Tedd and Todd's secret (34 page)

"What is it, Carol? You're making me nervous."

"I studied the services that Tedd offered to Ethan as his lawyer, just like you asked me to. For five years he helped him with the buying and selling of houses, just as he does with the Blacks and Whites now."

"Are you trying to say that Ethan killed clones?"

"Something like that. I've put the pieces together during the period we're talking about and I think he killed two Blacks. Or, at least he lived in their houses."

"Very interesting. If I can get Ethan to tell me about that then maybe James will open up more when I talk with him."

"I've gone over all the records during the last fifty years and it would seem that there are houses being bought and sold and exchanged between Blacks and Whites and also between other individuals with different surnames."

"We'll have to check and see if these other types are still doing this today. My guess is that the woman in the wheelchair is one of the others. I bet each one of these other people is linked to each of the gangs. Ethan was with the Whites, maybe he was their leader?"

"I've already checked whether it's still going on," Carol said. "Tedd has two clients who aren't Black or White. One is called Otis Cade."

"That doesn't tell me anything. Wait! Does the name Otis Cade mean anything to you?" Aidan asked Wilfred, who responded by shaking his head. "No, we don't know him. And the other? It has to be the woman."

"Are you sitting down?"

"Who is it, Carol. Tell me!"

"Aidan, please…"

"I have to know, now!"

"She's got your surname," Carol paused. "It's your wife, Ashley Zack."

CHAPTER 25

"I've got to admit you've impressed me," Dylan Blair said as James White walked through the hotel door. "Have you managed to do that with all the wives of the other Whites?"

"You're a degenerate," James said, laughing at him. "I don't propose to tell you how the wives of my beloved brothers are in bed."

"You're a bastard. I wish I had seven twins like you do and could borrow their wives from time to time. It'd be perfect. I would get out of all the hassle of living with them and get the benefit whenever I felt like it. You're a genius, dwarf," Dylan said patting him on the back. "Are you sure they don't know the difference?"

"We're identical in every aspect, including the voice. Anyway, you knew that. Why's it so surprising for you?"

"I don't know. It's hard to believe," he said, shaking his head. "And you've slept with the lot?"

"Save two. Larry died first and he hardly had time to get a girlfriend. And Karen, Peter's wife, finished up paralysed in a wheelchair after a traffic accident."

"Poor thing," Dylan said. "Was it really an accident?"

"I'm not sure it wasn't. She was pregnant. And that was impossible, given that we're all sterile. But strange things happen. Me, for example, I'm the only one who's aware of our condition. The rest think they're normal. Maybe Peter got Karen pregnant, but Tedd and Todd corrected the mistake. It would fit with what I know about Peter. He gave everything up for his wife; his friends, and his job. He was completely devoted to her until that bastard Kodey Black decapitated him with a boomerang."

"And you think he felt guilty," Dylan paused. "It's a sad and interesting theory you've got there."

"Maybe it was love," James reflected. "We'll never know. Karen's case got to me. I was even going to visit her and try and ease her pain somehow. But that's out of the question now. She's in a mental home and I doubt she'll ever come out."

"This stuff depresses me," Dylan complained. "We were talking about sex and look how it's changed. Get back to the point and give me some details. I lost my bet but I deserve some satisfaction. After all, I'm the one who paid for the hotel."

"No way. I wouldn't tell a rat like you about anything that happened up there," he said, stopping in front of Dylan's limousine. "In the end you're going to do it? Isn't that true?"

"Of course," Dylan answered him, frowning. "Don't look at me like that. If I don't do it, somebody else will. It's not that much effort and I'll gain points with the boss."

"That's the correct point of view. There's no doubt about that. It's only that on this occasion it seems too cruel. That poor bastard doesn't even know who he is."

Dylan Blair seemed surprised. "Since when did you start worrying about anybody else? That's not your style,
Mr Life Stinks
, worrying about a policeman he doesn't even know."

"It's a question of curiosity, nothing more. I wanted to know what Tedd and Todd are up to with Aidan. I regret having found out. I would have preferred that you hadn't told me. I can't imagine anything worse than what's in store for that poor soul."

"You're looking at this from the wrong angle. What's going to happen is hardly our fault. That's for certain. And can we stop it? The answer is clearly no. Nor should we. If you want to talk about that point, we'll be arguing and philosophizing all day long. Forget it. I only want to get some benefit out of the inevitable."

"At last, my end is getting close, my friend. I'll miss you," James White said, changing the theme and extending his hand.

"Don't say that. Maybe you'll survive," Dylan said, shaking his hand. "Who am I going to have fun with other than you?"

"You've seen Big Ben. I'm the key to victory. Otis won't let me live much longer and if he does, Ashley will sacrifice me just the same. Either way, I'm fucked. As I say, life stinks!"

Aidan Zack turned the phone off and drove too fast around the curve. Carol had been calling him constantly and the melody of the telephone was ringing in his head. He couldn't think clearly.

He knew Carol was trying to maintain some control over what he was doing. No doubt she had the best of intentions, but that didn't matter. He was dangerously close to going mad and the only thing that was keeping him sane was the thought of finding out what was going on. The latest news had almost blown him away, as if a bolt of lightning had struck him on the head.

