Outside, she had a better look at the man whose life she had just saved and gasped in surprise. It was the same policeman who had been in her house that morning. It was obvious that he knew who she was too, judging by the expression on his face.
"What are you doing here?" Aidan asked, as he greedily gulped the cleaner air.
"It looks like I came to rescue you," she said unconvincingly.
Aidan didn't understand anything. She was the white queen; she shouldn't be here unless someone had changed squares.
"How did you know I was about to be fried in there?"
"I don't know. My new house is in that building on the fourth floor. I felt like I had to enter and…"
Helen stopped in the middle of the sentence, frowned, and spun around just in time to avoid the thrust of an enormous sword. The giant blade cut through the space where she had been an instant before. It was an impressive weapon, at least five foot long, and the man holding it, a thin man with sparse brown hair, didn't look capable of lifting a sword as big as that.
The attacker made another thrust which Helen barely dodged. The steel blade cut a car in two with amazing ease.
Aidan Zack could do little more than look on. He was still dizzy from the smoke and in the back of his mind he remembered the warning about not getting involved. A few seconds later, he was stunned to see the sword go right through the centre of Helen's breast. She died a few yards from him and now he couldn't hold his fury back. His mind tried to convince him that Helen had only been a white queen but his emotions told him something else. A woman he knew had been killed in front of his eyes, and he hadn't lifted a finger to help. He stared into her killer's eyes and for an instant panic invaded him.
The man wasn't a Black. He was brown haired and didn't seem like any of the rest. What was happening? If this man wasn't a piece then his chess theory had to be flawed. But Tedd and Todd had confirmed its existence. Then he knew who the man was.
"You're Otis, aren't you? The black king."
"Do you know how the match is going?" Otis asked, hardly believing what he was hearing. "Who are you?"
"My name is Aidan. Aidan Zack."
"Ashley's husband… But what are you doing in the middle of all this? Nobody can interfere with the match. Unless…"
"Why do you want to kill Ashley?" Aidan grumbled, rising to his feet. "Because that’s what will happen if you win, isn't it?"
"Excuse me? Don't you know what losing the match means?"
Aidan suddenly realized he hadn't the slightest idea about the meaning of this strange chess match. It was obvious that it was very profitable for someone. He himself was still alive thanks to the fact that Ashley had agreed to play. But the consequences of losing the match were unknown to him.
"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"
"I cannot tell you that. It's better for you not to know. Don't get mixed up in it if you can avoid it."
"I'm already mixed up," Aidan replied. "I want to bring my wife back, that's all. You know where she is now. A chess player knows the exact positions of all the pieces at any moment. Tell me!"
"For God's sake, now I understand it all. Did Ashley know where you were at that moment?"
Aidan shrugged his shoulders.
"That's the only explanation for her moving the white queen: to rescue you from the fire."
"How do you know that?"
"I've been living on the fourth floor, I'm a chess piece, remember? And I've been in this square before. I know the place and, judging by your appearance, I am sure you have just escaped from the fire in the art gallery. I can see no other reason for Ashley to make such an absurd move. She brought the white queen here to rescue you."
"That's why you captured her." Aidan saw the trap clearly. The hand that had manipulated the extinguishers had not aimed to kill him, but to put his life in danger and force his wife to make a concrete move for an unknown reason. That was why Tedd and Todd took him out of prison. To use him for their own purpose and influence the chess match. "Had it not been for me, you wouldn't have captured the white queen. Why?"
"I am not sure yet, but somebody saved me," Otis said with a thoughtful expression. "Ashley could have put me in checkmate with one more move. I didn't understand why she hadn't done it yet, until now."
"Where is Ashley? You know. Please tell me where my wife is."
"I am sorry, I cannot," Otis said with a painful grimace. A black wheelchair, made of metal and wood and with a very high back, approached him, moving on its own. "The match is over."
He sat in the chair and disappeared, leaving Aidan alone with Helen's body.
* * * * *
CHAPTER 28
The nurse stepped back from the bed, frightened. In the last few months that she had been working for Wilfred, since he'd been diagnosed with cancer, she'd never seen him as bad as he was now.
"I told you, today there's no treatment!" Wilfred Gord shouted, pulling the drip off his arm.
"I… I'm only following the doctor's orders," the nurse stammered.
"I don't give a damn about the doctor. Everyone out of my room now, except you," he said to one of the men there. Wilfred's anger continued even with only one man in the room. "I pay you an indecent amount of money to be my personal private detective. Explain, if you can, what went wrong."
"He was on a bench seat in a park talking to a kid and an old man. But he just got up and charged off without any warning. I wasn't expecting that to happen."
"You know Aidan's impulsive at the moment. You should have been prepared for any contingency."
"I shot back to my car and I was on his tail for a few blocks. I'm a good driver, but I can tell you no one could have kept up with him. You would've had to have been a cross between a Formula 1 driver and a kamikaze pilot to keep up. He didn't respect a single sign, he went through traffic lights and stop signs, and on top of that he drove on the pavement for half a block. Check the hospitals – he must have caused a pile-up somewhere along the way."
