Alien Eyes (23 page)

“David Silver,” he said through clenched teeth. “Detective David Silver, Homicide Task Force. You assholes have screwed up an undercover operation
get the cuffs off now
.”

The blonde lowered her flashlight and looked sideways at her partner.

“Bullshitting,” the guy said lamely. The gun sagged in his hand.

“I don't think so,” the blonde said.

“What do we do?”

David had a frisson, wondering if they would do something really stupid. But they wouldn't. Not with the car witnessing, the streetlights recording. He was being paranoid.

“We take off the cuffs,” the blonde said.

David sighed.

He rolled back on his belly, so she could get her thumbprint on the release. It was close in the back of the squad car. Hot. Her knee pressed against his leg, her hands working under his wrists. He had the impression she was holding her breath.

The cuffs clicked open.

The cop scrambled out of the car, but not before he noted her name tag. Gaskin. Officer Gaskin. And beside her on the sidewalk, with the expression of a dog who has made yet another mess on the carpet, was Officer Bertelli.

Two fine specimens, David thought.

They stood close together, Gaskin with her arms folded. Neither of them, David realized, was going to apologize.

“You guys are so far off procedure I'm not even going to list the infractions.”

“S' not
our
fault,” Bertelli said. “Can't say you're not convincing. You stink like hell.”

Gaskin tilted her head sideways. “I think we can make a case.”

“If I file a grievance, that'll mean hours of computer work.” David gave them a small smile. Bertelli smiled back. “Then there's all that bullshit with IAD—” David waved a hand. He shrugged. “So what I'm going to do is wait a week.”

Bertelli froze. Gaskin folded her arms.

“Then I'm going to make a call. That's all it'll take, you know. One call.”

What struck him particularly was how unhappy they looked. Not just because they were in trouble now, and knew it, though that was there too. They were like children, undisciplined and allowed to run wild, and unsure why they didn't enjoy it more.

“There was a woman,” David said. “And a dog.” He took another breath and clenched his fist. If he passed out there was no telling what these two would do. He rubbed the back of his neck. “In the alley, around the corner from where you attacked—”

“
Apprehended
.”

“Took me into custody. You must have seen or heard
something
.”

Gaskin looked at Bertelli and shook her head.

“I don't believe you.”

“I left you there.” Gaskin bit her lip. “As soon as I zapped you and you were down. I left you and ran back to find Bertelli.”

“You didn't see anything?”

Her face was blank. “No.”

David leaned his head back against the car. “Why didn't you just
call
him?”

“I did. I had been, but he didn't answer and I was worried about him.”

David looked at Bertelli. “So where were you?”

“Out front of the store.”

Where the taco stand was, David thought. Elaki coffee. Popcorn balls.

“My radio wasn't working right,” Bertelli said.

David scratched his chin. He wished he didn't believe them. He wished their story of goofy incompetence didn't ring true.

Where was Rose now?

David felt dizzy suddenly. He leaned against the squad car and took a deep breath.

“You okay?” Gaskin asked.

“Never better,” he said through clenched teeth. “Just explain one thing, Gaskin. Why the hell are you just sitting here now?”

“Roadblock, Detective,” Gaskin said. “All available units, SEP.”

Special emergency procedure. David rubbed his face in his hands, then looked up. They were at the corner of Bran and United. All cars had been frozen in their tracks. Anybody moving would stick out.

“How long's this been going on?”

“Two hours. They got a cop …” Gaskin faltered.

David sat down on the street beside the squad car and put his head in his hands. “Yeah, right. They got a cop missing.”

THIRTY-SIX

Captain Halliday steadied the coffee cup in David's hand. “You sure you're okay?”

“He don't smell okay,” Mel said. He'd taken off the plaid sport coat and rolled up the sleeves of the ill-fitting polyester shirt.

“No sign of either of them?” David asked. It was dusk now. The bad smells in the alley had taken on a sweetish whang that made his stomach churn.

