“I judge everyone the same,” Salvi said.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She smiled. “Everyone’s a suspect until they’re proven innocent.”
“Even me?” he asked, smiling back.
She stared at him, at the white collared polo shirt he wore, tight over his fit physique.
“Yeah,” she said, “even you.”
Bander nodded, knocking back what was left in his glass. “Does this mean I can’t buy you a drink?”
Salvi stared at her empty glass, then looked back at him waiting patiently for her to answer. Her eyes moved to the couple in the sunken table next to theirs, still heavily making out, and maybe even actually having sex if she’d cared to take a closer look. She moved her eyes back to Bander, who was watching them too. He shifted his eyes back to hers.
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” he said with a smile.
She looked at her empty glass again, then at his; saw his hand wrapped around it, the knuckles all rough and rocky like he’d busted them more than once. She pictured him through the bathroom window again, beating the Subjugate with his baton.
“No,” she said. “I’m good.”
“What, you don’t trust me?” he said, amused. “You wanna cuff me or something, for peace of mind? I’m down with that.”
“Detective Brentt,” she heard Mitch’s voice and looked up to see him standing by their table.
“Mitch?” she asked, straightening a little.
He gave her a slightly glaring look, then turned it to Bander. He looked back at Salvi again. “A word? In private.”
“She’s already having a word with someone,” Bander said to Mitch.
Her partner gave Bander a cold, stony look.
Salvi stood, grabbing her jacket. “Thank you, but I’ll decide who I have a word with.” She looked at Mitch. “Both of you.” Then she walked up the steps and straight past him.
As she hit the cold night air outside, she pulled on her jacket, and began heading back for the Cylin. Hurried footsteps sounded, and someone grabbed her arm and turned her around.
“What the hell are you doing?” Mitch asked a little exasperated.
“What the hell are you doing?” She pulled her arm out of his grasp.
“What were you doing with Levan Bander? Are you seeing him?” He screwed his face up.
“Seeing him?” She screwed her face up back.
“Well, I don’t know, Salvi. I saw you talking outside the church, then find you here together.”
“How did you find me here?”
“I traced you via the geoloc map in Ford’s office.”
“You what?!” she asked incredulously.
“What did you expect me to do?” he asked raising his voice. “You disappeared from the wake, wouldn’t return my calls. We’ve got a serial killer on the loose. What did you expect me to do?”
“I can handle myself, Mitch,” she said, turning and walking away. Within moments a hand clamped over her mouth and one around her arms and waist, swiftly dragging her into a dark alleyway and slamming her against the wall.
“Can you, Salvi?!” Mitch said angrily.
“Yes!” she hissed, thrusting her gun into his groin. He jerked back and let her go. “You asshole!”
“Why didn’t you return my calls?” he panted.
“I didn’t want to,” she said bluntly. “I had enough of you for one day.”
Mitch stared at her, catching his breath. “We’re partners, Salvi.”
“Yeah, we are. Do you remember me taking you home from the bar at 2am?” she asked.
Mitch looked away. “I’m sorry, alright,” he said. “It was a hard night… but it’s behind me now.”
Salvi reholstered her gun. She glanced back to the street, caught her own breath. “Look, I know it was the anniversary, Mitch, but…” She shook her head.
“Yeah, I know.” Mitch nodded. “So, what were you doing with Bander?”
“He walked in. I was already there. It wasn’t planned,” she said. “Besides, it was actually quite useful to talk to him out of uniform.”
“Why’s that?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips.
“He told me about U-Stasis. Heard of it?”
Mitch shook his head.
“It’s an augmented-reality online community,” Salvi told him. “Tobias and Sharon were on there. Apparently some seedy stuff can happen in there. I think this is what they were maybe doing when Ellie saw them heading to the SlingShot station.”
“Seedy like what?”
Salvi moved away from the wall and rolled her shoulders. “Do we have to go into it now? It’s late and I’m tired. Thanks to you.”
“Well, I found out some things today too while you were AWOL,” Mitch said. “The second vic was the daughter of a close friend of Attis Solme’s.”
“Rebecca Carson?”
Mitch nodded.
Salvi nodded back. “I found a church here in the city that Solme owns. I saw Kevin Craydon, Tobias’ roommate, going in there. The church has BioLume. And it’s high-tech. Nothing like the one in Bountiful.”
“Solme and BioLume, huh? Let’s compare notes.”
Salvi looked at her iPort. “Let’s do it in the morning when we’re fresh.”
“You want to get back to drinking?” He motioned back to the club.
“No. Do you?” she challenged.
“No,” he said, a little awkwardly. “Last night… won’t happen again.”
Salvi stared at him, wondering what the comment meant. Did he mean that he wouldn’t drink that much again, or was he referring to the moment between them, touching her like he did?
Now Salvi felt awkward.
“Tomorrow,” she said. She stepped onto the sidewalk, then stopped and looked back at him. “And don’t you ever grab me like that again.”
“I was trying to prove a point.”
“And my gun in your crotch proved mine,” she said. “Don’t grab me like that again, and don’t trace my iPort. I wasn’t in trouble. I can handle myself.” She turned and began walking again.