His wife, Ashley, she was alive! There had to be some other explanation of why she was on Tedd and Todd's list. Somebody had assumed her surname, for example. But deep down he felt that wasn't true. He'd been finding out well enough in the last few weeks that there were plenty of people out there who could laugh death in the face. Maybe it was true that Ashley was alive and that was the reason she hadn't been found in the Thames five years before. But thinking that released a surge of adrenalin through his body that threatened to blow his heart into a thousand pieces if he didn't control it. And that was exactly what he had to do right now, control it.

But he couldn't. There were a million questions raging through his mind at the same time. If Ashley was alive and was involved in this war between the Blacks and Whites, why hadn't she contacted him in the last five years? Why had she let him think that she was dead? He desperately needed to find that out, and he figured Tedd and Todd had the answer. He had to find them at any cost.

Aidan parked the car and got out quickly. He wasn't aware of Carol running behind him.

"Aidan, wait for me. I only want to help you."

"How did you find me?"

"Wilfred told me where you were going. Don't worry. I understand how important this is for you. It's part of you."

Aidan nodded, glad that she had come, and suddenly another problem appeared in his mind. His feelings for Carol hadn't disappeared. Seeing her there, beside him, calmed him. But if Ashley was alive? He held Carol in his arms, as he thought about finding Ashley. If this kept up on top of everything else, he was going to go crazy for sure.

The person he was looking for appeared in the distance and he felt grateful that something else helped him focus his thoughts.

"James, wait!"

Dressed in an elegant white suit, James White had just come out of the main door of his building and was walking quickly away from them. They ran after him.

"Be careful, Aidan. He's wearing the white suit," Carol advised him.

"James, I need to talk to you. It'll only take a minute."

"Beat it, detective," James said without even looking at him. "I haven't got time to talk."

Aidan couldn't let him get away again. He had to talk with him at any price. He grabbed him by the shoulder.

"You can't do that. I only want to–"

With incredible ease, James shook off the giant holding him, and with what seemed like a simple shove, sent Aidan crashing into a parked car. Carol stopped in her tracks, watching James continue on his way at the same pace.

"Don't touch me," James warned Aidan again as he came storming back. "It's for your own good. I can't stop. I've already told you that."

"What if we walk together? I only need information."

"Have you forgotten our last meeting? Don't you understand why I jumped through the window?"

"It was a message," Carol said. "You did it to show that we're facing something that we can't understand. You couldn't tell us or that was your way of getting the message across."

"Smart girl. You should take a few classes from her."

"Who are you, James? The Blacks and Whites aren't normal people," Carol asked.

"I've already warned you that I can't tell you. Actually, I'd like to help out. Especially you, detective. I told you that you're running a great danger, but you don't pay any attention to what I say."

"The danger is yours. One of the Blacks killed my friend."

"That's wrong," James said dryly.

"How can you be so sure? Were you there?"

"No, but we can't kill, just like we can't die. In almost all respects, we're on the edge of life."

"Is that why you're sterile?"

"Yes, we can't create life. We're here to fulfil a specific function that you would never understand."

"What function is that? Explain it to us," Carol begged him.

"I'm sorry, I can't. The only thing that I can tell you is that you can't interfere with it. Nobody can. Not even me. My will is irrelevant. I'm only a pawn, condemned to obey the orders of someone else."

Aidan and Carol kept walking on either side of James. They maintained a steady pace along the street. James didn't stop or speed up. The lights were always green when they got to the pedestrian crossings and nobody got in their way. James didn't take his eyes off the street ahead.

"My wife gives you orders. Isn't that right?" Aidan asked.

"You're finally beginning to understand. Yes, Ashley is the owner of my destiny."

"Where is she? I've got to see her, James. She's my wife."

"I don't know. She knows where I am at every moment, but not the other way round. I don't have the least idea where she is."

"And Tedd and Todd? You could tell me a little about them."

"Do you know them?" James asked with amazement evident in his voice. It was the first time he'd shown any emotion since they'd met. "It's not a good idea to make any deals with them."

"I'll decide that," Aidan let him know.

"You're not listening to me, my friend. You're in danger. All the loose ends haven't been tied yet. Think it through a little, numskull. I can't give you any more clues."

"The key has to be Ashley," Carol said. "Or your relationship with her. Ashley's involved in all of this, and they've got you out of jail because you're her husband. Something's going to happen. James, please, tell us where all this is heading. Big Ben, your surnames, and everything else."

"Spit it out, dwarf," Aidan snarled, his patience wearing thin. "Tell me or I swear you'll regret it."

"Do you still believe you can scare me?" James asked. "I just told you I'm only a pawn here. There doesn't exist anyone else in the world more conscious of my own uselessness. And you think you can frighten me. I've got to think that you're still as thick as you are because of your friend's death. You're the most important piece in all of this. I've warned you about the danger. I've told you all I can. You know that your wife is part of this. And you're a detective. Use your powers of deduction that go with your job. Time is up."