Town at the Edge of Darkness

by Brett Battles

  “Good.”

  “Definitely.”

  “So,” Rosario said, “do we wait for everyone to arrive, or…?”

  “Absolutely not.” Ananke woke up her computer. On the screen was a Google map of Bradbury, with several manually added markers scattered across it. Ananke pointed at one. “This is Natasha Patterson’s home. It’s in a development at the north end of town. I drove through the area last night. Big lawns, a nice car in every driveway, quiet.”

  “Sounds boring.”

  “No kidding.”

  “What is the status of her place at the moment?”

  “As far as I know, no one’s been inside since she disappeared.” Ananke pointed at a pair of markers along the highway, a bit farther north. “These two buildings belong to Scolareon. Natasha worked in the east building, second floor. I have Shinji working on obtaining floor plans.”

  “I can help, if need be.”

  “Let him do it. Makes him feel useful.” Ananke pointed at the marker farthest north. “Way up here is where Kyle Scudder lives. It’s a gated community called Green Hills Estates.”

  “Any word on whether there is a boyfriend?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Girlfriend?”

  “Same answer. The Administrator told you about the Davos connection, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” Ananke motioned at the map. “The other markers are places she’s mentioned to him. Cafes she’s eaten at, the market she frequents, a bookstore. Not sure any of those are going to help us, though. What we really need to figure out is where she was the night she went missing.”

  “Do we know where her phone is?”

  Ananke shook her head. “The Administrator told me that it hasn’t shown up on any system since the evening of the fifth.”

  “I will double-check the records and get a final location. There was no mobile number in the brief I received. Do you have that?”

  “I do.” Ananke accessed the information on her phone and texted it to Rosario. “There is one other thing you can look into for me.”

  “Of course.”

  Ananke told her about the encounter she’d had with the cop the night before. “The name on her badge read M. Harris. I’d like you to see what you can find out about her.”

  “Easy enough.” Rosario paused, still troubled by something she’d been thinking about since she left Mexico. “I am still confused about what our mission is here. I understand that a woman might be missing, but is this not something the police should handle?”

  “Normally, yes. But because someone has been posing as her, at least with emails and texts, there’s no reason for most people to think she’s missing. Add in that the Administrator thinks there’s something larger going on and here we are.”

  “Larger like what?”

  “Apparently that’s up to us to figure out.”

  What Ananke really wanted to do was get a look inside the missing woman’s house. There must be clues there to indicate if she was missing or simply on a trip. But that was a task best left until after dark. For now, Ananke would have to settle for establishing the cover story the Administrator had given her.

  While Rosario set to work reviewing the phone records, Ananke drove back through the old part of town to a Victorian house off Main Street that had been converted into an office. She parked in the small lot beside the building and entered.

  A teenage girl sat behind a desk in the center of the front room, engrossed in one of the thicker Harry Potter books. Ananke waited for the girl to look up, but the teen remained glued to the page.

  Not wanting to wait for Hermione to pull Harry out of yet another mess, Ananke said, “Hello.”

  The girl looked up, startled. “Oh. Oh, uh…” She jammed an index card into the book to mark her page before saying, “Good, uh, afternoon. How may I help you?”

  Using the slight Texas twang her cover identity required, Ananke said, “I’m looking for Antonia Mahoney.”

  “Of course.” The girl popped up with an exuberance only a person her age could muster, and dashed into the hallway behind the desk. She was gone for no more than two seconds before she popped her head back around the corner. “Do you have an appointment?”

  “She should be expecting me. Tell her it’s Shawn Ramey.”

  “Shawn Ramey. Got it. I’ll be right back.”

  Ananke occupied herself by looking around the small lobby, taking in first a large landscape painting of what she guessed was a local area, and then the long, expensive-looking sign with raised letters on the opposite wall that read:

  MAHONEY REALTY

  THE BRADBURY EXPERTS

  That should have given the receptionist more than enough time to return, and yet Ananke remained alone.

  On the desk was a bowl of packaged candies. She snapped up a mini peanut butter cup, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.

  Still no receptionist.

  Ananke moved around the desk and peeked into the hall. Empty.

  She grabbed a second chocolate and took her time eating it. When she finished, she checked the hall again.

  Not a soul in sight.

  Hmm.

  Though she’d had no appointment, she’d been told the Realtor would be expecting Ms. Ramey at some point that morning. Given the size of the potential commissions Ananke’s visit represented—however fake they were—Ananke had expected the agent to come rushing out at the mention of her name.

  Enough of this BS. Ananke headed into the hallway.

  The corridor opened into another room not far down, perhaps a parlor back in the day, or the dining room. It had been converted into a four-desk bullpen. A middle-aged, balding guy in a business suit occupied one of the desks, while the others were empty. Ananke felt safe in assuming he wasn’t Antonia Mahoney.

  A female voice drifted into the room from another hall to the right. Ananke followed it, past a couple of empty offices to the open doorway at the very end.

  “That’s more than fine,” the voice was saying. “Of course, I understand. We’ll just reschedule for next week.”

