by Jolie Mason
And when she woke, he was gone.
*
"I don't care who you have to get to sign off. Get them to sign off!"
She spoke into the comm as she paced.
"This man is a material witness in multiple homicides in which a known suspect is still at large. He doesn't have a lot of time, so let's hurry, shall we?"
The day nurse entered the room shyly. "Detective?"
She turned to see the worried nurse enter the room. "Security has the footage for you."
"Good. Can you tell me how to get there?"
"It's not far. I can take you."
Two floors later, the woman led her into a small circular room lined with security equipment where a pair of guards stared at the low tech screen.
"You got which way he went?" she asked with no introductions. One of them nodded. "Good, I'll just take the tran file."
She suspected she knew what they'd seen that had the guards avoiding her eyes.
As she made her way through the lobby with the sound playing on her personal comm, she forwarded through the best night of her life to the worst morning.
She couldn't get past why? Why would he leave? Why run now?
Then, there it was.
She stopped her pacing to watch the moment when he got up and decided, and then he left her.
Dressed in the black pants he'd worn yesterday and a scrub shirt he had stolen from somewhere, he leaned over the hospital bed, kissed her goodbye and touched her hair, then he'd sneaked out of the hospital room and past two duty nurses.
"Hospital security, my ass," she said aloud. The lobby receptionist looked uncomfortable but ignored her.
As he made his way to the same lobby she occupied right now, his mouth was moving. She assumed he must be on the comm. Just as he walked out of the hospital's wide front doors, a cab pulled up, unmanned, and he got in. It explained his comm. He'd called a taxi.
She walked up to the girl at the reception desk trying to ignore her. "What taxi company serves this area?"
The girl handed her a pre-formed business card that could be scanned. Hayden nodded and scanned the contact number so that her comm could dial it directly.
"My name is Detective Hayden Thursday, homicide, I'm looking for a witness who took a cab of yours this morning from Mercy hospital in West Borough."
"Only one of those yet this morning," the dispatcher said.
"What was the destination?"
The man read the name off of a Marina off the Southern coast beyond all the boroughs. "All right," she said. "Send me a cab."
As much as she wanted to get back for the transfer, she had to find Gray before he got too far ahead of her. She commed Ace as she waited for a cab to update him on losing her witness.
"Why the hell would he take off now?"
"I don't know," she answered throwing up a hand Ace couldn't see. "It makes no sense unless he knows something we don't. That's the only possible answer."
"What do you want me to do about Murphy?"
"Delay the transfer if you can, but my priority needs to be getting to Gray before someone else does. Without him, the case is weak."
"I'll do what I can, but upstairs is itching to give a press conference on this one. They want him arraigned by end of business."
"Well, they aren't going to get him in court until we've had time to question him. God, what is wrong with these people? Tell them they can announce we have a suspect in custody and leave it at that."
The cab pulled up. She looked at the self driving car in trepidation. "My car is here. Turn my tracker on, will you? Just in case."
Ace grunted into the comm. "Done. Had enough of that funny business. By the way, your insurance adjuster called."
She rolled her eyes. "Tell her to wait."
Thursday ended the comm with goodbye and closed her eyes for the long ride to the Clifton Marina.
*
Seagulls turned and called above her as she stepped out of the cab and hit the wait control on the door panel. It would cost the department a fortune, but she needed to get back as soon as she found Gray.
Her hope of that diminished some when she realized what was at the Marina. A tall streamlined spire stood elevated above all the other pill box boats below. It was a capsule cruise hub.
Her gut pulled her there to the central hub. The small self navigating underwater hotel rooms were fairly reliable transportation and very unregulated. You could simply take one for the night and sleep in the marina under the water, or you could set a destination and travel up the coast line. The small cruisers jumped from hub, like the one she was looking at.
She jogged along the docks toward the hub.
She walked in flashing the badge because she had a suspicion that whatever Gray had done was already done. Her gut said he was gone. He was in the ocean, and the clock was ticking. She approached the desk bot all business and grouchy as hell from her long night.
This bot was clearly a bot with only the suggestion of human features, an old school tinnie.
"Scan my badge," she commanded.
A red beam shot from the bot's eyes to scan her badge. It said, "Welcome, Detective Thursday, how may I assist you?"
"I am looking for a registration made in the past hour or so by a Dr. Gray Kerry."
The bot paused. "I'm sorry we have nothing under that name."
Hayden cursed. She might be wrong. "Can you get me a copy of all registrations occurring in the last two hours?"
"I am capable of that task," it said in its polite machine voice.
"Well," she said. "All right then. Get me those."
Another pause. "Unable to comply without a judicial order."
Hayden growled. She had figured. It had been a long shot that the bot was defective or too dumbed down for his job.
"Can you tell me how many registrations you've had in the past two hours?"
"Happy to help, Detective. There have been four departures in the last two hours. Would you like to book a similar cruise?"
Hayden's eyes narrowed. She'd try a different approach and get the tinnie to try and sell her on something, perhaps. "Possibly, were all those cruisers booked for a similar jaunt?"
