Not overly emotional, Dr. Pike had thought of Lillian Carver as a liability, a distraction for Dr. Edwards. Agent King said that he was right, Dr. Edwards had wanted to convert Dr. Carver. She quoted him as yelling that they had 'perfected it,' obviously regarding the Turning process and that he had planned on her joining the "Family," so they could be together.
Vance Pike had succumbed to his wounds, dying from trauma and blood loss while Stephen Edwards had quieted. Agent King had said he looked almost in shock that Pike was dead, and had finally looked around to see his house on fire, the lab nearly ruined and the officers pointing guns at him. At least one officer had found someone with Slivers, who had shot at the doctor but merely grazed him. That's when Sebastian had stepped from the night to corral the still agitated doctor.
If it hadn't been for Fitz and Montgomery yelling that Sebastian and his seconds were 'with them', than the jumpy officers might have fired a few more Sliver rounds at the new arrivals. It appeared that Montgomery was a little more accepting of the Vampyre Investigator's involvement, having saved him the trouble of a silver bullet and the favor then being reciprocated by Sebastian saving him from being squashed under a tree. From what Fitz could figure, he guessed that the gas tank on the barbeque had been heated enough by the fire that the gasket blew and caused the explosion. In any case it had been a long day and was looking to be an even longer night for everyone involved.
Room 420: Lakewood Memorial Hospital. Lakewood, WA 7:15am PST.
Regardless of being in the middle of the investigation and the increase in work load and pressure, Persephonii made time to visit Chase the next morning. Kyr dropped by the precinct to pick her up, they pulled into Chase's favorite burger joint, grabbed him and the family some food and headed to the hospital. Kyr's large work truck smelled like a fast food joint. It was odd to have burgers for breakfast, but it had been Chase's request. So, arms loaded with bags and balancing drinks, they made their way to Chase's room.
The diagnosis was a severe concussion along with two fractured ribs and a broken left hand. He would be under observation for a few more days, then released. Kyr and Simon, his youngest brother, had sat with Chase keeping him company once he awoke. Chase was clearly grateful that Persephonii had called someone to be there, and understood that she would be even more busy now. He seemed both relieved and agitated to be out of the investigation for the time. Persephonii urged him to take some time off, Dr. Carver's death had hit him hard, that along with his injuries, he needed time to heal.
Sitting eating their burger breakfast, Chase recounted the events coming around the house and heading straight for the fight in the pool house.
"I could hear yelling... coming from the back... crashing... screaming voices." The retelling was stilted, coming in spurts as he talked with Percy. She hadn't said how stupid it was, or berated him for going in alone. Instead, she'd looked at her friend and partner, seeing a man who had been through a great deal lately; they all had.
"I thought I had heard a woman yelling...so I headed around the side of the pool house looking for a back or side door... I found it standing open... by then the fight had moved out of the lab and into the office area." He paused to take a drink, his throat feeling suddenly dry.
"She was already dead by the time I got there." It was said so softly as if on a breath, that even sitting, facing the foot of the medical bed Persephonii's super hearing could barely pick it up.
Chase said he had been checking Dr. Carver's body looking for a pulse, when he'd turned her to find her throat cut. Shocked and appalled, he'd barely turned back toward the door when he had been hit over the head. He was sure his assailant was neither Dr. Pike nor Dr. Edwards as the fight was clearly progressing out near the front of the pool house. He'd been hit over the head, even then he'd been dazed and hurt but tried to fight off his attacker. Who had then stepped on his hand as he'd tried to pull up his gun, then kicked him in the ribs for good measure. The kick had caused him to finally black out from the pain.
It was hard discussing the incident, she could tell from his eyes, wandering around the room not really settling on anything that he was still in shock. Giving comfort in these situations was something she always had trouble with. In times like these, she usually relied on Madison to calm and talk to the victim's families. She'd called Madison to let her know about Chase, but the M.E. was even more swamped than the investigators with the bodies from the Music Hall and the doctor's house. She'd sent Chase her well wishes, but wouldn't be leaving the lab anytime soon.
