The Colours of Death
Page 35
Voronov tucks the gun away and looks over at her. He wipes the water from his face and moves carefully to crouch in front of her and Célia.
‘The ambulance is here,’ he says calmly, eyes mapping out her face. He brushes her hair back from her face. ‘They’ll be here in a moment.’
Isabel swallows. Her throat feels dry and her head is pounding. Her eyes sting. ‘Okay,’ she croaks.
He shrugs out of his hoodie and carefully wraps it around Célia without jostling her too much. ‘It’s best if we wait here, we shouldn’t move either of you.’
Behind him, Gabriel continues to suck in air in that odd way, a makeshift blindfold around his eyes. It occurs to Isabel that maybe they should check on him but she’s not sure she can move right now. And she doesn’t want to be anywhere near him.
Isabel hears Carla call out from somewhere, a warning that they’re almost there and to get ready.
‘That was a close call,’ Voronov murmurs.
Isabel closes her eyes and leans her head back.
She’s not sure that’s true.
The damage feels like it’s been done.
Chapter 69
Dr Alves refers to it as a Gifted’s form of hypnotic suggestion. Except it’s more sinister than that. Isabel stands and watches through the one-way mirror as Luisa sobs into her hands. Turns out she did remember Gil’s call. Gil had realised what Gabriel had been doing to her. He’d got Luisa to agree to meet him that day. Luisa said he’d wanted her to help him, to prove how dangerous Gabriel was.
Except having her on that train was ultimately what had got him killed.
Gabriel had known everything.
Dr Alves is gentle as she explains to Luisa what has been done to her. She tells her that they will arrange for her to talk to a professional, do everything they can to support her going forward. If she testifies.
Gabriel had gone into Luisa’s mind without her consent and he’d managed to forge a link. One that doesn’t just disappear when a person withdraws from someone else’s mind. He’d used those links to control Luisa, to put her in the right places at the right times without once having to dirty his own hands.
It was the E5 that had helped Gabriel get what he wanted. After searching his house, they’d found large quantities of the failed drug stored away.
There’s no way Luisa’s telekinesis would have been enough to control someone else’s person the way Gil and Julio had been controlled. Gabriel had been doping her up with E5, temporarily enhancing her abilities. Then he’d got into her mind.
Luisa’s memory lapses and increasing state of confusion were attributed to Gabriel’s takeovers. The doctor who had sat with Luisa had explained that it had been Luisa’s way of coping. It had just shut down when the foreign entity – in this case Gabriel – took control and played her like a puppet.
Isabel had asked Dr Alves if it would be possible to remove the link Gabriel had left behind in Luisa’s mind. The look on Dr Alves’ face hadn’t been promising but she’d said they would have to wait until Luisa was seen by other professionals with a deeper understanding. Apparently, they were bringing in a specialist from Switzerland. What had taken place here would be sending shockwaves throughout the Gifted community and those who dedicated their lives to studying them.
The whole of NTI is under investigation, meaning that the country ends up having to scramble to find an outside alternative to come in because Testing season is approaching. Isabel hopes that maybe, just maybe, they can’t find a suitable company and the Gifted get a break for once. She thinks growing up without the stigma might be a nice thing.
Tigre licks one of Isabel’s toes, drawing her attention down to himself. ‘No,’ she says, ‘this toast isn’t for you. Live with it. Where’s the treat I gave you?’ Isabel goes back out into the living room and finds Branca curled up in a corner of the sofa. She opens one eye, the perfect picture of laziness as Isabel makes her way to sit at the other end of the sofa with toast and coffee in hand.
Unfortunately for Isabel, she’d been benched again, but this time only while they investigated her story of what exactly had happened on those rocks the night Gabriel had taken Célia.
Gabriel is keeping his mouth shut, refusing to say a word, not even to his lawyer apparently. Dr Alves told Isabel that ever since they’d started force-feeding him suppressors, he’d just shut down on them. Apparently, whatever they were giving him put S3 to shame.
Isabel tries not to think about that.
She tries not to think about the mandatory sessions she needs to have with the department’s therapist either. Or the envelope on the table in front of her. The edges are scrunched because she keeps shoving it out of sight. It’s addressed to Isabel in Michael’s looping handwriting, with a familiar logo at the left-hand corner.
She’s been staring at it for the past hour.
Isabel sets her toast down and dusts her hands off on her jogging bottoms before reaching for the envelope.
She ignores the tremor in her fingers as she picks at the corner and slides her thumb in, slicing open the rest of the envelope.
Her heart beats a rapid tattoo against her chest and her head feels light as she pulls the folded paper out. Just the one sheet. She sucks in a steadying breath as she opens it, closing her eyes and praying—
She looks at the result on the letter, printed in neat black typed letters.
The buzzer rings.
Isabel jumps and slams the paper face down on the table. Rubs at her eyes and then glances over at the intercom. She puts the letter back in the envelope.
She nudges Tigre off her lap where the dog has decided to try to make himself comfortable in the hopes of getting some toast, and then shoves the letter into one of the kitchen drawers as she trudges over to the intercom, one sock well on its way to coming off her foot.
‘Yes?’
‘Can I come up?’ Voronov’s voice carries loudly in the hallway.
Isabel presses the buzzer and checks her reflection in the mirror.
They hadn’t really had a chance to talk about that night on the rocks. What she’d done.
When she opens the door to him he’s dressed as casually as he had been that day. He looks her over. His gaze lands on her feet and he smirks a little at the half-off sock.
‘Hey’ he steps in.
‘Hey,’ she says.
‘Have you had breakfast yet?’
She glances over at her burnt toast. ‘Kind of.’
‘Come on then. We can grab a proper breakfast on the way to the station. Chief wants to see you.’
‘Are you paying?’
‘Isn’t it your turn?’
‘I thought I was still benched anyway,’ she says, grabbing the first jumper her hand lands on. ‘What does she want to see me about? And why didn’t she call?’
‘I was on my way over here when she called me. I told her I’d stop by.’
‘Okay. So?’
‘It’s about the Jane Doe in the morgue. The one you were working on.’
An image of the woman lying on the slab. It feels like years ago now. Isabel turns to look at him.
‘What about her?’
Voronov grins. ‘Some new information has come to light. And the case was never officially closed.’
Isabel finishes stuffing herself into her clothes and only stops long enough to grab her bag and keys. She quickly fills Tigre and Branca’s water bowls and leaves their toys out for them. ‘I’ll be back later,’ she says, patting them both on the head.
‘All right, let’s go.’
THE END
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