  Ananke stopped shy of the threshold and peered in. The receptionist stood fidgeting, her back to the door, in front of a desk that dominated the room. The girl was watching a fortysomething woman with perfectly coiffed hair talking on the phone. The woman also faced the other direction, looking out the window.

  Ananke leaned against the doorframe. “Problem?”

  The teen swiveled around, her eyes widening. “Oh, Miss Raintree. I’m sorry. It’ll just be another minute.”

  The woman behind the desk—Antonia Mahoney, presumably—turned and looked from the receptionist to Ananke and back. “Mr. Drake, if you could hold for one moment.” She put her hand over the phone and whispered, “Karina, what’s going on?”

  “Sorry, Mrs. Mahoney. This is, um, Shawn Raintree. She-she said you were expecting her?”

  Mahoney’s brow furrowed. “Raintree?”

  “Ramey,” Ananke corrected.

  Instantly Mahoney’s face brightened. “Ms. Ramey! Of course. I’m so sorry. I’m just finishing up.” She gestured at the chairs in front of her desk. “Please. Have a seat.”

  “Thank you,” Ananke said and took the chair on the left.

  Karina looked unsure if she should leave or stay.

  When Mahoney noticed this, she whispered, “See if she wants something to drink.”

  “Oh, right.” Karina smiled at Ananke. “Would you like something to drink? We have water, and, um, Diet Coke, and, um—”

  “Water is fine,” Ananke said.

  The girl hurried out and returned with the bottle as Mahoney wrapped up her phone conversation. Karina handed the bottle to Ananke, and once more seemed puzzled about her next move.

  “You can go back to your desk,” Mahoney said.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  As soon as the girl was out of the room, Mahoney put a hand at the side of her mouth and stage whispered to Ananke, �
�High school work-study program. Her first job. At least I don’t have to pay her.” The Realtor smiled and came around the desk, hand extended. “Antonia Mahoney. A pleasure to meet you.”

  Ananke stood and shook. “Shawn Ramey. I appreciate you taking the time to see me, Mrs. Mahoney.”

  Toni motioned back at Ananke’s seat and retreated to her own chair. “It’s my pleasure, and please call me Toni.”

  “Toni. Toni Mahoney?”

  “Cute, isn’t it?” Toni said without any irony at all.

  Trying to sound convincing, Ananke said, “Sure.”

  Toni clicked open a file on her computer. “How was the trip here?”

  “Fine. Beautiful country.”

  “I understand you drove in.”

  “That’s right. Last night.”

  “The good news is that we’re expanding our airport, and by late summer we’ll have daily commuter flights to and from Spokane. Much better for businesses.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  Toni smiled. “We may look like a small town but we’re larger than people think. Now let’s see.” She studied her screen. “I have the specifications of what your company is looking for. Unless those have changed…?”

  “No, you have the latest.” Ananke’s cover was that of a tech executive looking for a new research facility. As far as Toni knew, Bradbury was only one of several potential locations on Ananke’s list.

  “In that case, there shouldn’t be any problem finding exactly what you’re looking for. I made a list of about a dozen properties that should suit your needs. Some already finished, and some ready for development.”

  “That’s encouraging.”

  “Can I just say, you have come to the right place at the right time. Bradbury is truly special. Not only am I confident you’ll find your perfect property, but I know you will soon realize you’ve found your perfect town for your employees as well. Honestly, we have so much to offer.” She paused, a sparkle dancing across her eyes. “I hope you don’t mind, but the chamber of commerce and I have set up a welcome party for tomorrow evening. A kind of meet-and-greet with some of the town’s movers and shakers.”

  “What a great idea. That sounds wonderful.” It did not sound wonderful, but it did sound useful.

  “I’m glad you approve. The heads of several companies that have moved here in recent years will be there. Also the mayor and the chief of police.” She leaned forward and, in what was apparently a signature move, stage whispered, “I think there’s a good chance Kyle Scudder will come, too.”

  “The head of Scolareon?”

  “One and the same.”

  “Fantastic.” This time Ananke was not blowing smoke. “I look forward to finding out how he and the others feel about relocating here.”

  “I can tell you that right now. They all love Bradbury.” Toni laughed. “I don’t know what your schedule is, but if you’re free right now, I could show you some of those properties.”

  “I am free, but I think that can wait. What I’d really appreciate is a tour of the town, something to help me get a feel of the place.”

  “What an excellent idea!”

  Chapter Six

  Consciousness returned in dribs and drabs, slowly stealing Tasha from the comforting arms of sleep. At least her head wasn’t throbbing as badly as all the other times she’d woken since being caught in the woods. She’d had moments when she was sure her skull was on the verge of splitting.

  Lying there, eyes still closed, she realized the intense vertigo that had greeted her every day for the last—week? Ten days? A month?—seemed to have subsided.

  She didn’t know. Those first several days had been a blur.

  She winced as she rolled onto her back. Her rib cage was still bruised so that hadn’t changed.

  Slowly, she parted her eyelids. And realized something was different. Gone was the white plaster ceiling she’d been staring at. The ceiling now was bare concrete.

