Dangerously Placed

by Nansi Kunze

  ‘We’ve found out where she was going,’ I told Senior Constable Rivers, looking around for house numbers as I followed Budi. ‘We’re in Kroeber Street, number twenty-six.’ I crept up to the concrete wall at the front of the block of apartments and peered carefully through the gate’s bars just in time to see Christina disappear into a glass-walled foyer and up a flight of stairs. ‘One of the top apartments. Hang on.’ The others had clustered around me. We watched with bated breath for a sign that Christina had entered one of the apartments. For a moment there was nothing, and then a light flickered on in one of the windows. ‘The first floor, left apartment as you’re looking at them from the street,’ I told Rivers.

  ‘I can see it on the map. A patrol car will be there in a couple of minutes, and I’ll let the detective sergeants know too. Just keep your distance, all right? Keep an eye open and let us know if the suspect leaves the apartment, but do not try to apprehend her. Understood?’

  ‘Understood,’ I said, and shut the phone. ‘He said we should keep watch in case she leaves,’ I told Sky and Budi, who were watching me expectantly. Ki was busy taking notes on her phone again.

  ‘Perhaps we’d be more unobtrusive in the van,’ she suggested.

  So we all squeezed back into the van. Sky moved it a little further along the street to get a better view of number twenty-six, and we watched the apartment while I filled Sky and Ki in on the events at the funeral and my suspicions about Christina.

  By the time I’d finished answering their questions about it all, more than five minutes had passed and there was still no sign of the police.

  ‘Where are those guys?’ I asked, biting a thumbnail.

  ‘Maybe there are roadworks nearby,’ suggested Sky.

  ‘Wouldn’t they know about that kind of thing?’ I glanced at the rear-vision mirror, but no one was coming from behind us, either. ‘I just can’t help feeling that Christina has something planned. When she left the memorial garden she had a kind of purposeful look.’

  ‘If only we had binoculars,’ sighed Budi.

  ‘Imbecile,’ said Ki.

  We all turned to her, startled.

  ‘I was referring to myself,’ she explained calmly, producing her phone from the folds of her black mesh skirt. ‘I should have thought of it earlier: we do have binoculars, or at least something that performs the same function.’ And holding up her phone, she switched on the camera and zoomed in on the apartment window.

  At that distance, even Ki’s steady hands couldn’t keep the image from shaking a little, but we could definitely see more. I squeezed in closer so Budi could see too. The windows had security bars across them, and in between them, we could see Christina crossing the room. She was talking on the phone. As we watched, she put the phone back on its cradle on the wall and stepped out of view. When she returned, she was dressed in jeans and t-shirt, her hair was dark again and she was carrying a large blue suitcase.

  ‘She’s making a run for it,’ I breathed.

  ‘It certainly appears so,’ agreed Ki.

  I looked around at the others.

  ‘Don’t you think we should do something?’

  ‘The police told you not to try and catch her,’ Sky reminded me.

  ‘I know.’ I started on the other thumbnail. ‘I’m just worried that if she gets away again, it’ll be for good. She was probably ringing a taxi before. What if it arrives before the police do?’

  ‘We chase her again,’ suggested Sky.

  ‘Or take the registration number and let the police chase it,’ said Budi.

  ‘Yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right.’

  There was a pause.

  ‘There is one argument counter to those ideas, however.’

  We all looked at Ki.

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘let us suppose – and I think it’s highly likely – that Alex is correct and this woman is a murderer. It then seems somewhat irresponsible of us to allow her to continue to interact with society. Suppose we let her take a taxi and she injures, or even kills, the driver? Or suppose we leave the police to pursue her once she’s left in that taxi and it becomes a high-speed chase, endangering other motorists and pedestrians? It seems to me that the safest course of action would be to keep her here.’ She turned to me, putting down her phone. ‘We don’t have to apprehend her – we merely have to delay her departure.’

  I nodded.

  ‘That makes sense. But how can we hold her up for a few minutes?’

  Ki said nothing. She just turned in her seat and gazed into the back of the van, where half a dozen bouquets, carefully wrapped and slotted into identical compartments, sat perfuming the air.

  ‘Okay, Sky, remember to keep the bouquet in front of your face,’ I said as the four of us crouched by the wall. ‘She probably didn’t get much of a look at you the other night, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.’