“I know you can… Salvation,” he said.
She halted at his words. Despite the freeze that iced over her, she turned slowly to face him. “What?”
“Salvation Brenttanovich,” Mitch said. “That’s your real name, isn’t it?”
“Wh–” she stuttered. “You’ve been looking into me?”
Mitch shrugged. “You’re a closed book, Salvi. I wanted to know who I was working with, why you were getting so worked up over the preacher like that.”
“So you looked into my records?” She screwed her face up at him.
“Why’d you change your legal name?”
“That’s none of your goddamn business!” she said. She swung back around, ready to storm off toward the Cylin, but spotted an autocab on approach. She rushed out, stepping into its path, forcing it to screech its brakes and come to a stop. The door raised up with a hydraulic hiss, Salvi threw herself inside, then gave a firm voice command for it to drive.
Salvi’s body shook as both anger and shock shot through her. As soon as she was out of sight of Mitch, she ordered the autocab to pull over into a side street. She panted, catching her breath, her hands clutching her knees, the fingers digging in. What the hell had gotten into him, to look up her records? To trace her to the bar? She thought of Hernandez’s warning, of her talk with Stan.
She suddenly looked at her iPort. Mitch had traced her to the bar using it. She tapped the screen to access the connectivity portal and shut it down, taking herself offline. She glanced around at the streets surrounding her, wondering what she should do. Why had Mitch been looking into her? Why would he pry into her life like that? Because he was curious about her reaction to Vowker? That couldn’t just be it.
As her mind turned over, an idea formed. She ordered the autocab to drive past the Dream Bar again. As it did, she slunk down in the seat, out of sight of the windows, and fixed her eyes to the con
sole monitors displaying the external autocab camera vision. She saw Mitch tapping at his iPort console and the silver glow of his lenses fade out as he climbed into the Raider.
“I want you to follow that car,” she ordered the autocab. “License plate SFPD717.”
“Do you have authorization for me to do this?” the autocab AI asked.
Salvi tapped her chest and flashed her badge.
“Instructions accepted,” the AI replied.
Mitch had been looking into her, now it was time to look into him.
Salvi made the autocab follow at a distance, almost losing the Raider once or twice. But she knew it couldn’t get too close or Mitch would be onto her. Fear suddenly filled her stomach when she realized he was heading for Bountiful.
The fear turned to staunch curiosity when he pulled up at Bountiful’s SlingShot station. She had the autocab cut its lights and pull over a couple of blocks back in the shadows of a large oak tree. Engaging her lenses, she switched to the binocular function and zoomed in on her partner. She watched as Mitch got out of the Raider and sat on the hood as though waiting for something or someone.
Within minutes the SlingShot arrived. Mitch watched the doors carefully and a single woman in a bright yellow dress stepped off the train. As she walked down the platform to the car park, Mitch said something to her. She moved over to him cautiously and they began talking. After a moment, he slid off the Raider’s hood. He hiked his thumb back to the Raider and the woman nodded, then looked around as though making sure no one was watching her. Mitch moved over and popped the doors of the Raider, and they climbed in. Salvi zoomed her vision in closer and saw the woman hold her hand out to him. Mitch looked down into his lap, then passed something to her. Money. The woman counted it, then gave a nod.
A prostitute?
In Bountiful?
Really?
And Mitch with cash? He said he didn’t carry any.
He glanced around at his surroundings, but didn’t see Salvi or the autocab as he set the Raider in motion and took off.
Salvi sat back in her seat, wondering what to do.
A flash of light revealed a second vehicle as it turned out from a side street up ahead. It was Sheriff Holt. She slunk down further in her seat, but he didn’t see her or the autocab in the shade of the oak. Instead, his vehicle was driving away from her, disappearing in the same direction as the Raider.
“If you wish to proceed no further, payment is required,” the autocab’s AI said, breaking the silence.
She looked back at the autocab’s console and sighed.
“Take me back to the city.”
Chapter Twelve
Subjugate-52
Salvi stood out the front of the hub and watched as the sleek black shell of Mitch’s Raider headed toward her. She’d just been reading the information Riverton had loaded on their case file, on Solme’s Neuricle Corporation. Turns out, Neuricle Corporation had been heavily involved in the neural implant industry prior to the Crash taking place. No wonder he was so invested in getting it back in favor. He would’ve left a lot money on the table when the Crash occurred.
The Raider came to a stop; she got in and he handed her a coffee.
“Thank you,” she said, keeping her eyes front; trying not to think about seeing him with the prostitute, trying not to think of him tracing her iPort or checking her records. Or dragging her into the alley. Whether trying to prove a point or not. Maybe Hernandez was right. Maybe Mitch was unhinged. But then she thought of Beggs’ words, of cutting Mitch some slack. The anniversary of his girlfriend’s murder had just passed. And now with these murders? That would be enough to set anyone on edge. Who knew what he had seen when he’d found his girlfriend’s body. Who knew how the revelation of her cheating had affected him. Maybe these murders were dragging up too many painful memories for him. Salvi knew cops tended to be control freaks. It was their job to find holes in everyone’s story and always watch their back – to not trust anyone. Maybe when he traced her iPort he was just being over-protective of his partner. After all, if you weren’t loyal to your partner, then what kind of cop were you?
