City of Halves (7 page)

He copied her, looking at the television. ‘What's this?'

‘
The Simpsons
. It's a classic.'

‘Oh. Right.'

Lily paused halfway through chewing her next bite. ‘You didn't mean that, did you?' He paused too, his grey eyes on hers. ‘You meant the television.'

‘I know what a television is,' he protested after finishing his mouthful.

Lily watched him for a long moment before taking another bite of her pizza. He had almost finished his. ‘Have some more if you want it,' she said.

‘Don't you?'

Lily looked at the pizza thoughtfully. ‘I
am
hungrier than usual,' she admitted.

‘And you'll get tired too, after you've eaten. It works like that.'

She eyed him. ‘How many times have you repaired humans?'

He swallowed before speaking. ‘Never done it before. I'd read about it a lot, though.'

Lily's mouth dropped open, the fresh slice of pizza forgotten in her hand. ‘You didn't know if it would work?'

He shrugged. ‘I
thought
it would. Like I said. When I knew you were Type H.'

‘I'm really not getting this thing about you and my blood type. What does it mean?'

‘It just means we're . . . that our blood is compatible,' he said without looking at her. ‘It wouldn't work otherwise.'

‘What, on someone with a more normal blood type?'

‘No, it would kill them. Or at least that's what the books say.'

‘So . . . you could have killed me?' Lily asked meekly.

He picked at the edge of his pizza with a bird-tattooed hand. ‘I didn't think I would. And you were dying anyway.'

They looked at each other. Lily managed a jerky nod of thanks and they ate in silence, then Lily wiped her fingers and pulled the computer back into her lap.

He looked at the third of the pizza remaining. ‘You really don't want any more?'

She shook her head, preoccupied. ‘You have it.'

He carried on eating. He was neat and orderly but he ate with an edge, as if he were starving but was trying to hide it. For a second Lily wondered if he really didn't have money, if he
went hungry. She pushed the thought away.
He looks too good for that. Far too good
. She sighed, shaking her head at herself.

Regan stopped eating, looking down at the pizza in his hand, then back at her. ‘What?'

‘Nothing.' She looked at him, wondering how far he could be trusted.
Well, I'll soon find out
. ‘There's someone watching me, online.'

‘Explain to me how that works?'

‘That's the thing. It
shouldn't
work.' Lily settled more comfortably, although it meant her knee rested on his thigh. She was getting used to the odd, electric sensation when they touched each other. He shifted slightly, lessening the pressure. She tucked her leg further beneath herself, severing the contact, keeping her eyes on the screen.

‘I take a lot of trouble to stay hidden online.' When he didn't say anything, she glanced at him beneath her lashes. ‘Dad's work.'

He nodded.

‘But recently, there's been someone watching me.'

He took another slice of pizza.

‘For example, when I was reading about the Agency, someone began to delete the thread. Delete the information.'

Regan looked at the screen, as if the answer could be found there. For a long time he said nothing. ‘So, either someone is monitoring what's put online about the Agency and it was just a coincidence that they deleted it as you were reading it,' he said finally. ‘Or, someone followed you to the . . . thread.'

Lily grinned. ‘I thought you said you didn't do technology.'

He raised an eyebrow. ‘I'm not an idiot.' They looked at each other. ‘What if it's both?'

‘I don't understand.'

Regan lifted his hands, making vague shapes in the air. ‘What if someone from the Agency is watching you?'

‘Why would they be watching me?'

He settled back into the sofa. ‘Because of your blood?'

Lily shook her head. ‘Nah . . .' She hesitated, then looked at him. ‘You think?'

He folded his arms and trained his gaze on the television. There was no bulk to him at all, but the fit of his wash-worn Henley revealed the curve of his biceps and shoulder, the muscles of his chest and even his stomach. ‘Maybe,' he said, lapsing into a strange, otherworldly stillness.

Lily half expected him to leave any moment, but he made no move to go. She carried on searching the internet, occasionally showing him what she found. He would nod, or shake his head. ‘No, that's not Eldritche. You humans are so strange. Lumping us in with aliens.'