  ‘Easy for you to say,’ muttered Sky, holding the huge bunch of roses a little higher. ‘This is a hundred and eighty dollars worth of flowers that I’ll have to pay for if anything happens to it. There’d better be one of those rewards for information leading to an arrest.’

  ‘You may be saving someone’s life,’ Ki reminded her. ‘That’s worth more than a hundred and eighty dollars, Sky.’

  ‘She’s looking at her watch,’ reported Budi, who was holding Sky’s phone, now on camera as Ki’s had been, over the top of the wall. ‘We need to hurry it up.’

  ‘Okay, here goes.’ Sky stood up and stepped over to the intercom by the side of the security gate. Then she took a deep breath and pressed the buzzer for apartment four. We couldn’t be sure which was the one Christina was in, but one and two seemed likely to be the ground floor apartments.

  There was no answer.

  ‘Try three,’ I whispered.

  Sky pressed the buzzer. There was a pause.

  ‘Yes?’ crackled a voice from the speaker.

  ‘Oh, hi! I’ve got a delivery for a Christina Wilkinson?’ said Sky brightly.

  Another pause.

  ‘She’s looking out the window,’ whispered Budi.

  Sky took a step back and looked up at the window, waving and brandishing the roses in front of her face.

  ‘I’m not expecting any deliveries,’ said the intercom voice.

  ‘Oh! Must be a secret admirer, then!’ Sky giggled. Ki raised an eyebrow at me, and I nodded. Who knew Sky would be such a good actor?

  ‘I’m sorry, but I think you must have the wrong address,’ said the voice.

  ‘Oh, no!’ Sky sounded like someone had just cancelled her birthday. ‘But it definitely says flat 3, 26 Kroeber Street. And I have five other deliveries this afternoon! Could you please take a look at them? Maybe the message will say who it’s from. It’s just, well …’ She started to sound on the verge of tears. ‘If I don’t get a successful delivery, it comes out of my pay. And these are reeeeally expensive!’

  ‘Ugh.’ There was a moment’s silence, then: ‘All right. Bring them up if you must.’

  The security gate swung open. Sky began to walk slowly towards the foyer.

  ‘She’s turning away …’ said Budi. ‘Okay, now!’

  Budi and I scuttled through the gate and into the foyer, reaching the stairs just as Sky started up them. We followed her to the top as quietly as we could. There was a walkway, open to the air like a balcony, leading from the stairwell to the apartment doors. With a glance back at us, Sky followed the next part of the plan, tugging a single red rose from the bouquet and hiding it behind her back. The door opened and we heard Christina say, ‘Well?’

  ‘Can I take these in for you? I have to get my tablet out of my pocket for you to sign for them,’ Sky said. As she stepped through the door, she let the flower drop quietly to the ground. The door creaked back into place behind her, but there was no click – the fallen rose poked out onto the doorstep, preventing the door from locking. Budi and I crept closer and I pressed my ear gently against the door.

  ‘Just put th
em down over there, please,’ we heard Christina say. ‘I’m in a bit of a hurry.’

  At that moment, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I gave Budi a triumphant smile. It was Ki’s signal that she’d intercepted the taxi. Sure enough, a moment later there was the sound of a car speeding away.

  ‘What the …’ exclaimed Christina, at the same time as Sky said, ‘Well, I’d better be going.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Christina, and suddenly her voice was hard and cold. Our cover had been blown. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘I don’t understand …’ began Sky. The door jerked open a fraction, then was slammed shut. The rose crushed in the frame, but not enough to let the lock engage. Without a second’s hesitation, Budi and I threw ourselves against the door.

  We crashed into the room, almost falling over Sky. Christina backed away with a gasp. Without the sunglasses, I could see the fear in her wide, dark eyes and the bluish stains of fatigue under them.

  ‘You?’ she breathed, though I couldn’t tell if she meant me or Budi.

  ‘It’s over, Christina,’ said Budi, taking a step towards her, but she leapt back. There were two doors to our right. She ran through the furthest one. We heard the slam of a second door a moment later.

  I helped Sky to her feet. She brushed herself down, nodding to show me she was okay.

