Division Zero: Lex De Mortuis (15 page)

“K?” Dorian cleared his throat, pointing at the ghost next to him. “Name’s Cara. Goes by Rush out here.”

“One minute.”

The burly female cop escorted Rampart down the alley, leaving the two male officers as backup.

“Okay, what happened?” Kirsten startled the ghostly woman by waving at her.

“I guess it was a few days ago. I was working a few blocks over, you know…” She stared at her one remaining shoe, pushing her aqua-colored hair over one ear.

“That’s not important; you had to do what you had to do to survive.”

“So this guy comes out of nowhere like, and shoots Rafael in the head.”

“Their
guardian,
” added Dorian.

“The girls scatter, the big fucker picks me. I run like hell, but heels, ya know.”

Kirsten shifted her weight. “Yeah, I know.”

“I trip in this mess, he drags me around here, I figure at first he’s just gonna take a freebie… but he didn’t seem interested in sex at all. Then I seen his arms. One’s a big ass hook and the other just a block… A hammer like, with little stubby fingers, he was augged out to Mars and back. Carved me up like a goddamned turkey, singing like a loon the whole time. Opera or some bullshit old man stuff.” Some of her insides fell with a glop.

“I’m guessing you understand you’re dead.”

Rush reeled in her inner bits. “Yeah. I’m not that smart, but I kinda figured that out.”

“Any idea what’s keeping you here? Do you have any family, friends, anyone you want me to contact?”

“None that give a shit. Mom overdosed a couple years ago, died. No idea who my father even is, maybe was.”

Kirsten offered a consoling nod. “Is your body still over there?”

“Yeah. This way.” Rush drifted back into the narrow passage.

“Guys…” Kirsten waved at the Division 1 patrolmen. “Over here.”

They trudged through knee-deep trash to the less packed alley. Kirsten tried not to look at the bloody dangles trailing behind the dead prostitute. Eventually Rush stopped, pointing at a pile of debris. The smell in the air left no doubt as to what was underneath it. Nicole shoved cartons, tubes, tires, and other items out of the way telekinetically. Flies buzzed into a swarm at the commotion; the sight made the stench even worse.

Nicole turned away, woozy. “I hate maggots.”

“Wow, that one’s been there a few days.” Patrolman Weber put his hands on his hips.

Kirsten looked between them. “You guys got this?”

Officer Duncan offered a noncommittal shrug. “Yeah we’ll scrape her up.”

“I have a description of the killer, if you’re gonna like take notes or something? Maybe give half a shit?”

Rush pouted at the floor. “No one gives a damn about us, least of all cops. One walked right past me the other day and didn’t even slow down.”

Duncan took a few haphazard image captures of the scene with a portable from his belt. “No one reported her missing. Not surprised, these street rats don’t usually get missed.”

Kirsten fumed. The sound of Rush breaking into sobs poked a hole in the dam holding her back.

“Patrol Officer Duncan, are you going to stand in front of me and tell me someone’s life is worth less because they don’t have anyone to scream at your watch commander to find them? I can’t believe you’re standing here, looking down on a murder victim only because life left them no choice but to walk the streets.”

The tone of her voice sucked the nonchalance out of both officers and they snapped to attention.

“Someone killed this girl and left her here in a god damned alley, alone.” She continued to get louder, taking on the cadence of a drill instructor. “You’re looking at what’s left of a nineteen-year-old with no choices left. Not one lousy person in this entire shithole of a city gave enough of a crap about her before it was too late. The least you E2’s can do is treat her with a little god damned respect.”

Kirsten dug her fingernails into her palms, too angry to cry, and too aghast to care if they saw her red-faced and out of breath.

“Right away, ma’am.” Officer Duncan, who bore the brunt of the assault, saluted her.

“And don’t stomp on top of her. There could be evidence anywhere.” Kirsten tapped at her armband display until a dispatch doll’s head shimmered into being. “I need a crime scene team to my current location. Homicide investigation.”

“Thank you…” Rush reached to touch Kirsten, pausing as something made her glance down the alley. “Mom?”

Kirsten spun away from the patrol cops, not wanting them to see her eyes getting watery. “Go to her, Cara. There’s nothing but pain for you here.”

The dead girl offered one final smile back at someone who cared, and limped away. Her appearance changed, no longer gory. Her loping drag of a walk became a normal stride, and she vanished in a cloud of flickering silver. Kirsten swallowed the lump in her throat, and whirled with the scowl of a displeased commissioned officer at the two enlisted men.

She would not let them make more of a mockery of that woman’s life.

lickering color painted the walls, changing the mood in time with the images of an emerald-scaled dragon flying just at the top of a pine forest. The man on its back, clad in white robes, hurled lightning from his outstretched hands at an army of glow-eyed, bat-winged creatures darkening the sky behind him. One landed in the saddle behind the rider, screeching, and sank a mouthful of yellow fangs into his shoulder. The dragon, reacting to his companion’s grunt, went into a wicked roll that launched the unwanted passenger into the top of a passing tree.

