Criminal Minds (Fox Meridian Book 4) (8 page)

‘Next scene. If we ever get this one wrapped. We always knew M. J. was going to be the make-or-break character for the production and we were worried about casting Marie. I’ll admit it. Untried actress, we had worries. She’s nailing the scenes, making M. J. work how we’d hoped,
and
she looks great in the costume.’

‘Yeah, I’ve seen her in the novices’ uniform. It’s the legs. Girl has legs to die for. When’s this due to stream?’

‘First of October, eleven p.m. slot. We’re screening it for some clients, ad sales, before then. That’s when we’ll really know if it’s going to work. If we can sell it to them, we can get repeat showings and on-demand slots, and prove that harder-hitting, more adult shows can work on the channel.’

‘Good luck,’ Fox said, watching the screen. She winced. ‘But get a consultant for the detective work next time, would you?’

~~~

The storage room was dark and silent, and largely left that way. Hospitals always had things which were no longer needed, but maybe someone could use, sometime, probably just after Hell froze over. This was the place they ended up, deep in the basement.

The sound, when it came, was sudden. Plastic ripped, rent apart by something sharp. Then there was rustling, a sharp snap, and footsteps in the darkness. The door opened and a tall figure stepped into the light beyond. He paused, checking the corridor, and then closed the door. And only then did he lift his right hand and watch the slim blades slip back into hiding in his fingertips.

His head turned once more, examining the corridor. An illuminated sign, no v-tags buried away down here, indicated the way out and he set off toward it with a purpose. In the world above, there was work to be done, his work, the one and only purpose he had. In the world above, people were going to die.

Part Two: Jack

New York Metro, 30
^th
September 2060.

Sister Georgina Parton was in a good mood. Her last client, a financial consultant in one of the arcologies near JFK, had given her a good tip. Even if she had earned it, the guy had some interesting kinks to say the least, she was always pleased to make that much over the going rate. She would put a little extra into the chapter house funds this month. Her next client was a fit, very flexible, widow who would ask her to stay the night and lived in an apartment block a short walk from the vast spire she had come from. In ten minutes, Georgina would be drinking wine and getting ready for a night of enthusiastic sex.

Smiling, she allowed the slideway to carry her to street level and started north at a brisk pace. The area here was fairly safe, though there were Sprawl regions to the west. It was best to keep your eyes open, and Georgina put her hand in her purse where she kept a can of antimugging spray. When she saw the man walking toward her on the street, she considered taking out the spray, just in case, but then she got a better look at him. Tall, holding himself erect, and dressed in a long black coat which looked expensive. In the light from a street lamp, she made out sharply creased trousers and the kind of high collar that was in fashion for the wealthier man this year. Not a sprawler: Georgina relaxed.

She smiled, lifting her face, as the distance closed between them. The man smiled back. He was quite easy on the eye: sculpted features and short, blue-black hair. And Georgina felt an element of uncertainty as she saw his face with its perfectly formed structure, but by then it was too late. His arm swung and light glinted from metal blades, and Georgina Parton’s throat was opened up from one side to the other.

As she fell, clutching frantically at her neck in an attempt to stem the flow of blood, the man grabbed her and dragged her into a nearby alley. Even as Georgina’s vision faded into darkness, she felt him slicing at her clothes and knew she was about to die.

~~~

Fox walked into the chapter house wondering what she was doing there. The summons had come just after ten a.m. and was marked as urgent. It had come directly from Sister Naomi. Fox went straight to the Sister on duty at the front desk, opened her mouth…

‘Miss Meridian,’ the receptionist said, ‘Sister Naomi is expecting you. Go straight up.’

‘Right.’ Fox looked at the girl, noting the sombre expression. ‘I don’t suppose you have some idea what this is about?’

‘Yes, ma’am. It’s about murder. Sister Naomi will tell you everything.’

Naomi was not smiling, nor was her expression that of the haughty dominatrix. She looked worried. After pouring coffee, she settled herself on the couch in her room, but she leaned forward, elbows on her knees and hands clasped into fists.

