The Raft (17 page)

“No,” Maggie shook her head. “No,” she
repeated in a murmur. Suddenly, sitting on the green couch, she
appeared small and pale and sickly. It was like the air had let out
of her. Rachael tried to put a comforting hand on Maggie's
shoulder, but Maggie recoiled as if in pain.

“But my colleagues to the left are unable to
see the social genius of self-imposed exile. It's always been an
irritant to them, a finger in the eye of their great progressive
society. 'What's the point of prison if it's not a punishment
handed down from on high?' they ask. You can't just have the scum
of society punishing itself. And perhaps they're right... Tomorrow
the revised tax code will clear committee and then it's on to a
floor vote. After that, the Raft will be, perhaps, one Presidential
signature away from oblivion. So you can see how the timing of all
this is suspicious, my dears. An assassination attempt, however
incompetent, and two lovely blackmailers only hours later. Perhaps
it's all a coincidence, but you can understand my wariness.”

“I do, Senator, I do,” Maggie replied
meekly.

“Then, if there's nothing else, I have a
plane to catch.” The Senator climbed wearily out of his chair.

“But, Meerkat -” Rachael began. Maggie
stopped her, quickly reaching out and grabbing Rachael's hand.

“We've taken far more than five minutes of
your time,” Maggie said as she pulled herself groggily to her feet.
“Thank you, Senator.”

“But -” Rachael said again. Maggie just
turned for the door, dragging Rachael along with her. Even Special
Agent Galahad appeared surprised that the interview was actually
over. He hopped to his feet and quickly opened the study door for
Maggie.

Back in the hallway, Agent Galahad and
Rachael fumbled with their footwear. Maggie was already out under
the porte-cochère, where Detective Sargent Yi and Agents Rolph and
Chesterton were waiting.

“How did it go?” Yi asked as Maggie came down
the stairs.

“Fine,” Maggie allowed bluntly.

“Fine, but -” Yi started. Maggie strolled
past him, back onto the gravel drive. Out of the house, Galahad and
Rachael stumbled, still trying to pull their shoes on. “Who? What?”
Yi asked, bewildered.

Rachael shrugged. With her boots back on her
feet, she cantered off down the drive after Maggie.

“What happened?” Yi asked Galahad after
Maggie and Rachael were out of earshot.

“Nothing,” Galahad shook his head. “Nothing.
It was a waste of time. Let's get downtown. Let's get a confession
out of the d-bag in holding and we can all have an early
night.”

Galahad and the other agents started towards
their cars. Yi shook his head. He watched as Maggie strode off down
the driveway with Rachael skipping to keep pace. She was already
almost to the front gate.

Apparently, the sharp rocks of the gravel
were no longer bothering her feet.

Chapter 17

Maggie stared morosely out the window of the
SUV as it descended the counterbalance and turned onto
3
^rd
Ave. She would only grunt in response to any of
Rachael's questions.

Ah, Rachael was in familiar territory here.
Sad, self-absorbed Maggie Rachael knew all too well. Rachael leaned
back in the soft leather seat of the black SUV, determined to leave
Maggie alone. It was for the best, or else they'd inevitability end
up in some big fight about something that had nothing to do with
what either of them was really upset about.

Rachael knew that'd get them nowhere. Just
right back to where they were five years ago, living up on
58
^th
.

Instead, Rachael took her notebook out of her
purse and began to catch up on notes for her article she'd been
neglecting. At first, the article had been a ruse, but after
spending a day aboard the Raft, Rachael could see a real article
beginning to form around the fake one she'd been pretending to
write. She'd learned so much in such a short period, and the
dryfoots knew so little about what the Raft actually was. Rachael
had been given a unique insight and she had every intention of
sharing it. At least after the murder case was over. After she'd
gotten Maggie successfully off the Raft.

But Rachael sighed and closed her notebook.
She couldn't quite summon the concentration to order the events of
the day. It was a disappointment, she had to admit. In Maggie. The
Maggie who'd picked her up from Alki Point had been so...
confident. Not the Maggie Rachael had remembered from five years
ago. Strong, decisive, commanding the respect of everyone she met.
Three or four times, one Rafters or another had reminded Rachael
that Maggie was some sort of hero. And Rachael had believed it,
even before she'd learned exactly how Maggie had become one. Maggie
just acted like a hero, someone you could so easily believe in and
project your expectations onto.