Wilfred was impatient. "This is not helping me. I pay you to get results. You were supposed to be protecting him. And where is he now? Alone and out of control."
The sound of the door opening interrupted Wilfred's tirade. He had a perfect threat prepared for the detective who'd failed to fulfil his duty, but he didn't get to say a word as he stared at the strange boy entering the room. The child had violet eyes and was studying everything there was to see in the room. He'd left the door ajar as if somebody else was about to enter.
The muffled sound of feet being dragged along the corridor outside and the tapping sound of a walking stick suggested an old man. And when the figure appeared at the door Wilfred was surprised to see the same violet eyes in a much older face.
"Do you mind telling me who you are?" Wilfred demanded.
"It's them," the detective said. "The kid and the old man who were talking to Aidan when he took off."
"Thanks for waiting for me, Todd," the old man said, holding on to the child's arm.
"You know I'm here to help you, Tedd."
Their names! Wilfred heard them well. This strange pair was Tedd and Todd. He'd been looking for them for so long and now they'd just walked in of their own accord. Wilfred studied them carefully. But they were different to what he'd imagined.
"Leave us," he told the detective. "I want to be alone with them."
The detective was about to object, but noted the seriousness in the order and left.
"He's anticipated our wishes, Tedd," Todd said. "It's better to talk about certain things in private."
"He's done that because he's obviously intelligent, Todd," Tedd replied. "And someone we can do a lot for, given his condition."
"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about," Wilfred said excitedly. "I'm suffering from–"
"He seems a little impatient, Todd," Tedd observed. "He has to calm down first."
"I'll ask him to do that, Tedd," Todd said. "But first he has to understand how our service work
s. We don't want someone to make a commitment without understanding the implications."
"Naturally, Todd," Tedd nodded. "You're always right. I suggest you start by asking him what chess means to him."
# # #
Aidan Zack made his way through the mass of journalists that filled the room, winding through their tables with no one paying any attention to his presence, until he came to Carol's desk. She was typing something very quickly and apparently hadn't seen him cross the room.
"Carol, we've got to go. I lost my phone and I couldn't ring you, so I decided to come and fetch you."
She frowned. "Do I know you? How do you know my name?"
"What are you talking about? Come on. Let's go."
"I'm not going anywhere with you. Is this some sort of joke?"
For the first time, Aidan studied her expression. She genuinely seemed not to recognize him. She was looking at him as if he were a perfect stranger. She wasn't feigning not knowing him. Why would she? It didn't make any sense.
"Listen Carol, I don't know what's happening, but we've got to go now. I've found Tedd and Todd and–"
"Nothing's happening to me," Carol raised her voice. "I don't know who you are or who you are referring to, but I'd like you to go now and leave me alone."
A small group had formed nearby on hearing Carol's nervous tone. Aidan didn't know what to do. Why was she carrying on like this? He couldn't think of one valid reason. She was staring daggers at him now. She was obviously angry and his presence wasn't helping. It was so weird that he felt completely confused.
"Carol, please. Stop pretending that you don't know me."
"Listen, I don't know if you're making fun of me or if you've got some sort of mental problem. Either way, it's the same to me. Leave now or I'll call security."
"That won't be necessary, miss," someone said, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him away from Carol, at the same time whispering, "I'll explain. Now, let's get out of here."
Aidan Zack let himself be dragged away from Carol mostly because he didn't know what to do if he stayed. He looked at the stranger in search of answers and recognized Dylan Blair's unpleasant smile straight away.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you. And to explain what's happened to your girlfriend, of course."
"I'm not in the mood for jokes. Tell me!"
"Not here. Let's find somewhere quieter and I'll clear everything up."
The promise of an explanation calmed Aidan down for the time being. At least, until they'd left the building and got into Dylan's limousine. Once seated inside, Dylan activated the window that separated the driver from the rear-seat passengers and opened the door to the bar. A stiff drink seemed like a good idea to Aidan, given the circumstances. He pointed to a bottle, remembering as he did so the good straight right he'd given Dylan in their last encounter. He was pleased to see that there was still some bruising around the eye.
"That's behind us," Dylan said, reading Aidan's thoughts. "I'm not here because of that. Although, I have to admit, you pack a good punch."
Aidan watched him pour a good shot of whisky.
"I'm pleased that you've forgotten that. I didn't mean to get into a punch-up that day."
"You sure did," Dylan said. "You were interrupted. Tedd and Todd didn't want you to catch up with Kodey Black."
"What? You bumped into me on purpose? Well, my friend, that's the last straw. Tell me what you were going to tell me about Carol and, while you're at it, tell me where we're going."
"Take it easy. I'm here to bring you up to date and take you to Tedd and Todd. They're the ones who are responsible for all of this. They told me to stop you getting to Kodey so that you wouldn't find out about the chess game too soon. You had to understand the whole deal at the right moment."
"To get me into that trap at the art gallery?"
"That's right. If you hadn't discovered that it was a game of chess they would've had to tell you. But they couldn't let you know any earlier."