‘Next you'll be telling me aliens exist.'

He snorted with laughter and carried on watching the television. Lily yawned and pushed the computer on to the coffee table.

‘Tired?' he asked.

‘A little.' She rubbed her face. ‘Well, a lot.'

‘The comedown from my blood will hit you like a train. From what I've read.'

‘Oh, good,' she said faintly.

‘I should go soon. Don't want to miss anything, like last night.' He didn't move.

Lily felt her head getting heavy.

‘Maybe you should lie down?' He sounded concerned.

She nodded, part in agreement, part shattered, eyelids flickering. ‘I . . .'

Her forehead fell against his shoulder.

S
he woke as her father put his briefcase down at the end of the sofa.

‘Hi, sleepy. A whole pizza? Well done. You must have been hungry. You even ate the bones!'

Lily sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her computer was closed up neatly on the coffee table in front of her. Her mother's papers were all gone. The pizza board sat empty. ‘I was.'

‘Good girl.'

‘What time is it?'

‘Not that late. Half nine. Closer to ten. I'm going to have the same, I think – I'm famished.' He went over to the freezer.

Lily got up, stretching. ‘I'm shattered, Dad. Do you mind if I go to bed?'

‘Not at all. Eventful day?'

She smiled. ‘You could say that.'

‘Any closer to finding Harris Stedman?'

‘I might be. I'll explain if anything comes up.'

He looked up from the freezer. ‘Nothing for me to worry about, though?'

She shook her head. ‘Nothing. Nothing at all.'

Lily woke early the next morning, from the deepest of sleeps, as if a light bulb had gone on in her head. She opened up her old, frequently wiped netbook, and connected via the most complicated proxy she could find. She began a straight LCG hack of Vicky Shadbolt's Facebook profile. As the program ran, she showered and dressed. Ten minutes later, she was in.

She sat on her bed and checked the messages and the profile.
Yes!
Vicky had posted the IM handle for her phone app. Lily browsed some hack apps and installed one, then ran it after taking a guess at Vicky's make of phone. One more guess and she was in. Vicky's messages were mainly to a Jen Cooper about school, how she hated working on the stall and was bored of babysitting. She didn't mention a boyfriend at all, but there was a series of messages to and from a David Smith. David Smith had no avatar and no other friends. He was older, liked privacy, didn't want to meet her friends.

She looked at the last message.
Oh, no
.

There was a light knock on the door. ‘I've made some toast. And there's a letter for you from the doctor. I think it might be a reminder about that blood test.'

‘Thanks,' Lily said, distracted.
Blood test?
She clicked through Vicky's Facebook photos, including those in private albums. One added a month ago caught her eye.

‘Lily? Are you . . .? Is everything all right?' her father asked through the door. He started back as Lily opened it.

‘Fine,' she said brightly. ‘I have to go out.'

‘But it's only . . .' he checked his watch, ‘ten past seven. Where are you going at this time of day?'

‘Following a lead.' Lily packed her satchel.

Her father frowned as he let her past and followed her to the kitchen. Lily picked up a triangle of toast and gulped at the tea in her mug. Her father picked up a sheaf of papers from the counter. ‘Are these yours? They were in the printer.'

‘Oh, yes.' Lily took them hurriedly and stuffed them in her bag. ‘Thanks. School project.'

‘Folklore?'

‘Um, yeah. Myths, legends, that sort of thing.'

He smiled. ‘I thought you were an all-science, see-it-to-believe-it kind of girl.'

Lily nodded. ‘I was. I mean, I am!' She took another gulp of tea. Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, she grabbed her keys and left.

‘Call me when you know something,' he shouted after her.

Lily took the main gate out of the Temple and stuck to Fleet Street all the way into the City, staying visible and away from the edge of the pavement. She walked quickly and kept her eyes open. As she passed the blue hoarding on Ludgate Hill she glanced up, seeing the lifeless cranes outlined against the afternoon sky. She hurried on. In ten minutes she was back at the entrance to the alley in Bow Lane. Cautiously she made her way down the narrow passage.

