The Remnant Keeper (Tombs Rising Book 1)
Page 14
Two dead bodies?
“Three dead,” he corrected. “He killed three people.”
It had been the generosity of the security guard at the habitat block that had saved him. He’d brought the lift back down to the security level where Growden was less interested in being seen. Despite Growden’s claims of the block being part of his patch, he didn’t yet have all the members of the security team in his pocket. Jack had little doubt that this had saved his life.
And then the police had arrived and taken him into custody.
“I’ve told you what happened,” Jack said, lifting his head and trying to ignore the accusing faces of the officers flanking the detective. A woman he hadn’t met before had been introduced as Chloe and the telepath that had been used to scan him back at his house was present. The two officers wore glum expressions, accusing. Jack couldn’t blame them. The telepath, Moira, hadn’t spoken since he’d been brought into the room, and Jack noticed she sat twisting her hands, looking at the door. He kept checking his blocking pattern was in place just in case the innocent routine was part of an act.
“Am I under arrest?” Jack looked up at Burnfield.
“You’re helping us with our enquiries.”
“I’m free to go?”
Burnfield pressed a button on his datapad and a light representation of Honey’s apartment appeared in the air between them.
“No. If you leave I’ll arrest you.” Burnfield smiled, thinly.
“Have you found her yet?” Jack sighed and stared into the middle of the light display, unable to avert his gaze from the darker shading that represented Anna’s blood.
“No.” Chloe shook her head. “But, there’s plenty of her blood in the apartment. I can’t see how she can have survived.”
“He took her body,” Jack said as much to himself as the others. “Why did he take her?”
“We don’t know,” Burnfield replied. “But, we’ll find him.”
“I’m confused, detective. I’ve given you his name, and you must have security footage from the habitat block. Why haven’t you got him already?” Jack knew he’d hit a nerve for Chloe glanced over at her superior. “What aren’t you telling me?” he pressed.
“We’ve had no matches yet for anyone with that name in the building at the same time as you. He probably gave a false name,” Burnfield said, folding his hands on the table in front of him.
“But, he was about to kill me. Why would he lie about his name?”
The detective tipped his head to the side in the tiniest gesture, and deep furrows appeared on his forehead.
“Honey tried to warn me,” Jack remembered how hostile the dead remnant keeper had been with them on their arrival. How she’d tried to get them to leave. “She knew Leech was upstairs.”
“Why didn’t she leave, or tell you?” Chloe asked.
Jack shook his head and stared at the sergeant. “She tried to tell us in her own way. He must have been listening. She lived on her own. She was vulnerable.”
“She had money issues,” Burnfield said. “We’ve got her bank statements. She’s been supporting her kids for the last thirty years pretty much single-handedly. Even though they’ve left home, she’s been giving them whatever handouts she could afford. It wouldn’t have taken much.”
“Much what?” Jack asked.
Chloe sipped at a bottle of water. “Think about it,” she said. Jack hated her tone. The implication she’d sold them out.
“She wouldn’t have done that.”
“How do you know?”
Why hadn’t she tried to communicate with him or Anna telepathically? Warned them.
“It’s about the eyes. The memory boxes. Leech could have killed me and then taken the eye, but he was being careful.”
“Do you think he’s a telepath? A remnant keeper, perhaps?”
“I sensed nothing from him. He hadn’t had the surgery. I’d have spotted the scars. He had no tattoo. Growden recognised him as a regular at the ATL meetings. Everyone there has to get past a canary on the gate. She’d have picked him out a long time ago if he was a teep.”
Moira spoke up from the side of the room. “Becoming more and more commonplace in the commercial world. If Growden’s canary was a good one, she would have detected a telepath no matter how good his blocking attempts might have been.”
Jack nodded. “So, it’s unlikely that he’d have gotten away with it for so long if he was a telepath. But, that’s nothing to do with my point about the eyes. Whatever he thinks is stored in those remnants is worth killing for.”
“What do you think is in the remnants?” Burnfield asked. He glanced at the datapad in front of him and deactivated the light show of Honey’s apartment. “Whose eyes are they?”
“OsMiTech haven’t been helpful?”
“I’ve still a couple of options open.” Burnfield smiled. “People around you are developing a habit of finding themselves dead. It can only be a matter of time before you yourself become a victim. We already know that he’s keen on that eye in your head. I think he will come back for it. Don’t you think it’s time to give it back to OsMiTech?”
Jack’s chest tightened. “I’m going in later. They can have it.”
Burnfield nodded. “Sensible.”
“But, then you’re still not getting what you need.”
“Are you prepared to tell me? Was he the same man who killed your case?”
