Hindsight (42 page)

Mira smacked her forehead, wondering how she could be so stupid. ‘No such thing as coincidence,’ she whispered. Even in Braille the maths was easy: her guardian plus an undercover detective — and not just any cop, the one allegedly investigating Greppia. It had to be a set-up, but who was responsible? And who was the latest target to be framed? She could see now that a few critical pieces of the puzzle were still missing.

‘Mira?’ Gabby said, supporting her by the shoulders. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Shush!’ she whispered, waving her hands in small movements. ‘He’ll hear you!’

Too late.

‘Mira?’ he called from a short distance away. ‘Is that you, Mira Chambers?’

Lockman boarded the ferry with thirty-seven other vehicles, nearly all of them fitted up for fishing and camping. His registration plates were on record with the crew again thanks to his one-way ticket, but having been off-road a number of times in the last few days, his plate numbers were obscured by mud and sand — which judging by the plates on more than half of the other vehicles was a common enough occurrence for his Hilux to be well hidden among them.

Had there been any point in being pedantic about arriving without a trace, he would have paused at a long-term transit car park at the nearby railway station, and borrowed plates from one of their cars for the trip across to Straddie — perhaps even borrowed a whole vehicle — but he had every intention of making his presence known, and soon enough that it wouldn’t matter who was watching him now.

Fear drove Mira back to the elevators, even knowing she had no chance of slipping away from such a long-legged fit man as Detective Innes-Grady. She also knew standard police procedures too well, having escaped from orphanages enough over the years, and knowing that patients from Serenity were treated no differently, so she knew he could alert other police about her within seconds.

‘Stop!’ Grady boomed with such authority that the whole area fell silent. He strode heavily after them, while Gabby caught Mira’s arm, effectively holding her for him, but there was no need. Mira had already decided that she wouldn’t fight either of them.

‘Before you say anything,’ she said, offering her wrists to him, ‘you need to arrest me.’

‘Oh,
oui
?’ Gabby gasped. ‘On what charge?’

‘Charges, plural,’ Mira replied flatly. ‘I suggest arson, hindering an investigation and murder. Or else he has to send me back to Serenity without another word spoken.’

‘Back up,’ Gabby said, sounding astounded as she dropped her voice to a whisper. ‘Did you say
murder
?’

‘We’ll get to that,’ Grady said, but he didn’t sound at all surprised. ‘Arrest you, huh? I might just do that, young lady. This way, please.’ He made it sound like an order. ‘Both of you.’

Mira sighed and allowed herself to be led around a corner and down a side hall into a small windowless waiting room with only three ghostly sofas and a stale-smelling coffee machine. To Mira, the room seemed to be as empty yesterday as it sounded today — until she heard the door close, sealing them in together.

‘You must be Gabion Biche,’ Grady said. ‘The tyrannical park ranger.’

‘Tyrannical?’ Gabby laughed. ‘Oh, I can guess who you’ve been talking to lately. Is she in a lot of pain, I hope?’

‘Unfortunately, yes. They’ve had to knock her out for the night. Now from the top, ladies. I need to know everything that brought you here. Let’s start with how you got that nasty gash on your face, Miss Chambers.’

Mira felt her cheek, wondering what was so nasty about it. She’d received far worse while fighting with healthcare staff over the years. ‘Am I under arrest?’

‘Wait, shouldn’t we be doing this down at a station?’ Gabby asked.

‘He can’t,’ Mira replied. ‘Not for this.’

‘Not for what?’ Gabby asked. ‘Look, officer, it’s not like I don’t trust you or anything. I’ve seen you around Straddie a lot lately, and I’m not deaf. I heard you at the nurses’ station asking about Mel so I’m already guessing you’re her mysterious new boyfriend, but —’

‘Grady,’ he said. ‘Constable Pete Innes Grady, but everyone calls me Grady.’

‘Sure, okay, Grady. Can’t you see — Mira’s been attacked, okay? If we’re going to do this, it should be with a female officer or maybe the detective she trusts.’

‘Gabby,’ Mira said. ‘This is him.’

‘You’re mistaken, honey. This guy’s a traffic cop. You can’t see his uniform but he’s just a —’

‘Plain clothes detective,’ Mira said, ‘… as crazy as that sounds.’

Gabby chuckled. ‘So what’s with the uniform? Is it your day off?’

‘Oh yeah, that’s funny,’ Grady said as if he’d heard that joke a thousand times before. ‘As it happens, Miss Chambers is correct. I’m undercover as a traffic cop so I’d very much appreciate it if you’d both keep your voices down.’

‘A cop undercover in uniform?’ Gabby whispered. ‘Now I’ve heard everything.’

‘No, actually …’ Mira said. ‘You’ve heard barely the start of it, and it needs to stay that way. Listen, Detective, she shouldn’t be here. I tried to warn her. I was an idiot for asking for her help in the first place, but I was desperate, and well … you know who we’re dealing with. You must have heard how badly he wants me and what they’ll do to her if they think they can use her to get to me … and why won’t you say something? Have the Greppias told you to keep your mouth shut?’

‘I knew it!’ Gabby chirped. ‘I smelled their stink just as soon as I heard about the fire!’

‘I’m afraid Miss Chambers is right,’ Grady replied flatly. ‘I’ll have to ask you to wait outside, Miss Biche. It seems I need to speak to Miss Chambers alone, briefly.’

‘Over my dead body! Look, officer — or detective, or whatever — I don’t want to make any trouble with the law but she’s from Serenity and they’re all wards of the state, and as I understand it, that means she requires a representative of the state at her side for such things as this, to protect her interests in the absence of her legal guardian. Lucky for you, I’m not just a friend of the family, I’m a park ranger, which makes me a state employee — so either I’m good to stay or I’ll have to call in the big guns for her. Your choice.’

