The Red Haze (The Webber and Ko Series Book 1)

by D. M. Wicks

  The elevator opened to the lobby and Cato took off at a fast walk ignoring the doorman as she made it outside onto the pavement. She maintained her hurried pace until she reached Dib's and shuffled past the lunch crowd until she reached the host. The man looked up at her and immediately stood erect. He shuffled backwards, but stopped himself and looked around the room before meeting her eyes. "Madam, how may I uh… How may I be of service?"

  Cato sighed. He was obviously not used to dealing with red eyes. He practically oozed fear. Sometimes humans disgusted her. "Dimitri, party of two. He is expecting me."

  The man wiped his sweaty palms on his pants before looking down at the seating chart on the podium. "Okay, um… follow … follow me."

  He grabbed a menu and led her to a booth in the back. Cato noticed that most of the patrons were human, which didn't surprise her. It was unusual for her kind to leave their holes before six o'clock unless they worked or something. She didn't know if she was surprised or relieved when she saw Jack sitting at the booth looking the menu over. He looked up when she sat.

  "Hey."

  Cato smiled. "Hey, yourself."

  "Um… Your server will be with you shortly," the host said then left them.

  Jack laughed. "It never gets old."

  "You get a kick out of some of the most mundane things."

  "It's called having a sense of humor. You should try it sometime. You're always so serious, Cato. I'm surprised you don't have a full head of grey hairs."

  Cato picked up the menu and gave it a once over. She just remembered that she had skipped breakfast and her mouth began to water at the smells around her.

  "Have you ordered yet?" she asked.

  Jack shook his head. "I asked the waitress to wait. She will come over in a minute so you best pick something out."

  Cato nodded as her eyes paused on a picture of lasagne. It was either that or the grilled chicken and apricot salad. The waitress coming over brought her out of her deliberations.

  "And what can I get you miss?"

  "I want the lasagne."

  "Good choice. That's a customer favorite; you can't go wrong with it. And for you, sir?"

  "I'll take the chicken Alfred."

  "Okay, it will be out shortly. I'll take your menus."

  We handed them to her and she hurried off to place our order. I took a sip of the water Jack had ordered while waiting for me to arrive.

  He smiled. "How was your meeting with Father?"

  Cato shrugged. "Fine. No biggy, you know."

  Jack laughed. "Sure it wasn't. He's pretty mellow."

  "Yeah, he is."

  "So, I wanted to ask you about what you're planning next. Did Father say anything?"

  She shook her head. "He just wanted to check in. I know what I want to do for my next move though. You were with the guy who turned over the deserters’ apartment, right?"

  "That's right. The USB wasn't on him when we dealt with him last night, so we figured he must have passed it on already."

  "But you said you found something interesting?"

  "Yeah, it seems our guy had a girlfriend."

  "A girlfriend? Have you found her yet?"

  "No, but it's only a matter of time. She probably won't know anything we already don't so there isn't really a rush. We just need to clean up the mess so to speak."

  Cato nodded. "Good."

  "What is your plan though?"

  "Oh, I was just thinking of ways to get someone on the inside to confirm if the USB was destroyed or not. I don't want any surprises biting me in the ass later on."

  "I wouldn't worry about it, Cato. We will know soon enough whether the fire took care of it or not. The police wouldn't be able to keep quiet very long about something like that. I wouldn't waste my time looking for it. Besides, we can't get anyone in just yet. We have to let the ashes set before trying to make a path again. They are sensitive right now and will be looking for us. All it would serve to do would be to let them learn more about us."

  Cato sighed. "I guess you're right. It's like I said earlier, I worry over everything. I can't help it."

  "Well, learn to. You're in a position of power now. If you don't learn to roll with the punches you won't last long."

  "I thought you said my job was the kind you could only move up from?"

  "You won't be fired, but your sanity may take a fatal blow."

  Cato looked down at her hands. She had been playing with the silver ring on the middle finger of her right hand. It was warm as she twirled it around and rubbed her left thumb along the smooth metal. "I can handle it."

  "I don't doubt that. You're sharp and learn fast. I have high expectations of you."

  "I intend to surpass them. So watch out, Jack."

  Jack laughed, "You're a Dimitri alright."

  Cato smiled. "Speaking of linage, what is yours, Jack? I don't think I ever heard anyone address you by your family name."

  He grinned. "Sometimes being curious isn't a good thing. My name is Jack. That's all you need to concern yourself with. I work for the Dimitri branch and I'm your mentor."

  "That's not fair. You know everything about me, but all I know about you is that people keep calling you a 'good man'. Whatever that means."

  "Don't you think I'm a good guy?"

  "Sure you are. You have the mysterious, tall, dark and handsome thing down pat."

  "I must say I'm flattered you think of me that way, Cato."

  "No offense, but you’re not my type."

  "What is your type?" He glanced down at my hands. "Maybe you like the kind who gives silver rings as a birthday present?"

  Cato's face flushed and she hid her hands under the table. "Fuck you, Jack."

  He laughed. "A lot of people seem to be saying that to me today. I didn't know I was so popular."