  ‘It’s no use hiding, Christina,’ called Budi, peering cautiously around the open door Christina had run through. ‘And if you’re thinking of escaping through the window, I should tell you that we have someone watching the front entrance, and the police will be here any minute.’

  We heard nothing for a few seconds, then shuffling sounds.

  ‘I’ll come out if all of you stay back.’

  Budi looked at me. I shrugged.

  ‘We’re not going to hurt you, Christina,’ Budi began, but she interrupted.

  ‘No!’ There was a note of hysteria in her voice. ‘I don’t want anyone near me! Go and stand by the front door, all of you!’

  ‘All right!’ Budi came back to us. ‘We’re all by the front door now. Come out slowly, and make sure we can see your hands.’

  Haltingly, Christina stepped out into view, glanced around at us and stood, framed in the window we’d watched her from outside, her eyes downcast and her hands held high.

  ‘You see?’ said Budi. ‘We’re over here, you’re over there – there’s no reason for anyone to do anything stupid. We’ll just wait here calmly until the police arrive, okay?’

  Christina’s lips tightened.

  ‘I don’t seem to have any other choice, do I?’

  There was silence for a moment while we all listened for the sound of police cars drawing up, but there was nothing to be heard.

  ‘Where are those guys?’ muttered Sky.

  ‘They’ll be here,’ I whispered back. ‘They have to be close by now …’

  ‘Can I ask you something?’ said Christina suddenly.

  Budi nodded.

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘How did you … know?’ The dark eyes remained fixed on the ground, as if she couldn’t bear to look at us. ‘That it was me, I mean.’

  ‘It was me who opened the Mainframe Room door after you killed Mr Grody,’ I said. ‘When I saw you at the funeral, I realised you were the one who’d attacked me, and when Budi recognised you, I remembered seeing you in the Mainframe Room and it all made sense.’

  ‘Oh.’ Christina’s gaze flicked up, then down again. ‘I hated having to hurt you, you know.’

  Sky gave a snort of disbelief.

  ‘Really?’ I said, watching Christina carefully, remembering how dangerous she could be. ‘For someone who hated it, you did a pretty thorough job.’

  Christina shook her head.

  ‘I know it’s hard for you to believe me, but I really didn’t want to. It was the only way I could see to stop you delving further into what had happened to Grody. I never intended to do you any serious harm. I thought what I did would be enough to scare you away from Simulcorp Marketing for good.’

  So Ki had been right about that.

  ‘You weren’t far off,’ I told her.

  ‘I see you’re a little tougher than the students we had in when I worked for Simulcorp,’ she said, with a brief smile. ‘I really am sorry for what I did to you, though.’

  ‘And Pierce?’ asked Budi, softly. ‘Are you sorry for what you did to him?’

  Christina suddenly transformed. Her lips drew back into a ghastly snarl and her eyes flashed with rage, and for a moment her face looked almost like the skull she’d worn when she attacked me in AU-3.

  ‘No,’ she rasped. Then, just as quickly as it had come, her rage seemed to pass. She blinked a few times, as one coming out of a trance. ‘No, Budi,’ she repeated, in a calmer voice. ‘I’m not.’

  Budi looked shocked, but he glanced at me and I could tell what he was thinking: we should keep her talking until the police arrived. I nodded. The less chance she had to think about trying to escape or hurt us, the better.

  ‘So you remember me, then?’ asked Budi.

  ‘Of course,’ said Christina. ‘There are many things I’ve tried to forget about my time at Simulcorp, but you’re not one of them, Budi.’ Her lips curled. ‘I remember thinking the CEO had done well to recruit you. Better than some of his other choices, I must say.’

  ‘You mean Pierce?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Tell us,’ said Budi quietly. ‘Tell us why you killed him, Christina.’

  Christina gave a harsh laugh.

  ‘You wouldn’t understand.’

  ‘I think I do,’ I said. ‘Mr Grody was the man they never found, wasn’t he? The one you were with in the Mainframe Room. The one they fired you over.’

  Her head snapped up, startled.

  ‘Yes! How did you know that? I never told anyone!’

  ‘I didn’t know for certain. But I knew that Mr Grody was using a second suit to pose as another employee. When I thought about what had happened to you, I realised that he might have done it before.’

