Fantasy in Death

18

Eve ignored the retro-style elevator and bounded up the steps. “Report,” she ordered the officer on the door as she grabbed Seal-It from her field kit.

“Sir. Nine-one-one came in from Levar Hoyt at nine fifty-six from his ’link and from this location. My partner and I were dispatched as was a medi-unit. We arrived on-scene at ten-oh-two, ahead of the mediunit by approximately two minutes.”

Good response time, Eve thought, and gave him a go-ahead nod.

“We were met at the door by Mr. Hoyt, who immediately showed us into the holo-room at the east side of the unit. The victim, Ms. Cilla Allen of this address, was on the floor, unconscious, and appeared to be seriously injured. A Benny Leman was found in the room with her. He stated that he had not moved the victim in fear of adding to her injuries, but had checked her pulse, and attempted to ascertain the extent of said injuries. He was somewhat incoherent at the time. My partner and I removed the two men and placed them in what appears to be a viewing room where Officer Uttica remains with them. They became increasingly agitated and expressed strongly the desire to remain with the victim, who they identified as their business partner.

“I returned to speak to the MTs regarding the victim’s injuries, which they described as critical and including a fractured skull, a shattered elbow, a broken leg, and at least two broken ribs as well as numerous lacerations and contusions. They transported her to St. Ignatius Hospital, departing at approximately ten-fifteen.”

“That’s some report, Officer Kobel.”

“I like to be thorough.”

“Stay on the door,” she ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

She moved directly to the holo-room where Cill’s blood, she assumed, stained the floor.

“Let’s get samples of that, make sure it’s all hers.”

She walked over to the control. “There’s a disc in here, and it’s going to be Fantastical.”

“Same setup as Minnock,” Peabody observed, “but from the description of her injuries it sounds like the killer decided to beat her to death.”

“Then why didn’t he finish the job? She’s down, broken, unconscious. Why leave her breathing after you’ve gone to all that trouble?”

“Maybe he got spooked, or thought she was dead.”

No, Eve thought. Just no. “He’s too smart to leave her breathing. It’s a really big mistake.”

“Not if she doesn’t make it.”

Eve shook her head. “Go ahead and call the sweepers, and EDD. We’ll see if the partners know her security code. Maybe we can get this disc out without frying it. Either way, I want to know when she started the game, how long she played it.”

“On it. Do you want me to take one of them in another room to get his statement?”

“No. We’ll take them together. Let’s see how they play it. Come in when you finish up here. Then interrupt me, take me aside to give me some news. Keep it low, but I want them to hear you say EDD, breakthrough, recovered data.”

“If they’re-or one of them is guilty, it’ll be bad news.”

“Yeah. Sometimes you have to water the seeds.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” She left Peabody to go into the viewing room. Both men leapt to their feet and started talking at once.

“Stop! Officer, if you’ll join your partner and keep the scene secured. Sweepers and EDD are being notified. No one else gets in.”

She turned to the two men. “Sit.”

“They wouldn’t let us go with her. They won’t even let us check with the hospital. Please. Please, Lieutenant.” Benny’s voice shook with the tears that swam in his eyes.

She pulled out her ’link. “This is Lieutenant Dallas,” she began and gave her badge number. “I need to know the status of a patient, Cilla Allen, who was just brought in.” She held up a finger before either man could speak again, and walked to the other side of the room. She listened, murmured back, then slipped the ’link back in her pocket before going back across the room.

“They’re working on her. They have a team on her, and they’re trying to stabilize her so they can move her to OR.”

“Operate? She’s going to need surgery?” Var asked as Benny simply stared at her.

“Her injuries are very severe, and they’re doing everything they can. She’s critical. You need to prepare yourselves.”

“She’s not going to die. She’s not going to die. She’s not going to die.”

As he said it again and again, Benny rocked in the chair until Var put an arm around his shoulders.

“Come on, Benny. Come on, man. She’s tough. Cilly’s strong. We need to be there with her,” he said to Eve.

“I need statements from both of you. I’ll make it as quick as I can, and I’ll have the officers who responded transport you to the hospital as soon as we’re done. I need to know what happened.”