Mel was chewing gum. He shook his head. “Everything went to shit about the same time. We lost track of Rose and the Nipper when we lost track of you.”

David studied the limp corpse of the dog. The eyes looked like black marbles; the jaw was open wide. The dog's throat had been torn open, and blood and tissue stiffened in the coarse black fur. Even now, David was taken aback by his wife's savagery.

Mel bent down and peeled a triangle of black cloth from the dog's bloody yellow teeth. David frowned. Rose had been wearing a black sweater.

Halliday glanced at David. “She's probably okay, David.”

Mel shrugged. “Either way”—he looked down at the dog—“the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are going to toss her ass.”

“Those two cops,” Halliday said.

“Gaskin and Bertelli?” David looked over the captain's shoulder and watched a cockroach zip up the brick wall.

“I can file a grievance,” Halliday told him.

“Why should
they
cause
me
trouble? I got cho killers to deal with.”

“They're bad cops,” Halliday said.

“Make phone calls,” David said. “Unofficial. I don't want reprimands, I want to give them real trouble. I want to make their life hell for a while.”

Mel stuck a finger in his ear. “Not pissed are you, David? Get thrown up on a few times, you get hard about it. Gaskin, you know. She's probably just getting her period.”

David stared at him.

Mel took the gum out of his mouth, stuck it absently on the brick wall, and smiled. David took a swallow of coffee. Elaki coffee, cinnamon coffee, superior to any coffee made by mere humans. He resented and craved it.

“She hasn't called in,” David said flatly. “Nobody's seen her.”

The captain squatted beside him, nodding patiently.

David stared at the puddle of blood, drying in the dirt, still sticky. “Animal blood.”

“Oh, sure.” Mel leaned up against the wall, scraping his foot along the brick. “Doggie blood, you know, it's different. Your human blood looks more highly evolved.”

“The lab's on it,” Halliday said quietly. “But look at the splash patterns. It's mostly from the dog.”

“Mostly,” Mel said.

“You're a lot of help,” David said.

“Yeah? You're not. How's about we go find her, instead of farting around here? Unless.” Mel wrinkled his nose. “'Less you want to go somewhere for a shower.”

The door from the market stall opened and String rolled into the alley.

“She has called in,” he said, skirting the body of the dog.

Halliday stood up. “She got Biachi? Where are they? What happened?”

“Message cryptic,” String said. “Just says for husband to meet at home for dinner.”

“They're okay, then,” David said.

“You think Biachi well?”

“Far be it from Rose to let us know,” Mel said.

David shrugged. “Let's go and see.”

“Yeah, maybe she'll surprise us. Maybe she'll cook.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

It was dark when they got to the farm. The outdoor security lights were up and every room in the house was lit. David's girls ran through the cold, dew-wet grass, chasing the calf from one end of the yard to the other. David stopped the car halfway up the drive.

Haas's Jeep, side door hanging open, was parked next to the house. Mattie ran straight for it, then veered left suddenly, out of harm's way.

“Thought she was going right into that goddamn door.” Mel took a deep breath. “Police work's okay, David, but you got to be an action junkie to have three kids.”

Kendra, Lisa, and Mattie bunched around the door of the cruiser, attracted, as always, by an official squad car. Mel flipped the side door open. The calf bawled and zigged sideways, trotting across the yard.

“Uncle Mel.” Lisa put her hands on her hips. “Now we'll never catch him.”

“Hey, kid.” Mel opened the back door for String, but kept his eyes on Lisa. “That any way to say hello to your favorite uncle?”

“Good a way as any.
Phew
. What is it?
Daddy?
”

“Hi, girls,” David said.

His daughters ran screaming from the car.

“Going to have to get it fumigated,” Mel said.

String thumped out onto the lawn, shedding scales on the grass. David saw movement from the corner of his eye. Something large came from behind the Jeep.

“Oh, no,” he said.

String hissed and scrambled up onto his fringe. “The
beast
! Behind you, Detective David.”

Mel backed up a step. “Is that—”

“Ostrich,” David said.

