‘Oh. There has to be a bad review.’
‘The Kansas City Chronicle says that you’re damned to Hell,’ Kit supplied, ‘but you’ll be in company since the same is true of anyone who watched the show. I can only assume that the reviewer didn’t.’
‘Unless he’s very dedicated and self-sacrificing,’ Fox added.
‘I have Miss Bournville waiting to speak to you, Marie,’ Belle said, appearing beside Kit. ‘I am sure that she wishes to tell you that you are a complete failure to be sure your ego does not expand too much.’
‘You’re spending too much time talking to Kit, Belle,’ Fox commented.
‘Put her through, please, Belle,’ Sam instructed, smirking.
Isabella Bournville was what Fox expected a theatrical agent to look like, if she had previously had an opinion of that image anyway. Tall and slim, if not quite as tall as Fox or Marie, but her body was toned and her skin tanned. She looked younger than she was, but there were hints of age in her face, a slight sagging over the eyes, if not her enhanced bust. The enhancement was there, but not extreme: a subtle addition rather than an overt one. Her face was narrow, verging on thin, with high cheekbones, highly arched thin eyebrows over clear blue eyes alight with sharp intelligence. Her hair was a slightly messy cascade of thick black which fell to her left breast and was tucked away behind her right ear. At nine thirty in the morning, she was wearing eyeliner, subtle red lipstick, and her finger and toenails were painted a pink which matched her lacy robe.
‘Isabella,’ Sam said when the image had solidified, ‘I don’t believe you know Fox Meridian.’
‘Good morning, Miss Meridian,’ Bournville said, smiling. ‘Of course I know you by reputation.’
‘Same,’ Fox said. ‘Nice to finally meet you. Virtually anyway.’
‘Well, my reputation is apparently deserved. Can I pick them, or can I pick them? Does Marie’s head still fit through the doors?’
‘Marie is still convinced it was terrible and her career is over,’ Sam said.
Bournville rolled her eyes. ‘Definitely star material then. I assume this forecast of doom is why IB-Nineteen woke me up at the ungodly hour of nine this morning to tell me that they’ve shunted their late-night Saturday vid to repeat M. J. and the Ripper.’
‘They what?!’ Marie squeaked.
‘You know I don’t like to repeat myself, Marie.’
‘Yes’m, sorry.’
Bournville had a rich, vibrant laugh. ‘Come to the office on Monday and we’ll discuss how we’re going to capitalise on this. I suggest practising your interview technique. I expect we’ll be getting talk show requests first thing Monday, if not before.’
‘Oh dear.’
‘You’ll be fine, dear. Monday, ten a.m. We’re still on for tonight, Sam? I’d understand if you wanted to celebrate with our protégé.’
‘We did that last night,’ Sam said. ‘I’ll see you later.’
‘Can’t wait.’ And she was gone.
‘So, uh,’ Marie began, and then swallowed hard, ‘I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought.’
Fox took a slug of coffee. ‘Dumbass,’ she said, which caused Marie to look mortified and Sam to burst out laughing.
~~~
Sheela Na Gig was an eclectic sort of place for a night out, but it had become the preferred venue for such nights since the incident which had ended up with Fox losing Marie to Sam. And since Sam was busy with Isabella Bournville, Saturday night had become a girls’ night out. It meant dressing up, but Fox had decided that letting her hair down, so to speak, once in a while and dressing totally out of character was a good idea.
‘You know that outfit’s indecent in most jurisdictions,’ Dillan pointed out.
‘Actually,’ Fox replied, ‘I checked and as long as my nipples are taped over, I’m fine.’
‘Sure.’
‘Well, I do wear a coat over it to get here.’
‘It’s a great outfit,’ Terri stated. ‘Absolutely… um, something involving sexy and domalicious.’
‘That is not a real word.’
‘Which of us has the doctorate?’
Fox gave Terri a look. ‘Having a doctorate doesn’t give you the right to make up words. You need to be in media for that.’
‘Okay, Marie, is domalicious a word?’
‘Oh, totally,’ Marie replied. ‘I looked it up and there’s a picture of Fox beside it.’
There was giggling and then Dillan asked, ‘So, how’s it feel to be a famous actress, Marie?’
