone wanted to silence her. The problem with conspiracies is that someone always talks. She could’ve become a liability. But that doesn’t help us figure out who wanted her dead.”

  Susan brought her own mug and sat down next to Lisa. “So David was right to think she had something to tell him?”

  “It makes sense.” She took a long swig of coffee before she continued. “But remember, David’s not only not a detective, he’s a suspect.”

  Susan raised her eyebrows. “David?”

  Lisa nodded. “I don’t believe he’s the killer, but we have to go by the evidence. As it is, we only have his word for a lot of what he told us. When he went to the cafeteria at the start of his break, did he really knock and get no reply? For all we know she let him in and he killed her.”

  “Someone might’ve seen him enter.”

  “But no one did. And after he shot her he could have closed the door behind him and then pounded on it for a while, calling out—hoping someone saw.”

  “But the shot came later.”

  Lisa squinted into the distance as she looked at what they knew of last night’s events. “We have no independent evidence that’s when she was killed—the sound of the shot could’ve been faked. The only purpose for anyone to do that would’ve been to create an alibi. Which would mean one of the four who were together when the ‘shot’ was heard, including David.”

  Susan blinked. “But you don’t think it’s him.”

  “No, but even if we ignore David as a possibility that still leaves us with three other suspects and no way to choose among them. And that’s only if that’s the correct scenario explaining how she was killed. There’s one other. But that opens up a whole other can of worms.”

  “Two scenarios? What’s the second?”

  Lisa almost smiled. She liked having a partner who listened. “That one of the people with security access let the murderer into the Guard HQ. Which could’ve been almost anyone in the community, at least anyone with a nine-millimeter handgun. And at any time—though the longer some unknown person might’ve been in the building, the more chance they could’ve been discovered. So we’ll concentrate on the afternoon and early evening.”

  She paused at that point as Ben walked into the break room, nodding at each woman in turn. Then he shuffled over to the cupboards.

  Susan took the opportunity to methodically sip on her coffee. Lisa downed the rest of hers and got up to refill with the fresh stuff. “Trainee Laskey, are you taking a break already? You came in just before one, didn’t you?”

  Ben turned from rifling through the cupboards to blink at her. “I came in early, and I’ve worked up an appetite.”

  Lisa set her newly filled mug back on the table and reached into her purse to pull out a plastic evidence bag. “Well, I’ve got some more work for you, so you’d better stock up on snacks.” She thrust the bag into his outstretched hand. “That’s the victim’s FURCS pad. It looks like she’d turned it on just before she was killed but never sent anything. Maybe she never had the chance, but I was hoping you’d be able to figure out who she was trying call. Or if you can’t do that, at least you should be able to look up her history and find out who she’d been calling.”

  “I can take a look and see.” Ben tried to push up the glasses he no longer wore, then blushed.

  “Thanks, I appreciate it.” She sat back down to take a sip of her coffee while it was hot, then spoke to his back as he’d returned to searching for snacks. “And since you’re here, can you confirm something for me?”

  He turned back around and paused, his hand in mid-air. “Confirm what?”

  “If one of the people who had access to override the secured locks at the Guard HQ let someone else into the building, that person could’ve easily gotten out of the building after the murder—during one of the blackouts?”

  Ben stared at her. “Certainly. While the system was rebooting. For safety, the lockdown disengages for those thirty-nine seconds.”

  Lisa looked across the table at Susan. “So our hypothetical killer, the one somebody let in, would have had ample opportunity to escape undetected.”

  Her partner nodded in between sips of coffee. But Ben was shaking his head.

  Forcing herse
lf not to glare at the boy, Lisa still had to ask. “Didn’t you just confirm that for me?”

  He blushed again. “Sorry, I was just thinking of an exception to your premise.”

  “What do you mean by an exception?”

  Ben blinked at her. “It wouldn’t have had to be one of the people with access. Anyone who understood what happened when the blackouts occurred and was inside the building—they could have taken advantage to let someone in.”

  Lisa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I have to thank you for pointing that out for us, Ben.”

  She waited while Ben grabbed an array of supplies and only opened her eyes again as she heard him shuffling back out of the room.

  Susan looked at her with dismay. “That means we look at everyone who was in the building?”

  Lisa shook her head. “The blackout right after the supposed shot was heard was the first since the night before. It’s unlikely somebody had been hiding in the building that long. Though eventually it may come to considering that, let’s start by looking through the logs Ben compiled and see who opened and closed what doors during yesterday afternoon and evening. Like I said before.”

  Susan set her mug down on the table. “But how do we figure out from that who might’ve let anyone in they shouldn’t have?”

  “Painstakingly. Every time somebody overrode one of the locks was supposedly for a legitimate reason. So we ask those people to explain the reasons and then check to confirm their stories.”

  Her partner sighed. “I suppose there’s nothing else we can do until we get those ballistic reports.”

  Lisa took a long swig of her rapidly cooling coffee. “There is something else we can do. We can go back to the scene and scour it for clues.”

  “Kirkland and Mori searched the scene, didn’t they?”

  “They went over the cafeteria looking for clues related to the murder itself. We’d be going through the entire building. Whether an unknown killer was hiding in there or one of those four faked the sound of the shot, there should be some evidence of what actually happened. Somewhere.”