DeathWeb (Fox Meridian Book 3)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Yeah. See why I don’t like politics?’

  ‘For someone who doesn’t, you’ve got a lot of NAPA people delegating law and order votes to you.’

  ‘Canard notice that?’ Kit had told her about a sharp rise in delegations after the presentation. Fox’s answer to the last question had had an effect.

  ‘Yeah, he did. He won’t like you working this case.’ Cant took in a long breath and let it out. ‘I’ll square it. Play up you handing us the collar. I’ll be using you and your resources to get a result. I can play politics too.’ He gave her a lopsided grin. ‘Doesn’t make us friends.’

  ‘I promise to look pissed off when you put this bastard in a box.’

  ‘Sounds good. I figure the Lensmen will want in. You’ll handle that side?’

  ‘Yeah, I can handle that. Deveraux seems to like me and there are some things, politically difficult things, the UNTPP could handle more easily.’

  There was another lopsided grin. ‘What’s not to like? You brush up kind of nice. Never thought I’d see you in a suit.’

  Fox shrugged and drained her coffee. ‘I think it makes me look kind of frumpy. Wait ’til you see me in a dress.’

  ~~~

  ‘Fox?’ Kit’s voice was quiet, subdued, and she was using audio only. They were still on the stand, but there were panels open elsewhere and the ground traffic was thin.

  ‘Yes, Kit.’ Fox kept the conversation in her head, because Kit seemed to want it private.

  ‘This killer, what he does to his victims…’ The AI’s voice trailed off and Fox gave it a second before prompting.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Reading the reports on the previous ones was bad, but it seemed… one step removed. Seeing this one… How can one human do something like that to another? I don’t understand. I can’t believe anyone… I mean, I can see it. Pythia has provided the full list of injuries and my copy at home is filing everything in the murder room, but I can’t seem to quite believe it.’

  Fox was silent for a second, considering. ‘Kit, you weren’t originally designed to do this kind of work. You’re good at it and I’ve been happy with your work, but not every human can handle it. It’s like Ryan said earlier, he wouldn’t want my job. If you wanted to step back–’

  ‘No! No, I want to do it. I feel we make a good team, you, me, and Pythia. I think we are the best hope of stopping this man and I want to stop him. I see why you become so determined and I see why even Inspector Cant wants to see this one behind bars. Please don’t make me stop. I just wish to understand why.’

  ‘Okay. I think we make a good team too, but I think you should talk this through with Terri. I don’t want you damaging yourself doing this.’

  ‘I will. I promise.’

  ‘Okay. Well, some people kill on impulse, for defence or out of anger or passion. That’s not what we have here. Some kill for money, either being paid to kill or for material gain. Again, not what we have here. Some people just like it. The term is anti-social personality disorder. They don’t have the same sort of empathy for others that we consider normal. This guy clearly doesn’t empathise with his victims. He likes handing out pain and humiliation. Modern education practice and genetic screening has done a lot to eliminate this kind of behaviour, but there are plenty of people around who were born before the tests came in, or they live in the Sprawl and never got them. Maybe in a century there won’t be any left, but for now we have to deal with them.’

  ‘I know something about anti-social personality disorder,’ Kit said after a second. ‘I will do more research and consider how it affects this case. Thank you, Fox. I will not allow my… disquiet over this man’s methods to affect my work.’

  ‘It will affect you, Kit. If it doesn’t, then there’s something wrong with you too. Just remember you can always talk to me or Terri about it.’

  ‘Okay. And, if it helps, you can talk to me about it too.’

  Fox smiled, despite the fact that it might make her look strange to anyone watching. ‘Thank you, Kit. I’ll remember that.’

  ~~~

  Fox and Marie stood near the door into Sam’s lounge, watching him fret over the furniture arrangements as Belle projected virtual models of the furniture he was worrying about into the space.

  ‘I never knew there was so much planning needed,’ Marie whispered.