  When she didn't answer or look at him, he sighed. "I was just joking, Cato. I meant no offense."

  She looked up. "I guess it's best we keep our conversations about business."

  "Fair enough."

  The waitress interrupted when she set their food down in front of them. "Sorry for the wait. Is there anything else I can get you?"

  Jack answered. "No, that's all. Thank you."

  "Okay, enjoy."

  Cato placed the napkin on her lap and sunk her fork into the lasagne. "I'm starving. So excuse me while I stuff my face."

  Jack nodded. "Dig in."

  The table was silent save for the sounds of slurping noodles and forks scratching plates.

  ***

  Oda

  "I have to admit. I was kind of expecting this," Declan said as he kicked at a chair.

  "Don't just kick it. Pick it up."

  "Chill out, Oda. We aren't going to find anything here." Declan pulled out his headphones.

  "If you put those in I'm going to kick you in the balls."

  Declan smiled. "Not if I know that it's coming, you won't," he said, but put the mp3 player back into his blazer pocket. "Like I was saying, we aren't going to find anything. This place has been ransacked, most likely by the thugs who took our victim out."

  I sighed as I flipped over the couch. "Dammit, we should have come here first."

  Declan walked over broken glass and entered what looked like the kitchen. "Either the lieutenant failed to mention this in her report or she didn't make it this far. Doesn't matter though, the guys made it here first. What we need to figure out now is whether they got the girlfriend or not."

  "Shit, okay. Let's talk to the neighbors. They might have seen something."

  We walked out and I knocked on the door to the right of Jeramy's apartment. An elderly woman answered. "Yes?"

  I pulled out my badge. "Sorry to bother you, ma'am. I'm Officer Ko. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

  "If it's about my neighbor then I already spoke with the police. Two men came by earlier and made a racket in the apartment. I would have sworn WWIII was going on with all the noise they made. When I came out of my apartment to give
them a piece of my mind I quickly realized they were police officers. Some of the other neighbors had come out as well. One was named Officer Jack. I didn't catch the other’s."

  I threw Declan a glance then turned back to the woman. "May I ask your name, ma'am?"

  She brought her hand up to her mouth. "Oh, sorry officer. My name is Nancy Renald's, but like I said I already gave my statement to the police."

  "Sorry Mrs. Renald's..."

  She interrupted, "Please, call me Nancy."

  "Nancy, like I was saying, it's simply a routine check. We just want to dot all our 'i's and cross our 't's so to speak. Can you please just repeat what you told the officer earlier? It would be a great help to us. Once again, I'm sorry to inconvenience you."

  "If that's all it is then I suppose it's fine, but it will have to be quick. I was just on my way out. I don't want to be late."

  I realized then that she was dressed and holding her purse as if she was about to leave. "It will be quick, Nancy. We don't even have to come in..."

  Declan interrupted. "We can escort you to your car if you like."

  She brought her hand to her lips once again. "Oh, no I couldn't inconvenience you two like that."

  Declan grinned. "It would be our pleasure to see a beautiful woman safely to her car and really we are the ones doing the inconveniencing."

  Nancy's lips formed a secret smile behind her hand. "Well, young man, if you insist."

  She walked out and closed her door behind her, locking it. "This way. What would you like to ask me?"

  Declan stepped next to her and easily kept her pace. "I would like to know what sort of questions the officers from earlier asked you. Just a brief synopsis will do, no need to remember verbatim. I need to check that they are doing their job."

  "That's fine then. They simply asked if I had seen my neighbor last night. The one who lived next door. I told them that I hadn't."

  Declan interrupted as he pressed the button to call the elevator. "What time did they come by today?"

  "Sometime in the morning. I just sat down to have breakfast, which I usually eat around ten o'clock."

  I pulled out my book and was taking notes as I followed them into the elevator. Declan nodded and said, "Continue, Nancy."

  "Well, then they asked me some personal questions like if I knew the man well or if he spoke with anyone on our floor regularly. I told them that he kept to himself and the only person I ever saw him speaking with was his girlfriend."

  Declan said, "How do you know she was his girlfriend?"

  Nancy blushed. "You could say I've seen them in some very compromising positions."

  Declan nodded. "Continue."

  "They became very intrigued by this information and asked me some standard questions about her, like how she looked and what her name was. I told them what I could about how she looked, but that I didn't know her name because I had never spoken with her."

  We climbed off the elevator and walked through the lobby and out onto the sidewalk. We rounded the corner that led to the car park. Declan said, "What does she look like?"

  "She was an attractive woman, brunette and fair skinned. She was very short, shorter than her boyfriend."

  "Is that all?"

  "Well…"

  "What?"

  "I'm not sure of this so I didn't tell the other officers about it, but since you're double checking everything it can't hurt to say it now."

  "What is it, Nancy?"

  "I had noticed that the girlfriend had gotten fatter."

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "Like I said, I’m not sure about this, but I think she may have been pregnant."

  Declan screwed up his face. "Is that so? Did the officers ask anything else?"

  "No, then they left."

  "They left?"