Shamefully, Rachael now realized that she'd
done the same thing. From the movement she'd reconnected with
Maggie, all those old feelings, all that undealt with crap Rachael
carried around, it had returned in one great burst. And to find
Maggie so... exceptional. Tall, strong, lean, sexy. All that hunger
she remembered having for Maggie, it came back. Despite Peter,
despite little Margaret, despite a whole life that Rachael would
have done anything on Earth to protect, Rachael had to admit to
herself, at least for a few hours, that she'd really fallen back in
love with Maggie.

But that had been out on the Raft.

Back on dryland, after going nose to nose
with Senator Hadian, Maggie transformed back to her old self. Five
minutes in a room with the most despicable public figure alive and
Maggie had choked. At exactly the moment when Rachael had needed
the tough, sexy, hardnosed Maggie from the Raft, she'd buckled over
and shown her tail to that son of a bitch.

No, Rachael wasn't just disappointed, she was
disgusted.

Rachael opened her notebook again and
scribbled something unintelligible.

She felt like a fool. She'd bought into the
silly, childish game of the Raft. She should have known better,
approached the day with some modicum of professionalism, but her
head had been so lost. That Maggie had seemed to stand tall at the
helm of the
Soft Cell
said nothing about Maggie, she hadn't
changed, but rather the height of those she was standing next to.
Bring Maggie back ashore and she was still the pouting whiner she'd
been five years previous. It'd been foolish for Rachael to have
expected anything different.

Perhaps it was a blessing. It put a period at
the end of the sentence of so many emotions that Rachael had
dredged up. A big, fat, permanent full stop.

At 3
^rd
and James the SUV turned,
pulling into the parking garage of the King County Jail. For the
first time since leaving Queen Anne Hill, Rachael realized she was
in a convoy, with two similar black SUVs turning off James into the
parking garage behind them.

At the elevators, all the passengers
congregated. Yi, Galahad, Rolph, Chesterton, and a number of
unidentified dark-suited men and women who obviously patronized the
same FBI tailor.

“You understand we're going to videotape this
whole thing,” Galahad said to Maggie, looking up at the elevator's
lights.

“That's fine,” Maggie replied.

“You're not a lawyer,” Galahad continued.
“Pretending to be one could get you into a lot of trouble. Mr.
Meyer has been advised of his rights, he didn't ask for a lawyer,
he asked for
you
. If you can get him to confess to breaking
and entering into Senator Hadian's with intent to do bodily
harm...”

“He'll confess, don't worry,” Maggie said
meekly.

The elevator chimed. The doors opened and
everyone piled in. It was a tight squeeze, but everybody fit.

“Just a confession, we don't need anything on
the record about Hadian and the dead girl. I hope we can consider
that line of investigation dead.”

“We can, Special Agent,” Maggie answered as
the elevator climbed.

Rachael rolled her eyes. Squashed in among
all the FBI agents. Maggie missed it, but Rachael couldn't help but
roll her eyes. Line of investigation dead, really? Maggie had
hardly touched on the issue with the Senator. He'd shown a bit of
anger and Maggie had just let it drop. And then he'd started in on
the bullying – the Raft is nothing but a prison – and Maggie had
folded up. Rachael had to swallow her anger. They'd been so close,
so close to catching the Senator with his pants down, and then to
have Maggie just bullied into a corner...

And now the opportunity was lost, Hadian was
free to carry on with his insane 28
^th
Amendment, and all
because Maggie wasn't ready to play in the big kid league. Rachael
wanted to scream.

The elevator doors opened on a beige,
florescent-lit corridor. Detective Sargent Yi led the group to a
door sporting a plaque that read “Interview Room 6.” Inside was a
small room, dark, with a second door and window running the length
of one wall. Beyond was another room with a table and chairs.
Rachael had seen enough police television dramas to know the window
was the back side of a one-way mirror.

At the table in the other room sat a small,
dark-haired man. He was wearing a set of orange scrubs sporting
“KCJ” stenciled in black ink haphazardly on the front. He was alone
but handcuffed, seated patiently at the table.

“That's Horus?” Rachael asked as she stepped
through the door.