  She looked to the side. Before, she’d been in a small room with a boarded-up window. This place was larger, containing oddly shaped items she couldn’t quite make out with her cloudy mind from her prone position.

  Tasha sat up and swung her legs off the bed. Not a real bed, she saw now. A canvas-covered cot propped up on a wooden frame.

  Odd. Something hung in the air between her and the rest of the room. Glass? Maybe, but it had no frame, and wasn’t just in front of her but continued above and to the sides. The only place it was absent from was on the floor. It was like she was in a giant, see-through box that was barely tall enough for her to stand in beside the cot, but plenty long enough for the portable bed. She guessed the roof topped out half a foot above her, at around six feet.

  She touched the wall. Not glass. Plexiglas. Set into a groove that ran along the floor.

  She sucked in a deep breath, and another, as panic bloomed in her chest.

  Stop it. Get ahold of yourself.

  Her situation had already been dire, so there was no sense in losing her head over a change of scenery. Besides, panic meant allowing someone else to control you. What she needed was to be the one in charge, to focus her energies on figuring out how to escape.

  She pushed against the wall, hoping to tip the enclosure over, but her shove not only failed, it shot a crippling wave of pain across her rib cage. She leaned against the wall to keep from falling and wrapped an arm across her chest, her eyes squeezed shut as the spasms washed over her.

  When they finally dissipated, she opened her eyes again and took a long look at the area beyond her transparent cell. Spaced evenly throughout the place were nearly a dozen other identical containers. They weren’t on the ground at all. Each is set on its own platform, and under the few she could see, there were wheels. Most of the enclosures were empty, but three held other prisoners, all motionless on their cots.

  Tasha banged on the wall. “Hey! Hey, wake up!”

  None of the others even twitched.

  She pounded and yelled a few more times, but either they were too far away to hear her, or the Plexiglas cells were soundproof.

  A light change across the room drew her attention. A door along the far wall had opened, and through it walked two men, both wearing dark blue jumpsuits and Halloween masks. They headed straight to Tasha’s cell and stopped beside it.

  The one wearing an alien mask touched something out of sight below the lip of her platform, and then twisted up a goose-neck stand.

  “Back on the bed,” his voice boomed from a speaker in the floor of Tasha’s platform.

  “Let me out,” she yelled. “You can’t keep me like this. This is kidnapping. That’s a fed—”

  “Back on the bed or fall where you are.”

  She didn’t know what he meant, nor did she care. She slapped the wall. “Let me out, dammit! Let me out right now!”

  A hiss, like a bike tire being drained of air.

  She twisted left and right, looking for the source, and froze when she saw a mist rising at the other end of the cell.

  She had no idea what it was, but was sure it would put her back to sleep.

  As she turned to the cot, the whole world went wobbly. She stumbled, her leg whacking against the cot’s railing. For a second, she was convinced she would fall, but she willed herself forward and was able to tumble into the cot mere seconds before everything went black.

  Chapter Seven

  Toni Mahoney gestured at a brick structure on the left side of the road. “That’s the oldest building in town. The preservation society took it over about a decade ago. Good thing, too. It’d been close to collapsing at the time. They shored it up, and over the following years, they raised enough money to return it to its former state, with most of the funds coming from our new businesses. Now it serves as the city museum.”

  Hoping she sounded convincing, Ananke said, “What a nice story. I’ll make a point of stopping by.”

  “They’re not always open, but if you tell me when you want to visit, I can m
ake sure someone’s there.”

  “Great. Thank you.”

  Toni smiled and pointed again. “That two-story building is city hall. And the ones next to it are the fire department and the police department.”

  Ananke took special note of the police station. There were two squad cars out front, and an open area around the side she didn’t have a good angle on, but where she guessed would be a few more department vehicles. “How many firemen and police officers does the city employ?”

  “I don’t know the actual number, but I think it’s around twenty-five each. That would include office staff, too, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  After downtown, Toni drove Ananke through the new housing area where Patterson lived. All the roads had cutesy names like Binary Place and Motherboard Lane. Someone must have thought they would appeal to the tech transplants. Ananke had her doubts.

  “Wonderful floor plans, and all the latest appliances,” Toni was saying. “Solar, too, if you didn’t notice. That’s free of charge, by the way.”

  “Free of charge?”

  “Scolareon provides free solar systems to everyone in Bradbury.”

  “Even the older homes?”

  “Even the older homes.”

  “That’s…generous.”

  “Just another benefit of living here. I believe they’re currently installing a system at the new elementary school.” She gazed out the window and pointed ahead. “Right up there is one of the houses we just listed. The one with the sign.”

  “That’s actually the first for-sale sign in the neighborhood I’ve seen. How many homes are available here?”

  “In this development, only three at the moment.”

  “What about the ones still being built?” Here and there they’d passed homes in various states of construction.

  “Most of those are already spoken for, but don’t let that concern you. Barry—he’s the developer—is about to start phase four, which will nearly double the number of houses. By the time you and your employees arrive, we’ll have plenty of new places to choose from.” She flashed her Realtor smile. “I’d move into this neighborhood myself if I didn’t already have a home.”