Longevity (14 page)
Authors: S. J. Hunter
Brian Clifford, it developed, was happy to hear from one of the LLE detectives he had met the day before and delighted to contemplate spending the next few days in a tiny, characterless room in WitSec, especially when told that Livvy would be in a room close by. He was especially pleased by her offer to pick him up after work, and agreed readily that it would be fun to make their rendezvous secret. His only request was that they stop by his apartment first so that he could pick up a few things. Livvy was accustomed to the effect she had on some men, but this time it registered that Brian Clifford was very young, probably almost as young as he looked. It also registered that Chris had counted on her affect on the young lab tech to gain his cooperation in their plans for his safety.
Starting to feel a little pressed for time, Livvy dropped Louie off at the City Central Veterinary Clinic with a promise to pick him up in two hours, then hurried over to Forensics to log in the finger, gun, and towel from Chris' apartment. Chris had requested that she enter them under an anonymous address code to avoid raising any red flags as a match to an LLE officer. It was, apparently, another LLE prerogative.
That left her with seventy minutes for updating the Chief and giving him Chris' notes for safekeeping. After the incident on the High Speed, he'd requested an immediate debriefing. From Chris' attitude, Livvy had determined that in the parlance of a senior LLE detective that meant whenever that senior detective could find the time that day, or maybe the next. She didn't delude herself into thinking she had the same latitude.
"Hutchins, in here now," the Chief called as soon as Livvy stepped into the squad room. He simultaneously waved Best out.
"Close the door and sit," he said. "And then give it all, starting from Josephson's disappearance."
She started there, but then, as Chris had done, she had to jump back over fifty years to the Greater Potomac Reset Institute fire, and tie in the Potomac Falls Institute bombing, the Maas attack, the bomb under Chris' car, the still anonymous professional on the High Speed returning from Paula Bedford's, and the attempt, foiled by Louie, at Chris' apartment. Too much of the case seemed to depend on the timing of the attacks on her and Chris. She went on to what she worried was even shakier ground: what they had learned about the characters of Josephson and Bedford that suggested they might be capable of such a fraud. The Chief had been listening without interruption, but this last part he waved away impatiently.
"If you continue to work in LLE, this won't seem incredible. Also, since the rich and powerful are the ones that usually have the resources for it, they are the ones we often encounter in our fraud investigations. It's the reason we have been given so many prerogatives and one of the reasons we enforce anonymity so strictly. Almost all our fraud cases would become headlines, if they are made public."
The Chief continued to stare at her thoughtfully for a few moments. Livvy squirmed mentally but took his cue and didn't interrupt.
"Where is McGregor now?" he asked finally.
"Warning Mickey Bedford, Joshua's widow."
"It stops there. Here too. No one else comes in on this. No one."
"You're not convinced," Livvy said flatly.
The Chief registered surprise. "Oh, I believe it. McGregor has excellent instincts, and even though all of the connections are tenuous and we have nothing directly linking Bedford to any of it, the guy's own daughter... "
"She said he has an obsession."
"Warning - Mickey, is it? - is absolutely necessary. But for the rest of it... Dalton's been briefing you on the way we do things here?"
"LLE handles things differently," Livvy said dutifully. "We abhor publicity."
The Chief gave her a sharp glance, then smiled and set down the stylus he had been using on a memopad during her summary.
"As Dalton has apparently explained, LLE shuns the spotlight. No need to let the firebrands know that a trillionaire is prepared to kill most of his family to get the chance to cheat on his allotment."
"Some of the people I grew up with would say we forced him to it, that Bedford's other crimes are a direct result of being forced into a corner by the Laws," Livvy said. "They'd say the Law should be changed; that Bedford is entitled to all the benefits he can afford."
"Your family?" the Chief said.
"But I never would," Livvy said, ignoring the Chief's query.
He leaned back in his chair, watching her.
"You know your commandments?" he finally asked.
"Yes," she answered, dragging out the syllable.
"Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill," he continued. "Pretty clear, and most people have a moral compass that aligns closely with those. For Longevity and Enhancement Laws... there are a lot of people out there, as you know, that feel comfortable debating the Laws and discounting them, figuring they lack authority in terms of good and evil. Not so McGregor. One reason McGregor is such a good LLE detective is that he never compromises on them. He might compromise on every other thing having to do with Enforcement, but he never compromises on LLE.
"Sometimes... most of the time, I wish the damned process had never been discovered. Unfortunately, it's not going away. If we can't enforce the Laws, if LLE is ever revealed to be slack or corruptible, we'll end up like most of the rest of the world - in anarchy or a brutal oligarchy," the Chief said finally.
"For now, this case depends on the two of you. Less chance of the details getting out and less risk that your evidence will be ferreted out and 'lost.'" That's been my experience. It's a bad position to be in," he added, "but McGregor has been here more often than not."
"Is there..." Livvy started, then stopped.
The Chief was watching her shrewdly. "A dilemna, isn't it? A suspicious mind is a valuable asset in an LLE detective."
Livvy stayed quiet.
The Chief gave a small smile that reminded her of her partner. "Of course, this is all exactly what I would say if I'm in Bedford's pay and want to suppress any evidence you find."
She had, in fact, been thinking something along those lines, although not exactly that. She had meant to ask the Chief if there was anyone she could rely on in Forensics. She was beginning to understand how completely alone she and Chris were, even after reporting to the Chief, and not just because of the need to keep it quiet to prevent a leak to the media. LLE itself was part of the razor's edge. Having backup one couldn't trust was worse than having no backup at all.
"Look, you trust your partner?" the Chief asked.
Livvy nodded.
"Then I guess you're going to have to trust me. I'm going to guess he told you to give his notes to me."
"He wanted me to leave them here with you until he can pick them up."
"There's nothing more you can do today. Tomorrow, I'll talk to McGregor when he comes in and find out how it went with Mickey Bedford. You can question the gunman from the High Speed and Maas again, and find out if Forensics has discovered anything about the unlucky bastard that belongs to that finger. Looks like McGregor was right about the dog, too."
"Go get your witness and the dog and then get back to WitSec and get some rest," the Chief said. "And lock your door."
Chp. 12 Prisoners (Friday)
Where the hell is he?
Livvy fumed, rinsing the toothpaste out of her mouth and splashing water on her face.
Waking up once more in a strange place, in bed in a WitSec room even smaller and much less comfortable than Chris' efficiency, she'd experienced a sense of isolation. Someone had really wanted them dead yesterday, and she had not heard from Chris last night. Apparently she'd fallen asleep, still fully dressed, with a half-completed note to herself on the case memopad clutched in one hand. She hadn't checked, as she promised herself she would before falling asleep, to make sure her partner had come in to WitSec. It was a lapse, she told herself, that Chris himself never would have made. There'd been no response when she tried Chris' comu.
She gave Louie his breakfast and prescribed medications, then checked his eye, which had improved significantly. Worry mounting, she tried Chris' comu again, then had a quick laver and dressed in some of the clothes she'd purchased, along with a sandwich and dog food for Louie, at the Central Petite Mall the evening before.
It was early, but Brian Clifford was waiting for her in the hall with a charming smile and an offer to accompany her to breakfast.
Thanks, McGregor
, she thought, and tardily reminded herself she couldn't have it both ways. Past a certain age, most people understood and respected the impediment created by a couple of decades difference in chrono age, at least when one of the individuals was under, say, 40. With a decade or two more experience, it wouldn't matter, but she'd never be able to convince Brian that it mattered now, while he was still so
young
.
"I can't this morning, I really can't," Livvy said, offering her most noncommittal smile. She thought quickly. "But if you can wait for me while I make one quick stop I'll show you where you can go."
She checked in at the WitSec Office while Brian waited in the hall and confirmed that Chris had neither come in last night nor called in.
It took her five minutes to lead Brian to the Atrium. If she directed him to the tearoom in the courtyard, getting lost in the place might keep him occupied for a good part of the day. On the way, she explained firmly but kindly that ethics did not allow her to communicate with a potential witness outside of work.
"Then Josephson's research on fooling the biol age tests is illegal?" he asked. "Is this what you mean?"
