Roll Call

by Malcolm Rose

  “I... Thank you.”

  Luke held out his palm until the instructor handed over his identity card. Pausing on the way to the door, Luke asked, “By the way, is there anyone in school who’d like to see the back of you?”

  Clint gawped at Luke for a moment before the bewilderment lifted from his face. “You mean, is someone trying to frame me? Yes, that’s it!” he said, clutching at the straw. “You’re right. I’ll tell you this. I’ve had quite a few arguments with Earl Dimmock over the years. He’s one of Tina Stone’s friends. Well, hardly a friend. Sometimes they get on, other times they’re at each other’s throats. You spoke to him about icicles, remember?”

  Luke nodded.

  “It’ll be him.”

  ****

  If a machine could get annoyed, Malc would have fumed. “You should have charged Clint Garrett with murder and abduction.”

  “I know, but...” Luke shook his head. “Get your electrons around this. It’s too easy. He’s got four scarves. If he was planning to kill EW4, would he really wear the one that points to Edinburgh School? And that contact lens lying at the bottom of a wardrobe as if it’s fallen off one of his coats. It’s just too convenient. I smell a rat.”

  “You are incorrect. There are no odour components indicative of vermin.”

  Luke did not stop to explain. “Even though everything points at him, I’m not sure. Would he have called me about Tina Stone’s icicle story if he’s the one who used it? I think he’s genuinely shocked. And I could tell by the look on his face he really didn’t recognize EW4’s picture.” On the way to the secretary’s office, Luke lapsed into silence while two students in school uniform walked past them. “The green thread could have been a deliberate plant but, even if it wasn’t, everyone here’s in green – like the two that just came past.”

  “Some of those garments are cotton,” Malc replied. “The colour matches but the infrared signature of the material is entirely different.”

  “Garrett’s not going anywhere. If he’s guilty, I’ll arrest him later. Right now, I want to see Earl Dimmock. I reckon he could fall into the category of a big man through the eyes of a seven-year-old.”

  Luke got Earl out of a lesson in politics and took him to an empty common room.

  Flopping casually into a chair, Earl said, “Hey. Did you get anywhere with that Ice Cold myth – if I remembered its name right?”

  Amazed at the boy’s coolness, Luke replied, “Yeah. And you got the title spot on. You didn’t write it, did you?”

  The student laughed. “Check out my English marks, man. They’re negative.”

  “That is incorrect,” Malc stated.

  Earl laughed even louder. “You’ve got my school records! Well, writing isn’t me. I’m a stranger to grades over D in English.”

  Luke liked this boy, but he tried to put aside his feelings. After all, it was possible that Earl was a calculating multiple murderer. “Malc, check Earl’s attendance records for Saturday 16th of July and 24th December.”

  Earl creased his brow but remained relaxed, as if he’d got nothing to worry about.

  After a few seconds, Malc answered, “Earl Dimmock was not in school during those weekends.”

  “What’s going on?” Earl asked.

  “Just tell me where you were,” Luke replied.

  “I doubt if you’ll believe me, but I visit my family.”

  “Your family? You mean, your parents? You keep in touch?”

  “My mother and father like to hear what I’m getting up to at school.”

  Luke said, “Do you look into family trees? Are you into that sort of thing?”

  “No. It’s not like you think. It’s just that I get on well with them. My parents, that is.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Here in Edinburgh.”

  “If I contact them, will they confirm your visits?”

  Earl grinned at him. “I don’t see why not. It’s unusual, I know, but it’s not illegal.”

  “No. I think it’s... nice.”

  Malc interrupted to say, “Under these circumstances, testimony from parents would be unreliable and inadmissible.”

  “Yeah, but... Earl, give me the contact details anyway in case I want to talk to them by telescreen.”

  Earl shrugged and recited their electronic address for Malc’s benefit. Then he asked innocently, “What am I supposed to have done? I know you’re interested in Tina and her icicle murder. That’s all. Word going round is you’re on the Emily Wonder case.”