The Rookery courtyard was as desolate as ever, the building looming up around her. She climbed the stairs up to the top floor, then stood in front of the door she remembered, slightly breathless. It opened before she had a chance to knock.

Regan stood there in a pair of distressed old jeans with a torn-out knee and a bright white but ratty singlet, his feet bare. The extent of his tattoo was remarkable, seeming to cover the upper right-hand side of his chest, his right shoulder, his whole right arm, his wrist and the edge of his hand – but even more curiously, his left leg, from what she could see through the rip in his jeans, and finally the bridge of his left foot.

‘Lily? Did you want something?' he said after a long moment.

‘Oh, hi,' she managed lamely, realising she'd been staring.

‘Would you like to come in?' He held the door wider.

She walked past him into the freezing flat. ‘How was last night?'

‘Busy. Very busy.'

‘You were awake all night?'

‘Just got in.'

‘Don't you get tired?'

He shook his head. ‘Sometimes. Not like you. At least, I don't fall asleep on my visitors like you do.'

Lily's face heated. ‘Sorry.'

He scrubbed a hand back through his hair from his temple, holding the back of his neck, eyes down. ‘I didn't mind. It was the highlight of my night with what came afterwards, put it that way.'

The silence was awkward. Lily took a breath. ‘Anyway . . .'

He leant against the desk and folded his arms. ‘Why did you come?'

She pulled her computer from her bag and went over to the table, where the newspaper clippings were spread out and the thesis lay open. ‘FYI, taking this stuff without permission was low.'

‘I know,' he said. ‘But I heard your father on the stairs and I thought you'd come for them anyway. If not, I'd have returned them.'

Lily didn't answer that. ‘Did you find anything in them?'

‘No. Your mother's disappearance was never solved.'

‘Yes, well, anyway,' Lily cut across him as the brief flare of hope burnt out, ‘someone was making contact with Vicky through Facebook before she disappeared. Someone called David Smith.'

‘Human boyfriend?'

‘A boyfriend with no other friends?' Lily looked up at him.

His expression was blank. ‘Would that be so strange?'

She looked back at the screen. ‘Okay, well, try a boyfriend who arranged to meet her on Blackfriars Bridge the night before last? Maybe that's where Gamble's got mixed up. Perhaps he's the same build as you, or something.'

Regan crouched down next to her. ‘Show me,' he urged.

Lily pointed to the exchange on-screen. He read it. ‘We have to find him,' he said without taking his eyes from the computer. ‘How do we do that?'

‘It's not quite that simple. I hacked his account too. He's got a blank avatar – meaning no photo of himself – and, from what I can see, is as good at protecting his identity online as I am.'

Regan pushed to his feet and started pacing. ‘Okay. But is this all that unusual?'

‘It's not all that
usual
, put it that way. But it's not just that.' Lily sat back in the chair. Regan turned to her, waiting. ‘Vicky goes to the same doctor's surgery as I do. Last month she had a blood test.'

He shook his head. ‘Human stuff, I don't get it. Explain it
to me.'

Lily shrugged. ‘I'm not one hundred per cent sure, but if you think the Agency might be watching me, it seems too much of a coincidence that a girl going to the same surgery for blood work has an otherwise anonymous, unhackable boyfriend. And there's enough of a connection between this girl and your kind for Gamble to see her with you in a vision.'

Regan walked into the kitchen. ‘Making tea. Like some?'

‘Yes, please.'

He came out a minute later with a mug and gave it to her. Lily thanked him and sipped. ‘Where's yours?'

‘That's the only mug.'

Lily rolled her eyes and handed it over.

He accepted it wordlessly and took a mouthful. ‘So, what do we do now?'

‘Well, I'm due to give blood. I thought we could go to the surgery and see if there's anything to be found out there.'

He sat on the edge of the desk and passed the tea back. ‘Like what?'

‘I don't know. But they hook me up for a while, and I'm usually left on my own. If I can get into their computer system, I can have a look at Vicky's records, and at mine. See if there's anything there.'

Regan blew out slowly. ‘Fine. Where is it?'

‘Bride Court.'

‘Then finish that and let's go.'