"Yes, researching how to fool biol age testing is illegal. More than that, I really can't say at this time," Livvy said noncommittally. She found herself trying very hard for non-flirtatious friendliness, something that she normally managed quite naturally.
Damn McGregor
.
"Well then, I guess I hope this is all over very quickly," he said.
"We'll check-in with you periodically and join you when we can," Livvy said, opting for being even more indefinite. "You can come and go as you please, of course, but we would really appreciate it, and I cannot stress this enough, if you would stay inside Central for the time being, and don't contact anyone on the outside. And I hate to ask, but please don't approach us in the LLE office," she added, thinking quickly. "It's complicated. Can you do all that?"
And not ask any awkward questions
. This last was apparently too much to ask.
"Detective Hutchins. Olivia. What's going on, anyway? This is about more than Josephson's research and disappearance, isn't it?" he asked. He was so young and so serious, and he deserved an answer, even if it followed the pattern she had already set in their relationship. She stopped and faced him.
"Yes, but I can't tell you now. I promise you, when it's all over, I will tell you as much as I can without violating my ethics."
She had growing respect for the fine line LLE officers walked, trying to maintain their low profile while protecting the unsuspecting public.
Ten more meters and they had reached the Atrium, and she pointed the way to the tea room. "Wow! Wow. Wait," he said as she started to leave. "How can I contact you in case I remember something more?" He smiled again and gestured at the expanse before him.
"Don't worry. Feel free to wander. Call us at LLE, and Louie and I can always find you," she said, and turned away.
She tried Chris' comu again on her way to LLE. Still no response. Surely by now, if he could, he would have at least checked in to see how Louie had done at the veterinarian.
She called the Chief to ask if Chris had called. He was more confident, although there was a slight hesitation before his response. "No, I haven't spoken to him." There was a longer pause and Livvly waited him out.
"McGregor's been working solo and without much supervision for decades. He may have decided to spend the night at home after all, hoping that someone would come back. Or, if he's in the middle of something, he might ignore his comu. He doesn't always get back to me right away, either. Trace his movements and let me know what you find."
So she did. She called Mickey Bedford, who, even though she sounded a little distracted, was willing to talk to her once she identified herself as Chris McGregor's partner. Mickey couldn't help her.
"He left here at about 6pm. He didn't mention where he was going next. I'm sorry I can't help you."
The archive for the car Chris had been using yesterday showed that it had been driven to Mickey Bedford's yesterday afternoon, then autodriven back to the motorpool and parked itself shortly after 7pm. She went down to search it anyway, but it was clean.
She took a car over to Chris' apartment and found it eerily empty, with no trace of its owner's presence. The table was still empty and the blood still formed abstract spray patterns on the walls and floor. She couldn't believe he'd spent the night.
When she first got back to the squad room she spent a few minutes checking Chris' desk to see if there was any sign he had been there at work overnight, but she found nothing at all on the Bedford case, only some memopads with notes on other open cases.
"Hutchins, what's up with your partner?" Williams called over, leaning back. "I mean the good-looking one. What's his name? Louie." Agnew kept his head down.
"Louie was injured in the line," Livvy said, paying scant attention. "Brains and looks and now heroism. There's no way you can compete, is there Williams?"
Louie, looking heroic indeed with his cuts and scrapes and collection of sutured lacerations, lifted his head and looked over at Williams at the mention of his name, then put his head back down on his paws. His eyes stayed open and moved between Livvy, still sitting in Chris' chair, and Williams. As his gaze shifted, his eyebrows twitched, giving him a wise, worried expression.
She poked her head into the Chief's office and knocked on the door. When he looked up, she gave him a brief summary of what she knew about Chris' movements.
"Okay. Follow through on your prisoners and evidence and check back in with me before you leave for the day," he said, looking pensive.
She left another message, highest priority now, on Chris' comu, then began to proceed down the list of questions she'd been compiling last night when she fell asleep. She had to be able to glean at least a few answers from the interviews and forensics studies.
The identity of the pro who'd attacked them on the High Speed was still a mystery. That level of anonymity was very difficult to achieve and sustain, which usually meant that it belonged to someone who was fully committed to it. It suggested that the man was an expensive professional, and someone unlikely to give anything away about his employer, either, assuming that he even knew anything.
