The First to Fall: A Fallen Novel (The Fallen Series)

by Tanisha D. Jones

  "Well? What happened?" Riley asked an immobile Eli.

  "He just got up and walked out. Don't know how more people didn't spot a dead rock star in a shiny suit but he walked out of here. What does the surveillance tape show?" Eli grumbled, rubbing his suddenly irritated eyes; they burned and his head was starting to throb.

  "Nothing. There was some sort of distortion on the tapes, just a dark blur, and then nothing. If that's all, I think I should get back- the reports and he..." He was gone before the sentence was finished, nearly sprinting down the hall. They watched the little man leave, disappearing around a corner. Shaking his head, Riley turned back to Eli.

  "So," Riley started with a smile. "I was right. He wasn't dead. It's some sort of stunt." He folded his arms across his chest and rocked back and forth on his heels the way he did when he thought he was right or when he was feeling decidedly devious, which was often. And usually wrong.

  Eli shook his head prepared to burst his friends bubble yet again.

  "Nope." Eli sighed heavily, his mind trying to grasp the reality of the situation. "When he walked out of here, Nicky Sky was most definitely dead."

  TWO

  In detail, Eli recounted the events he had witnessed regarding the rise of Nicky Sky. As he spoke, he occasionally took a sip from his bottle of water, but never took his eyes from the overturned casket on the floor. Once he finished, Riley exhaled for him.

  “So he wasn’t really dead?” Riley asked, confused by the story Eli recounted.

  “No, he was dead, as dead as a person can get. But that smile and wink, it was like he knew I was there and he could see me. Like he knew I was watching, he wanted me to watch.”

  “Okay- Okay, so he got up and left. But he couldn’t have just walked away and no one notices a presumed dead rock star wandering around. Someone knew he was waking up and waited for him, someone like-”

  “His doctor.” Eli completed Riley’s thought for him.

  ***

  Once out of the funeral home, Eli became himself again. The fresh air rejuvenated him, clearing his mind and shaking the cobwebs free. He drove down the winding path to the gate as Riley typed away on his computer.

  “Dr. C. Keegan Kent. Whoa check out the pedigree. Dr. Kent has been practicing medicine since 1996. Has been the Director of Advanced Medical Research for MediCorp for 9 years, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Princeton, graduated from Tulane Medical School, top of the class, pioneer in genetics, created a synthetic material that acts as skin replacement for burn victims. Holds honorary degrees from Oxford, Yale, Stanford and Duke; spent a semester at the Sorbonne as a guest lecturer. Expert on Japanese culture- lived there for a year studying technological advances in robotics and medicine. Fluent in French, Japanese, Dutch, Spanish, Farsi, Italian, Afrikaans, German, Portuguese, Greek, Cantonese and Mandarin. Is it me, or is this guy too smart to be a rock star doctor?” Riley asked.

  “Money can get you a lot in this world.” Eli mumbled as he tried to fight his mounting headache.

  ***

  Eli pulled the car to a bone-jolting stop in the parking lot of the MediCorp building, a huge green glass and silver chrome building three blocks from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in downtown New Orleans. The main lobby resembled a terrarium with a large glass reception desk near two elevator banks. The greenery in the lobby flourished in the constant sunlight that beamed in from the floor to ceiling windows. There was a slight mist in the air, Eli assumed, from the sprinklers that sprayed the foliage occasionally throughout the day, giving the place a tropical feel. Behind the desk sat a pretty blond girl in a tailored red suit and impossibly high heels. She stood as they approached, her smile widening as she greeted them.

  “Good morning, welcome to MediCorp. How may I help you?” She practically sang.

  “Good morning, I’m Det. Quinn and this is Det. Cain.” Her smile faltered only slightly as she inspected Riley’s presented badge. She looked at him with large brown eyes, her smile spreading even wider.

  “I’m Bianca. What can I do for you gentlemen?” She never lost eye contact with Riley. Eli stared at them in amusement. Little did she know, she was barking up the wrong tree.

  “We are looking for Dr. Keegan Kent,” Eli interjected.

