STRANGE BODIES (a gripping crime thriller) (19 page)

Chapter 28

As Nicholas pulled up outside Verity’s house he said. ‘I think we need to talk about a few things. Will you invite me in, Verity?’

‘Yes, of course. And I’m starving. I’ll see what I’ve got in the fridge.’

He looked at her in amazement. ‘So am I actually. Do you cook?’

‘Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I? What do
you
do about meals?’

‘I have some at work and sometimes I get a take-away on the way home or there’s an excellent restaurant in the foyer of my apartment building. And I’ve got a lot of stuff in my freezer I can zap.’

She shook her head. ‘That’s awful. Didn’t you ever cook in England?’

‘No, very few people did as there wasn’t much to cook, food and power usage being strictly rationed. So mostly we just had the pre-packed meals sold by local councils that took about two minutes to heat up. No red meat, some chicken, a lot of synthesized food, stuff you didn’t ask about. No cattle, sheep, pigs or goats left in Britain since the first major food riots. Fruit once a week, twice for children. And everyone had vitamin shots along with the usual anti-everything else shots.’

At her horrified expression, he shrugged and said, ‘You get used to it. Actually it was one of the more powerful incentives to come here. I had no trouble finding officers willing to come with me. One of my team said he dreamed of real eggs for weeks before he came here. He’d had them once in the USA when he went over for a seminar.’

‘Well, if you are coming in you might as well park in my garage … it’s in the next street. Better let me drive … it’s tricky.’

They got out of the car and changed places.

‘I’ll have to authorise you.’ He input a few commands then asked her for her ID number. ‘Right, now you can drive this car. As this is an official police vehicle civilians aren’t usually allowed access but I’ve input an emergency code which overrides that, so it’s all yours.’

She gave him an amused look. ‘Do you think this is an emergency? I mean, we’re only hungry, not starving to death!’

Before they moved Verity sent a command to the house security system and they watched as the lights of the house and garden blazed into life. They drove around the corner and Verity used her remote again, this time to open the heavy metal garage door.

‘Stay there for a minute,’ she said as she got out and crossed to a panel on the wall and tapped it with her remote wand to open it. She was in front of the panel now and so he couldn’t see what she was doing, but he heard a faint rumbling which seemed to come from under the garage. She got back into the car and placed a small flat black disc on the console between the two front seats. ‘My security system will recognise your car now. Don’t leave the disc here though … you’ll have to find a place to conceal it. Under a carpet will do.’

She pressed a button on her remote and the floor slowly lowered. ‘I’m going to park in the underground garage. My car is still at the office so there’s room.’

Nicholas was astonished. ‘You are full of surprises today. I never imagined there was space under your courtyard.’

The platform stopped and they got out, Nicholas still looking around in wonder. He could see one side of the lap pool over to his right, several other vehicles to the left under what, he calculated, would be Adelaide’s courtyard, and some complicated looking pipes, probably part of the complex recycling system. There were other things that he couldn’t make out in the gloom at the sides as only a passage directly in front of them was brightly lit. He took a bag from the car and said, ‘What else is down here?’

‘Oh, a lot of odds and ends, the obsolete electronic stuff I keep.’ She pointed to the left. ‘Marcus leaves a couple of vehicles down there, the big ATVs that he uses on longer trips. There’s a small shooting gallery with holo simulations, storage lockers, old furniture, I’m not sure exactly what’s here.’ At his questioning look, she said, ‘All the weapons in the gallery are registered and locked up tight. Do you still shoot?’

‘You mean, since the Peacekeepers incident … this?’ pointing to his forehead. ‘All young men know they’ll live forever so it didn’t really bother me at the time. Yes, police are required to keep their weapons skills up to date, and that includes me, of course. We go to the forces range down at Botany Bay once a fortnight. I usually carry a needle gun rather than the pistol or laser gun. Non-lethal but the treated needles stop them cold. Do you …?’