Livvy stared at the man for a full five minutes, memorizing his face and trying to detect evidence of enhancements and even surgery. He appeared to be about 21 years old, with the sort of soft and undistinguished face that made description problematic. Although his images were now in the system, Forensics claimed they didn't match anything previously recorded, even at the bone scan level.
He lifted a lip scornfully. "Give it a try, you bitch. All you and your partner have done is teach me to go for the head shot first. Think of that when I get out of here and disappear."
That sounded very personal, and Livvy wondered if he had ties to one of the more radical, well-financed groups that favored free access to Longevity. "Subtle. But you'll find, on longer acquaintance, that I'm not all that suggestible. And you're now in a system which doesn't support resets or enhancements for prisoners, or even enough time in the sun to sustain healthy levels of vitamin D," Livvy said, then decided not to waste any more time. "Look, I'm going to walk out of this room now. Call me if you decide to get practical." Unlike Robert Maas, another tool, this man was smart and knew his options. Eventually, he might choose one that yielded some useful information to their investigation.
Louie's contribution, the finger now carefully preserved by the lab techs in Forensics, had been studied but neither prints nor DNA analysis had fit it to an owner. The BOLO to medical facilities had netted accounts of a dangling pinkie, two seriously slashed thumbs (separate incidents) and a complicated report of a left ring finger traumatically amputated secondary to a domestic incident.
She dodged a comu prompt from Brian Clifford by responding in message mode and explaining to him, as charmingly as she could manage given her concerns, that she was busy with interviews but would get back to him as soon as she could. If he had anything new on Josephson, which she doubted, he would have to leave a message.
Robert Maas, her third lead and the least promising, had rejected his first lawyer on the basis of incompatibility. It was almost impossible to find a lawyer who was natural other than another Naturals Only fanatic, which his parents were refusing to finance, so Maas had no one other than family to advise him to cooperate with Enforcement. Hoping that they'd gotten through to him on some level, Livvy tried him on the one question that mattered.
"Who told you where to find us?"
"Abomination. I followed the stench. You preserve the purveyors of iniquity. You wallow in unnatural sin."
"How did you know where we'd be?"
"A Righteous One gave me the message and I knew what I had to do. Evil must be destroyed."
Livvy waited a few minutes while she apparently did some deep thinking.
"Truly," she said finally, assuming a meekness she could only imagine, "you have shown me a dedication I would not otherwise believe possible. If you told me where to find the Righteous One, perhaps such a one could lead me to a better life."
"Conversing with a Righteous One is not for such as you."
"Then you won't help me?" she asked appealingly.
"You are already damned. You must be expelled."
Perhaps he was remembering her comment in the medivan, or he was skeptical about her performance, or just immune to her appeal. Whatever it was, he was rejecting any possibility of cooperation, at least with her.
A call to Maas' mother proved more rewarding. She willingly gave Livvy the address for The Natural Angels of the Lord, the new cult that Robert had embraced so enthusiastically following his breakup with his girlfriend. But when, on a long shot, Livvy called them, they refused to give her any information concerning any of their members. She knew from experience with other encounters with freedom of religion issues that it would be impossible to find out more without a warrant, which would not be issued, even for an LLE investigation. Getting useful evidence from a religious cult was like trying to drag it out of purgatory. Besides, as with everything else they'd tried, it was unlikely either to yield anything useful in court, or to provide a lead they could follow quickly enough to get to Bedford in a timely manner.
Livvy looked down at Louie. "All right. Now I'm really worried. Where is he, Louie?" she whispered. Louie's ears flicked forward and he met her eyes.
• • •
Chris lay perfectly still. He was surprised, but not shocked, to find himself still alive.
Think it through
. Yesterday, Bedford had wanted them dead, but yesterday, concurrently with the attempt on their lives, he'd had Chris' apartment broken into. Bedford had expected to acquire Chris' notes. Chris was still alive because Bedford wanted to know what Chris knew, and more importantly how he knew it.
Good boy, Louie, you may have saved my life.