DeathWeb (Fox Meridian Book 3) (30 page)

‘Come into my office and tell me all about it. Coffee?’

‘Sure.’

He pushed his office door open and ushered her in ahead of him, followed and closed the door behind him, and then walked over to a coffee machine set on a cabinet at one side of the room. ‘Of course, the other reason for meeting you is that you are a very attractive woman, and I take enjoyment in any small pleasure I can find. Life is too short to waste any opportunity for pleasure.’

‘See?’ Kit said. ‘He fancies you. Audition him while the door is closed.’

Fox felt her cheeks heating as she sat down and hoped he would think it was from the compliment. In truth, it partially was. ‘I bet you say that to all the girls,’ she said.

Deveraux turned, placing a mug down in front of her. ‘Only the ones I find attractive. Now, what is it that you have uncovered this time, Fox?’

Kit started doing her job, instead of playing matchmaker, and laid out the evidence they had collected on a probable flaw in the LifeWeb program. Deveraux listened to the whole thing, nodding occasionally, but asking no questions until Kit was finished.

‘You have not entirely ruled out a server-side hack?’ he asked when Kit was done.

‘No,’ Fox replied, ‘but to do that we need to know whether anyone else has the necessary administrative access. Jackson Martins is fairly sure it would need to be done via a legitimate route to remain undetected for so long. LifeWeb are being obstructive.’

‘And you think some pressure from us might change that?’

‘I think if we apply pressure based on the crimes occurring in multiple countries, they’ll be more inclined to respond, and two voices asking for the information is louder than one.’

Deveraux tapped an index finger on his desk, his expression thoughtful. ‘I think it is worth a try. I will make arrangements. I think a meeting with Leonard Dandridge… Can you be available for that?’

‘You want me to go in with you?’

‘Three voices are better than two. I will make a formal request to Palladium to investigate a potential problem with the LifeWeb software as well. If I engage your company as part of the international investigation into these murders, it will put it on an official level. The matter will need to be handled in confidence, of course. We cannot have rumours of this getting out.’

Fox smiled. ‘That we can handle. Thank you, Jason. Let me know when you’re going to LifeWeb and I’ll be at your disposal.’

‘Day or night,’ Kit said into Fox’s head. ‘Preferably night, in a bedroom.’

Fox felt her cheeks heating again and the very slightly lascivious twist to Deveraux’s smile was not helping. Apparently, he thought commenting on her choice of words was pushing the bounds too far. ‘I will inform Kit as soon as I have a time,’ he said. ‘It is likely to be next week, however. Aside from anything else, this weekend is predicted to be stormy, possibly bad enough to disrupt travel.’

‘It’s been feeling like there was something coming all week,’ Fox replied. ‘I guess we’re due something and there’s always the chance it might break the heat a little.’

‘If there is one thing I have learned since coming to New York, Fox, it is that
nothing
seems to break the summer heat.’

9
^th
July.

It was the first time Fox had really got a chance to use her office. Right now, it was an office which appeared to be about twice its normal size and holding a conference room table with the Palladium board sitting around it.

Vaughn was briefing them on preparations for the weekend, from the safety of Chicago. ‘We are expecting the storm, tropical storm Chris, to reach New York around six p.m. today. It is currently seeing a maximum wind speed of sixty knots with heavy rain and the probability of a small but significant storm surge.’

‘So keep your waders handy, Fox,’ Jarvis said.

Fox gave a shrug. ‘The barrier is complete enough to hold that kind of thing back. Going out won’t be much fun though.’

‘Probably not,’ Vaughn agreed. ‘Your building management system can monitor outside conditions and it can provide some predictions on when things will be safe. Exactly the same software is used in the arcologies where meteorology is a more important factor.’

‘I assume the towers will be locking down?’

‘All our New York facilities will be on storm status from midday. Full lockdown will go into effect when the city shuts down the maglev, which we expect to happen no later than seven p.m.’

‘They’ve already issued an alert and called for people to be in secure locations by five. Unless something comes up, I plan to be home all weekend. Clean-up always seems to take longer than they expect.’

‘This, of course, is why you should have moved to Chicago,’ Eaves said, though he was grinning. ‘We only get the very occasional tornado.’

