“Not too well.” She took a deep breath.
His bright expression softened to a look of concern. “What’s bothering you?”
“Well…I’d like to ask for a transfer to one of the investigation divisions.”
Doc’s eyes widened. “That can be done. Might take a few days to see where they need you most, but I’m sure we can help you out.”
Dani was absolutely certain she did not want to go back to work in the lab. Not even for a few minutes. “Could we do it right away, please? I— I just need to work somewhere else.” She blinked to clear her eyes, willing the tears away.
“Did something happen?” His voice softened. And then, in a firmer tone, “Did someone hurt you in some way?”
She shook her head. “No, nothing like that. It’s just…well, let’s say it’s personal.”
She could tell he was puzzled, but he nodded. “Let me see what I can do.”
He made a few quick swipes on his worktablet, and then an upward one to move the view to his office viewwall. “The Criminal Investigation Support division has a backlog. That’s where Lexil got that little field trip he took you on last week.”
She stiffened.
He continued without noticing. “I could put you there, with Marielle. Or you could dig back into Historical Investigations. That’s where you were last spring, if I remember correctly.”
Dani considered. In her present state of mind, she would welcome the monotony of historical research. But she’d probably just use the lack of mental stimulation to beat herself up over this whole thing. She liked Dr. Brant, and Detective Rayes might find it easier to keep her included in his current investigation if she worked with that division.
“I’d like to work with Dr. Brant, if she’ll take me.”
“I’ll give her a call.” He reached to activate a connexion. Then he hesitated. “Dani, I have never seen you this upset. Do you need a few minutes to calm down?”
She swallowed. That might be a good idea. She nodded. “Thank you.”
“I’ll leave you alone for a moment. I’m sure I have something I need to pick up in supplies.” He winked.
Really, he was such a nice man. Lexil was lucky to have him in his life.
She walked herself back and forth across his office floor. This was a good decision. She would be better off without having to face Lexil every morning. Not to speak of how much free time she’d gain when she wasn’t doing so much with him socially! She’d have more time with Kat and her family. She wondered where Kat was today. She could use a long talk with her best friend right about now.
Kat would understand, she was sure. All she had to do was tell her Lexil wanted a relationship she wasn’t ready for. He’d ruined everything between them. But that wasn’t quite accurate, was it? Far from resisting it, she had welcomed his kiss, and last night’s dream was vivid in her mind. She really didn’t know what to tell Kat.
By the time Doc returned with a stack of random office supplies, her pacing had slowed and she felt more herself. He offered her a bulb of water to drink. She took it, gratefully.
As she sucked the water out of the bulb, he puttered about the office, providing small talk. Wasn’t the weather nice today? He had a big picture window in his office, and she had to agree. The weather was beautiful for this time of year. Had she enjoyed the picnic? Yes, it was very nice. The food was great. She thanked him again for having her.
“You should come again sometime soon. I’m sure Lexil would be happy to have someone besides me to spend time with.”
She choked a little. And of course, he was watching her carefully, a question in his eyes. Not being nosy, she was sure. Just giving her a chance to open up if she chose to.
She breathed in and out, twice, deliberately. “I don’t think it would be…wise…to spend a lot of time with Lexil right now.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “I thought it might be something like that. He can be pretty headstrong, that young man. I could tell you some stories.”
“No, he’s been very accommodating about this.”
“Oh? That surprises me a little.” He toyed with an abstract shape on his desk, giving her space. Then he looked up. “I see how much he cares for you. I hear about it every day.”
“Well, he can care about me from a safe distance! I don’t want…” she choked up. “I don’t want to have him look at me that way every day. I don’t want him to send me those hidden messages in his eyes.” She paused. Her gaze fell to her feet, and her voice sank to a whisper. “I don’t want him to kiss me any more.”
Doc raised his eyebrows and his eyes widened. “I see. You don’t return his affections. And he pushed it.”
She nodded. That was easiest, even though it wasn’t true. She cared plenty for him. She just couldn’t bear the inevitable end. “And it’s going to be hard to deal with it in the lab.”
“I’ll call Marielle. She’ll be delighted for your help.”
“Thank you.”
“Why don’t you head on over there?”
“Okay. I just need to go get my stuff from my desk.”
“Good. And, Dani?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t hate him. You two will work it out.”
“I hope you’re right.”
When she got back to the lab, Zaidee met her at the door and walked her to her desk. “Are you really doing this?”
Dani nodded, eyes straight ahead, determined to resist whatever persuasive words her co-worker threw at her. Ex-co-worker, she corrected herself.
Box in hand, she gave herself the luxury of letting her eyes sweep the room one more time. Silas was somber. Patyl was blinking rapidly and shaking his head as if to wish this all away. Chali had her arms folded across her chest. Lexil didn’t even look up.
Well, okay then.
“We’ll miss you.” Silas gathered her into his arms and gave her a hug. “Work that stuff out and come back to us, you hear me?”
“I’ll miss you too.”
Dr. Brant was waiting for her when she got to the Crime Investigations Support area. She found Dani a spot near a window.
“Take your time getting settled. Detective Rayes isn’t coming till this afternoon.”