“We don’t know.” Benny shook his head. “How could we know? She was… she was lying there when we got here.”

“What time did you get here?”

Benny shook his head again, then dropped it into his hands.

“It was about ten or just before. I don’t know exactly,” Var told her. “We got worried when Cill didn’t come in to work, and she didn’t answer her ’link, or her e-mail. We should’ve come before. We should’ve checked on her earlier, then maybe…”

“I shouldn’t have let her go home alone last night.” Benny raked his fingers over his bold hair. “I should’ve made her stay at my place.”

“What time did she go home?” she asked Benny.

“It wasn’t late. Maybe nine or nine-thirty. We talked about going out and getting something to eat, or just getting blasted. But none of us much felt like either.”

“Did she log out a game? Did she log out Fantastical?”

“Yeah. Yeah. We found out this morning she’d logged it out. Why is this happening?” Benny demanded. “Somebody tried to kill her. Somebody killed Bart. Why is this happening?”

“We’re doing our best to find that out.” Eve glanced over as Peabody came in, signaled her. “Give me a minute.”

She crossed over, leaned in.

“That was a mag-ass party last night,” Peabody whispered, modulating her voice to lift just enough on the key words. “My feet EDD are killing me today. But breakthrough totally worth it because all that dancing, recovered data probably took a solid pound off my ass.”

“You do understand you’re obsessed with your own ass? Now, nod like I’ve just given you an order, then pull your communicator out as you step out. Wait a few minutes, come back in, give me a nod, and then stay in for the interview.”

“Got it.” She nodded, added a “Yes, sir!” for good measure, and took out her communicator as she left the room.

“Is that about Cill?” Benny demanded. “Is it something about Cill?”

“No. So, you last saw Cill at about nine-thirty last night?” She glanced at Var for verification.

“About that.”

“And what was her state of mind?”

“What do you think?” Anger leaked through as Benny fisted his hands on his knees. “She was wrecked. We all were. It was hard enough when she was putting the memorial together, editing the vid stream, thinking about the food. But at least that gave her, all of us, something solid to do, to work on. Now…”

“We were tired.” Var sighed. “We were all just really tired.”

“Where did you go after?”

“We went home.” Now Var shrugged. “We all just went home.”

“Did you walk together?”

“Yeah. Well, we walked together to Cill’s, then I headed to my place. Benny headed to his.”

“Did you notice anyone hanging around? Anyone near her building?”

She glanced over as Peabody came back in, gave her a nod.

“I waited until she went in,” Benny said. “We even talked for a couple more minutes. I wouldn’t have left her alone if I’d seen anybody hanging too close. I watched her go in before I went across to my place. Her light was on when I looked out my window after I got inside. I know she got in okay.”

“Do you always check like that?”

He shifted a little. “If we take off at the same time, I like to make sure she gets in okay. She can take care of herself, but it’s just something you do.”

“Did you talk to anyone, see anyone, have any contacts after nine-thirty?”

“God.” Var rubbed his eyes. “I got something to eat, tried to watch some screen. I couldn’t settle down so I went online for a few hours. Into a couple game rooms. I played some World Domination, tourney style. You know, elimination rounds. Maybe till about two. I didn’t go out. I didn’t want to go out.”

“Benny?”

“I didn’t talk to anybody. We’d talked to people all day. I did some personal e-mail, then some research on a couple of projects. I guess I went down about midnight. Her light was still on. I happened to notice. I almost tagged her, just to see if she wanted company, or just to talk, but I didn’t. I figured she wanted to be left alone. I should’ve gone over.” His voice trembled again. “I should’ve just gone over.”

“Stop it.” Var laid a hand on his shoulder. “Stop. It’s not your fault. We need to go be with her,” he told Eve.

“Nearly done. How did you get into the building, into her apartment?”

“I have a swipe and her codes,” Benny said. “I live the closest, and if she’s got to go somewhere for a few days, I water the plants. She’s got a couple of nice plants. Plus, I just make sure her place is secure. It’s important to Cill her place is secure.”

“Why, especially?” Eve demanded. “Why is she so focused on security and privacy?”