Kirsten had not paid much attention to the video, or the increasing darkness in the hour since they got home. Evan sat on her lap, tolerating the hug she clamped on him when the movie started. She clung, feeling his breathing and the vibration of his voice through his bones as he cheered the great wizard Monwyn’s victory over the forces of darkness. His hair brushed her cheek as he shouted, with both arms in the air. The giant white T-shirt she threw on felt like a warm blanket compared to the uniform. She stared at her toes, at the size difference of their feet, and squeezed him tighter.

He squirmed and gave her a confused look. “This isn’t a sad part. You shouldn’t be crying. Princess Alsbeth hasn’t been kidnapped and threatened with doom if she doesn’t betray Prince Thiandren to open the gate of Kol’Namarr and let the Realm of Darkness invade the world.
That’s
the sad part.” The last few words squeaked out of empty lungs.

Kirsten laughed, releasing one arm to wipe her cheeks. “Yeah, I forgot.”

A shift in the music drew his attention. The high-tempo battle theme of the air chase gave way to the eerie ambiance of a landing in the Forest of Penumbras, the lair of the great demonic general of the Unwoken Army. Despite having seen
Monwyn the Wise
two dozen times, as well as its prequel, the forest scene still scared him.

From the safety of a thin blanket, Evan watched the shadow goblin fail to assassinate the great wizard. Kirsten grinned as he trembled with worry until Gring’nur the Shadow Slayer died to a well-placed light spell. Evan threw both hands up again and cried out in joy. She attacked the spot where his pajama top pulled out of his waistband, tickling him into a fit of laughter.

“Pause.” he yelled, through peals of giggling.

The holovid player obeyed. A moment later, he lay still, sideways across her lap. He panted and gave her a look of mock annoyance for interrupting the movie. He shifted to sit back on his heels, facing her, trying to catch his breath.

“You had a sad day at work?”

She fussed at his hair. “Yeah.”

“Thought so. You get squeezy.” Evan settled back into her lap to continue the movie, but spun around with a worried face before he let all of his weight down.

“Do I have to go back to the dorm?”

She melted. “No, they didn’t say that. I just met a dead woman no one cared about.”

“Oh. I bet you helped her.” His mood lifted.

“I hope so.” Kirsten put an arm over his chest again as he got comfortable.

“You did. You’re like Monwyn… but more, uhh, girly.”

Kirsten laughed.

He stared at the frozen image of the white-robed wizard’s face, harsh in the shadows of a daybolt flying from his hand, for the span of a few breaths. “Are you too nuts to keep me?”

She hugged a groan out of him. “I don’t think so, hon. I’m okay now, it was just bad dreams. You helped me get rid of them.”

“You had a bad mom, too. Do they think you’d be a bad mom coz yours was mean?” He pulled his knees to his chin. “I want to stay here.”

Kirsten patted him on the belly. “Yeah, that’s what they’re afraid of. They’re just trying to protect you. I’m sure it will work out. A few more weeks and the caseworker will see we’re okay.”

His hair tickled her neck as he craned his head back to look at her. A huge smile crept over his upside-down face before he sat up and thrust his finger into the air.

“Resume play!”

The daybolt flew into a crowd of shadow-goblins, dispersing half a dozen at once. Monwyn chanted, the bassy, magic-amplified voice shaking the apartment as he prepared a grand spell.

Doorbell.

“Pause.” His fist smushed into his cheek as he leaned forward, grumbling.

She extricated herself from the seat and jogged to the door, hand on her gut to tamp down the butterflies.
The caseworker wasn’t supposed to be here for two more days. Is this one of those surprises?

A swipe of her hand at the silver panel created a low-res image of the hallway, a man in a grey coverall waited, holding a large slab of semi-transparent plastic with what looked like a mirror in it.

“Little late for a work job? It’s almost nine.” She let off the talk-through button.

The man leaned closer. “Yeah, I know, I’m doing it off the books. Kyle’s a cheap bastard.”

Guess the uniform worked.
Kirsten opened the door, backing away as he came in, maneuvering the mirror with care. Once inside, he rotated it upright. His surface thoughts checked out, he’d only come here to install the bathroom mirror.

And he thinks I’m cute. Debating if he should ask me out, doesn’t seem like he wants a one-nighter. Oh, shit, the movie behind me, he can see my shape right through this shirt.

Red faced, she took two steps left.

“Hey,” he said, offering a handshake. “I’m Julio.”

The embarrassment faded, she returned his smile and handshake. “Kirsten.”

“Bathroom’s over here?” Julio pointed with the mirror as he walked past the bed to the inner door. “Yep, thought so. All these one-room places have the same layout.”

She leaned on the doorframe, watching him remove the pitiful shard from the wall and hang the new mirror. Julio’s glance kept drifting away from his work to her bare legs, and he made idle chat about music and other things, winding up sounding more awkward than sexy. Kirsten found it strange to cause a guy to trip over himself, and stifled a giggle when a near-drop of the mirror almost caused him to fall. He recovered, turned to smile at her, and lost a little color.

Crap, what did I do? I didn’t even tell him I’m psionic yet.

“I made popcorn; I won’t start the movie till you’re done,” said Evan, from behind.