Jack hesitated. In telling the police, he was breaking the rules on gathering remnant information. But it felt too big for him to carry single-handed. “OK,” he said. “Her name is Lavinia Wei. Her husband was Nikoli Wei.”
Burnfield glanced at Chloe and she got to her feet and hurried for the door, the message clear.
“Do you think Alexander Leech killed your wife and the Wei’s?”
“Yeah, it’s the same man.”
“Any idea why he killed the Wei’s?”
“No.” Jack hadn’t yet seen enough to form an opinion, nor was that his role in retrieving the remnants.
“You think he’s doing this to get rid of the evidence of his involvement?”
“He’s going about it in a shitty amateurish way if that’s his plan. He’s killed plenty more since the Wei’s. People are getting caught in the crossfire. You’ve been to Honey’s apartment. What about the watcher’s eyes? Or Honey’s?”
Burnfield’s forehead wrinkled. “Still intact. But, you said that Growden disturbed him.”
“Growden came running after me. When Leech came to take Lavinia’s eye from me, I’d already been out cold for several minutes. He’d have had plenty of time to destroy both Honey’s and the watcher’s. So, why didn’t he?”
“He forgot?” Burnfield shook his head as he was talking.
The door opened and Chloe returned. She waited on the threshold and coughed for Burnfield’s attention. Burnfield apologised and approached her before they both left the room together.
Jack looked across at Moira. “I’m sorry I was hard on you last time we met.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”
“I was being a dick.”
“You’d just lost your wife. I think that makes you entitled to act any way you want.” She tried a smile but it didn’t stick. “I’ve never met a keeper before.”
“Trust me, I’m nothing special.”
“No. I wasn’t thinking that. I was thinking how sad it must be—surrounded by death. For that to be the focus point of your world. Why did you ever agree to do it?”
Jack scrubbed his hand over his face, letting his fingers knead the flesh, wondering why he didn’t have a good answer for her. “OsMiTech asked.”
“Ah,” she replied, nodding her head discretely.
The detectives came back into the room and sat across the table from Jack. Chloe had a coffee in each hand and passed one over. He stared at the brown liquid with the scummy froth that implied its machine provenance.
“Nikoli Wei worked for the Department of the Regul
ation of Telepaths. He was killed last week by an intruder. His wife was already dead. The case is being handled by the Serious Crime Division and the details have been sealed until you file your report to OsMiTech and hand the eye back over.” Burnfield leaned forward. “I’m going to get the Wei’s case transferred to my team. There’s enough evidence to indicate it’s connected to your wife’s death, but before that happens I need you to give us your report. Or better still, let our telepath scan you again.”
“What makes you think it will be any different from before?”
“I want your permission to sedate you.”
Jack didn’t think he’d heard correctly. “Sedate me?”
Chloe nodded. “Whatever blocks are going on in there—”
“Whoah, I wasn’t blocking her,” Jack glanced at Moira, who shifted on her chair, looking like she’d sooner be anywhere other than in the room whilst this was going on.
“We’re not going to agree on what happened before, but at least this way we’ll know for sure,” Burnfield said. “Let us do this, Jack. It’ll get us closer to finding Leech. You want us to find him, don’t you?”
*
Two words.
Jack stared at the bloodied mess of Lavinia Wei on the kitchen floor and something rose in his stomach. Except, that was impossible. He wasn’t really here. This was just another step inside a dead woman’s memories. He should be used to this by now. Moira stood on the other side of the kitchen, looking around at the high-spec house with what he thought was an expression of appreciation on her face, avoiding the floor.
The sedative had been effective. His veins were chilled by the drug the doctor had injected him with, and it was hard to shake off the icy feeling in his body. Things were more relaxed than they had been before with none of the complications they’d experienced back at his house when Moira had first tried to join him in his memories. Burnfield knew his stuff. Jack made a mental note to assume nothing about the detective again.
Lavinia had died at the hands of Alexander Leech using the same kitchen knife she’d pulled from the block to protect herself. Her chest had been stabbed in seven places, her throat finally slit, and her eyes stared lifelessly up at the ceiling.
Moira turned away and leant against the kitchen counter for support.
Jack wanted to say he was sorry for this, but he’d just spent the best part of two hours in a police cell.
Jack took a deep breath and dove deep into the remnant. The room swished around them both before solidifying back into a bedroom. The remnant tugged at Jack like a dropping anchor but he resisted, preferring instead to keep his distance and use the perspective that time had afforded him. He didn’t want to see things again from Lavinia’s point of view.
Lavinia sat on the edge of the bed, brushing her hair whilst a man stood in the doorway, dressed in a tuxedo and bow tie.
“You’re going to be late,” she said to the man watching her.
“It doesn’t matter,” he replied.
“If it doesn’t matter, don’t go at all.” She tugged at a knot in her hair and grimaced when it finally came free.