“I’ll be working with him?” Dani was pleased.
“Most of us do, in one form or other. He’s our main liaison with the Seattle Police. We also help the Feds and the other law enforcement agencies.”
“Okay. It won’t take me long. I’m eager to get started.”
She put away her box of tissues and her bird-thing, and checked out the supplies in the desk. It looked well-stocked. The view out the window was nice. CIS was on the second floor of RIACH. Their office windows faced out over Alki Point and Puget Sound. It would be nice to have a view again.
A gentle tap on her shoulder startled her. She turned around to see an old friend, Anders Peerson, with a big broad grin on his face.
“You’re coming to join us, I hear? Dr. Brant asked me to come help you set up the link between your worktablet and the viewwall in our conference area.”
“Oh good. I was just going to ask someone for the code.”
He tapped it into her worktablet, and had her test it out.
“I didn’t know you were working here. I thought you’d gone out of town.”
“I did, for a while, last June. Went to visit my brother and his family.” He lowered his voice. “He was one of the blackmail victims, you know.”
Anders had helped her with the financial side of the blackmail investigation. He had a knack for digging quickly to the heart of a financial problem. She was sure he was an asset here too.
“I didn’t know, no. I’m sorry. But I’m glad all that’s behind him now. Where’s your work area?”
“I’m just around the corner. We have the same view you do over there. Best office spot in the building, I think.”
“It’s really nice.”
“You’ll like it here. Let me take you around and introduce you to th
e rest of the gang.”
By lunchtime, Dani had met the other twenty-two employees on the CIS staff. Anders had introduced her as “the former intern who started the whole investigation back in June” and nobody needed any more. The upheaval that had resulted from the investigation had shaken up the whole office hierarchy, but it had improved working conditions so much, Dani was an instant celebrity.
It was nice to have such a quick welcome, but she was never going to remember all those names. She made a mental note of a few: “Gret, the guy who can lay his hands on any weird thing you need” was two stations away from hers. And “Ellie, the nicest person you’ll ever meet” was next to Anders. “You two will love each other,” he predicted.
She hoped so.
Dr. Brant called. “Detective Rayes has called to let us know that Althea Morgan’s plane is landing. He’s en route to get her. And he says she’s interested in meeting you. She wants you to show her what you read from the button.”
“He’ll have it with him? I still have the settings.”
“Yes, and he has some items from the fuel station he wants you to scan while he’s here too. Said he has specific settings so it should be quick.”
“Do I have time for lunch?”
“Yes, he won’t be back from the airport until at least 1300.”
Althea Morgan was tall and beautiful. Her thick black hair was pulled back in an elaborate fishtail braid with a clip that charged her hair and made it fan out at the ends. Dani was fascinated by the effect, and wondered how long it took her to get ready in the mornings.
When she walked into the CIS work area, she moved with the kind of grace that made swans look awkward. Every turn of her head and every motion of her hands was smooth and refined, but it was her simmering brown eyes that drew people’s attention. Dani had always thought Zaidee was gorgeous. Althea was radiant.
When Detective Rayes introduced her to the group. Dani scrambled for words. What does one say to a goddess? Social niceties seemed inadequate. But that was all she had to offer.
“I’m Dani. Happy to meet you. I’m so sorry to hear about your father. It must be horrible for you.”
Althea looked at Dani as if she hadn’t noticed her before. “Oh, aren’t you sweet? I’m sorry too, honey, but he’s been out of my life for a long time. I haven’t seen him for seven years, since I was nineteen and we moved to Sydney. I’m just here to manage the finances, and I’m not going to release any of the money unless there’s a good reason.”
Detective Rayes took two evidence bags out of his briefcase. “Here’s that button you found. And my agents brought something back from the station.” He held up a bag with a WindoWand. “We scanned it, so we know it has some metal parts. Figured it could give us a perfect view of the inside of the car. How quick can we get a look at these?”
“I can do it right now. I’ll take you to the observation lab, if you’ll follow me?”
Their route took them right past the special projects lab, where Lexil was no doubt at work with the rest of the crew. Dani averted her eyes, feeling silly and childish. She wasn’t a lovesick teenager.
But Detective Rayes spotted Lexil working in the lab. “Let’s get him in on this.” And soon Lexil was on his way to join them.
As he neared Dani, his eyes had warmth. Doc’s words came back to her: I know how much he cares for you. She gave her mouth permission to smile, briefly. But then it was back to business. She had to be careful. It would be so easy to weaken in her resolve.
Lexil nodded. We’ll do it your way, but it’s not my choice, his expression said.
Detective Rayes broke into their silent exchange. “Althea Morgan, I’d like to introduce you to Lexil Myles, head of the Temporal Disturbances Division of RIACH.”
Lexil looked up at her. His mouth started to drop open, but he masked it quickly with a charming smile and a slight bow. “So glad to meet you. How are you enjoying being back in Seattle?”
Althea smiled. From then on, his attention was all on her, leaving Dani to trail behind the group as they headed for the observation lab. From the look on his face, Dani didn’t think he’d be looking back at her for a long time.