‘The receptionist said murder,’ Fox said when Naomi did not speak.

‘Sister Georgina Parton was found dead this morning. NAPA are being circumspect about the details, even with us, but they’ve assigned Detective Rutherford of precinct seventeen to the case despite the fact that the body was found within precinct nineteen. Rutherford caught a case earlier in the month, a prostitute found murdered and mutilated, and another one on the seventeenth, this time an unregistered sprawler. We assume that Sister Georgina is part of the same sequence.’

‘NAPA normally assign an inspector to serial cases.’

‘Not this time. We’ve pressed for a resolution on this. When the first one came up, we made contact with NAPA and… expressed our opinion that the murder and mutilation of a prostitute suggested a serial killer might be operating.’

‘And they told you to mind your own business. Now they’ve got one, officially.’

‘The continued assignment of Detective Rutherford is not inspiring confidence in their investigation.’

Fox looked at her. ‘And you’d like me to stick my nose in. NAPA are
not
going–’

‘NAPA are not doing their job, Fox. I couldn’t take a direct hand in this before, but now he’s killed one of mine.’

Fox bit at her lip, thinking. ‘The new legislation goes live on the eighth of October.
Then
I can get access to the case files. Without them, I’m working entirely in the dark unless this detective wants to give me them.’

‘I can get you the data.’

‘Do I want to know how?’

Naomi shrugged. ‘People owe me favours. You’d make it official on the eighth, but I can get the data before then.’

‘Okay. Get me what you can and I’ll see what I can do. I’ll go talk to Detective Rutherford and see if she’s willing to share any information. Her captain will be bugging her about clean-up rates, so she may be willing to take the help.’

Naomi grimaced. ‘From what I hear, I doubt it.’

~~~

Detective Madelaine Rutherford was a slight sort of woman, an attractive blonde with blue eyes and a distracted, almost annoyed, look to her face. She took Fox to a small conference room off the bullpen where the detectives in her unit were housed, sat down, and glared.

Since she did not seem inclined to start, Fox did. ‘Palladium has been asked to look into the death of Sister Georgina Parton. I understand that’s your case.’

‘Yeah, one of eight outstanding cases I’m working on. One of which is someone supplying Titan to kids in North Queens.’

Fox took a second to consider and then said, ‘So the death of a hooker doesn’t rate highly on your radar.’

Rutherford stared at her. ‘The death of any citizen of this metro is of concern to NAPA.’

Fox smiled. ‘Of course. Since my company has been contracted to look into this, I am able to offer our resources in the investigation. We have considerable resources.’

‘Not required.’

‘As you wish. I’d appreciate access to the case–’

‘Out of the question. NAPA does not provide active case files to–’

‘I’m going to get them in eight days, Detective. In eight days, I can have access to any case, active or inactive, providing that I can show reason, and I can. Why not help out a little early? I can’t arrest the guy, it’ll be yours if I find him, and I don’t have three murders to solve with more on the way.’ Fox saw the woman’s lips twitch slightly: there was something Fox did not know and Rutherford was amused. ‘I’m sure your captain is keen to get these homicides off his books.’

‘I’ll take it up with him,’ Rutherford said, not meaning a word of it. ‘He’ll say no.’

‘What can you tell me about Georgina Parton’s death?’

‘Details of active cases are not up for discussion.’

‘My understanding of the previous deaths is that they had their throats slit and then their bodies were mutilated. Someone discussed some of the details, because the first one was reported in the media. Gruesome corpses are always newsworthy. Disembowelled was what was reported.’

‘No comment.’

Fox got to her feet. ‘Thank you for your time, Detective. In return, some advice. Make sure your case files look good, because if I read them and think you’ve fucked up the investigation, I’ll put a complaint through that’ll have you busted down to rookie. Good day.’

‘She did
not
look happy when we left,’ Kit said inside Fox’s head as they went down in the elevator.

‘NAPA may be concerned about the death of any citizen, but she isn’t. The trouble is that there’s fuck all we can do until we have data to work with. Did Naomi send over Parton’s personal file?’

‘Yes. Primary me is busy setting up a murder room using it.’

‘Okay, find out what she was doing before she was killed. If she was with a client, see if we can get an interview.’

There was a short pause and then, ‘The chapter house received a call from one client asking why Sister Georgina failed to arrive for an appointment. I also have the name of the client before that one.’

‘Okay, arrange interviews for both.’