"Dr. Carver was smart, and knew things weren't adding up...." She started in an attempt to comfort Chase.
"And it cost her, her life." Not sure if she was starting on the right foot, Chase's rebuttal was argumentative, but true.
"Yes. She more than likely knew danger awaited for her, going into the house. But Chase, her death was not your fault..not her fault. She wanted to know the truth, to know what happened. " Persephonii paused, groping for words, for truth. "You said yourself she needed to see this thing to the end, so she could move on." It was a small concession to their earlier talk. Persephonii had agreed with the sentiment when Chase had said she needed time. It was difficult now to throw it back in his face.
"Sometimes not knowing is better. Sometime knowing costs more than we can give." Clearly, he was talking about more than just Dr. Carver's choices. She understood the doctor's need to know who, to know why.
Uncertainty.... the unknown often lead to fear. It was a choice she made daily to move forward searching out answers, knowing that they could be more deadly, more burdensome, than not knowing. Chase had been opening up to the young doctor, something she had yet to see these last couple of years, not since his last 'real' relationship. They rarely talked about their lost loves, Claire or.....Rainer, but the two had bonded over their losses, their shared grief. It had been a surprise to see Chase's reaction to Lillian Carver, a good, but unexpected surprise. It meant at least one of them was moving on, or so she had thought. But once again tragedy had struck. The cost of opening up to someone, the vulnerability of letting someone in was high. Chase was now wondering if it had been worth it. She couldn't help but agree.
Chapter 23: Sire:
The next level of hierarchical titles, above Maker. A Sire is the name given to a Maker's Maker. It denotes a generational position and usually used to describe one's own linage, as in "My Maker's Sire.....'
With Dr. Pike clearly in league with both Dr. Edwards and the Rogue Maker, the avenue for investigation was blown wide open. Persephonii now found herself with every resource available to her. Colton had a team of Agents scouring his home and work areas. Once again their progress was thwarted by ridiculous amounts of paper and information. With time of the essence, teams were skimming documents and then scanning. Anything even remotely relevant was fast tracked to the algorithm, while Agents looked into the personal lives of Dr. Edwards, Pike and even Dr. Carver.
Chase's mysterious attacker had yet to be identified, but from his recounting they might very well be looking for a female accomplice. Given the fact that 'live' witnesses were scarce, once Chase was released from the hospital, he decided to try and narrow do the suspects for his attacker. It kept him busy and at a desk, both things Persephonii liked.
Edwards' home and private lab were combat zones after the fight and fire. The whole scene would need some serious time to unravel, time they didn't have. Sebastian and his Kiss were scouring the local towns, all the way up to Seattle and down to Olympia to locate Anton. If he was still in the area, they would find him.
Even from their previous research, there was a certain sense that the two doctors were pushing the experiments, testing the limits of the supernatural and medicine all while the Maker continued with his own agenda. All three equally to blame, but with Pike and Edwards dead, there were little to no leads outside of the search for the accomplice and most importantly, Anton. Once again the paper work, a vast paper trail of requests and personal notes w
ere their way into finding the Rogue. It now looked like the algorithm was going to have a few more days of work ahead of it.
Computer Room; P.P.D Lakewood, WA. 10:45am PST.
"Results from Blake Paper search: Over five thousand sheets of paper scanned. Nearly 252 hours of scanning and calculating..." The tech droned through the numbers, stating figures and starting the day off with drudgery.
At the P.P.D, the meeting for the paper scans was surprisingly sparse. It appeared Agent Savage had less time or interest in the case than even Colton had thought, as he kept a wary eye on the door. He had expected the senior agent to be sitting front and center given all the hype and pressure from Savage's earlier statements. It was almost anticlimactic to see him absent.