  ‘It’s not exactly feng shui,’ Sam said, having heard her anyway, ‘but there’s a certain aesthetic style I’m trying to achieve to allow me to have my own space which also functions for entertaining clients.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Yes. It’s part of the training, though something many professionals pay only lip service to. It’s one of the reasons I’m using v-tags a lot for the decoration. Reds are appropriate for client visits.’

  ‘Red tends to bring out passion,’ Fox supplied.

  ‘Your bedroom is painted red,’ Marie commented.

  ‘Yes, and it seems to be working.’

  Sam flashed them both a grin. ‘When I’m not working, I prefer something different. Cool colours in summer, warm in winter. The furniture has to work with all of that, plus I need appropriate areas in the room for its various functions.’

  ‘It’s a lounge,’ Marie said. ‘You lounge in it.’

  ‘You may. Fox works in hers, even if that’s while lounging. We all entertain. Many of my clients prefer not to restrict sex to the bedroom. I need chairs which…’ He stopped and frowned at Marie. ‘Do you really want the details?’

  ‘Um, maybe not.’

  Sam nodded. ‘I need suitable furniture and, thanks to Felix and the discount I got on the renovations from Palladium, I have money to spend on getting suitable furniture. The bedroom will be easier and the exercise room is just a matter of fitting in the equipment.’

  ‘I have a space-optimised arrangement calculated, Sam,’ Belle put in. ‘If it meets your requirements, you will simply need to select a colour scheme.’

  ‘Thank you, Belle. We’ll v-tag the room decoration and go over colour palettes later. I’ll give your design a once-over, but it should be fine.’ His eyes narrowed as he scanned once more around the room. There was an L-shaped sofa and a wide chair which formed an area around a low table. Near the door, this was the first part of the room you came to and was clearly designed for entertainment. Two large chairs were set apart from that, facing a wall, each with a small table beside it, and that looked more like an area for watching vids, though the chairs were angled inward which made sitting and talking an option. There were also a couple of extras, a small desk and a cupboard of some sort beside it, both set out of the way behind the sofa. ‘And I think that should do it. Please save that design and we can get the builds started.’

  ‘When are you planning on moving in?’ Fox asked.

  ‘I’m moving things over at the weekend. I should be here full-time on Monday night. It would be Sunday, but I have an engagement.’ His lips curled. ‘Alice Vaughn. I’ll be accompanying her to this banquet tomorrow and she’s staying over the weekend.’

  Fox smirked. ‘You left with her after the rehearsal too. She’s paying?’

  ‘Oh yes. Her suggestion. Last time, she said, “was very flattering, but talent deserves to be rewarded properly.”’

  ‘Ha!’

  ‘Working with her is one of my more pleasant tasks. I am not displeased to be doing so. She actually said she would come over here on the Saturday to see how we were settling in and help with the move.’

  ‘I like Alice.’

  ‘So do I,’ Marie said, ‘but boy does she have a temper. I’ve never got on her bad side, thank God.’

  ‘She’s naturally a little timid. Annoy her and she gets over it. I expect her staff think she’s a pushover until she turns around and bites off chunks, and then they never do it again.’

  Sam gave a shrug. ‘Redhead.’

  ‘I’m a redhead!’ Marie pointed out, looking a little affronted.

  ‘Precisely,’ Fox replied.

&nb
sp; ~~~

  ‘Our subject,’ Kit said, pacing before the sofa, ‘is likely a physically fit individual, possibly obsessively so. His choice of victims would require a degree of physical strength to overcome them, and their apparent selection from among the ranks of LifeFit users would seem to indicate a similar interest.’

  Fox watched Kit as she paced. The AI had dressed in her formal outfit and glasses, even though they were alone; she was taking this profile very seriously.

  ‘He is likely older than his victims, perhaps in his forties, though that flies against the normal run of this kind of psychopathy. They normally begin their career far younger. Indeed, early indicators would have appeared in childhood. He likely harmed and killed animals before graduating to people.’

  ‘That’s typical, yes.’

  Kit broke her pacing to give Fox a smile. ‘I’m telling you things you already know.’

  ‘Some, but keep going. This is a learning exercise and talking it through will show up holes in the profile. Two heads are better than one. Supposedly anyway.’

