SAGE: AN ADAM STONE MYSTERY (THE ADAM STONE MYSTERIES Book 1)

by D. L. EVANS

  Annie sought the quiet centre of herself; the place of supreme calm and detachment where Alison could not reach. Alison was insane. She would bide her time and eventually get her the best of help. They raised their glasses to each other in silence and tasted the fine wine. Alison tipped her head back and licked her lips. “Nectar of the Gods. You always had an excellent palate... even as a teenager. Always the best for our Angel.”

  Her voice carried a smouldering current of bitterness. Annie reacted to it as though she had been slapped. “Alison, say what you have to say. Why are you calling me Angel?”

  “It’s your name isn’t it? Angelique. Didn’t you know that you’re the last Angel in the line?”

  Alison raised her glass in a mock toast.

  Annie shuddered like the hand of death had touched her. Alison smiled at her again but this time Annie saw what she tried to hide. Something had moved behind her green eyes... something wild, without soul or mercy. “Alison, you know I haven’t been called Angel in years, since we were kids. I’m Annie, just Annie. I’m no one’s Angel. I felt the name sort of belonged to Mother anyway.”

  The two sisters stared at each other then resumed sipping their wine. Alison stood again in a restless gesture, retrieved the bottle and refilled both their glasses. Annie just stared at the liquid, unable to form her thoughts. She tried to focus, to weave a pattern into her spreading anxieties. A montage of memories flooded back as she thought of Michael, Sam and Carlo. God, they were gone forever. Tears flooded her eyes. Alison was a monster.

  “Annie, Annie, Annie.” Alison sighed, staring into her glass. ”I often wondered why you insisted on that name. Did you feel like ‘Little Orphan Annie’? Was that it?... She stared contemptuously at her sister but the sarcasm was wasted. Annie was lost in memory, leaning back on the couch softly crying. Alison felt it was time to slap her with some truth, and time was running out. “You’re Angelique,” she snapped, demanding attention, eyes huge. “Don’t you understand? YOU are ANGELIQUE!... Angel... Mommy and Daddy’s little ANGEL.”

  Annie stopped crying. Something had happened. Was the dream state starting to form around her? There was a current of electricity circling them, a crackling in the air. Was she causing this? No... Alison? Why was she so angry? The retort came slowly to her lips. “What’s my name got to do with anything, I don’t understand what you’re saying.” Her fingertips were tingling.

  Alison leaned forward and pointed her finger. “It’s got everything to do with everything. I should have been Angel... ME! I was the child they wanted, planned for. The child that should have had their combined powers. But I wasn’t was I?” She stood and stumbled against the back of the chair, pushed herself off and started pacing. A muffled explosion shook the floor. Alison looked at her watch and laughed. “Right on time.”

  “What was that?” Annie tried to get to her feet but fell to the floor. Her knees refused to work and her hands were numb. “What’s happening Alison?” The words came out slurred as if she was drunk. “Alison.... what’s.... Alison.”

  Alison stumbled again and made her way awkwardly back to the couch. She was still laughing. “Everything was so perfectly planned. Just relax sis, you’re not going anywhere. I shipped a few timed ‘surprises’ with the last containers, to the storage directly beneath us. What a shame the insurance won’t cover the loss.” She stared at the ceiling. “Mother must have know about me even before I was born. That’s why she called me Alison... Alison after some distant aunt that had nothing... like me. I should have been an only child.... It would have been perfect. The three of us... but no, they had to try again. Try again for the daughter worthy of the name.” She lolled her head over to Annie who rested on the floor leaning against the couch. “Feeling a little numb?... It was in the wine... So glad you couldn’t tell... Don’t worry. You’ll be awake but you won’t feel a thing.”

  “You see,” she continued, “they wanted a child that would inherit their precious DNA that made them, you know,” she giggled, “special.” She paused and looked over at the windows. “Do you hear the sirens sister dear? Think they’ll be able to get into this fortress? Think they can rescue us?” Alison asked.

  Annie had lost all feeling in her arms and legs. Explosions in the warehouse beneath them? She wanted to blow up the building... killing both of them? “You drugged me? Why? The police....”

  Annie felt the morass of feelings released by her sister’s madness. All the indignities and frustrations Alison had suffered poured through her senses. They both had to die. “Because you were born dear,” Alison stared at her with the unclouded eyes of lunacy.” I was just five and a half years old and I knew that they were excited because a baby was coming. A special baby because IT had happened.”

  It would only be a few minutes until she wouldn’t be able to talk. God, Alison was killing them. “They loved you too!” Annie mumbled. “I remember, they loved us both the same... I remember.” Her tongue was thick.

  “The games, you selfish bitch,” Alison hissed. “Don’t you remember the fucking games?” A spasm of ugliness passed across her face. She was unguarded, exposed... but it didn’t matter.

  Annie couldn’t move and Adam was at the other end of the universe where she would never see him again. “Of course, I remember.” The words were getting harder to form. Her lips were numb. If she could just get up and press one little button, they could get in... She looked over to the elevator doors. Was that smoke seeping through the openings? Dear God, the first floor must be on fire. She must have somehow turned off the water to the sprinkler system. All the safety systems....