‘Yes, I used to shoot in competitions in the States, but not here. I use the range here occasionally and I have a couple of hand guns in the house and a permit to carry. Come on, we’ll use the secret passage ... that’s what Lucy calls it. This lift comes up at the side of the living room.’

Seconds later a panel slid aside and they stepped out into a space behind the L-shaped couch. ‘Have a seat while I check a few things.’

Then her head came up like a tiger scenting prey. ‘Someone’s been here. No, not in the house. Outside.’ She walked to a panel on the wall and placed her hand on it. ‘Time to wake up, Jeannie. I’m home.’

‘Well, it’s about time. I was starting to get worried. It’s a good ten minutes since all the lights went on,’
said a throaty female voice.

‘Okay, Jeannie, I’m here now so settle down. I want you to meet a friend of mine.’ She beckoned Nicholas to come over to where she was standing and gestured for him to place his hand on the panel where hers had been. ‘This is Commander Nicholas Adams. He is going to be here for a while. Level two clearance, please.’

‘Well, hello, handsome. I think we’ve met before. Why, yes, you were here with Jet. I had a bit of fun with him’.
A tinkling laugh issued.

Nicholas raised his eyebrows. ‘I am only guessing here,’ he said to Verity, ‘but would I be correct in saying this …’ his gesture seemed to take in the whole house, ‘that this is the result of the AI project you mentioned. And where did you get that voice!’

She blushed a little. ‘It’s actually my own voice. I just Voca-shopped it. Now, I need to check a few things. Jeannie, has anyone been here today, any unauthorised person?’

‘No one has been inside the house, Verity. You need to speak to Toby, he mentioned something.’
The voice trailed off.

‘Don’t play games with me, Jeannie, or I’ll put you back in your lamp for a week. Now, I’ll want steak for two and the usual trimmings, salad, rolls. Please arrange that. Hand over to Toby, since he seems to be the one who knows what’s what here.’

A pleasant male voice said formally, ‘
I apologise for my colleague. Her sense of humour can sometimes border on the ridiculous. You asked about an intruder, Dr Burne. A person attempted to break in at the back by coming over the wall. I gave him a jolt, but he was very determined and proceeded to carry out his mission, which will become obvious. I assume you will want to see the vid—screen two, north-east wall.’

One of the large abstracts cleared and an image of the courtyard appeared. Nothing happened for a few seconds then a leg appeared at the top of the wall, then the rest of the figure. It seemed to be a male though it was hard to tell—it was overdressed for the hot weather with gloves, a light hooded jacket and a scarf pulled up over the nose, mouth and chin. It must have been hellish inside that lot. He suddenly jerked and they heard a cry as he fell off the wall, unfortunately into the garden, not into the narrow lane.

‘A small error. I should have jolted him before he got to the top.’

The intruder sat on the ground for a few minutes recovering then stood up, swung a pack from his back and opened it. He seemed to be taking great care with a small metal cylinder.

‘That’s a bomb
,’
said Toby. ‘
I had already ascertained what he was carrying and neutralised it. He also had an e-jammer in the bag—I took care of that too. Please keep watching.’

The man walked over to the glass wall of the greenhouse holding his bomb carefully.

Verity joined a speechless Nicholas on the couch. She smiled happily. ‘I’m starting to enjoy this.’ She wriggled back and curled up, getting more comfortable against the cushions.

The intruder placed the bomb hard up against the door of the greenhouse, peered closely at something on the top of it, appeared to turn a dial, then stood up to leave. Before he could take two steps there was a loud bang and he was showered with grey sticky stuff. He yelped and tried to scrape it off, looking back fearfully at the bomb. His head was still partly obscured by the hood but the mask had slipped revealing a gape of amazement and horror. The bomb was gone—in its place was a small puddle of grey goo and a few fragments of metal. It took him about two seconds to get back over the wall, leaving behind the back pack.

Both Verity and Nick smiled at the obvious discomfiture of the intruder.

‘I requested the robots to preserve the residue of the bomb and the pack left by our uninvited guest. They removed them to your storage area.’