Grady didn’t answer for a long moment, causing Mira to fear that he knew Mel was really her guardian and was considering the option of taking their argument down the hall to her room to wake her.

‘Don’t do it,’ Mira warned. ‘She’s suffered enough already over me.’

‘It’s no trouble,’ Gabby assured her. ‘I’d help any friend of Ben’s, blind or otherwise.’

Not you,
Mira wanted to say, but Grady cut in ahead of her.

‘I’ll put a guard on her room,’ he said. ‘On both of you, if that’s what it takes.’

‘Put a guard on her room anyway,’ Mira replied. ‘It worries me that you haven’t.’

‘Back up,’ Gabby said. ‘I get the feeling you’ve skewed off onto a different wave length.’

Wave length?
Mira stifled a smile, wishing she could say how close she’d guessed to the truth. She also wished she could spare time enough to learn how Gabby had developed so much admirable confidence and assertiveness. Such a faithful friend she’d turned out to be, even if her loyalty did stay mainly adhered to Ben. ‘Okay, I’ll explain as much as you need to know,’ she conceded. ‘But not anywhere near Mel. For her sake and for Ben’s, Mel mustn’t know any of this — and I want two guards on her door from now until your fake boss is apprehended.’

‘No arguments here,’ Grady replied. ‘Gregan Greppia has his nuts in a knot over you, and I need to know why.’

Mira chewed on her tongue, having no intention of explaining
that much
to him. Instead, she spent the next five minutes pacing around the pair of them and filling them in on her insights on Greppia crimes, excluding their abduction of Ben. She couldn’t be sure yet if Grady would help or hinder her attempts at getting him back safely, but she needed to find out how much the detective already knew — which was nearly nothing — and all in all, she was surprised how well Gabby and Innes-Grady both accepted the situation.

‘I
knew
there was something dirty about that family,’ Gabby said. ‘You can’t trust any of the bastards!’

‘They’re not all bad,’ Grady argued. ‘But these … insights, you have, Mira. I need to know how you came to know so much. What are they, and what part have you played?’

‘How typical that you’d assume I was one of them,’ Mira replied. ‘I’ve been locked up for a whole decade.’

‘
Oui
, bad cop. No doughnut,’ Gabby agreed. ‘Just look at her. How guilty could she be?’

‘Mel did mention that you’d been out of circulation for a while,’ Grady said, his voice giving no hint that he’d taken offence at Gabby’s remark. ‘I didn’t know it was that long. So what are these insights?’

‘I may be blind,’ she confessed haltingly, ‘but there’s nothing wrong with my other senses.’

‘Are you saying you
sniffed
out the facts?’ Grady asked sceptically. ‘Or do you expect me to believe that you’re psychic?’

‘I don’t believe in psychics myself,’ Mira said, ‘except maybe ESP, but only so far as it means a super-sensitivity of natural senses compared to most people. When you’re blind, your other senses —’

‘Improve to compensate,’ Gabby said, completing the common phrase. ‘I can testify to that, Officer. You should see how well she gets around without a walking stick or seeing-eye dog.’

‘Okay, so this ESP,’ Grady said, ‘is it wholly responsible for everything you know about Greppia and my cover ID?’

‘Actually, I’d prefer if you kept calling them insights. ESP makes me feel like a freak.’

‘Done,’ he replied, sounding as if it suited him better too. ‘They’re reliable, I’m assuming — as in, you could use them to dig up the dirt on anyone, anywhere?’

Mira shrugged. ‘Reliable enough so far — unless you can think of something I’ve missed?’

If he did, he didn’t mention it.

‘I do,’ Gabby said, making the nearest sofa groan as she slumped into it. ‘You didn’t explain the fire, or the seven people trapped in the roof. Is that what you meant when you said he should arrest you for
murder
?’

Mira gulped, wondering how she could explain any of that — what she’d done to Greggie aboard his own yacht — without turning them both against her. Evil or not, she was now a killer.

‘The Greppia fire?’ Grady asked. ‘How did you know about that? I only just heard myself.’

‘She was there,’ Gabby said. ‘I’m guessing the Greppias were too, and lit the damn thing themselves to destroy any incriminating evidence.’

‘Well, it wouldn’t be out of character,’ Grady conceded. ‘But I need to hear it from her, please.’

Mira swallowed hard, feeling guilty all over again — more so for Lockman than the rest. ‘Greggie was there and he did do this to me.’ She tugged down on the collar of her t-shirt and the bib of her overalls to ensure Grady caught a glimpse of the web of scratches on her chest.

‘So who were the other seven?’ Grady asked, ‘… the ones who died in the roof?’

Mira slumped into the sofa opposite Gabby. ‘Aside from the two federal detectives, Moser and Symes, they were all military investigators, more or less. Mostly army guards, I think.’

‘How’s that? Military police and feds on the same case?’ Gabby asked. ‘That’s almost unheard of.’

‘Long story has a rogue army colonel, gun-running and laundering of the dirty profits. I expect he knows more about that side of it than me anyway. So are you holding your tongue deliberately, Detective? Or do you forget that I can’t read body language?’

‘Sorry, I was nodding, I must admit it
is
easy to forget you’re blind.’

Mira shrugged. ‘Are you avoiding my question now?’

‘Which question was that?’

‘Don’t waste time, Detective! I’ve been fair with you. Please extend the same courtesy to me. I need to know you’re not holding back on me — or shall I explain to the nice park ranger about all the filthy little jobs you’ve been doing for Gregan Greppia to get, and stay, inside his circle of trusted henchmen?’