  “The games Angel. They were tests! They were testing your powers, you’re special abilities. The two of them together couldn’t compete with you by the time you were four years old. No wonder they were excited... And where do you think I rated. Hmmmm? Give up?... You, little Angel, were a ten out of ten and I wasn’t even on the fucking scale!”

  “Tests? They were testing me?” she slurred.

  “You were the one they wanted. You don’t know the half of it. Mother wasn’t the only one that used herself as a brood mare. All the women in our ancestry did it. I’ve got... well, had, all the records. You wouldn’t believe what they did to manipulate marriages. Must have been the first women in history to plan their families. Like a fucking line of thoroughbred horses. Find a mate that would improve the line - try for the pure bred that would be good enough to have the name Angelique. The rest of us were just watched in case some DNA skipped a generation and we produced a throwback that did happen to inherit. Daddy was one of those. Some of us never-bes did prove useful if we were lucky... but you.... you were the one they were waiting for... breeding for!” She laughed a throaty gurgle, eyes gazed. “... used to hear them talking about your future, like I was invisible.” Mommy would have filled you in on the family history and all their plans for you but... well... you know.” She closed her eyes. The room swelled with fear and distant voices. “Death has a way of focussing one’s sensibilities, don’t you think? I can remember everything, all the details, like it was a photograph in front of me... Mommy’s little talks with me, which I heard many times, was about my great responsibility in taking care of you. YOU. Everything for you. So, I decided I could do that little task without their help... Did OK too, didn’t I?” Alison said.

  Time passed. Annie marshalled her strength for the question she didn’t want to ask. She felt a scrape of panic deep in her bowels. “You... killed... them.”

  “Soooo... the penny clicked did it? At least I’m powerful enough to keep you out ‘till I was ready.” She snorted. “Yes, I killed them. Dear mommy and daddy, aren’t you sorry that you didn’t live to see the last Angel.” She closed her eyes. “It was the first big test of my own strength. I had to distract Mother with an argument so she would be upset and unable to focus. I had um... tampered with the brakes, you see, and I was genuinely frightened that she would know but, well, if she did realize, it was too late. Daddy always did dri
ve too fast.” Her eyes were glazed and her breathing shallow. “When the fire hits this floor in a few minutes, nearly three hundred years of planned parenthood will go up with your DNA chemicals. Ironic isn’t it? I killed them and no one even suspected... Well, Uncle Rick, but he doesn’t count.” She paused feeling introspective. “Your life,” she looked over at Annie, her voice grated bitterly as she continued, “like all the Angels before you, has been following a path; a compulsory course, not an elective as you thought, with our esteemed matriarchal ancestors in charge of the rules. But I’m not without abilities, little sister... Not in your league of course, but I’m resourceful. Don’t you think?” Alison gave Annie a twisted sneer.

  Annie focused, forced herself to speak, “At their funerals, I felt your sorrow.” Annie saw the coffins, the mourning relatives through the eyes of a six year-old. “You were devastated... That was an act?” The effort exhausted her. Alison didn’t answer. They could hear the activity outside increasing in volume. The smoke was swirling across the ceiling now, working its way down. Annie felt calm, relaxed. Listened as each moment became the next.

  “At first, I was frightened.. actually frightened,” Alison continued. Her eyes were neutral, distanced from any remorse. “It was the only time in my life that I was afraid, I think... and I was sad that they were gone. I allowed those feelings, you see because... well... you were going to need me. Looking back, I see that I was experimenting myself. If you believed my grief, then I would let you live... Don’t you see? It’s clear that I had to know if I could shield myself from you and only allow what I wanted you to see. It worked. I do have some talent which was, of course, lucky for you, in the end, Angel.” She laughed a little and closed her eyes. Annie prayed for God to forgive her sister as the smoke closed in around them.

  Chapter Sixty

  ADAM STONE:

  Four fire trucks poured water onto the blazing inferno that was the Stanford warehouse. When Adam arrived it was fully engulfed. Tons of water was having little effect. The heat was intense.

  He felt nauseous with dread as he jumped out his rental car. The wall of heat instantly formed a glaze of sweat on his face and the chemical stings in the air-dried his lungs with his first breath. He could see four fire trucks at the front of the building and two more in the vacant parking lot beside the warehouse. There must have been more in the back. Water arched in from three sides in continuous streams like some sort of misshapen fountain working in reverse. He was having trouble breathing. The firemen would have to pull back even further for safety. Flames filled the ground floor windows and a red glow could be seen on the second level. Tears streamed from his eyes. He found Mack with the fire Chief discussing options but it was obvious that there was nothing that could be done. The anguish was plain to see on their faces. They were just going through the motions, nothing could be saved. “Did you see Annie’s car? Her Porsche? Maybe she wasn’t here... Maybe she wasn’t here when Alison showed up?” Hope flashed in his eyes.