The robot nodded stiffly. "Yes, in fact. Many of our patrons are taking advantage of the excellent value of a capsule cruise to the lovely Outer Islands to visit our newly renovated and expanded Blue Isle Resorts and Conference Center. Would you like to book a capsule cruiser now?"
She gave him a plastic smile and said, "I'll have to talk it over with my partner."
"That is completely understandable, Detective. I have some reading material for you to give to your significant other about all of our services."
She stood there thinking. "Are your cruises the only transport to the Blue Island Resort?"
The bot enthused. "Indeed! This is an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime vacation experience brought to you by Howard Realty and Entertainment."
Again, she stretched that fake smile. "That sounds nice. Who else would I talk to about boats departing from the docks?"
"If you are looking for a private or corporate departure, those fall under the Dock Master's authority. However, private vessels are not allowed at Blue Island, Detective."
"Good to know," she said.
She got the location of the Dock Master's office and turned toward the doors while contacting Ace.
"Ace, we need a court order for the Clifton Marina Hub of Blue Isles Resorts and Conference Centers. I need the registrations for the last two hours."
"A cruiser? You think he skipped?"
She frowned as she made her way up narrow stairs toward the docking offices. "I don't know what I think anymore. I'll see if the Dock Master is more forthcoming than the damn robot, and then head back to the city."
Because sometimes you were just licked, and she was starting to feel licked.
"All right, but you should know the Mayor is pushing to expedite his transfer now."
"God damn. Why is everyt
hing happening at once? Do what you can."
"You know it."
She knocked on the low tech door. It even creaked as she opened it to add that final touch of ambiance to the "old sailor" vibe going on in the room. "Master Adams?"
A weathered older sailor, who thoroughly matched his decor, turned toward her in a thick pea coat and scarf, clearly prepared to go out in the weather which was still cold but clear. Hayden thought it felt a bit nippier here by the sea, but what did she know really? She'd lived here for years and never come to the ocean, not once.
"Detective Thursday," she told him. She stuck a hand out as she continued," I need your help with something."
The Dock Master had known less than the robot, but he was, at least, willing to confirm departures. There hadn't been many.
"Well, thank you for your time, sir."
"Not a problem," he told her with a kindly smile. "Still, I think you'd best head back to the city, Detective. Weather service is calling for snow again."
She nodded. "Will do, Adams."
Tromping back to her waiting cab, she commed Ace one more time. "I got nothing. I'm coming back."
"Good, you have an hour."
She looked at the navsys as she pushed the start and put in her destination. "I won't make it to question him. Go ahead."
"Got it," he said happily.
She heard him call for the file and then he was off comm.
Hayden settled back in the comfy seat and yawned. For the first time since she'd awoken to find him missing, she let herself feel what Gray had done to her here.
What she'd done last night had been so unlike her, so contrary to her training, and her very nature if she was honest. Yet, she'd kissed a witness. She'd really kissed a witness. A lot.
She felt things for the Doctor that she couldn't even name, and she felt doubt, especially today. After the running, and then tracking him to the Marina, could she completely trust anything he'd been telling her about how much he knew and when he knew it?
And if she couldn't trust him about the case and his involvement, could she ever trust him about his feelings for her?
These were all excellent questions, and the only person who could answer them was on his way south, maybe, to a resort, maybe not. That's what her gut was screaming, but she didn't really know, did she?
But, what did he expect to find in a tourist trap on Blue Island? She shook her head.
As though her thoughts conjured the beast, her comm dinged with a recorded message from Dr. Gray Kerry.
"Unbelievable," she said. She pulled it up.
His head appeared in the holo. She looked closely and she could see the top of her hair resting against his bare chest as he talked into her own comm device.
Oh, irony, she thought watching herself sleep peacefully. "Thy name is Kerry."
"Hayden, you're going to be very angry with me by the time you get this, and I'm sorry." He looked down at her with heartbreaking tenderness in his expression. "I'm really sorry."
He continued watching her face as he spoke. "I have to check something out. It may be nothing, but there was something Tanner said.... Anyway, I have to find out. You're safer here. If I can come back, I will. If I can't," he stopped, then looked dead at the comm and rushed out as if he was afraid he wouldn't say it. "If I can't, you should know I think I'm in love with you. Whatever else happens, this was real."
The holo faded.
Hayden stared out at the passing buildings and factories with a single tear slipping down her cheek. There was nothing fair about what he just did there. Nothing at all. Not even a little bit.
He was clearly going to do something he was completely unqualified to do. She went over every word she could remember of Tanner Murphy's nonsense. Nothing suggested it would lead to a resort of all places, but maybe that wasn't his final destination, but a step on a longer journey.
There were missing puzzle pieces, and maybe she would find them once she got into an interrogation room with Murphy. She rubbed her aching forehead.
She commed the precinct again, but found out that Ace was in with Murphy for the moment. She left a short message, and then settled back to try and think of anything but Gray Kerry for the duration of her ride back into the city.
