“I didn’t want to believe it myself,” Jon went on. “I wanted to believe you. But there’s too much evidence.”
“We don’t have much time here, Jon,” Halladay interjected, but there seemed to be a hint of compassion in his voice.
“Mallory, I need to know,” Jon said. “Did you lie to me, or did you just not know this was going on?”
She clenched her jaw and looked at the floor, silent, and some of the customers from along the bar were starting to notice her discomfort. So was the other bartender at the far end of it—Bree was wiping at a glass but was obviously concerned for her boss. And Mallory’s father had noticed, too, because he actually dragged his old, half-intoxicated body out of a chair in the corner and approached the two cops with a fist raised in the air.
“You damn goons get away from her,” he shouted, waving the fist shakily. “Leave her alone!”
Before Jon could respond, Halladay jumped off the stool and faced down the old man with his gun out, pushing him backward toward the corner with his forearm extended. It was restrained enough that Mallory’s dad stayed on his feet until he plopped back in his chair, but violent enough to startle everyone in the bar.
“And stay there,” Halladay grunted, gesturing with his gun before he holstered it and headed back to where he’d been sitting.
“Get out,” Mallory said, looking up—not loudly, but very seriously. “Get out of my bar.”
“Come on, Casanova,” Halladay said, grabbing Jon’s arm. “Nothing else to do here … unless you want to arrest her for aiding and abetting?”
“No,” Jon said, a bit stunned, but allowing Halladay to usher him out. “No, I don’t.”
Outside on the rainy sidewalk Jon was too preoccupied to open his umbrella, so the older cop started assisting him with it, saying as he did, “That went well.” Jon jerked the umbrella out of his hands and finished opening it himself, heading down the street in the direction of the garage. The big Scotsman had to hurry to keep up.
“Did you have to do that to her dad?” Jon asked when they were back in the car.
“No,” Halladay said. “But I enjoyed it.” He laughed, but then the slight hint of compassion returned to his face and voice. “Look, kid, there are thousands of women who look that good on the internet that you can enjoy anytime you want, and they never argue with you.” He paused for a moment. “Well, almost that good. But the point is—”
“Shut up, Frank,” Jon said. “Just shut the fuck up.”
Halladay seemed more impressed than insulted, and his only response was a brief nod.
Jon scanned some articles about Dayfall on his phone for a minute or so, then brought up a new subject.
“Do you think—now that we know the whole chaos thing is fabricated, now that we know there won’t be any mass psychosis or atmospheric poison or whatever—do you think that the storm clearing the sky, and the sun coming out at six … all that might be wrong, too?”
“Naaah,” Halladay said, “that’s been said by a lot more than two experts, and people all over.”
“Yeah, seems to be the case.”
Jon texted Amira, asking her to give him her best guesses for the underground structures that the killers might be operating from. He knew that even a confession by the NYU professors about Render’s bribe might not be enough for the Mayor to discredit him before the referendum vote—they would really need to find one or more of the mercenaries and get them to talk. And arresting them tonight would keep them from any additional murders they were presumably planning to commit when the daylight arrived. So sooner or later, they would probably have to brave the underground, where their opponents had some serious home field advantage.
As if on cue, Amira texted him back and included a link to her version of the underground map, designed for him and Halladay to use on their phones if they needed to. He opened it and checked out the area around One Madison, where they were now arriving, and he wasn’t surprised to see that GS had constructed access points and passageways underneath both the newer skyscraper where Gareth Render lived and the older one nearby, where he worked, in the Met Life North Tower. He could move back and forth between the buildings without ever coming to the surface and worrying about being gawked at or stopped on the street by curious citizens.
Jon also noticed that there was a Below built under One Madison and another about a block away, and wondered if the killers might be using either of them. But he didn’t have more time to think about it, because they arrived at One Madison and parked two floors down in the garage next door. Before Jon exited the underground map on his phone, he noticed that the access point to the passageways was between the garage and the basement of the tower, and not far from where they’d left their car. He was tempted to use the GS key he had in his pocket to see if he could get to Render’s condo with it by entering the building that way, and confront the man, but he didn’t want to tip his hand that much yet, considering the lack of evidence they had at this point. So they went into the lobby, flashed their badges, and talked tough to the attendant at the main desk, to find out where in the building Gunther and Carter were living.
They found out that the two scholars shared the condo on the twelfth floor (listed under two barely disguised names), that the attendant had seen Gunther leave the lobby recently, and that he thought Carter was still in. So they called her from the desk and she somewhat reluctantly agreed to let them come up. Jon wondered if she knew she could have refused them and forced them to get a warrant, but either way he was relieved when she didn’t.
The twelfth floor was nothing compared to the penthouse at the top where Render lived, but it was still very nice, and definitely not something two NYU professors could ever afford on their own. Carter looked nervous as the cops entered, and Halladay immediately gave himself a tour of all the rooms, while Jon stayed with her and tried to greet her nicely and keep her as calm as possible.