"The files indicate a small private clinic was using different medical supply companies to do business. The clinic was backed by a new business, whose freshly minted license was among the papers from inside the safe." Agent King took over from the tech, moving on to the pertinent information.
It seemed that Mr. Blake was funneling small amounts of money from all of his Vampyre client's accounts. Even the personal ones into two separate accounts. The main bank statements were for the new business which had its own account and from which the money for the orders for the new synthetic blood, and medical equipment had been either withdrawn in cash or cashier's checks. As they went through the information, the tech pulled up different images of the scanned papers.
"How do we know for sure?" Colton, was standing near the screen skimming the ledger for the accounts.
"The withdrawals are the exact, or nearly exact amount of money for the payments, plus whatever fee to make the money orders. Each withdrawal date is no more than two days ahead of the payment and corresponds with each purchase of either a money order used or even a loaded visa card bought for some of the supplies purchased online." Another tech who was clearly deep into the paperwork, spoke up from a side table.
"We're seeing similar orders in paperwork from Dr. Edwards office and lab." Agent King had been monitoring the crime scene. It appeared the young Agent felt her superior was severely underestimating the work Persephonii and her 'team' were doing and had joined their ranks in support.
A monitor in the corner played the local news channels who were covering the Music Hall. Studwick had agreed with Persephonii and Sebastian that keeping a tight lid on the doctor's death would allow the investigation more time to find the Rogue without him going 'into the wind'.
No one was paying the news reels much attention as the P.P.D and F.B.I had issued a joint statement giving condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and wounded in the attacks. The rather vanilla statement assured the people that everything was being done to search out and apprehend the Rogue Maker and asked for anyone with information to call the information hotline Agent Savage had set up to field incoming tips. So far they'd gotten quite a few calls berating them for not catching this killer sooner, with tips from people saying they thought their neighbors or family members had been Turned or could be the Rogue. Agents took turns fielding calls and chasing down leads. In everyone's opinion it was a waste of time, but on the off chance that one tip out of a thousand lead to something conclusive, they had to keep the lines open.
"We go now to an unscheduled media conference with an update from Agent Savage, in charge of the Fisher case and the Task Force hunting the Rogue Maker." Heads quickly turned toward the monitor as Agent King turned up the volume. Even the tech who had not slowed down with the briefing turned to hear the news anchor.
The cameras focused on a building, from what she could make out of the back ground, pillars and grey stone, it appeared to be outside the music hall. Agent Savage stood proudly in his three piece suit with Parker at his elbow.
"You've got to be shitting me!" Montgomery was clearly ready to maim the Agent, Colton looked like he would not be far behind him.
"There was to be no additional statements and media coverage was to be kept to a minimum... A MINIMUM..so what in God's name is he doing?" Studwick could be heard down the hall yelling, from the echo most likely at the television monitor in the break room.
"We've had a break in the Rogue Maker case. The F.B.I Task Force assigned to the case has discovered a link between the Rogue and these 'Chyldren'. We are searching high and low to ferret out all contacts, new and old." Savage paused to look intently into the camera.
"As Sun Tzu said: 'If your quarry runs to ground, give it no ground to run to.' And we mean to leave him no quarter in which to turn, no ally in whom he can trust, no hole in which to hide." It was a bold statement, a declaration of intent, even of war. But they'd already been fighting in the trenches and were still far away from catching the Rogue. Enough so, Agent Savage's statement seemed a ploy at regaining the public's confidence. Persephonii knew that cases like these could be a career maker. But Savage's bid for distinction had started to crumble within the first few months. If he was trying to reclaim his standing this late in the game, he was barking up the wrong tree.
"Does he mean to intimidate the bastard or merely piss him off?" Agent King looked rather aghast at the whole media show. And it definitely was a show. At this point the Maker already knew that the Task Force was assigned to track him down, Agent Savage had recently added the House Investigator to the list of those on the hunt. But no direct issue of warning had been made, as the Rogue had never made a statement of his own. This looked bad for all of them. Agent Savage had just upped their time table, effectively eliminating any time they had gained by keeping the doctors' deaths quiet.