  ‘Yes. It’s likely that he holds, or has held, a good job and was successful at it. I would suggest that he is part of a multinational company, probably a large one. The changes in venue suggest assignment overseas.’

  ‘Would that not suggest someone younger? Older people typically have families and uprooting them to another country is often difficult.’

  ‘No, because our subject is unlikely to be married. He has difficulty forming long-term relationships. He is likely to be sexually functional and may use prostitutes. This negates the need for emotional ties, which he understands logically but is unable to really grasp. To most, he is likely to seem like a well-adjusted, if solitary, man. He probably states that he “has never met the right girl” if asked, and since he would not know the right girl if she walked up and kissed him, that is true. The relationships he has are cultivated for his benefit. He uses people, friends and strangers alike, to meet his needs. He clearly enjoys inflicting pain. I believe that he has managed to assuage this need through the application of psychological torment until something triggered him to make his first kill.’

  ‘That is an interesting theorem. I like that. He could even be older than you think.’

  Kit’s smile brightened. ‘I had considered the possibility that his career has taken him to the point where he can retire. He finds himself bored, idle, and decides to spice things up with murder.’

  ‘Let’s say forty to sixty then. A successful businessman who retired in fifty-five or fifty-six, likely to be wealthy because he’s maintaining good health so he can afford the healthcare. He lives alone… But then why the move to South Africa?’

  ‘Perhaps he simply wished to travel.’

  ‘It’s possible. Put that aside for a minute and go on.’

  ‘He plans carefully. His first victim likely required considerable planning. He makes sure that nothing can go wrong. He is skilled at risk assessment and management. He is meticulous, but he is prone to poor impulse control, bursts of anger. Perhaps he knows Mister August and disliked him for some reason, hence the choice of his granddaughter as the first target.’

  ‘Possible. Maybe you should widen your profile on Patricia Randall, include her grandfather, and see if anyone comes up who fits that pattern.’

  Kit beamed. ‘I am glad you suggested that because I have already set about doing so.’

  Fox returned the smile with a grin. ‘I’m not sure what you need me for. I’m sure you can solve this case by yourself.’

  ‘But, Fox, I would find it very difficult to actually arrest someone, not having a body to do it with.’

  ‘Oh well, as long as I’m useful for something.’

  24th June.

  A glimpse of copper hair out of the corner of her eye was the only notice Fox had that her parents had arrived at the stand. She turned, saw that Vaughn was on her way to meet them, and time did that weird slowing down thing that it does sometimes when all your attention suddenly focuses on details and the rest of the world fades into a background blur.

  Jonathan Meridian was looking older than the still she had seen suggested. There were more lines on his face, his brow was furrowed as though stress was taking its toll, and his hair was receding more than the picture had shown, but there was no more grey in it. He was dressed in a brown and grey sweatshirt, cargo pants, and work boots; that was just like him: always the working man. She thought his face looked more gaunt than it had, but his body still had a solid, strongly built nature to it. Fox was not sure if he still worked fields, but he did work at something. No one had sculpted that body aside from Jonathan Meridian.

  Andrea was a different matter. There was little age in her face, and her eyes were a clear green, the lids slightly hooded, a feature her father had always loved. He called them ‘come hither’ eyes and said they were the first thing that had struck him on first sight. Her face was narrower than Fox’s, but there was the same full mouth, a longer, narrower nose. Andrea had always said that Fox had a better figure, but you would be hard-pressed to tell now, and Fox had always said that it was simply a matter of height: Andrea was two inches shorter than her daughter. In truth, Fox had bigger breasts which her mother had said she envied: Fox had never understood why. Fox had always envied Andrea’s hair, long and bright copper. The cornrow braids suited her face, falling to the upper slopes of her breasts where each braid was capped off with a long, pale brown bead. Andrea was dressed in a short, cap-sleeved dress, red gingham at the top with a blue, high-waisted skirt, and that showed off long, slim legs. She was in beige heeled pumps which added to her height, which she had always been a little self-conscious about. Around her throat was a red scarf, tied as a choker. Fox the homicide detective thought it made her look as though her throat had been slit.