‘Oh, God, I’m not famous. One show that might be a success is not famous.’
‘Well, you’ve been recognised by half a dozen people since we came in.’
‘What?!’
‘I made nine,’ Fox said. ‘It’s the elbowing their neighbours and pointing, bit of a giveaway. Of course, the patrons of this place probably don’t represent a true cross-section of society.’
‘Sociologically I’d have to agree,’ Terri put in. ‘Perhaps a little more likely to have watched the show than a random sample. Still, fame beckons.’
Marie grimaced. ‘Well, being seen here is probably not going to hurt my image, given my first major role is a registered pro. I don’t think Miss Bournville will complain. I’m not totally sure I want to be famous. I mean, it’ll restrict things. I might not be able to come out with you guys.’
‘We’ll disguise you,’ Dillan said, ‘and sneak you out the back door.’
‘And if the media start bugging you,’ Fox added, ‘we have an armed cyberframe on the roof.’
‘You do?’ Terri asked, frowning.
‘One of the rapid response units. Palladium thought it would be a good idea to station one closer to the MCD and Jersey, so we rent space on Sam’s roof. It saves a couple of minutes on deployment since it doesn’t have to fly in from the MarTech building. And Ryan wanted me covered by something with guns. Doesn’t trust me to handle things myself.’
‘Clearly he’s never seen you in action.’
‘Hey, I’m not complaining. Heavy armament is useful at times.’
‘And it’s very polite,’ Marie added. ‘I chat with it sometimes when I’m up there.’
‘You know they only use class three AIs in those?’ Terri said. ‘They’re not great at small talk.’
‘I never really got that whole AI classes thing, but the security AIs are nice enough. I think they get a bit lonely parked on a rooftop all day, so I talk to whichever one’s up there.’
Kit appeared, dressed in the short, one-shouldered shift she normally wore to Alexandria. ‘Class threes don’t really have the emotional capability to get bored, Marie. I’m sure they appreciate you paying them some attention, however.’
‘Nice dress, Kit,’ Terri commented.
‘It’s my slave fox-girl dress, Miss Martins. Vali designed it for me.’
‘Vali did, huh? And, Kit, we’ve known each other a while and I’m wearing a dress short enough that you can see my underwear, so I think you can call me Terri.’
‘I’ll try.’ The AI did not look sure about it. ‘Marie, Belle asked me to mention that the repeat has started and your LifeWeb search count has gone up again.’
‘Oh, well, it’s just a repeat so–’
‘By seven hundred per cent.’
While Marie made strangling noises, Fox turned to the barman. ‘We’re going to need more drinks. Make one of them a whiskey; she’s going to need it.’
~~~
It was approaching midnight when Fox spotted a tall figure strutting toward them. Naomi was out of uniform, dressed in a tightly laced black brocade corset, a thong, and black thigh-high boots with six-inch heels. Presumably she was working.
‘Good evening, ladies,’ Naomi said, stopping beside them at the bar.
‘Oh wow,’ Marie said. ‘How do you get into that corset?’
‘Industrial winch. The breaking ribs are something of a chore, but the look is sort of expected.’
‘Sister Naomi,’ Fox said,
grinning, ‘you haven’t met Helen Dillan, my associate at Palladium, and Teresa Martins. We’re doing the girls’ night out thing.’
‘Celebrating fame and fortune? Of course, I recognise Miss Martins. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.’
‘Terri,’ Terri said. ‘Thanks for helping Marie.’
‘An endeavour of mutual benefit. Positive mention of the Sisters on social media is up nine point three per cent in twenty-four hours.’
Terri raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s good. That’s really good. And they’re repeating tonight.’
‘They have repeated and we’re showing early indications of an effect. We’ve also noted a two point seven per cent increase in requests for redheads for out-calls.’ Marie went scarlet and gulped wine. ‘Fox,’ Naomi went on, ‘up close, that outfit is even better than at a distance. Are you sure you’ve no latent dominatrix tendencies?’
‘None that I’ve noticed,’ Fox replied.
‘Of course you do!’ Terri said, rolling her eyes. ‘Assertive personality, commanding presence, good leadership skills, and a capacity for controlled violence.’