Jack walked through the scene, looking for any clues that would help.
“I will be back in time for the party. I’m just staying to hear Devan’s speech then I’m coming home.” Nikoli stepped into the room and placed a deliberate kiss on his wife’s cheek. “I love you.”
“Love you, too,” she replied, not glancing away from her reflection in the dressing table’s mirror.
Nikoli left, and Lavinia placed down the hairbrush and sat listening for the front door to close. As soon as it did, she left the room and headed downstairs.
God, that man can be so infuriating. He thinks he can pull the wool over my eyes. I take a deep breath and wander down to the kitchen. I’m in half a mind to follow him but there’s no chance they’ll let me into the reception. Security is always extra tight when Devan puts on a show.
The wine was tasteless. The season had not been kind, but the bottle had been a gift and I wasn’t about to waste it. Nikoli had been wearing that aftershave he says he bought himself. He never wore the one I got him for his birthday. I know where this one came from—the other woman. His mistress. The tart he would see this evening. I wondered how much I cared and realised that after the initial sting of learning the truth, I actually cared very little. Nikoli was a man who liked his secrets. I had my own. As far as I was concerned, we were pretty much even.
The remnant shifted. The kitchen again—dark this time. Jack watched through Lavinia’s eyes as she moved around the room, looking for a weapon. Her heart was racing.
Footsteps downstairs now. The shadows blurred and changed position; objects I thought I knew weren’t where they should be. The house wasn’t my house. Stress and adrenaline were confusing my perspectives. I closed my eyes, refusing to trust what they told me and concentrated. Panic was costing me precious air and clouding my senses. I needed to lift that fog by giving myself a second of calm.
I heard the man’s breathing behind the mask. He was closer than I’d realised. The noise ripped shivers from my skin and I almost gave up then. Oh God, did I ever want to give up. But, I didn’t stop. I wanted to live. I reached the kitchen counter and edged my way around until I got to the drawer I needed. My hand gripped a knife, and I slid it out, holding it in front of me, wielding it like an Amazonian warrior. Six inches of sharpened steel in my possession and my whole attitude changed to one of defiance.
A noise from behind and I spun, knife out, slicing through the air.
The devil grinned. Its mask stretched over the wearer’s features in a sickening grimace. I slashed, senses on fire as I drove forward my attack, determined to force him back. But he was fast and always one step away from my blade.
My heart’s crashing against my ribs. Oh God, help me. This is punishment for not acting on Nikoli’s infidelity. With perfect irony, he was out there now with his little strumpet not having a clue that I’m in trouble.
The footsteps came from behind and I spun to face the man who’d broken into my house. What did he want? He’d been upstairs in Nikoli’s office, not in my room hunting for jewellery. As far as burglars went, he was proving himself inept.
The man in the devil mask stood immobile, two metres away. I hid
the knife I’d taken from the block in the folds of my dress by my side and edged backwards several more paces. If I could get to the back door, I might open it before he did whatever it was he wanted to do to me. Something crawled in my stomach, and I had the urge to be sick. If he lay a hand on me, I would stab him. I didn’t doubt that I could do it.
“What do you want?” I asked.
He spoke in a monotone. Emotion lost. “You’re his wife.”
“Get out of my house. He’s on his way home. The police are coming.”
“Your Butler system is down. Your HALO blanketed. No one’s coming.”
I gripped the knife handle tight, running my index finger along the blade’s length, feeling its bite. “You’ve gone to a lot of trouble.” My voice trembled and I hated myself for it. His was almost inhuman.
“Get me into his safe and I’ll let you live.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Then you’re no good to me.”
A hand gripped my knife arm. Fingers like talons curled around my flesh and I howled in pain at the burning touch. Tears ran down my cheeks as I tried to pull away but the strength in that arm was unlike anything I’d known. I twisted and yanked at my limb but it would never be enough against this man. In desperation, I stamped on his foot. He yelped, then pulled me close and spoke two words. Two words that confused me and made me hesitate.
“Help me,” he said.
I stared in terror. The intruder twisted me around so the kitchen counter was against my back, pulled at my arm to make sure I complied. Now trapped, I could do nothing as the man brought a hand up to my throat and gripped it tight, squeezing.
But, I still had the knife. I swung it through the air but he dodged and then struck my face with his fist. I fell and looked up at the man, his mask now dislodged.
“Please,” I whimpered. “I don’t want to die.”
I looked up at his cold merciless eyes and knew I was tasting my last breath.
And then something changed. His posture had softened, no longer the stance of a hunter—more of a…lost child. He put his hands to his head. “No! No more,” he shouted into the dark, daring the shadows to move. I slid away, pushing my hands on the tiles.