  “Dr. K? Dr. K’s labs are on the fourth floor. I’ll have to escort you up. That floor is secure and sometimes the noise is-” She trailed off, as she came from behind the desk to lead them to the elevator. She pushed the call button and the doors of the glass elevator slid open smoothly. Once inside, Eli noticed that there was no button for the fourth floor. He also noticed that Bianca had just about drowned herself in a rather expensive perfume. The smell filled the elevator and burned his nostril when the petite woman stood next to him. As the doors closed, Bianca touched a hidden panel in the elevator wall. A door slid open and she inserted a key, turned it slightly, and punched several numbers in a keypad before removing the key. The panel slid closed and the elevator lurched to life.

  “Nice perfume.” Riley just about choked, wiping his watery eyes.

  “Thanks. It‘s French. Dr. K gave it to me for Christmas, all the way from Paris.” She gushed. “What’s the big secret?” Riley asked, sidling up to the striking blond. She looked at him; her face seemed to be frozen in a permanent smile.

  “Dr. Kent is very private.” It was a well-rehearsed response, and the only answer she gave, remaining silent until the elevator stopped. The door opened directly into a large space full of computers, stainless steel and glass tables and polarized windows. Several men and women in lab coats milled from station to station taking notes and staring at unreadable screens. Eli and Riley stepped into the room behind Bianca who was walking at an advanced clip. She walked through the room into a smaller windowless, more tightly packed room that housed several small machines resembling robotic arms and smaller half-constructed machines were strewn about. There was a large bank of printers spewing paper at a constant clip. Music blared from unseen speakers into the room as a kid wearing in a lab coat lay on a table near a bay of printers, his eyes closed.

  When she shut the music the off and the kid jumped up, startled and slightly dazed. He was tall, and thin, all knees and elbows with hair that hung to his shoulders in dark waves. He had olive skin and dark piercing eyes that seemed to bore into a person with the slightest glance. He towered above Bianca, who stood all of five foot three, even in the heels. He lumbered toward her angrily.

  “Bianca, what the fuck-” He spoke in a clipped stunted way, that made every word seem an unfinished question. She smiled and sauntered past him.

  “Good morning to you too, Sunshine. This is Xander Felder. Xander these are Detectives Quinn and Cain. They are looking for Dr. Kent. Xander is the doctor’s lap dog.”

  “Research assistant.” He corrected. For a brief moment, as he looked at them. Eli saw a dark cloud of foreboding in the young man’s eyes and Eli got the distinct impression that he was not long for this world. In fact, he realized, young Xander would be dead within a week. The thought sent a chill down his spine and he quickly shook off the feeling.

  Bianca ignored his violent outburst and pushed the call button for the elevator.

  “Any way you say it, you’re still the bitch.” She spoke in sugary sweet tones as she stepped into the elevator. As the doors closed, she gave Xander a satisfied smirk and teasing little finger wave.

  ***

  Eli smelled her before her saw her or even heard the distinct click of her heels on the tiles of the floor. He was overpowered by the smell of jasmine and lavender, and his knees went weak, his stomach twisted into a knot of nervous anticipation.

  “What happened to the music?” A female voice called from somewhere unseen. Immediate warmth spread low in his belly as she spoke, her voice rich and husky and melodic. Eli swallowed hard and slowly turned as she appeared and the whole world fell away. She was tall, near six three, wearing black stilettos and curve hugging blue jeans, a snug black turtle neck and a lab coat. Her hai
r was so dark it looked blue under the florescent lights, and her skin was the color of caramel. She had an exotic otherworldly look, ethereal, and she was gorgeous. Looking at her, she couldn’t be older than twenty five or twenty six years old, but he knew that she was older.

  As she came closer, Eli could only hear his own heart beat thumping in his ears, matching each of her footfalls as she came towards him, her head down. She was engrossed in paperwork attached to a clipboard. He knew right away that when she looked up, her eyes would mirror his own, pure clear turquoise with large dark lashes.

  “Angel,” he whispered in a sluggish voice. He felt intoxicated and woozy, for lack of a better term and his body tensed with the immediate need to be with her, in her. The need for her was raw and vicious, so much so his knees buckled.