  “True.”

  “That’s got nothing to do with me. Do you know we’ve got an Emily Wonder in Year 10?”

  “Yes. I know all about her.”

  “She’s the peculiar-looking one. Even taller than you.”

  Luke was about to respond but caught his breath. A shiver started at the back of his neck and ran down his spine. “Thanks, Earl. That’s all. You’ve been helpful. Again. I’ve got to get on.”

  Clearly surprised at the sudden shift, Earl said, “Oh. Okay. Can I go?”

  “Sure.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Out of habit, Emily played with the long and bony fingers of her left hand. Her stern face, thrown out of balance by her outsized chin, looked pale and sickly. The disease had taken a tighter grip on her since Luke last saw her in person. Lipodystrophy seemed to be draining her remaining strength and resistance. Slowly, Luke prowled right around her, trying to keep in check his natural sympathy that threatened to blind him to her true nature. From the back and side, she could easily have been mistaken for a man. Her height added to the masculine impression.

  “You said you hadn’t looked into your family tree,” Luke remarked. “My mobile’s going to log on to your computer and see if its records agree.”

  Emily shrugged her scrawny shoulders. “Feel free.”

  While two agents lurked outside the student’s quarters, Malc interrogated her computer and then announced, “This is a new disk drive. There is very little history to examine.”

  Luke sat down opposite her and smiled. “What a coincidence. What happened to your last hard drive?”

  “It developed a fault. I had to scrap it.”

  Turning towards the robot, Luke said, “So, there’s no reference to the Ice Cold myth either?”

  “Correct,” Malc answered.

  Emily shook her head with a tired grin. “I don’t know why you’re here, making a nuisance of yourself when I’m feeling down. You haven’t got a scrap of evidence against me.” She faced Malc and asked, “Has he?”

  Malc replied, “I respond only to FI Harding.”

  “He’ll scan your apartment now,” Luke said, ignoring her comment. “And your fingerprints.”

  Luke used the same procedure that had worked in Clint Garrett’s quarters. He got Emily to open her wardrobe and drawers and lay out all of her shoes and the only scarf that she owned. “Use your finest search, Malc,” he instructed. “Scan absolutely everything. Shoes, boots, coats, socks, gloves, the lot. Then scan the wardrobe and the rest of the room. I don’t care how long it takes. And while you’re doing it, record what we’re saying in the living room.”

  “Processing.”

  Sitting down again, Luke decided to provoke her. “You’re wrong about evidence. You were seen in Greenwich, walking off with your namesake. I’ve got a witness.”

  For the first time, a crack appeared in her defences for a fraction of a second. Then she laughed. “That’s evidence, is it? Someone thinks they saw me – walking away with a girl called Emily Wonder. Even if it was me, walking’s not the same as murdering or kidnapping. Check your school notes. All that proves is someone who looks like me took a stroll with one of your victims.”

  “Why did you call her a girl?”

  “What? Did I?”

  “You said, ‘A girl called Emily Wonder.’”

  “What else could she be?” the criminology student asked.

  “She could have been an old lady. I didn
’t say anything about her age.”

  “I just assumed, I suppose.”

  “Where is she, Emily? What did you do to her?”

  “Why would I want to do anything to her – or anyone else with my name?”

  “They were part of your family tree, stretching way back, but none of them got lipodystrophy. Only you and your sister. Unlucky. You’re cut up about it, so you gave them a taste of what it’s like to die too soon. Knowing what you do about investigations, though, you killed them with weapons that don’t leave a trace. So, what did you use in Greenwich? Potassium chloride or air injected into an artery to stop the heart? An injection inside the mouth was your suggestion. Or have you locked her away without water or food – or air?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Investigator Harding.”

  “I’ve also got a green thread that’ll match your scarf.”

  “So, you’ve found...” She hesitated and then continued, “A fibre. Congratulations. That narrows it down to a couple of thousand kids in school. Except there’s bound to be more schools with the same uniform.”