Verity said, ‘Thank you, Toby, an excellent job, as always. Please tell Jeannie we will eat in about five minutes. Goodnight, Toby.’ She sensed Nicholas was looking hard at her, so she turned to him, looking a little defiant.

‘Storage area?’

‘I’m still starving … let’s go and see what Jeannie has dug up for us.’ He noted her cheeks had become pink again. As he had now begun to realise, she blushed when embarrassed or prevaricating.

‘Storage area, Verity? Where are the remnants? I need to get them to our lab.’

‘What about the fact that someone tried to
bomb
my house!’ She looked mutinous.

He said, ‘A bomb. That’s serious so don’t mess about here, Verity. I need to send that residue and the backpack to our lab, not yours. I’m guessing someone knows it was you who instigated the new investigation into Levinsky’s death. And that means someone is able to access the police computers, or maybe someone is leaking information. And that someone is probably our murderous friend. Shit, I’d better get a guard on the professor.’

He called North Sydney and spoke to George Greene, who was still there. After a quick rundown, Greene merely said, ‘Leave it with me.’

He stood up and held out a hand to her. ‘That’s done. Let’s discuss this a bit later. Come on, we need food.’

She hesitated a second then took his offered hand, letting him lead her to the kitchen.

Two perfect looking steaks were sitting on a platter on the bench top along with the ingredients for a salad. They could smell something delicious in the zap oven; cut garlic cloves and oil sat by an already sizzling hot plate on the side bench.

‘How did all this happen?’ he gestured, ‘Kitchen gnomes?’

‘Yes, kitchen gnomes,’ she said, laughing, as she took a glass bowl from a cupboard, quickly tossed in the salad ingredients. She rubbed the garlic on the steaks before dropping them onto the hotplate brushed with a little oil.

‘Is that real steak, from a cow?’ he asked.

She looked at him aghast. ‘Of course not. There are no cattle or sheep in Australia. Environmental vandals, banned thirty years ago. We have strictly regulated pigs and poultry but this is the closest thing you’ll get to steak. I had real steak once in Argentina. This is better and more tender. I don’t know the technology they use … it’s cloned or cultured in some way. They still have sheep and dairy cattle in New Zealand … that’s where our milk comes from, but they use various processes to reduce any environmental damage. No beef cattle.’

‘I’ll have to take your word for its being better. I haven’t had either.’

She said, ‘Shall we eat here or go formal in the dining room?’

Nicholas was watching with admiration Verity put together a meal with, to him, ridiculous ease. ‘Here, by all means. Can I help?’

‘Yes, plates there. Cutlery there.’ She pointed to drawers. ‘Mustard, if you want it, in the fridge. Oh, grab the salad dressing. I made some fresh this morning. Wine in the bottom of the pantry … over there. We might try the ‘62 Sybella Red. One of Marcus’ vineyards.’

By the time all this was done Verity had the steaks on the plates, retrieved golden potatoes and hot rolls from the oven and had dressed the salad.

‘Ah, give me wine,’ she said as she pulled out a stool and sat opposite him at the end of the long marble island bench.

He handed her a large wineglass, picked up his own and said, ‘We should have a toast. What shall we drink to, Verity? How about … our friendship.’

‘Sounds good.’ She raised her glass to him and drank.

And I’ll drink to you, Verity, to your life
.
And the hope that I’ll be there to share it
. He thought the last part as he took a bite of the steak. Then there was no more talking. In his whole life he thought he had never had anything as good as that deceptively simple meal … and the company.

They moved to the couch after dinner, taking the last of the wine and a pot of coffee. Verity produced chocolates from somewhere and they relaxed replete. After a few minutes, Nicholas said, ‘You are not staying here alone tonight, Verity, not after that bomb attempt.’

As she started to say something, he held up a hand and said, ‘No, hear me out. I can sleep here on the couch or wherever but I’m staying. I have to take you to get your car in the morning anyway so it makes sense. And if you kick me out I’ll just sit in my car anyway so …’ He glanced sideways at her.