  “Pardon?” She looked at him with those eyes, his eyes, and it was as if someone had punched him in the gut. His breath caught in his throat. Her expression of surprise matched his. Startled, she audibly gasped and stared at him. Curiously, she tilted her head to the side, staring with a cute little smile playing at the corners of her full lips. She bit her bottom lip and everything in his body became tense and hot. The room crackled with the sexually charged electricity that was generated between the two of them.

  Never in his life had Eli wanted any one as much as he wanted this woman this moment. His hands itched to touch her face, to see if it was as smooth and soft as he’d dreamed, to see if she was quite simply, real. He licked his suddenly dry lips and tried to speak but nothing would come out. His throat had sealed shut.

  She looked intrigued and slightly amused by Eli, a small almost unperceivable smile forming on her full lips. She cleared her throat and stood a little straighter.

  “May I help you?” She spoke again and he found himself focusing on her lips. Her voice poured over him like warm butter, and his heart jumped. He etched every part of her into his mind. He noticed her even white teeth and the slight hint of her bubblegum pink tongue. He studied the way her eyes danced in her confused amusement, the flicks of silver in those vibrant eyes. He focused on the curve of those perfectly formed lips and the way her nose twitched slightly. Again, he attempted to speak, his mouth opened but again he said nothing, so Riley stepped forward.

  “Hi, I’m Det. Quinn and my mute friend is Det. Elijah Cain. We are looking for Dr. Kent. We have questions regarding Nicky Sky-"

  “What about Nicky?” She asked, her hand immediately going to her throat.

  “I think we should really talk to Dr. Kent about that. Is he in?” She smirked, and looked past them at Xander.

  “They didn’t ask,” Xander answered without looking up from the billows of paper pouring from the printers.

  “Come with me,” She spun around and led them in the direction from which she’d emerged.

  “It’s her,” Eli finally managed in hushed tones as they followed her. “The girl- from my dream.” Riley gave him a slap on the back. “She is a hottie. I say go for it.”

  “No,” Eli corrected. “Not the girl of my dreams, the girl from my dreams. “

  ***

  They followed her into a small, neatly organized, and expensively decorated office. The walls were painted a pale shade of gold which seemed to complement the gold tones in her skin and made the place feel warm. Three of the walls were home to shelves of books on every subject, art, literature, history, science, finance. The fourth wall was all windows. Her desk was antique mahogany with ornately carved legs and gleamed like glass. Her chair was a high back Victorian, with elegant red satin cushions. The two arm chairs facing her deck were covered in the same expensive fabric. On the book shelf behind them was a fish tank, home to the most vibrantly colored fish he’d ever seen up close. The wall nearest the door was covered in plaques, diplomas and accolades for Dr. Kent. He stared at her as realization dawned on him.

  ”So you’re-” He groaned.

  “Dr. Kent.” She nodded finishing his sentence, with a devious glint in her beautiful eyes.

  “Of course you are. But how?”

  “I’m smart. I graduated medical school at fifteen. Started practicing at seventeen. I took a year off,” She stated simply. Eli calculated in his mind, that would make her about thirty years old.

  She stared at Eli unmoving; her eyes bore into him as if she were trying to decide if he were real or not. He was uncomfortable, not only due to her scrutiny, but because his knees were wedged against the front panel of her desk. He tried pushing the chair back, but the heavy legs of the chair seemed to be glued to the rug beneath them. He braced himself and with some effort he moved the chair. He moved it so well, the front legs went up and before he knew it, Eli was on his back staring that the ceiling, his legs in the air. He stared at his stocking foot, before tilting his head to see his right shoe had come off and was floating in the fish tank.

  She was standing over him in a minute, looking at him upside down. “Are you okay?” She asked. He nodded dumbly. She and Riley helped him up, and Riley fished his shoe out of the fish tank, making sure that none of the fish had stowed away. “Bathroom?” Riley asked holding the dripping leather loafer with his thumb and index finger.

  As Eli regained his composure, she directed Riley down the hall. He was embarrassed by his own ineptitude.