‘And Terri has a doctorate,’ Marie said, happy to turn the tables for once, ‘so she would know.’
‘She’s got two,’ Fox grumbled. ‘Psychology and machine psychology. I’m damn well going to get one in criminology just so I can compete.’
‘Good idea,’ Terri said. ‘Education is important.’
‘I never got as far as a doctorate,’ Naomi said. ‘I do have a psychology degree, which seemed a useful step, professionally.’
‘Does seem appropriate. You know, Fox, you’d probably walk a criminology doctorate if you could find a suitable subject.’
‘Maybe when I’ve got some spare time. In about a decade.’
‘All this legislation running you ragged?’ Naomi asked.
‘Yeah. Legislation’s pretty much fixed, but then the contract negotiations will start.’ Neither of them were mentioning the murders, and they both knew they were avoiding it to avoid bringing the mood down. But Fox decided on one thing which would not be an issue. ‘By the way, Helen, come over to my place first thing Monday, would you? There’s something I need to brief you on.’
‘Sure. Am I going to need stims to stay awake?’
‘No, I think you’ll manage.’
3rd October.
‘Hello, George.’
Fox turned her head to look over at Marie and the large, cage-like structure which housed the RRU just as the large, high-speed, robotic death machine responded with, ‘Good afternoon, Miss Shaftsbury.’
‘We’re naming them now?’ Fox asked.
‘Well, they’re all a little different,’ Marie replied, ‘and I can’t call them by their ident numbers because those are too long.’
Conceding the point, Fox said, ‘Kit, if you’d associate “George” with that AI’s ident, please. Hangover down to reasonable levels?’
‘Couple of Painaway and some curative sex and I’m fine.’
‘You have been unwell, Miss Shaftsbury?’ George said, actually sounding concerned, and maybe he was. The discussion of AIs had come up again the night before and Terri had explained that class threes were quite capable of developing emotions and showing them, but they just did not really understand them. So if George heard that Marie had needed painkillers, he might assume she had been unwell and express concern for her well-being. On the other hand, if he saw her wearing an expression of discomfort, he might not identify the expression or react appropriately to it, and understanding emotional pain was way outside his capabilities.
‘My own doing,’ Marie replied. ‘I had too much to drink last night.’
‘I do not understand damaging oneself on purpose.’
Marie giggled. ‘Well, it feels good while you’re doing it in this case. Then you suffer for it. Or some of us do.’ Marie pouted at Fox who had escaped the after effects, again.
‘I did my suffering in the Army,’ Fox said, closing her eyes and relaxing back into her lounger. It was early October and the outside air temperature was still sitting around a comfortable level. The sun was still quite hot and catching the last rays of the year on a Sunday afternoon had seemed a good idea. So Fox had put on the plazkin swimsuit she had bought in Bermuda and trooped up to the roof. Marie had obviously decided the same thing since she was in a pair of bikini briefs and ready to top up her tan. ‘I take it Sam’s back then?’ Fox asked.
‘An hour or so ago.’ There was a creak from the other lounger as Marie lay down.
‘It doesn’t bother you that he comes back from one woman and hops into bed with you?’
‘Wasn’t in bed, but no. So far anyway. Actually, he came back kind of wound up and the sex was wicked, which isn’t always the case. I think I get more bothered when he comes back and doesn’t want to do anything with me. He always looks a little depressed when that happens. And he had a message from Miss Bournville. She’s had three chat shows contact her about having me on this week.’
Fox smiled. ‘It’s starting to sink in, isn’t it?’
‘Fox, people asked for my autograph last night.’
‘Huh, yeah. I didn’t think people still did that. Who goes to a fetish club with a pen and a little autograph book?’ She paused and then added, ‘Of course, the girl who asked you to sign her breast was probably improvising.’
‘I’m glad the lighting was dim and she couldn’t see me blushing. It was nice seeing Sister Naomi too. Are you doing some special work for her?’
Fox suppressed a sigh. The deaths were going to hit the media soon enough and Marie was going to find out about Sister Georgina and the apparent link to Jack the Ripper. ‘A Senior Sister, Georgina Parton, was murdered recently and Naomi isn’t happy with the NAPA investigation.’