"And Carol?"
"Well, the explanation for that must be obvious. Have you ever stopped to think why it is that the battle between the pieces hasn't become public knowledge, while they're killing people in front of everybody in broad daylight?"
Aidan saw a little of what Dylan was trying to tell him. The deal in the shopping centre had involved a few pieces at the same time. The whole thing was set up in a public place and one person, Earl Black, died. That should have come out in the papers and on television much more than it had. Aidan remembered that he'd wanted to look at the security videos but they weren't available. It seemed that Tedd and Todd had somehow covered the whole thing up.
"Do you mean to say that–"
"They've wiped out a piece of Carol's memory," Dylan informed him. "She'd fulfilled her function passing information on for them, but they couldn't permit her to publish anything about the game. That's happened to other people too, I'm afraid."
Anger surged through Aidan. He imagined that another one of these people could be Fletcher. The pathologist knew too much and Tedd and Todd wouldn't want him putting his theories down in a report that others could read.
"Are they going to do the same to me?"
For a second it didn't seem like such a bad idea. They could wipe out everything that had happened in the last few days. He could forget about Carol forgetting about him, for example. But despite that wild thought, he still wanted to know why they were manipulating him, maybe even against his own wife. Ashley was still alive. He had to find her at any cost.
"I don't think they'll do that to you," Dylan said. "Your case is different. They'll explain that to you soon."
"And what's your role in all of this? Are you working for them?"
"Not really. I'm helping them out with some minor points. And in a few years I'll be playing. So it suits me to get on well with the bosses."
"Haven't you already played?" Aidan asked. Ashley had got Tedd and Todd to save his life and in exchange she was playing. So following that reasoning through, Dylan must have obtained his fortune through an agreement with Tedd and Todd. "They've made you rich without having to get involved?"
"Something like that," Dylan said. "In my case we've reached an agreement that I will play in a few years. When I'm eighty, to be exact."
"But my wife had to play immediately when she got my–"
"Miraculous salvation. I know. Depending on the people and the circumstances, the deal changes. You were dying, Ashley didn't have a lot of time to deliberate over that and she couldn't have reached a better deal than the one she got. I guess they made her an offer that meant her playing straight away and also involved her not getting into contact with you. It would seem she accepted that in exchange for saving your life."
A better deal? Those words reminded Aidan that he still didn't know what happened to the loser in this game of chess. Nor who Tedd and Todd really were and how they were capable of doing what they did.
"You're saying she cut a deal with them just like you did?"
"That's right. I'm living the good life loaded with money because of that."
"The loser dies, doesn't he?" Aidan asked, with his heart on his sleeve. Otis had said that the game had already finished, but the winner wasn't clear. And to make things worse, his escape from the fire had allowed Otis to take the queen. "If no one died then everybody would want to play and get the benefit out of it, just like you've done."
"You still don't know what the price of playing is, do you? It's worse than death, at least in theory. Tedd and Todd describe themselves as collectors."
"Collectors of what?"
"Of souls," Dylan answered. "That's the price."
"You're telling me you have to deliver your soul just to live another forty years?"
"Well, that's not exactly right. I haven't delivered my soul. I've agreed to play for it. If I win I don't have to pay. And I can stay."
"It… it's something…" Aidan didn't know what to say. If al
l this was true, his wife had played with her own soul to save his life and that meant she could lose because she'd saved him from the fire. Could she have done something as mad as that? But he could see a certain logic in all of it. If someone wanted immortality or wealth or to save the life of a loved one, then the price would have to be high
"Take your time," Dylan advised him. "It's hard at first. It was that way for me. I saw Kodey kill a piece and was going to testify against him. I almost shit myself the first time I saw them when they came to wipe my memory out. I didn't think they were going to offer me anything, but they must have guessed straight away about my miserable personal life and my absolute lack of scruples and self-confidence. When they talked to me about the possibility of improving my life, it didn't take them too long to convince me. They're very persuasive."
"And losing your soul doesn't bother you?"
"Would it bother you? If it did, that would mean that you know what having a soul means. If you do, would you mind telling me?"
"You're confusing me. The soul is… well, it's, you know, immortal."
"Really? If we're good we go to heaven and hang out with the angels in a paradise in the clouds. Is that how it works?"
"It seems like you don't believe in that, but at the same time you're playing."
"I don't know about you, but I've never seen a soul. I'm not conscious of having one and I'm not going to believe it just because the odd couple tells me I've got one. There are many things we can't explain in this world. This chess game is only one of them. I'll worry about having a soul or not when I die. In the meantime, I'll do whatever I think will help to improve my rotten life."
"But you've seen what Tedd and Todd can do. It's not just a question of belief."
"You're right. I've seen them do many things. For example, trick people like you. I'm the only one playing this game who won't be cheated. I don't know what happens when we die and there's nothing we can do in this life to find out. They're taking advantage of our fears. Mention the word soul, and we start thinking about eternity, among a dozen other things. Why? It's very simple, we can't know what Tedd and Todd are referring to until we're stiff."
The Big Ben mystery Page 27