  “Are you sure you okay?” She asked, once again behind the desk. As he sat thinking, he realized that he hadn’t seen her move. She was at his side one moment directing Riley to the restroom, the next moment she was seated calmly behind her desk.

  He stared at her, examining her, trying to get a read on her, but there was something not quite right about her. She was something he‘d never encountered before, but there was something about her- something familiar. As a police officer, his added ability to see what people were thinking made him indispensable. Yes, the images were sometimes mottled and incoherent, but all it took was one image, one thought and he had them. He could get a read off of any and every one-but this woman- all he seemed to get from her was an echo of his own thoughts. It took a minute before he realized, it wasn’t an echo. She was trying to read him as well. The realization almost made him fall back in the chair again. Instead, he leaned forward. His eyes narrowed as he stared at her and tried to read her again. It was as if they were canceling each other out, bouncing his thoughts back at him. Finally, something broke through. ‘What are you?’ she was thinking quite clearly. Then there was great clarity as her eyes widened in realization.

  ‘You can hear me.’ The thought was just as bold and clear as if she’d said it out loud. The realization hit her quite suddenly and her mind closed to him like a vault. That was a neat little trick, he thought.

  “Okay, what did you need to ask me about Nicky?” She asked matter-of-factly, avoiding gazing directly into his eyes. Instead, she focused on his left shoulder or a point just above it.

  “I wanted to know why someone with your background and your expertise was hired as private physician to a rock star.”

  “It was a favor. Nicky and I have been friends since childhood.”

  “Really?” His brow lifted until they nearly touched his hair line.

  “Yes.” She affirmed. “We went to the same boarding school, a special school for arts and sciences, after I was adopted by Jonas Kent. Then we remained really good friends. Nicky didn’t trust a lot of people Detective, but he trusted me with his life. And I trusted him with mine.” She didn’t seem to blink as she spoke.

  The name Jonas Kent rang all sorts of bells in his head. Jonas Kent was rich, powerful and mysterious, and for him to have taken this girl in seemed completely uncharacteristic of the man known to the media as the Black Baron of Business. Jonas Kent had come from Europe in the late eighties. Already a shipping magnate in France, he’d come to conquer America. He’d started in real estate in New York, adding to his already massive fortune. By the turn of the century, he’d owned businesses in most of the fifty states and had a home in New Orleans. He’d helped with the rebuilding
of the riverfront and had made a name for himself by organizing and sponsoring charities in the city. He was a ruthless and shrewd business man who never seemed to do anything that didn’t benefit him in some way.

  “Why wasn’t he autopsied?” Eli was trying to keep on task, but she seemed to bombard him with mental notes, but only what she wanted him to see. There were things that she kept locked away, safe from his prying. Something told him that Dr. C. Keegan Kent was a very dangerous woman.

  “It was a request he’d made specifically in his living will. No autopsy, no embalming, and a DNR order. He had this thing about becoming a part of the earth. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. He filed the papers no more than a month before he died. Ironic, isn’t it? It was like he knew ahead of time.” She visibly shivered at the memory of her friend lying prone on the bathroom floor; the deep red of his drying blood in stark contrast to the pristine white of the marble floor.

  “You don’t seem all that torn up about the death of such a good friend.”

  “Det. Cain, I’ve been surrounded by death my entire life. It’s the reason I became a doctor. I have also learned that with life comes death, and I have mourned Nicky in my own way, both publicly at his memorial service and privately. Just because I’m not sobbing inconsolably at the mention of his name doesn’t mean anything. I feel his loss in every aspect of every moment of my life.” She whispered the last part, her eyes low.

  “You and he were more than friends,” he asserted. She looked at him, her eyes finally locking onto his. A slow smile tickling the corners of her mouth. “No. But wouldn’t that be a lascivious story for the tabloids.” She had a mischievous glint in her eye as she spoke; her smile was decidedly predatory. She watched him as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

  “What are you?” She finally asked.

  ***

  “I’m a Dete-“He started and she shook her head, narrowing her eyes as she searched his face.