Agent Savage had officially given the Rogue Maker and his cohorts advanced warning. They would either stay and fight or leave town quickly. At this point, it was a coin toss away from being either-or.
Persephonii shot Sebastian a quick text, sure that he hadn't seen the news coverage yet.
A. Savage; media coverage about Edwards. Hinted at Anton. Time table moved up. Anton flight risk? Do you need anything? Please update.
It was all she could really think to say. Sebastian and his team had immediately left Dr. Edwards' home to search out Anton, using the last of the night to make some headway. Persephonii had heard them talk about Seattle and Olympia. They'd started at the local areas but could have been up and down the coast by then. The cloud cover would allow the older Vampyres to stay out later, this gave the Kiss more travel time, but also left them far from the safety of the group or their Safe Haven.
Deciding that they still had to finish with Mr. Blake's paperwork, and what information the techs had gathered so far from the doctor's lab, they continued hashing out their next steps. All that could be done with the current evidence and information was being done. The Kiss was hunting Anton, Colton had decided to also focus on Chase's attacker, while Fitz and Montgomery went to Ms. Lowery's house and to talk with her ex-boyfriend. Any links between where and when the Rogue had taken interest in Ms. Lowery might mean finding his current hiding spot.
Sebastian sent a text saying that he was in Seattle, and would be there for a while. But no official word yet. He was looking into dissention in the local area, but again the House of Thane was mostly gone for the time being and those he could contact didn't like to air the House's dirty laundry, especially to an Investigator.
Studwick's Office; P.P.D Lakewood, WA. 1:45pm PST.
Agent Savage's return to the Precinct was anything but welcoming. Even his own team looked put out at his antics, knowing very well it had been less than twelve hours since they had decided to put a block on the Rogue Maker's media coverage in an effort to get ahead of him.
The shouting match between Studwick and Savage would come to be legendary amongst both the F.B.I and the P.P.D, but at the moment it was just loud and unhelpful. Persephonii had been dragged into the room, she, Studwick and her team on one side with Agent Savage and Parker standing indignant on the other. Poor Fin stood stiff and resigned in the corner; Parker once again taking lead, despite any protests h
er partner had. Lane Finnegan was a decent guy. Calm, collected, he was a good investigator and had worked as a P.I before meeting Parker Vaughn. Persephonii was sure that the team had started out on equal footing, but over the last few years Parker's persona had eclipsed the quieter man. Which left him standing in the corner, as Parker basically ignored him.
"We had strong evidence and leads; it was time to send the Rogue a message." Savage's voice had quieted, but he was using the imperial 'We' to denote his authority. Something that Studwick obviously took a loathing to.
"We....WE? You sound as if you've contributed to this case. Which we all know is a bold faced lie....Ms. Waters and her team have given you every lead, every piece of evidence worth a damn and now...NOW you go and do some asinine stunt like issuing a challenge." Studwick's voice rose and fell as he let loose nearly three months worth of frustrations. It was not the time nor the place to air their grievances, but that didn't seem to stop anyone involved.
"It was a preemptive.." Parker began as she moved to Savages side, but was cut off by Studwick.
"Preemptive..try premature, Ms Vaughn. We both know it was a grab at media attention." Studwick was clearly not done giving them a talking-to.
"The public needed reassurance." Parker quickly changed tactics, trying to appease Studwick while still taking a firm stand. Persephonii was wondering if it hadn't been her idea to give the statement in the first place.
"Which we had already given them in our joint statement. Now, we have our only 'living' suspect...a flight risk thanks to you. And the possibility that the Rogue will go deep into hiding or...more likely...try to rise to the challenge and retaliate." Studwick was gesturing up and down, while pacing the length of his office. It was a rare sight, to see the usually even keel man in such a rage.
At First Sight (Persephonii Waters Book 1) Page 25