At the observation lab, Dani helped Althea with the neurolinks, and then she cued the proper settings for her to hear her father’s last phone conversation and get that quick glimpse of him as he descended toward the helicar garage.
She listened silently, nodding as the time indicator hit the point where she could see his face. As the segment came to an end, she frowned and pursed her lips. “Play that again.”
Dani complied.
When it was over, she detached herself from the device. “I have to say, that was an odd experience, being able to hear and see all that and you people at the same time.” She laughed and looked pointedly at Dani. “I imagine that kind of disorientation makes you a little strange yourself after a while. Do you think so too, sweetie?”
Dani ignored her question. “Did you see what you came here to see?”
“Yes. Apparently, he got some kind of threat that pertained to me, and he acted like he cared.” She shrugged. “Maybe he does. But I have to say, he’s been a weird duck ever since Wade died, and even a little before that. His behavior in this is…off.”
“Really?” Detective Rayes tilted his head. “What do you mean by that?”
“I can’t really explain what I mean, other than to say he’s either calmed his particular demons or he’s mastered a mask that hides them. Hard to tell, from that little bit.”
Dani removed the button from the chamber and passed it back to the detective. “Should I set it up to scan the WindoWand now?”
He bagged the button, and then he opened the other bag to retrieve the wand. “Please. I have the exact time and date, so you won’t have to do any fishing on this one.”
She connected up to the neurolinks and set the observation for the time he gave her. She focused on the scene before her, scanning first at an angle that would give her a view back at the kidnapper, who was using the washer wand. She wanted to get a good look inside the car as well, but hoped that the back view would give them a chance to see the kidnapper’s face.
“Give me a running commentary of what you see.” The detective stood as close as he could, right outside the observation box on her right side, as if mere proximity would let him share the view. Lexil was a little farther away, just over his right shoulder. Althea wasn’t in her field of view. Probably bored with all this.
She nodded and started describing what she was seeing. “He’s got a scarf pulled up over his face. Holding it up with his hand. No wedding ring. Can’t see anything but his eyes.”
“What color are they?”
“They look brown, but could be hazel or dark gray. There’s a shadow from the hat brim, so I can’t really tell.” She kept observation running until the wand was replaced in its stand by the front door. “Sorry, that was all, from that angle.”
“That’s fine. See what you can spot inside the car now.”
“I see someone lying on the back seat. He’s got a brown blanket over him, but I can see he’s wearing a reddish shirt and black pants, which we know Morgan had on at the time of the kidnapping. His hands are on top of the blanket. They’re bound with some kind of tape. His shoes are poking out from the end of the blanket. They’re scuffed on the top, like they’ve been scraped on something rough. I’m sorry, his face is turned inward toward the back of the seat, and I can’t see it, except for a salt-and-pepper beard. He’s not a young man, I would guess. His hair is the same color, maybe a little darker.”
Dani was catching every detail she could through the neurolink, but she noticed it when Althea moved up to stand just beyond Lexil. Ah. Finally, she was interested.
“Can you see anything else in the car, maybe on the floor or draped over the seat?” the detective asked.
“Let me run it again, and I’ll look for that. I’ll see if I can brighten the image too.” She turned the time clock ba
ck to the start.
“I see a hammer, lying on top of some kind of black material. A box of nails. Too bad we can’t get a hold of some of those; they’d tell us a lot. There’s a bag of some kind. Looks like leather, but could be synthetic. Clasp on top, like a briefcase or a salesman’s sample bag.” Dani remembered those from when her dad took them with him on trips.
“Anything else?”
“I’m still looking. It depends on the angle he’s holding the wand at. There’s a box in the front seat. Looks old. The lid is tilted. I can see a tiny corner of the inside. Wait a bit. He’s working his way to the front window.”
While she watched, she saw Lexil and Althea exchange a glance, and then she said something quietly. Dani caught the words, “…I like that in a man.” Lexil raised his eyebrows. Then he winked at Althea, who tilted her head and drooped her eyelids languidly, somehow communicating bored and could be interested at the same time.
Dani almost forgot what she was doing, but reminded herself that what was going on between Lexil and Althea was not her business. She wrenched her attention back to what she was seeing on her neurolink. The kidnapper had moved to the front windows, and she had a clear view of the seat with the box in it.
“The box is uncovered on the side next to the seat. I see some picture frames, face down, and a small bracelet, and a corner of a piece of blue fabric. It looks old—wrinkled and ragged. Looks like someone’s memory box.”
The interval ended again with the wand being replaced in the receptacle by the door.
Detective Rayes was making notes on his worktablet. “Okay, so can you set me up to see this guy’s eyes, and the victim’s hair, hands, and shoes? Also, the insides of the box, from whatever was the best angle. I need to sign off on personal observation of those, since we can’t take snapshots.”
“No, snapshots wouldn’t be a good idea.” Lexil stepped closer. “Recordings of any sort actually make the object disappear for that period of time, and this guy would definitely notice if something he was holding vanished suddenly. Doc and I did a study on that several months ago.”
A Chronetic Perspective (The Chronography Records Book 2) Page 10