  Time decided enough was enough and Fox moved. ‘Alice, I’ll take those two. I know them.’

  Vaughn looked around, a little perplexed, but she smiled and nodded. ‘Okay, Fox.’

  ‘People still call you Fox then?’ Jonathan asked, his face lighting up a little as he smiled. The smile was welcome.

  ‘I like it, Dad. I got over punching people for using it a long time ago.’ Fox could almost feel the sudden attention from her friends at the use of the word ‘dad.’

  ‘True, I guess you did. Surprised you kept it through the Army though.’

  ‘They called me First Lieutenant, eventually. Have you got shorter?’

  ‘Huh, age can do that, but you’ve grown a little since I last saw you. We caught your presentation.’

  ‘I know. I looked for you at the end, but I guess you had places to be.’

  ‘We have had a busy week,’ Andrea said. ‘I heard your little speech at the end. Still in favour of government intervening in local matters, it seems.’

  The slight smile Fox had been wearing faded. Fox saw Jonathan stiffen. ‘Yeah, that’s why I left NAPA and joined Palladium. Look, did you just come by to open old wounds or was there something I can show you?’

  Andrea’s smile did not reach her eyes. ‘Yes, to business. When the resolution passes, we’ll be in need of equipment to assist our local law enforcers. I’m not so sure about some of the things you showed in the presentation, but the harness your girl demonstrated and the forensic equipment seemed exceptionally useful.’

  ‘Come and meet Marie.’ Fox stepped back, leading her parents to where Marie was standing. Now back on the stand, she was dressed in the outfit Vaughn had decided would work for the assistants, which was basically the same uniform as the Palladium security personnel wore on duty: sharply pressed slacks and a tunic, all in dark blue with white, high-visibility epaulettes. Normally there was a bullet-resistant undersuit beneath, but that was missing, and Marie was wearing the harness over her tunic, of course. Glancing back, Fox checked her parents were in tow. ‘This is a prototype, hence the loose wires, but all the functions are there and it does work, as Marie demonstrated. Marie, this is Jonathan and Andr
ea Meridian. They’re interested in the harness.’

  Marie was pretty good; her face shifted into a smile with barely a flicker of surprise registering. ‘Of course, pleased to meet you, ma’am, sir.’

  ‘Is it heavy?’ Jonathan asked, peering at the hardware.

  ‘It’s a bit under three kilos and the weight is pretty distributed. It sits on your shoulders and hips so it’s easy enough to carry. I’m told the finished version will have fixing points for equipment around the waist.’

  ‘Battery life?’

  ‘It’ll manage eight hours before it needs a recharge.’

  Fox was watching the same feed from the little AI they had all been supplied with, which was listening to the conversation and supplying context-sensitive data as needed. She did not need it just now. ‘And that’s plenty of time for a typical crime scene analysis. We do recommend some training in its use and in basic police operations. As Marie showed us, anyone can use it, but it’s really designed to assist a cop, not replace one.’

  ‘But Marie here is an actress?’ Jonathan asked.

  ‘I’m working on that, sir,’ Marie replied, smiling. ‘Currently I do housework. I get a little woozy at the sight of a real dead body.’

  ‘Keeps her head, though,’ Fox said. ‘She was involved in an incident at my apartment block in May.’

  ‘We don’t really get that kind of thing happening in our region,’ Andrea said. ‘It’s not like New York or Chicago.’

  ‘No,’ Fox said as Kit provided her with crime statistics for the Topeka Agri-Zone. ‘On a per capita basis, Topeka has around four times as many murders, five times the rapes, and three times the burglaries. Obviously the region has a far lower population than the metros so the absolute numbers tend to be smaller, but we both know crime is an issue out there, Mom. We both know part of that is resources. NAPA doesn’t have enough to do the job properly outside the metros.’

  ‘Precisely. If we are allowed to police ourselves, we can commit the kind of resources we need to bring those figures down. We already have a local watch unit who provide patrols, but they don’t get the backup they need from NAPA.’