  Nancy nodded. "Yes, that's it. It was a brief conversation. Honestly, I wanted to ask them a few questions, like what on Earth they were doing in the apartment to cause so much noise. You should tell your friends to be mindful of things like that. No one likes being interrupted early in the morning like that."

  Declan scratched behind his head and nodded. "Sorry about that. I'll talk to them about that ASAP when I get back to the station. Is this your car?"

  We had stopped by a cream colored Corolla. Nancy smiled. "Yes, as a matter of fact it is. Thank you for my escort."

  Declan nodded and when Nancy unlocked it he opened the door for her. She brought her hand to her mouth and said, before climbing in, "What is your name, young man?"

  "Detective Declan Webber."

  She climbed in and sat. "Well, I hope I was of some help, detective."

  "Immensely so. Have a safe drive, Nancy, the roads are slippery from the rain."

  "I'll be careful."

  Declan gave a small salute and closed the door, stepping away when she started the engine. I finished my short hand as Nancy pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. "So we are impersonating police officers now? The lieutenant would have a field day with that."

  Declan shrugged. "She couldn't tell the difference. Besides, I didn't hear you speaking up to correct her."

  I cleared my throat. "Yeah, well, I didn't want to ruin your game."

  "Sure you didn't. So, they know about the girlfriend and they were searching for something in the apartment."

  "That's what it sounds like. Should we give the apartment a once over as well?"

  Declan glanced at me. "You can if you want, but I don't think you'll find anything. Do you even know what they were looking for? They either found it and it's gone or they didn't find it and are now looking for the girlfriend to see if she has it. So you can waste our time looking for it or we can try to find the girlfriend before she's swimming with the fishes."

  I sighed. "Fine. You got me. Where do we start looking for the girlfriend?"

  Declan cursed and, musing his hair, said, "You said Jeramy's father thought they might be engaged, right?"

  "Sure."

  "Well, we should check if they are married."

  "You think he would do that without his parents meeting her first?"

  "It could have been serious enough. I wouldn't rule it out."

  "I'll call the probate court, but is that all we have to go on? Maybe there are some clues in the apartment."

  "If they found any they would have taken them or disposed of them. Like I said, you can go look if you want. I'll wait here."

  "Fine, I will."

  "Okay."

  "Bye."

  "See you."

  "Lazy bastard," I muttered under my breath as I walked away. As I rounded the corner that led to the lobby I paused. My partner had been acting strange all day. He hadn't wanted to speak with the parents and now he didn't want to search the apartment. I backtracked and glanced around the corner. Declan had his back to me and was on his cell phone.

  "Reggie ... girlfriend ... asshole."

  "Whom is he talking to?" I glanced around and ran hiding behind a blue sedan, but I still couldn't hear enough of what he was saying. This was ridiculous. He was supposed to be my partner and he wasn't even letting me in on his tactics for solving cases. He had done something like this during the last case, but I had brushed it off because he was still getting used to me. Now it was just insulting. I looked around the front of the sedan and came face to face with a gold belt buckle. I looked up.

  "Hey, partner. How are you doing?"

  Declan grinned. "Rather dandy. How about you?"

  I stood. "I was just uh, you know, looking at some stuff on the ground."

  "Were you now? Did you find it?"

  I flushed. "This is stupid Declan. We are supposed to be working this case together. You should share what you find with me."

  "Well I would have if you gave me a chance instead of sneaking around like a thief in the night."

  "I was... Wait, you were going to tell me? Why did you wait until I left then? You could have done it while I was still there."

  "You
're the one who said you wanted to check the apartment. I was just making a call before I went up to help you. The guy I was talking to has a certain way of doing things. He doesn't like eavesdroppers."

  "Jeez, Declan. I'm not a goddamn eavesdropper; I’m your fucking partner. You better start treating me like one."

  Declan frowned as I got in his face, "Chill out, Oda. I'd hate to have to rearrange your face."

  I didn't back down immediately so he pushed me back. I regained my balance and threw a right hook, but he side stepped it and kneed me in the gut. I fell to my knees.

  "Jesus fucking Christ. Why do I even put up with this shit? I should just go work for Faye."

  "Declan crouched down next to me. "I'll let you in on a little secret—it wouldn't be any better."

  I rolled back on my heels and rested on them. "How would you know?"

  "I used to work for District Six. The lieutenant would be breaking you out of fights every day and eventually she would get tired of it and have you relieved of your duties. She may like you now, Oda, but I dare say it's more of a sick fascination then actual respect."

  "Fuck you, Declan. What would you call your fascination with me? Why did you even hire me?"

  "I told you. I want you to prove something to me."

  "I not a fucking science experiment."

  "In a way you kind of are. You're different than most blue eyes. Most are lazy, depressing, stupid fucks that have basically given up on life."

  I pushed off of my heels and tackled him to the ground. At the academy, ground techniques had been my forte. I was trained in judo, which suited me because of my stature. I swung my legs over his face and shoulder, grabbing his arm in the process and pulling it between my legs. Then I pushed up with my hips. Declan cried out in obvious pain.