‘Oh yeah, much better. We haven’t had a hurricane make landfall since I moved here. I think this might be the worst storm I’ve seen.’

‘The recent seasons have been fairly light,’ Vaughn agreed. ‘This one may change that trend, however. We’re instituting a full check of all eastern seaboard facilities over the next week. You’re okay there since we just did the refit.’

‘Good to know we’re state of the art. I assume the basement is sealed?’

‘Once Belle initiates the lockdown on the doors, that building is secure against NBC, flooding, riot, alien attack, and plagues of zombies.’

‘We put down the zombie plague last year and we haven’t had aliens in more than a decade, Alice.’

‘Yeah, but this is New York. I’ve seen the vids. No one ever invades Chicago.’

‘God, haven’t you ever heard of tempting fate, Alice,’ Jarvis said in a moan.

Vaughn gave a shrug. ‘I’ve done the analysis. Plague, yes, zombie plague or alien invasion, no.’

Fox peered across the table at the redhead in the pastel pink, frilled blouse. ‘You did an analysis on the probability of zombie plague in Chicago?’

Another shrug. ‘Something to do on a rainy Friday afternoon.’

~~~

Fox went over Kit’s network of connections on a rainy Friday afternoon. The storm proper had not arrived yet, still being on track for eighteen hundred, but the sky had darkened and there was light rain falling already. Fox had been through messages from Detective Rogers in Topeka on the progression of his investigations. Malcolm Bateson was well on his way to a windowless box and there were a number of negotiations going on regarding the Watch. Fox’s parents were in the forefront of those, pushing an even more strict policy than the Runyards. NAPA had already agreed to run background checks on all current members and future applicants. And there was an investigation ongoing into several financial irregularities. It seemed that Druss had been skimming money out of the Watch accounts, some of it for the purchase of illegal weapons, but not all of it. NAPA technicians were looking into undeclared income and bribery charges.

‘Captain Deveraux has arranged a meeting with Leonard Dandridge,’ Kit informed Fox. ‘Monday at ten hundred. He suggests that you meet him at New York Tower at zero nine thirty.’

‘Reply in the affirmative, if you would. You have a link in showing that Grant met Patricia Randall.’

‘Yes, Fox. They were definitely at the same company functions more than once and Mister Grant visited the family at home.’

‘No linkages to any of the other victims, though.’

‘None that I have been able to uncover. The links between all our victims are several levels removed. None of them knew each other, but they had friends, or friends of friends, in common. The only real connection between them is LifeFit.’

‘So if Grant turned out to be the killer, which is by no means certain, we’re still thinking he picks his victims at random, through LifeFit.’

‘Whoever the killer is, that is the case.’

‘Huh. What about the camera footage from the park on the day Marie was targeted?’

‘I was unable to identify anyone in those files who appears in our persons of interest list. The park’s coverage is far from perfect, however. I would imagine the killer knows where the cameras are and arranges to avoid them, or wears clothing which obscures their face.’

‘A hood or something in summer is going to look odd. Anyone like that in the feeds?’

‘I will run a search. However, something like a visor makes identification difficult, and between wearables and anti-glare visors, there will be a number of those.’

‘See what you can find anyway. I’m going to stare at this map until my eyes turn inside out. Maybe there’s something in here we aren’t seeing.’

‘This is because you can find nothing else to do, I assume.’

‘Pretty much. I’m an investigator. You’re handling the bulk data and Travis is on the software from Marie’s implant. On Monday, I’ll have something else to investigate. Until then, it’s backtracking and reviewing.’

~~~

‘Fox? You in here?’ Marie edged just her head into the lounge in Fox’s apartment. Her heart was somewhere in her throat, but Sam had said it would almost certainly be a good idea to talk to Fox rather than, as Marie realised she had been doing, hiding.

Fox was there, on the sofa, right in front of Marie, but her eyes were closed and they flickered open, unfocused for a second as Fox reasserted what was real. ‘Hey. You been hiding from me?’

Marie stepped into the room. ‘No. Maybe. Yes.’

‘Got all the bases covered there. Sit down. We need to talk.’ Marie edged in, settling onto the corner of the sofa and sitting there with her hands clasped. ‘And stop looking so nervous. I’m not going to bite. I think we’re past that.’