“Going somewhere?” the big cop said as he returned to the living room from his tour. “Looks like you just started packing a suitcase in your bedroom.” He looked at Jon, who was the primary intended recipient of his comments. “But there’s nothing like that in your boyfriend’s room. Or maybe he’s not your boyfriend, since you’re not sharing a bedroom.”
“He’s my roommate,” she said. “Kind of a marriage of convenience.” This was another sign of her nervousness—offering more information than was necessary.
“I guess it makes sense,” Jon said, “that Render wouldn’t give you both a floor in this building. Even what you’re doing for him doesn’t rate that much cash value.”
“I…” Carter started, trying to act ignorant.
“We know he’s paying you and Gunther to fabricate, or exaggerate, the effects of Dayfall, and that he’s paying you with this place.”
“And we already talked to Gunther,” Halladay lied. “He confessed everything, so you might as well spill.”
“But…,” Carter stammered, trying to get her bearings, “he just went out for some food. How did you—?”
“We know you told Mayor King’s daughter,” Jon interrupted, playing good cop. “And how you’ve had conscience issues with hurting her mom like this. But that’s all over now.… You can just give us a brief testimony and we’ll handle the whole thing, you won’t have to worry about it anymore.” Now it was Jon’s turn to shade the truth. “We can even keep it all under wraps so you can hold on to your jobs at NYU. The Mayor can use the evidence to get Render to drop out of the referendum vote, and no one would have to know about your involvement. I just need permission to film what you say.”
Jon actually pulled the phone out to provide some more power of suggestion.
“It’s not my job I’m worried about at this point, but my safety,” Carter said, “if the Gotham people find out I ratted on Render.” She seemed resolved now to being open with the two detectives, but not with anyone else yet. “I’ve thought this through pretty well, because I almost blew the whistle a few times
. ’Cause I do feel bad about it.” She paused, making a final decision. “I’d have to be able to leave the city first, before I make a statement. Same for Gunther—he would have to go with me, too. I don’t want him to be in danger.”
“We could think about that,” Jon said, sensing Halladay shift uncomfortably next to him. “But let’s talk about what your testimony would be. Did Gar Render himself bribe you, or was it just a lieutenant?”
“No, it was him,” she answered. “He invited both of us here to this condo, showed it to us, and made the proposal while we were here. There was one other man with him, though, a skinny guy.…”
“Nelson Gant?” Jon said. “His assistant?”
“Yes, that was him. He seemed uncomfortable the whole time.”
“Like he didn’t want Render to bribe you?”
“Yeah, I guess. He definitely didn’t seem to like the idea.”
“Hmph,” Jon grunted, glancing at Halladay and mulling another idea for bringing down the Gotham Security boss.
23
“Look,” Halladay said, moving closer to Carter in a threatening manner, “You might as well make your statement now. We have Gunther’s already, and if you don’t talk there’s no deal for you.… It’ll all be pinned on you if we prosecute.”
“But if you have Gunther’s and you’re not arresting me,” she responded, “then you’re not planning to do it. Just let us leave the city first, and then I’ll make a statement.”
“What makes you think Render can’t reach you outside the city?” Halladay asked.
“I don’t think he has that much reach, and before he finds out he’ll be in the process of being taken down by this stuff, right?”
“Would you reconsider doing it now?” Jon asked, waving Halladay off. “If we promise to keep your part quiet?”
“No. If you want me to go on the record, I have to be out of the city.”
Halladay grunted and started closer toward her, but this time Jon put his hand on his partner’s shoulder.
“I don’t think she’s gonna change her mind, Frank,” he said. “Let’s concentrate on getting her out of the city quickly, so we can get what we need sooner. Besides, I think we may have some bigger fish to fry.”
Then he turned back to Carter, and talked to her about how and when they would be able to leave the city. She didn’t know exactly when Gunther would be back, but she had to wait for him because they shared a car, which was parked in the same garage as the cops’. Jon told her that he and Halladay would follow them to the bridge or tunnel exit of their choice, to keep them safe on the way. And he would have Amira send a police pass to her phone, so that if the coming of Dayfall was causing a traffic jam at that exit, the two teachers could bypass most of it.
The two cops left the condo and took the elevator back down to the lobby desk. Jon told the attendant that he should notify Nelson Gant, and only Nelson Gant, that they were there and wanted to talk to him about the twelfth floor. Then they hung out in the lobby, not seeing Gunther come in, but not having to wait long for Gant to arrive, with two large Gotham Security bodyguards flanking him.
“Is there a problem, officers?”
“Could I talk with you alone for a minute?” Jon said, gesturing behind him to a spot well away from the bodyguards and the attendant. “Over here?”
“I suppose,” Gant answered, after furrowing his brow and thinking for a few moments. He stepped past Halladay and followed Jon to the indicated spot. The big cop and the two bigger bodyguards stood exactly where they were, with Halladay staring at them defiantly in what seemed like a Scottish version of a pissing contest.