  “Sorry Adam,” Mack answered. “Her car’s in the lane at the back of the building. I checked.” Mack was filthy. Soot covered his face and flakes of ash clung to his hair. His black suit was torn and caked in mud. “Alison must have planned this, Adam.” No reaction. Adam just stood and stared at the fire. Mack continued, “She called the Station and asked for me. Then she just said that she had murdered three of her sister’s boyfriends because she had to. Apparently she had paid them huge amounts of cash to break off with Annie and then killed them later herself so they couldn’t change their minds or blackmail her. Then she said that she would be here talking with her sister and we could come and get her. I dropped everything, Adam. I came right away. I knew something was up but I didn’t know what she had planned. I called you on the way. I also called for backup but I didn’t expect this... “ Mack couldn’t tell if Adam was listening but somehow he needed to explain, needed to hear the words himself. “As I arrived two maybe three explosions went off inside on the ground floor. I tried to get in, I tried to break the windows,” he held his scraped and bleeding hands in front of him but Adam kept looking at the fire, “but the place is locked up like a fucking vault. I called the fire trucks... Minutes, they were here in minutes but the whole place was instantly on fire. ... Must have been something she set with the explosions... I tried Adam, I tried...”

  Adam was familiar with the spreading numbness inside, aware that he was out of contact with himself. All that he felt was a certain voltage around his heart. Was it only a few weeks since he stood with Annie and watched Morgan’s house yield to the flames? Days, weeks? Time, compressed into slow-motion memories. She sat at a table, working with a brush, the light made a halo of gold curls around her face, just a few feet on the other side of that window. He looked up at the second story. ‘That very spot where the light and heat of the sun is trying to get out... get to the oxygen so it can grow. He turned stiffly to Mack who was still talking absently beside him. “The chemicals... Mack listen, Annie’s chemicals... that she works with...” The fire answered with another thundering explosion that forced flames out several of the second floor windows licking upwards. Onlookers in the crowd screamed. Acrid smoke billowed out covering the flat roof with a black sinister cloud of noxious gas. Nothing could survive that inferno. Little people continued pouring water from hoses. A crane ladder edged forward with a fireman in full oxygen gear directing a hose but had to halt just short of driveway. The heat was brutal.

  Fifty feet back on the road the shimmering air crisped the hair in his nose and he held his sleeve to his face. Two trucks were moving back dragging black hose-lines like a giant jellyfish. The shell of a car still burned in front of the building. It was Alison’s BMW. Alison who couldn’t live with her evil past, so she took her innocent sister...

  Smaller explosions rumbled as the west wall collapsed and caused the rest of the building to fall in on itself. The air seemed to have congealed with dust. Adam was frozen in shock. Twice in his life he was too late. He couldn’t save her. Annie. God Annie was inside that hell of flames. His heart crawled into his throat. Annie, lost because he didn’t have time to save her. How could he live with this? Lauren appeared out of the crowd and held his arm. She was saying something but the noise was overwhelming. He didn’t want to hear anything anyway. His life was burning before his eyes. A crowd had gathered around them. They were mesmerized, caught in the orange glow, the aura of death and destruction. People jostled them pushing for a better view. Adam looked around as the news trucks pulled up, camera crews and equipment appeared. The general public would see this over their dinner he thought, ‘The small screen would drain enough reality to make it palatable with pork chops and potatoes.’

  The police had sealed off the street causing great confusion with the dockworkers that needed to leave the restricted container yards that stretched into the distance. It was just a small service road and traffic would be snarled for hours. Beyond the television trucks Adam’s eye stopped on a distinctive apple red Porsche that hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. Didn’t Mack say Annie’s car was parked out back? It must be someone else’s. From the general shape it appeared to be the same year as Annie’s. The licence on the front was just out of focus but it looked like a word... a single word. He wanted to have a closer look at that car. Lauren followed. Her brother was acting so strangely. What did he see?

  Lauren followed Adam to a car with a license that read ‘SAGE’. They approached the car and saw her asleep in the passenger seat. She was wrapped in a silver blanket, a wonderful metallic heat and fire resistant blanket. “Annie!” Adam cried her name as he tore open the door. She moaned as he felt her throat and found a strong pulse. The inside of the car smelled of smoke. He lifted her out of the car and kneeled, holding her to his chest.

  Lauren found her voice, “Is she alive?”

  “Yes, Get an ambulance. She’s drugged.” Her hair fell loose as he crushed his face into her neck. She was alive. Dear God, Annie was alive. He held he
r head back and saw his tears fall down her cheek. Annie asleep. Lauren left him rocking her back and forth, stroking her hair.

  Adam stared at the sleeping face. It was the most beautiful vision in the world. He pulled the blanket around her, moving into a more comfortable position when he noticed an open box on the driver’s seat containing a collection of small porcelain angels. One was a cherub curled up, asleep with a card tucked between her tiny hands. Adam opened it and read,

  Dearest Angelique Louisa Stanford,

  I’ve been adding to your Mother’s gift collection since that fateful day when God directed you to save me from the fire, but this is the last angel you’ll receive from me.