“I…” Benny glanced over at Var.

“Go ahead. Maybe it’ll help.”

“It’s just her mother and stepfather never gave her any privacy, any peace. They used to search her room all the time, pry into all her stuff. They even put a cam in there once, to spy on her. Like she was a freaking criminal. She just… she just wants her private space private. That’s all. It’s why she got so upset with the searches. I guess…” He let out a long breath. “I guess it’s why I did, too. I know how it made her feel so it pissed me off.”

“Okay. Was her security in place when you got here?”

“Yeah, it was.” Var gave Benny’s shoulder a bolstering rub, then nodded. “We thought she’d maybe taken a sleeper and was just conked. We checked the bedroom and the office, then we… we looked in the holo and found her. We-I-did the nine-one-one right off.”

“And checked her pulse.”

“I did.” Benny pressed his lips together tight. “I couldn’t find it at first, but it was there. Barely there. She was cut up and banged up. All torn and bloody. Can you at least check again? For God’s sake.”

“Peabody, check with the hospital. We’re nearly done. Was the holoroom secured?”

Benny frowned a moment. “No. It wasn’t locked. But we’ve holo’d here a lot of times. I don’t think she usually secures the room. I don’t in my place most of the time. That was Bart’s thing. Super Spy Minnock,” he murmured, then squeezed his eyes tight.

“Okay. There’s a disc in the holo-program as I told you. Can you remove it?”

Benny shook his head. “I don’t have the code or sequence.” He glanced at Var.

“No, me neither. We could make a best guess, but if we’re wrong, it’ll hit destruct.”

“All right. We’ll deal with it.”

“She’s in surgery,” Peabody announced. “Indications are she’ll be several hours.”

“Is there family who should be notified?” Eve asked.

“Just her mother.” Var passed a weary hand over his face. “They’re not close, as I guess you could figure, but I guess she should know.”

“We’re her family,” Benny said fiercely. “We are.”

“I’ll have the officers take you to the hospital. Detective Peabody and I will be there shortly.”

She gave the uniforms instructions, secured the door behind them. “We’re going to want eyes on those two, softclothes.”

“Their alibis are easy to check out. EDD can confirm or dispute the online activity. If they’re in this together, they’re both good at the masks, but it would slide in with Mira’s two conspirators theory.”

“How do you see it going down, if they’re in it together?”

“They walk her home, just the way they said, but they come up, talk her into distracting herself with the holo-game. I don’t get that because the place is pretty well soundproofed, but the holo-area would be the more secure and soundproofed section in the space. And, she would be distracted. They attack her, or one attacks, one keeps watch. They leave her for dead, go home. Pull the ‘We were worried about her’ this morning so they can be the ones to find her.”

“Alive. Why not finish her off then?”

“We’d have TOD to coincide with their presence. They have to think fast, decide on calling it in, getting to the hospital. She’s a mess, Dallas, and her chances aren’t good. Either one of them could finish her there. Or could if we didn’t have a man on her.”

“It’s not a bad theory. Run some probabilities on it.”

“You don’t like it.”

“It’s not in my top five.” She gestured to the power drink tube. “That wasn’t there yesterday, and she didn’t come home until last night.”

“Okay. And?”

“If she has company, why does she have an open drink-just one drink and one it doesn’t look like she touched? We’ll check the supply, and the recycler, but I don’t think you’re going to find a couple more drinks of any sort taken out last night. Just here, standing by the window, deciding she doesn’t want the damn drink after all. She did the same thing the day we notified them Bart was dead. Got the drink, opened it, set it aside.”

“Too upset from the memorial,” Peabody concurred. “Yeah, that plays.”

Eve gestured to the shoes. “What do you do when you get home and your new shoes hurt your feet?”

“Take them off.”

“But if you’ve got company you’re probably not going to leave them in the middle of the room, right in the traffic flow.” She shrugged. “Neither may mean anything, but there are little details that give me a different picture.”

“She doesn’t secure the holo-room, so they could’ve come in while she was in game.”

“How did they know she’d be in game?”

“Because… one or both of them knew she’d logged out the disc.”