Unless, of course, that partner was actually a criminal.
A criminal who thought nothing of paying a prostitute for her services in a police vehicle, when technically he should’ve been busting her for street hustling.
But was Salvi any different? She didn’t bust the woman in the club for popping the narcotics. She’d been off duty. Mitch had been off duty.
She thought of Stan then, and the key piece of advice he always drilled into her – to use her gut. So, what was her gut telling her about Mitch?
The truth was, right now she didn’t know.
Mitch eyed her a moment, then focused his eyes ahead as the Raider headed out of town. “I’m sorry about last night,” he said. “Grabbing you like that. I just… you gotta be careful, Salvi. That’s all I’m saying.”
She looked back at him, a flick of anger on her tongue. “I have to be careful every day of this job, Mitch. That will never change regardless of which perp we’re chasing. The same goes for you too, you know.”
“Our killer isn’t into guys, Salvi.”
“He could still kill you if he wants to.”
Mitch nodded. “He could, I guess.”
Salvi decided to change the topic and began giving him a rundown of what Bander had told her about U-Stasis the previous evening.
“I think we should go in and take a look around,” she said, “see who’s lurking in there?”
Mitch nodded, his mind ticking over, as an alert sounded on the Raider’s console. Salvi tapped the screen, accessing the message.
“DNA from Sharon Gleamer is in,” she said.
“Hit me.”
Salvi scrolled through the results. “Tobias Brook is negative.”
“No surprise there.”
“James Stackwell, the neighbor, is negative.”
Mitch nodded, then noticed her silence. He looked at her. “And the preacher?”
She stared at the results on the screen a moment, then swallowed and closed the file. “Negative.”
Mitch eyed her carefully. “You sound disappointed.”
“I am.”
“Why? You really wanted it to be him so bad?”
“No, Mitch. Because if it’s not any of them, we still got a killer out there.”
Mitch clenched his jaw briefly. “What about the DNA of the Serenes and Subjugates? I think we’ve got enough to check Moses, Dolles and Pragge. They were all in town both days of the murders. Have Riverton check the files Dr Remmell gave us. DNA samples would’ve been collected upon their arrest.”
Salvi tapped her iPort and engaged her lenses. Her eyes frosted over and within moments the AI appeared.
“Detective Brentt,” it answered. “How may I help you?”
“Riverton, I need you to run a comparison of the DNA results from the attack on Sharon Gleamer with the criminal files of the Subjugates,” she said. “First name is Edward Moses. Arrest made in New York state.”
Mitch glanced over at Salvi while she waited for the response.
“Access is denied,” Riverton announced.
“What? Dr Remmell gave us access.”
“To their criminal files yes, but not to their DNA. There is a DNA suppression order on all residents of the Solme Complex.”
“A suppression order?” Salvi said. “You’re kidding me. How do we override it?”
“You will need authorization from the Solme Complex. All records now belong to them.”
Salvi clenched her fist. “Are you sure there’s no other way we can access this information? You’re an AI, Riverton.”
“I am an AI bound by law, Detective. Without the correct authority I am unable to access this.”
“End request.” Salvi ended the call.
“What?” Mitch said.
“The Subjugates and Serenes are protected by a DNA suppression order. I’m calling Ford now. See what s
he can do.” Before Mitch could say anything, the call connected and Ford appeared in her lenses.
“Brentt,” Ford answered, her eyes narrowed curiously. “What’s up?”
“You see the DNA results?”
“Yeah.”
“Our main suspects have been ruled out. We need to check the DNA against the Serenes and Subjugates who were in Bountiful the days of the murders, but Riverton can’t access them for us.”
“I’m not surprised,” Ford told her. “It’s part of the deal when they enter the Solme Complex. Their criminal record is erased and they cannot be tried for any other priors. They are considered new people and given clean slates when they come out the other end. I was surprised when they gave you a copy of their criminal records, to be honest.”
“We’ve got a killer on the loose, who we think will strike again, and a high probability it was one of them. We need that suppression order overturned.”
Ford was quiet a moment. “My hands are tied on the suppression order, there’s nothing I can do.”
“But–”
“Hear me out, Brentt!” she cut her off. “We can’t access the DNA currently on file from their priors, but given the circumstances, we can get a warrant for new samples.”
“A new warrant takes time.”
“It’s the best I can do.”
Salvi swallowed her anger. “Alright. Any speed you can give it would be appreciated. Thank you.” With that, she ended the call.
“Suppression order? New warrants?” Mitch asked.
“We can’t access the DNA on file for their priors, but Ford’s going to arrange a warrant to obtain new samples for this new crime.”
Mitch shook his head. “Meanwhile someone else dies.”
Salvi shot him a glance. “Let’s hope not.”
Silence sat in the Raider for a moment, until Mitch broke it.
“You know,” he said, “Attis Solme knew the second victim quite well.” They exchanged a glance. “Solme goes to mass at the Children of Christ. So did Sharon Gleamer, so did Rebecca Carson.”
The Subjugate Page 22