  ‘I see.’ Christina studied her hands, seeming to weigh up what I’d said. ‘Well, you’re right – he did. Evidently you know that I once worked at Virk. What Budi may not have told you,’ she went on, ‘is that at that time there was no Head of Division. In fact, the situation was much as it is now – there were two of us who were considered senior staff, just as Budi and Inge are at the moment. Oh, yes, I’ve kept an eye on you all!’ She chuckled at Budi’s gasp of surprise. ‘Back then, when Virk was very new, we were still grappling with appropriate roles and job descriptions for it all. Two of us were obvious contenders for the position of Head of Division, which rumour had it the CEO would bestow on one of us after a trial period of six months. Those two were myself and Pierce Grody.’

  She sighed.

  ‘Of course, I thought I was the smarter of the two. I thought I had business sense – never let my guard down around the competition, never shared my ideas with anyone. Especially not Pierce. Anyone could see he was as hungry for the top spot as I was, and I had an idea that was going to blow him out of the water.

  ‘And then one day someone new showed up in the office. He called himself Jamie. He was handsome, attentive … and best of all, no threat to me. He told me he was a junior in CGI. I had no reason to doubt that; the CGI guys lived in their own little world, and hardly ever came out to socialise.’ Christina smiled bitterly. ‘It never struck me that I only ever saw him when no one else was around. Before long, Jamie and I had become very close. We’d never met in realspace, but there was nothing strange about that, either – he said he lived in the States. He told me his plans for the future: sweet, unsophisticated dreams of seeing the world, buying a house, raising a family. In return I told him a little about my ideas.’ Her face hardened. ‘Like a fool, I trusted him – believed him when he admired my intellect and pretended not to understand the concepts I was dealing with. Believed him when he said that he was falling in lo
ve with me.’

  I watched her expression carefully, still conscious that she was dangerous and might try to run or attack us at any moment. But she wasn’t even looking at us. She seemed barely aware we were still there.

  ‘And then we were caught together in the Mainframe Room. I was embarrassed, of course, but Jamie – Jamie seemed terrified. He ran down the hallway and was out of the main entry before anyone could stop him. I tried to laugh it off, but when every single person in the office denied ever having seen him before, the joke became a nightmare. There was an investigation; the CEO and the members of the Board demanded that I tell them everything I knew about the man they considered an industrial spy. But I didn’t tell them anything.’ Her dark eyes took on a haunted look. ‘I wanted to protect Jamie. He’d said he loved me – I thought that was more important than anything in the world. So I lost my job, my reputation, and any chance of working in the industry again.

  ‘For weeks I sat around in a daze, sure that Jamie would own up, or at least try to contact me. When he didn’t, I tried to contact him, but there was no one by his name at the address he’d given me, and no record of anyone fitting his description at the companies he’d claimed to have worked for. I couldn’t work it out … until one day I saw a rumour on a marketing site that Pierce Grody was in negotiations with Avatar Robotics. Then it all fell into place.

  ‘It was my idea, the one Pierce used to win the Avatar contract: portable virtual projectors, complete with audio visual sensors so the holographic representations could respond to customers’ actions and commands.’ Christina raised her chin, and for a moment she was once more the haughty, confident woman I’d seen at the funeral. ‘Oh, Pierce had some technical skills, I’ll grant you that, but he’d never been able to empathise with public fears and perceptions. He knew enough to be able to develop my concepts once he’d stolen them, but he could never have come up with something like that on his own.’ Her voice dropped to a hiss. ‘He knew he could never best me in a fair competition, so he became Jamie and won by treachery instead.’

  ‘But if you knew this, why didn’t you tell anyone?’ asked Budi.

  ‘Don’t you think I tried?’ demanded Christina angrily. ‘No one would speak to me! I tried to talk to the CEO, but he thought my explanations were a cheap attempt to crawl back into his good graces. I tried calling Pierce at work, at home, but of course he wouldn’t talk to me at all. Finally I heard – only three weeks ago – that the negotiations were all but finalised with Avatar. I was desperate. I took to watching Pierce at AU-2, trying to find a time to catch him in realspace, but he was strangely stealthy about his movements – always wary when he went from his house to the Virk Room, always looking over his shoulder.’