~~~

‘Thank you for seeing me so quickly, Mrs Lorie,’ Fox said as she sat down in the offered chair. Philippa Lorie was probably forty or so, but she had had a fair bit of work done to keep herself looking younger, and she clearly worked out from the trim, fit body she was not concealing especially well under a thin robe. It was noticeable that her pale blue eyes were reddened: she had been crying.

‘I can’t believe Georgina’s dead. And on the way to see me!’

‘I understand you rang the chapter house this morning to enquire after her?’

Lorie nodded. ‘I was a little angry. I was expecting her at eleven, but I was going to ask her to stay the night. She often did when she could and I enjoyed her company. She reminded me of my wife… Uh, well, I wasn’t worried too much when she was late and I’d had some wine. I fell asleep on the sofa, woke up around three and she still hadn’t shown up or called. So I went to bed and called the Sisters first thing. They said they’d enquire after her and then they called back and… and told me she’d been killed.’ Lorie’s eyes were brimming again and, as far as Fox could gather, the tears were quite genuine.

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Lorie.’

‘Thank you. Georgina was my favourite. I almost exclusively used her. My wife died three years ago and I just can’t bring myself to date again yet, but a woman has needs…’ There was just a hint of embarrassment in her voice, a desire to justify herself.

‘I don’t judge, Mrs Lorie. One of my closest friends is a registered prostitute. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve nothing to be ashamed of. I didn’t know Georgina, but I’m going to do everything I can to catch the man who did this.’

‘I’m sure you will. I’ve seen you on the news feeds, Miss Meridian. I’m sure you’ll do your best. I can’t believe it happened so close to here. When I heard from the Sisters, I looked out. You could see the police all over an alley just south of here. Another block or two and she would have been safe with me. Just another block or two…’

Fox was not especially good at comforting distraught people, so she thanked Mrs Lorie for her help and headed down to the street, walking south to where the body had been found.

That something had happened there was fairly obvious because the city had gone through and removed every last trace. The sidewalk had been scoured in a three-metre radius, so had a nearby wall, and then the trail of cleansed ground moved into the alley. He had, Fox guessed, slit her throat out on the street, in plain view, but at eleven at night in this neighbourhood it was unlikely that he would be seen. Then he had dragged her ten or so metres into the alley as she bled out. Whatever ‘mutilation’ had been carried out, it had happened there: the ground had been cleaned to a near-sparkling shine to remove any evidence.

Fox let out an exasperated grunt. ‘This is fucking awful police work. I’d imagine she’s under pressure, but I’d have had this entire area screened off instead of letting them sandblast the whole place.’

‘It seems that the metro authorities want the deaths kept as quiet as possible.’

‘Someone out murdering and mutilating women he comes across? Yeah. Okay, so he seems to be targeting prostitutes, but how does he know they are? He could get it wrong and anyone could be a target.’ Fox frowned. ‘How
does
he know? The first was a street girl, right?’

‘That’s what the media said. The second was a sprawler so the same probably applies.’

‘But Sister Georgina was doing out-calls. How did he know that the woman he saw walking down the street was a target?’

1
^st
October.

‘I know why Detective Rutherford was amused,’ Kit said as Fox entered the virtual room which had been set up for the murders.

Fox saw it almost immediately too. ‘Four dead. She has four murders by the same killer.’

‘Yes. Sister Naomi sent over the file in the early hours and I’ve been working to get the data presentable overnight. As you suspected, the case files are… light.’

‘What do we have?’

‘On the eighth of September, Nadine Truly was murdered in Queens. Her throat was cut and her abdomen opened. Her internal organs were removed and piled beside her body, except for the uterus which was not found at the site. She appears to have been lured into an alley. One witness reported seeing her with “a tall, dark man,” but there is no detailed description.’