  Luke was sure she’d been about to blurt out that he’d found EW’s rucksack. If she had, he would have charged her with abduction because only the culprit would know about the backpack. “It turned up in a Greenwich warehouse,” Luke lied.

  The flicker of surprise on her face would mean nothing in a trial. It would not have impressed Malc if he’d captured it on video, but it meant a lot to Luke. It told him that she knew the bag had not been dumped in the dome. It told him that she was Q.

  “So?” she said, staring harshly at him.

  “Why look shocked?”

  “Did I?”

  “Mmm. As if you didn’t expect the thread to turn up in a warehouse.”

  “No,” she replied. “Just that I didn’t expect you to tell me where you found it at all.”

  Keeping his eye on Emily’s face, he shouted towards the bedroom, “Update, please, Malc. How’s it going?”

  “There are many fingerprints that match the partial print on Instructor Garrett’s shoe, but I have not found any significant traces. Several items of clothing, including a fleece coat and the school scarf, have been laundered recently and one pair of boots has been cleaned very thoroughly.”

  Luke thought about it and then smiled. “The boots, Malc. Use your laser to split them open, then scan the inside.”

  “No!” Emily cried.

  “What’s the problem?” asked Luke.

  “You can’t just...”

  “I can. You know Malc would’ve objected if it wasn’t allowed in law.”

  “It’s just that... They’re my favourite.”

  “Sorry,” Luke said, as the faint smell of burning leather wafted into the living room. “But that’s not what’s worrying you. It’s easy to clean the outside, isn’t it? Not so easy to get everything out of the inside. Who knows what might’ve dropped down and got caught in the lining.” Luke paused for a few seconds before asking, “Why is your fingerprint on a pair of Mr Garrett’s shoes?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe I touched them in class. Maybe when I dropped something on the floor in front of him.”

  “Not very convincing,” Luke remarked. “Have you heard of situs inversus totalis?”

  “No,” she snapped.

  “Well, that’s funny because Mr Garrett told me he used it in a Year-9 exercise.”

  Rattled, she replied, “Oh, yes. I remember now.”

  “You denied it because you don’t want me to know you researched your family and turned up the fact that Emily Wonder in Woburn had it. That’s how come you knew where to stab her.”

  “I forgot the lesson. That’s all. A lot of what Mr Garrett says isn’t very memorable.”

  Luke nodded. “You don’t like him much, even though he thinks a lot of you. Is that why? Is he trying too hard to sympathize? Sometimes, people get too close. Intrusive and annoying, isn’t it? Has he invited you into his apartment recently? Remember, I’ll ask him.”

  “He said he wanted to talk to me about my future. Really, he’s just morbid. Fascinated by my downhill slide.”

  Malc appeared in the doorway before Luke could ask another question.

  “There are two specks of white powder in the toe of one boot.”

  “Chemical analysis, please.”

  “Already completed. It is a detergent.”

  “A detergent?” He glanced at Emily.

  She muttered, “I’ve got to clean them with something.”

  “What brand of detergent?” Luke asked Malc.

  “It was made by Blackwall Detergents but, according to records, the company has been out of business for six years.”

  Now there was a pleasant prickling down Luke’s spine. He turned towards Emily and said, “Do you have any six-year-old detergent, made in North Greenwich?”

  Her long and unsightly face had changed dramatically. It was even more gaunt. She shook her head.

  “There’s only way you could’ve picked it up. You’ve been in the abandoned factory in London. Is that where she is, Emily?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “You’re the FI, not me,” Emily retorted. “I’m not even going to make graduation. You figure it out.”

  “Tell me, and The Authorities will take your cooperation into account.”

  She stared at him defiantly. “Oh yeah? You’re going to charge me with murder. How does my cooperation make any difference to that?”

  “It might,” Luke replied, knowing that it wouldn’t.