The ostrich moved past Mel and stretched its neck out toward String. It opened its hard beak, showing a thick black tongue. String seemed to swell and get larger. He hissed.

“Gahwon!” Mel waved his arms. “Outta here!”

“
Beware
, Detective Mel.”

The ostrich twisted its head sideways toward Mel, squawked, and ambled off. David rubbed his temples. Girlish screams made him wince. His headache was getting worse.

String slid across the grass to the house. He folded suddenly, leaning sideways to the ground. He backed up and stopped by the open Jeep, caressing the front seat with an extension of his left fin.

David caught up with him just as he held up a fin smeared with gluish yellow blood.

“It is Elaki in trouble,” String said. “Elaki hurt. Biachi hurt.” He moved swiftly toward the house.

The Elaki was folded backward over the couch, sagging so loosely that David thought it must be dead. Rose stood behind the couch supporting the Elaki's head. Her hands were torn and raw, though David could see the tears had been cleaned and sealed.

“Biachi?” String said softly.

The Elaki did not respond.

“David,” Rose said.

Her sweater was torn and stiff with dried mud. Her cheek was deeply bruised, most of her hair had come loose from the clip that held it back, and her face looked drawn and thin.

Haas was bent awkwardly over Biachi, and David smelled the harsh, clean odor of liquid antibiotic. Haas peeled a wet towel off the Elaki's midsection. David winced. The wound he had seen earlier had swelled and torn wider, and grey-yellow flesh bulged from the edges.

String moved close to Haas. “Is sign of the hot microbe spread?”

Haas turned sideways. His hair stuck up. He was muddy, like Rose, and well splotched with yellow. Elaki blood, David thought. Haas hadn't been watching the kids all day. He'd been backup for Rose.

He looked it.

“I have never seen such infection,” Haas said, voice hushed. “It is virulent and very fast.”

David looked at Rose. “Why didn't you take him to Bellmini?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Same place you left Dahmi?” She glanced at Haas, then back to David. “Kids okay?”

He nodded.

“My God, what a day.” She arched her back. “Anybody see an ostrich out there?”

“What is it that happens?” String said.

“Dog.” Rose frowned and glanced at David.

He met her look steadily. “It's not like you had a choice.”

“How would you know?”

“Who do you think fired the shot?”

“That was you? Where'd you go? You know you almost hit me?”

“It's the thought that counts.”

Rose looked at String. “I'm sorry about this. Biachi shouldn't have gotten hurt. I didn't plan on the fucking dog.”

“Hands okay?” David asked.

She shrugged.

“Bad technique, to rip a dog's throat.” Haas sounded irritable. “I have told her. Fold head back and snap the neck.”

“Somebody want to tell me what
did
happen?” Mel asked.

“Could we
please
not have this hopping from subject to subject?” Haas was pale. He looked tired, and there were grooves from his nose to his lip. “I am veterinarian, not Elaki doctor.” He looked at String. “This unconsciousness is very deep. I am not sure of the proper vital signs. We must get—”

“Elaki, yes,” String said. “Aslanti, medical.”

“I'll get her,” Mel said. “You stick here and look after Gumby Junior.”

“I come,” String said. “Call van to meet at hospital. The medical must not be cramped into back of squad car.”

“You romantic devil,” Mel said. “Sure you don't want to reconsider? You could fold up in the back seat together. Maybe shed a few scales.” Mel headed for the door, then glanced over his shoulder at Rose. “See you, kiddo. Get your story polished while I'm gone. And no exaggerating how many people you killed.”

String slid out on the porch after Mel. The screen door slammed. David heard a loud, prolonged hiss.

“Go
on
, you,” Mel shouted. “Stupid bird.”

“You think we should get the girls in,” Rose asked.

“Leave well enough alone,” David said.

She nodded. She looked tired. “It's a long story.”

He inclined his head toward the Elaki. “You want me to hold his head for a while? Give you a break?”

“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe you better take a shower first.”

“Burn the clothes,” Haas added.

THIRTY-EIGHT