She flipped on the news audio feed from the local station.
"Traffic in midtown in dropping off to a crawl today as the police prepare for a press conference by the Metro area's Mayor and Borough Councilman Rex Handler regarding the infamous Stasis Killer."
"There are mutterings," she went on solemnly. "That a suspect in the case may have been identified and even captured, prompting this afternoon's press conference announcement to the public."
"All of this following what appears to be now, a harrowing escape for Detective Hayden Thursday, one of the lead detectives on the case, when her car plunged into the Mississippi River on Tuesday afternoon. The cause of that crash has been listed as a Navsys malfunction."
Hayden turned off the audio feed with a twist.
What a week, she thought. There was no good feeling at the end of all this hard work as there usually was.
First because, this time, catching the monster would bring no real sense of justice. Tanner Murphy wouldn't get any, not until she caught the men who made him kill for no good reason.
Second, because there were still men out there who were possibly the worst she'd ever chased, and Gray was out there chasing them on his own.
She leaned her head against the car glass and watched the city streets begin to turn more familiar as she neared the precinct. Snow fell in heavier flakes against the streetlights.
Cabs and cars began forming neat lines the closer she got.
The Fifteenth and the Borough Municipal Building were connected by a long catwalk at the second floor level. She could see it now, just barely, against the snowy skyline ahead. Hayden could crane her neck and see police barricades along the streets leading up to her office.
She cursed loudly. Her cab was at a near standstill about five blocks from where she needed to be an hour ago. To top it all off, there seemed a ridiculous amount of pedestrian traffic.
"Pull over," she ordered the cab and then hit the green payment button. The chief would have kittens when she saw the invoice, but it couldn't be helped.
It took some time. When the car finally slowed to a curb, Hayden jumped out and started walking.
*
Hayden thought about it.
Did she really want to be up there on parade for the cameras and play the part in another politician's photo op? Hell no. Murphy was already in for questioning. There was nothing else for her to do.
Making a decision to delay, she stopped at Windham's, the favorite coffee spot in the Borough, and ordered a couple coffees. She took a moment to watch the video feed and check a baseball score.
The coffee shop smelled like love, so she let herself linger a moment.
Once she had a cup of her favorite drug in her hot, little hand, she began the long, chilly walk to the courthouse steps where hopefully the mayor would nearly be finished with his showboating, and she could find a nice inconspicuous way into the building.
The crowd thickened as she got closer, jostling her back several times or forcing her to go another way where there were fewer people. She bounced off a large guy in head to toe leather, and thought he looked familiar. She thought she might have booked him once a long time ago. It seemed as if everyone was interested in the Stasis Killer being brought in and taken out of circulation.
She couldn't blame them. The general public didn't know that there had been a hit list. They didn't know that Tanner Murphy hadn't started out a twisted, sadistic killer. They only knew they were scared, and that now someone might tell them they can stop being scared and go back to living their lives.
Hayden tried to take a circular path around some protesters when the thought occurred to her that she could sneak in through the morgue's wagon entrance. It was just a bit farther, but she opt
ed to swing back around this block and come up from Wexler street.
Now, she was moving with away from the crowds and not toward them, still the snow was starting to pick up. It wasn't sticking to the streets yet, though. The holiday lights and sales pitches were in every passing store window. She ran around the side of a bank and began heading up Wexler in a hurry to get out of the cold.
Other than the crowd, everything looked so ordinary, so normal. There was nothing whatsoever odd about the day or the midtown rush. The buildings were all pointed skyward and the traffic crawled by in the organized chaos.
Nothing was out of place. She sipped her coffee in one hand, and carried one for Ace. Her mind almost completely occupied by worry for Gray and questions for Murphy.
She could see the light brick precinct facade down the block looking stately and sedate in the snowfall. The Wagon was parked under the morgue awning, so that door should be open, allowing her to miss the cameras and the BC and Mayor.
Hayden was unprepared for the moment when the side of her body made contact with a gray stone of the bank as she was thrown hard. Cars were lifted by other cars blowing into the air. She felt a hint of heat as she went down. Hayden was pelted with debris, but, luckily, found herself behind a newsstand and vending kiosk that took the worst of it.
Eerie quiet settled over everything, and then a second explosion sent heat and flames her way. She huddled behind tons of metal and rock as the heat rushed close.
Then, everything went a little gray an, just like that, there was silence.
*
Hayden woke to pandemonium. Sirens blazed, dust filled the air, and the courthouse, the precinct, an entire block was pulverized.
She swallowed and used the building she'd been thrown against to stand. It wasn't easy. Hayden tasted blood, but she couldn't focus on anything but the sight before her.
People running. Fires burning.
And, a crater where her friends should be.
"Ace," she said softly around the pain she felt everywhere. Hayden's arms and legs hurt badly but they worked.
She stumbled toward the rubble, over it at times. She stopped only to check a pulse or two along the way. The third she found was a young girl of maybe nineteen. She was covered in blood, but her labored breathing suggested she needed help, not a hearse.