“We know everything,” Jon said, quietly enough that he couldn’t be heard by the others over the background music playing in the lobby. “We know your boss bribed the two professors upstairs to fabricate lies about Dayfall.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know—”
“Their testimony says you were with Render when he made the offer, so don’t deny it. But they also said you seemed uncomfortable with what was going on. So I want to help you out.”
“Are you intending,” he said after a moment, in which his already sunken cheeks seemed to recede even farther, “to arrest anyone?”
“No,” John said, “they have immunity as long as they send me a statement right after they exit the city. And I’m hoping you’ll cooperate with us as well, so we can save your friend Render from the added responsibility and stress of running the government here.”
“Political machinations are hardly a reason for disqualification from office,” Gant said with a surprisingly toothy smile. “If they were, very few people would be able to serve.”
“Inciting riots is more than just politics,” Jon said, ready now to push all his chips forward. “And we have evidence that Mr. Render has been involved in inciting more than that.… We believe that he hired mercenaries to commit murders to increase the danger in the city, including the Dayfall Killer herself.”
Jon watched to see if there was any reaction from Gant to the feminine pronoun, but there wasn’t, so he continued.
“If you were uncomfortable with some fabricated science being spread around, you certainly wouldn’t have gone along with that kind of … machination. So you would want to save your longtime friend from whatever corruption his power is causing, and we might be able to do that in a way that won’t land him in jail, or get him mobbed in a riot directed toward him. The Mayor just wants him to get out of the race and out of her hair.… And with a statement from you we could do that.”
Gant looked around a little and seemed to be considering what Jon said. But then he pursed his thin lips and said, “The only statement I want to make is what I told you the first time we talked, officer: Gareth Render doesn’t need any help getting elected by the people of this city. Further, I might add that Mayor King doesn’t need any help getting voted out. And Mr. Render would never be involved in the kind of illegal, violent practices you are describing.”
“But he would pay two experts to lie about Dayfall?” Jon asked, though he already knew his play was going nowhere.
“That seems dubious to me, also,” Gant answered, proving it. “Are Carter and Gunther still here?”
Jon didn’t know how to respond to that question, so he just remained silent, trying to figure out where to go from there. Then Gant saved him the trouble, when the thin man reached toward his belt.
“Oh, excuse me,” he said, “my phone is buzzing.” He looked at its screen, then added, “I have to take this call.”
Gant walked even further away from the others in the lobby, saying, “Hello?” into his phone and then conducting a brief conversation that Jon could not decipher. When it ended, he walked back toward Jon and then past him to his bodyguards, saying that he apologized but had to attend to an important matter at the Gotham base on the next block over. The bodyguards followed him out of the lobby entrance, and he was gone.
“Well?” Halladay said, as Jon just stared toward the door that Gant had exited through. When Jon didn’t answer, he said it again, a little louder.
“I saw a TV show once where a guy had set up dates with two different girls at the same time, and the same place, too,” Jon said, still staring at the door. “So when he was with the first one, he pretended to be getting a call on his cell, when he was really making a call to cancel with the second one.”
“So? What the hell does that have to do with what’s going on here?”
“I think Gant might have just done that to me.”
Jon stepped over to the attendant’s desk, and then behind it, to look at the security cameras there and to check out the ones showing the parking garage. He called up to Carter and used her help to locate the car that she and Gunther were going to use when they left the city, so he could see it on one of the screens.
“What are you doing?” Halladay asked.
“Remember how Amira said that one of the killers is an arson and explosives guy, and how some cars wer
e blown up during the chaos crimes?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Well, that would be a way to get rid of the teachers if they wanted to. It would be too hard to find them driving in the city, or to get to them after they were outside of it. So I’m gonna watch their car until they leave to make sure nobody does anything to it. You watch the elevators to make sure no one goes up to take them out.”
They didn’t have to watch very long, because Gunther soon walked into the lobby with a bag in his hand and headed for the elevator. Before he saw the two cops, Halladay started to move toward him, but Jon held him back, saying, “We don’t want to spook him.”
When Gunther realized they were there and recognized them, Jon said, “Talk to Miss Carter upstairs and see what she has to say.”
After hesitating for a moment, Gunther took the advice and went into the elevator.
Less than ten minutes later, both professors came out of the elevator with suitcases under their arms, and merely nodded slightly at the two cops as they headed toward the exit to the parking garage. Jon and Halladay followed them into the garage, and both parties got into their cars and drove out onto the street, the unmarked police car following close behind.
The rain was still coming down hard, but there wasn’t as much thunder and lightning anymore, an indication that the storm would be ending soon, as predicted. Some dark gray clouds were actually visible now, the sun having broken the horizon and started climbing in the sky behind the clouds, and the predictions about the black layer dissipating as a result of the storm seemed likely to come true as well. Jon couldn’t tell the exact location of the sun yet, but he could definitely tell which direction was east from the side of the sky that was lighter.
His atmospheric observations were interrupted when half a block down the street, Gunther and Carter’s car suddenly exploded. The force of the blast shattered the cops’ windshield and debris showered down on the top of their car, including several chunks of flesh and blood.
Dayfall Page 15