Now Eve nodded. “Yeah, and I’ll go one up from that. One of them gave her the disc to take home. The game, under it all? That’s the murder weapon. The killer likes the weapon.”

She walked to the door herself to let the sweepers in. While Eve showed them the holo-room, gave them the setup, Peabody chewed over theories.

“They give her time to come up,” Peabody said when Eve came back. “Time to settle in a little, to start the game. They come in. She’s distracted, into the game. And the rest follows my previous theory.”

“Also possible. You should run all variations.”

“I’m asking why. Why Cill, why now? Right on top of Bart, it’s absolute we’re going to be looking at the last partners standing. So, did she become a threat? Find something out? Was she asking the wrong questions?”

“Could be. Yesterday Roarke told her his people have been working on a similar game, similar technology, and have been for months.”

“That had to be crap news for them.”

“Yeah. And she’d have passed it to the others. She’d have told them. Maybe somebody was pissed enough to kill the messenger. And that one’s between you and me. I don’t want Roarke going there.”

“Understood.”

“I’ve got other reasons that’s not my number one. You play a game, you make decisions, and one leads to the next. You face off with different obstacles and opponents. It’s a good strategy to throw a new problem at your current opponent.”

“Which would be us. She was a ploy? Beating her half-and a good chance all the way-to death is a ploy?”

“And it ups the stakes. Yeah, we’ll be looking at the last two standing. And isn’t that exciting? Especially when you think you’re so fucking smart, so much better than the rest of the field. And now? There’s one less person who knows him, in and out. Intimately. Or thinks he does. It’s a calculated risk, but a good move.”

“If she comes out of it, she’ll ID him.”

“Yeah, that’s the sticking point. I’m working on it.” She went to the door again, this time for Feeney and McNab.

“Holo-room. I need whatever you can get me. But before you start, I want to talk to you about a setup I have in mind.”

Cill was still in surgery when Eve arrived at the hospital. “Go check on the partners. Be sympathetic, and try to get them to talk.”

Eve hunted down a floor nurse, badged her. “I’m on the Cilla Allen investigation. I need to know everything you know or can find out.”

“I can tell you they worked on her down in ER, had to zap her, but got her back. She’s lucky Doctor Pruit’s on today. She’s the neuro. The head wounds are severe and priority, but the other injuries are considerable. She’s going to be in there awhile.”

“Chances?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Educated guess.”

“She’s lucky she made it in at all. She looks like she’d been thrown off a cliff.”

Eve took the nurse’s arm before she could move on. “A fall? Not a beating?”

“I can’t tell you. If she beats the odds, she’ll tell you herself.”

She frowned as the nurse hurried away. And the frown deepened when she saw Roarke coming toward her.

“I heard. I thought I should come.”

“Are the partners in there?”

“Yes. Peabody’s with them now.”

“Impressions?”

“Shocked, scared-as you’d expect. Propping each other up you could say.”

“Did either of them ask you about your game in development?”

“No. I don’t think that’s on their scope at the moment.”

Eve shifted her gaze toward the waiting area. “It is for at least one of them.”

“You believe one of them beat that girl-from what I understand-to pieces?”

“No question about it. Not anymore. The only question is how to nail it down. Buy a little time, change the focus, tug the heartstrings. She was the short end of the triangle, hotheaded, impulsive, the weak spot. So she’s a logical sacrifice in the game. She-”

“Christ Jesus, Eve. The girl’s shattered like glass, and it’ll take a bloody miracle to put her together again. And you’re standing here talking about fucking games?”

She met fire with ice. “Obviously your heartstrings are playing a tune.”

“It might be because I have them,” he shot back. “Because I’m not so caught up trying to win some shagging game that I consider a young woman a logical sacrifice. She’s still alive, Lieutenant. She’s not on your side of the board yet.”

“Why don’t you go back to the waiting area. You can all join hands. Maybe hold a prayer meeting. You go ahead and do that while the one who put her in the OR is chuckling up his sleeve. I’ve got better things to do.”

She strode away, steeling both her heart and her belly against the hurt. It wasn’t just the body, she thought, that could shatter. And it wasn’t only fists and pipes and bats that could shatter it.