  Emily changed yet again. A warped smile came to her face. “What are you – and the law – going to do to me? Charge me, put me on trial, find me guilty and give me the death sentence?” She shrugged as if she didn’t care. “I won’t last that long. Lipodystrophy’s already given me a death sentence.” She shook her manly head. “You can’t touch me. And The Authorities can’t touch me. I’m beyond punishment. You’ve got nothing to bargain with and I’ve got nothing to lose.”

  Of course, Luke realized she was right again. The detergent definitely linked her to the abduction in London. Connecting her to EW4 probably connected her to the related Emily Wonders, but not forensically. Luke needed more. But she seemed beaten and willing to talk – perhaps because she had nothing to lose – so he pushed his luck. “Tell me about the contact lens. Did you discover it on your clothes when you got back from Woburn and decide to plant it in Mr Garrett’s place, or did you keep it deliberately?”

  “When I was scrubbing everything clean, I found it in my coat pocket. I should have destroyed it, but Garrett was getting on my nerves. I knew I could use it to blame him if you began to suspect someone at school.”

  “The same with the aggregate? When he wasn’t looking, you jammed the bits under his shoes, leaving a print behind.”

  “When you started asking me about family and marine creatures, you got too close for comfort,” she admitted. “That’s when Garrett became my safety net. I had stones out of my boots and left them, with the lens, in his room. It was easy. He was always offering me tea and biscuits – as if they’d make everything all right, as if they’d cure lipodystrophy. Sometimes it was whole meals. I planted the stuff while he was cooking in the kitchen. I didn’t have long but I thought I’d wiped all the prints.” She shook her head, clearly annoyed with herself.

  “Passing the blame means you didn’t want to get caught. You say you’re beyond the law but you don’t want to go to trial.”

  She laughed. “Wrong. I was more interested in beating whichever FI they put on the case. I’m not going to reach Final Qualification but I wanted to prove I could’ve made it. Unfortunately you...” She shook her head again.

  “You could’ve got him executed for murder.”

  “Am I supposed to be bothered by that? I don’t know. Maybe I wouldn’t have let it get that far. A deathbed confession would’ve taken care of it. A dramatic gesture, eh?”

  “Those meals he offered you. Did h
e give you pufferfish?”

  “No. But ages ago he told me...” She giggled to herself. “If ever the disease got too much for me, he’d give me something to put me out of my misery. As if I’m the giving-up kind! Anyway, he slipped me a little vial.”

  Luke nodded. “TTX. Weren’t you frightened to handle it?”

  “When you’re like me – incurable – handling poison loses its fear factor.”

  He realized that she was opening up because of her illness. The law was powerless to punish someone approaching death, but that was of no concern to an investigator. Luke simply needed to make his case and discover the truth. “But you know I’m going to ask Clint Garrett if he’s ever given TTX to anybody and he’ll come up with you.”

  “He won’t want to drop me in it, but he will... to save his own skin. Then there’s that print. When he thinks about it, he’ll say I’m the only one who had the chance to put stones in his shoe and a contact lens in his wardrobe.”

  “The TTX links you to the Dundee case, the stones to London, and the contact lens to the Woburn murder. You’re facing at least three charges.”

  “Criminal charges lose their fear factor as well when you’ve got a terminal disease.”

  “You must have visited the old Emily in York and she told you about her sauna oil. The nurse said she told all her visitors how good it was.”

  Emily nodded and smiled crookedly. “The silly old fool made it easy. Concentrated almond extract did the rest.” She shuffled in her seat. “Anyway, my job’s done. There aren’t any more Emily Wonders in my family line as far as I can tell.”

  “There’s something I don’t understand,” he said.

  “You’re supposed to be the tops,” she replied swiftly and spitefully.

  “There’s plenty of people in your bloodline. Men, women, boys and girls who didn’t get lipodystrophy. You’ve got cause to bear them all a grudge. So why just pick on the ones called Emily?”

  “We hatched a plot, me and Emily...”

  Taken aback, Luke broke in straightaway. “What? Are you saying your sister was called Emily as well?”

  “Yes. You haven’t done your research, have you? When she died, my parents tried again and gave me the same name.”