“Yes, that's him,” Maggie replied.

Rachael had expected... muscles, tattoos,
anything threatening. The short man in the orange jumpsuit looked
like a misplaced engineering student. That was Horus? Everyone on
the Raft had spoken of him like he was some sort of dangerous thug.
Just one more thing about the Raft that was less impressive than it
seemed, Rachael shrugged.

“Can I speak with him?” Maggie asked. Yi
nodded and pointed at the door beside the mirror. Without
hesitation, Maggie opened it and stepped through.

“Yo! The notorious M-A-G!” Horus said in
delight the second Maggie stepped into the room. Just like his
reputation, Horus's gangster patois contrasted harshly with his
clean-cut, white-bread appearance.

“Horus, you've been a very bad boy,” Maggie
scolded, moving up to the table and sitting across from Horus. The
voices in the interview room reached the observation room via mics
and speakers mounted in the ceiling. Maggie and Horus sounded
slightly otherworldly, as if they were conversing in an
aquarium.

“Maggie, you gotta believe me, when -”
Instantly, Horus began to well up with tears.

“It's okay, Horus. I know, I know,” Maggie
tried to comfort, tapping his cuffed hands.

“I had to do it, ya know? When I saw, I knew
right then, that son of a -”

“I know, Horus, calm down. Don't get ahead of
yourself. Just tell me step by step what happened, and then maybe I
can help.”

“You gotta get me outta here. Dryfoot time,
yo... I can't do no dryland stretch...”

“Forget about prison, Horus, worry about a
needle. You tried to pop a cap into a US Senator.”

“Shit! He had it comin', ya know? What he'd
done to Meerkat!”

“I know, but -”

“Help me, Maggie!” Horus exploded with
emotion, tears and anger all mixed up. “She dead, Maggie,
dead!”

“I know, Horus, I know. But from what I've
heard from Chemical and others, you were playing some sort of
serious game here. What are we talking about here, Horus?
Blackmail?” Horus nodded. “And Meerkat right in the middle of it,
front and center?” Horus nodded again. “What were you
thinking?”

Horus shook his head and sobbed, leaning
forward and resting his face on his bound hands.

“And now Meerkat's dead because of it.”

“It were that Senator, Maggie. He murdered my
baby girl!”

“Because she was blackmailing him? Over a
baby?”

“Yeah... well, no. I mean, it started
out...”

“How did it start out, Horus?”

“She gets this call, see...” Horus lifted his
head and fixed Maggie with a bleary-eyed stare. “A chance to make
some green. She's gone... couple weeks, I guess, for tests and
shit, but none of it takes. And then... well, this Hadian guy keeps
on callin'. Comin' back for another round, you know? I don't know
when it stopped bein' about makin' a baby, and just bein' for the
fun. But you know, she had it under control...”

“Until she actually got pregnant?” Maggie
concluded.

“Yeah...” Horus said dreamily. “Then she got
serious. Said she was thinkin' about kickin' off, puttin' her boots
on.”

“Boots on?” Galahad asked, back in the
observation room.

“Leaving the Raft,” Rachael translated. She
didn't take her eyes off the one-way mirror, watching Horus
speak.

“And you were okay with this?” Maggie
asked.

“What?” Horus seemed confused, then offended.
“Hell no!”

“And then Meerkat washes up dead on a
beach.”

“No, no, Maggie, Maggie!” Horus quickly
backpedaled. “It ain't like that! It just ain't! You gotta believe
me! I won't hurt my sweet baby girl! No! Never!”

“I know Horus,” Maggie conceded. “But she is
dead. What are people supposed to think?”

Horus was confused. Lost. Bewildered.
“Maggie, you got to help me out!”

Maggie sighed. “Why'd you run, Horus? Jump
ship? It looked bad, Horus. Meerkat dead and you missing.”

“Shit, Maggie! I didn't run. I never got back
to the Raft, yo. Never had a chance.”

“
Back
to the Raft?”

“Yeah, last night, I was onshore, ya know,
moving some product. B-island representin', you know?”

“Weed?” Maggie interrupted.

“Shit...” Horus was regaining some composure.
He looked around conspiratorially and continued in a lowered tone.
“BC Bud... M-A-G. The good shit, ya know. A C-note a pound.”