She found an empty restroom, leaned against the wall, and gave herself a moment to settle. She checked in with Feeney, updated Whitney, consulted with Mira.

This is how it worked, she reminded herself. How she worked. Sitting around patting heads, stroking hands didn’t get the job done. It wouldn’t bring Bart’s killer to justice or save Cill.

She’d be damned if she’d apologize for doing her job the way she saw fit to do it.

Calmer, she found another nurse, badged her, and arranged for a setup in a private observation room. She stood, alone, drinking hideous coffee, and watching as the medical team struggled to put that shattered glass back together again.

Even if she lived, Eve thought, those pieces would never fit quite the same way.

Not on her side of the board yet? Fuck that, she thought. Cill had moved to her side of the board the minute she fell to the floor.

She glanced back as the door opened, saw Roarke come in, then turned her attention back to the screen.

“I have no excuse for that,” he began. “Absolutely no excuse for saying those things to you. I’m unspeakably sorry, Eve.”

“Forget it.”

“I can’t. I won’t.” He walked to her, stood with her, but didn’t touch. “And still I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“It’s been a long few days.”

“That’s no excuse. It’s not even a reason.”

“Fine. Give me one.”

“She wept in my arms yesterday. I knew you considered her a suspect, and a part of me wondered, even as she wept in my arms, if she’d had some part in what happened to Bart. More, from what I’ve gathered, she was very likely lying on the floor, alone, broken, bleeding while we were on a rooftop drinking champagne.”

“You’re too close to it.”

“I am. You’re quite right about that, and I can’t fully explain, even to myself, why that is. But I can’t step back. Those might be reasons, Eve, but they’re still not excuses for slapping at you that way, for doing that because I knew you’d take it, could take it.”

“You hurt me.”

“Oh God. I know it.” He took her arms then, lightly. “You know me. You’ll have the satisfaction of being absolutely sure I’ll suffer for knowing it.”

“You weren’t altogether wrong.”

“I was, altogether and completely wrong.”

“No. Whatever I think about that.” She nodded toward the screen. “About any of it, all of it, I have to maintain. It’s not a shagging game for me, but it is for him. I have to calculate how he thinks so I can stop him.”

“I know how you think, and I know how much you care. I can only tell you again I’m sorry.”

She looked into his eyes, felt some of the sickness in her belly recede. “I’ve said things before designed to hurt you. You forgave me.”

“I did, yes. I will again, no doubt.”

“So, let’s put it aside. You get a big black mark on the asshole side of the column.”

He smiled, pressed his lips to her brow. “What’s the score so far?”

“We’re neck-and-neck in that area.”

“You’d best check those stats. I really think you’re ahead.”

“You want another big black mark?”

“I don’t.” He drew her in, letting out a breath when she relaxed against him. “This is better.”

She turned her head so they watched the screen together.

“Why was she a target?” Roarke asked her.

“Because he doesn’t consider anyone indispensable but himself. He’s going to run the show now, and nobody’s going to slip ahead of him, the way Bart did. It probably felt good to soak up all that sympathy over Bart, and exciting to have the cops taking a look at him. Part of the game, and he’s racking up the points, anticipating the next moves.”

She glanced at Roarke. “That’s the way it is for him.”

“Yes. I know it. You’re right.”

“He’s a gamer, so he’d look at what was on the board. Players, scenarios, options. Cill? She was angry, depressed, taking it harder, at least on the outside, than anyone. It made her more vulnerable. She’s the most in tune, it feels to me, with the other staff. And being an attractive female, may be the most logical next public face for the company. He wants that for himself. And he has a taste for it now. That human nature thing.”

She eased back a little. “I’ve got some technical questions, and they may be way out of orbit, but-” She broke off as on-screen the medical team began to move quickly. “Something’s wrong. Something’s gone wrong.”

Roarke ordered the screen to zoom in, enhance. “Her blood pressure’s dropping. Look at the monitor. It’s bottoming out. They’re losing her.”

“Goddamn it, goddamn it. She’s got to fight! Does she want to stay alive or not?”

They watched in silence while Cill hovered between life and death.