‘Oh.’

‘You expected me to just jump back into bed with you?’

‘Well, no. I guess not, but–’

‘I think, maybe, that you should consider this as a good thing.’ Fox said it quickly so that she did not falter.

‘A good thing?’

‘I think… that I was an experiment for you. Um, that sounds a little clinical, but you know what I mean. I was your first girl and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.’

‘It was… Yeah, I enjoyed everything.’

Fox could see the tears forming. Fair enough, she was holding them back herself. ‘Kit thinks I was more affected by what Sandoval did to me than I thought. I picked up with you because I didn’t want anything to do with men.’

‘Oh.’

‘Yeah. I think we’d have had fun, but eventually we’d have realised we were both… doing something different for a while. So… so I think you should give Sam a spin. To be honest, I think he needs to try someone who isn’t paying him for it, but that does bring up a problem you need to discuss with him.’

Marie’s hands were shifting, twisting her fingers, and clenching and unclenching. ‘I can’t take this all in.’

‘Think about it. If you want to talk more, we can, no problem, but think about it.’

‘Okay. Not like I’m going out running.’

‘Or anywhere else for a while. It’s getting nasty outside. Good time to be curled up with a glass of wine, if you ask me.’

~~~

‘Fox, you should stop.’ Kit was using her concerned voice. They were back in the murder room and had been for five solid hours. ‘I don’t get tired, but you do. You have been staring at the same document page for five minutes.’

Annoyance buzzed in Fox’s brain for a second before she realised that Kit was right: she had been staring at the same page for a long time, and it was not because she was concentrating. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Okay, I should take a break.’

‘Sam has opened a bottle of wine and wishes to know whether you would like to take the same advice you gave Marie.’

Fox opened her eyes, seeing her lounge and Kit standing in the exact same relative position. ‘I assume Marie’s with him. I mean, she damn well better be.’

‘She is.’

‘Let’s go make merry then.’

Sam and Marie were sitting in Sam’s lounge, not very close together, each holding a glass. Another glass was waiting since Fox had made sure Belle told them she was coming down. There was a vid playing on the wall, some sort of comedy, but the sound was down to a minimum and Fox was not exactly sure why it was on.

‘It’s getting really bad out there,’ Marie said. ‘Time to huddle up with a glass of wine.’

‘Yeah.’ Fox took her wine glass and settled onto the sofa, between them since that was where the space was. ‘You know, you have one of the best collections of porn I know of, and you’re watching some crappy comedy with the sound off.’

‘I didn’t think porn was particularly appropriate,’ Sam replied.

‘I’ve seen some of your porn. It’s… instructive.’

‘Ha! I thought we might talk. It’s a dark and stormy night. I was going to discuss things with Marie and I thought you should be here to provide a balanced viewpoint.’

‘Balanced? How am I going to be balanced?’

‘Because I’ll probably be excessively negative and you’ll feel obliged to provide an alternative.’ Sam’s grin was a little forced.

‘You know,’ Marie began, ‘I don’t know if–’

‘Want to try things out with Sam?’ Fox asked.

‘I… yes.’

‘Well, he needs to work.’

‘Which means,’ Sam said, ‘that you’re going to have to face the fact that I’ll be sleeping with other men and women, and then coming back here to you. I’ll be away for days at a time, with other people, and then come back to you.’

‘On the plus side,’ Fox said, ‘when he does, he’ll make your toes curl. The sex is going to be incredible.’

‘But while I’m doing those incredible things to you, you’ll be thinking that I was doing the same incredible things to a rich, sixty-year-old two hours earlier, who’s had millions of dollars of bodysculpting and rejuvenation therapy done to her.’

‘But you still get incredible sex,’ Fox asserted.

‘And there’s the bodyguard work,’ Sam went on, frowning a little. ‘I might have to spend several days, maybe weeks, away from home. My life would be in danger and you’d be here, worrying about me.’

‘Did I mention the sex?’ Fox asked.

Sam’s frown deepened. ‘I am getting the feeling that I am a sex object.’

‘It is kind of a dumb conversation,’ Marie said. ‘I mean, I doubt I’m going to know
how
I’ll feel until I’m facing it. Discussing it isn’t going to help.’