‘Oh. I don’t think I ever met a Georgina, but that’s terrible.’
‘It gets worse. Seems like it’s a serial killer, targeting prostitutes and…’ Best to just pull the band aid off as fast as possible. ‘The guy is mimicking Jack the Ripper.’
‘Shit!’
George, apparently detecting some distress, probably because of the expletive, put two and two together and came up short. ‘Do not be alarmed, Miss Shaftsbury. This facility is secure and no murderer will get past the house AI or myself.’
Marie flashed a smile at the jet-black cyberframe. ‘Thanks, George, but that’s not really what was concerning me. I have no doubt if he came here, you’d turn him into cat food.’
‘You were probably lucky NAPA seem to be trying to keep this fairly quiet,’ Fox went on. ‘Someone at IB-Nineteen might have pulled the streaming if the news broke.’
‘It is a helluva coincidence that we should have a real-life Jack copycat in the city when I’ve just done a vid about one. Not that I want this to turn out to be anything other than chance, maybe you should talk to Nathan and Adrian. I don’t know how they came up with the idea, or why now.’
‘Good point. Some of that M. J. critical thinking must be rubbing off on you. Kit?’
‘I will arrange an interview with Mister Shark and Mister Daker,’ Kit replied from where she was sitting, cross-legged on the floor with her back against Fox’s lounger. ‘I must say that I can understand the pleasure of sunbathing. The warmth on your skin, the general contentment.’
Marie developed a puzzled expression. ‘But you can’t feel the warmth on your skin. You don’t have skin.’
‘I can feel the warmth on Fox’s skin, Marie. I can also detect physiological and neurological signatures of relaxation.’
‘Oh. Yeah, of course. Have to admit, I’m not sure why you bothered with that swimsuit, Fox. It’s not really hiding much.’
‘I know. It’s the principle of the thing.’
‘Sure. Like that outfit you wore last night.’
‘Uh-huh.’ There was a pause and then, ‘I’m thinking of getting a belly button piercing.’
‘You are?’
‘Yeah. There was a girl with a rea
lly tasteful one in the club last night and I thought it looked good.’
‘Are you going through some sort of mid-life crisis we should know about?’
Fox laughed. ‘I’m twenty-nine. It better not be a mid-life crisis.’
4th October.
By the time Fox got Shark and Daker alone in an office in Time Spire, they had a good idea of why she wanted to talk to them. Someone, probably someone in NAPA, had leaked details of the murders to a reporter from INN. It said something about the attitude of the populace that the story had not been a lead one, but it had been fairly visible and both men had seen it, digested it, and were looking a little whiter than usual. Nathan Shark was not smiling.
‘I saw the news. You want to know whether we had anything to do with the deaths,’ Shark said when they were sitting down.
‘I want to know how you developed the idea,’ Fox replied. ‘Who came up with it? Who knew about it? I’m not suggesting either of you murdered four women to boost your viewing figures.’
‘Someone’s going to.’
Fox gave a slight shrug. ‘The NAPA detective on the case is… not one of their finest. She might come up with that idea and then she’ll probably be a pain about it, so it’d be useful if I could gather enough evidence before she does to squash it fast.’
‘Well,’ Daker said, ‘we developed it together. We proposed something last year, but didn’t get far with it.’
‘I mentioned it last time,’ Shark said and Fox nodded that she remembered.
‘So we’ve been developing it further since then,’ Daker went on. ‘We shifted the lead to a female, Nate had the idea of making her a prostitute with a tough backstory, and I suggested going with the Sisters of Corruption angle.’ He developed a quirky half-grin. ‘That costume of theirs is great.’
‘Marie looks good in hers,’ Fox said. ‘Who came up with the idea of using Ripper lore?’
‘Me. I like old real-life murder mysteries and there’s none bigger than Jack the Ripper. Nate suggested we make our heroine the last victim and we got M. J.’
‘We pitched it to the channel in March, got the go-ahead in April. We were keeping the whole thing pretty need-to-know until the pitch, but after that, all sorts of people knew about it. Production staff, agents, marketing, our entire upper management… If you’re looking in this direction for your killer, it could be just about anyone.’
Criminal Minds (Fox Meridian Book 4) Page 8
