Blood & Magic (9 page)

They were sitting in Meyer’s library, he in his arm chair by the fire and Mr. Martese sitting across from him. They weren’t actually at the house of course, the whole setup was a projection in Meyer's mind, but it was nicer than another interrogation room.

“You can take me wherever you like, I will not speak to you,” Martese said.

“Why do you think you are here?”

Martese was silent, which Meyer did not appreciate. It was exhausting to keep the two images up, taking both their subconscious thoughts and making their conversation private. This interview was being held deep in Meyer's mind, hopefully somewhere that Helena's contraption wouldn't be able to get to. He was populating Mr. Martese's conscious thoughts with the mastermind interview, except now Meyer was playing both roles, controlling everything that Helena would detect. Martese would be free to talk in secret and if Meyer discovered anything pertinent to Helena, he could relay it via the Mastermind scene.

“Mr. Martese, I am trying to help you. I have been asked to interview you on behalf of the government, but for what crimes I have not been made aware of. This is your chance to speak freely,” Meyer said.

Meyer released the impulse to speak from Martese, which he must have felt as his private thoughts were once again his own.

“Why are you doing this?” Martese said.

“I don't trust the government. A feeling we share, I believe?” Meyer said.

Helena's voice called out over the tannoy in the Mastermind image. “What was his intention?”

“Mr. Martese, what was your intention?” Meyer said, back in the library image.

“I am not saying anything to you,” Martese said.

“Why did they arrest you?” Meyer said.

“I am a member of a political party that fights for freedom from the persecution of the government
and
the Inquisition.”

“So you
are
an alternate, and a member of Deliverance it would appear. You probably deserve whatever you get if you align with them, I think this private interview was a mistake. They are terrorists. Yesterday they destroyed three Inquisition safe-holds, killings hundreds of innocents, just to catch one new Inquisitor.”

“The Inquisition needs to be stopped, if we don't do something, nobody will have the strength to stand up for their freedom. We show them that the Inquisition are not untouchable.”

“Why are you here Mr. Martese?”

“We found something that will change the course of the war against suppression, information that exposes the true nature of what happens here. The government have caught and experimented on hundreds of alternates over the last six months.”

“Experimented?”

“One of our agents managed to infiltrate the department. He found information he intended to pass on to us, but we were ambushed before we could meet him. Our intention was to publish the results, let the world see what was going on.”

He needed to give Helena something. Speaking out as Martese he said, 'Expose the government.'

Helena spoke immediately, “Do not question him on that Meyer. Do that and I will personally see to it that you end up in prison. Who was his contact?”

Meyer repeated the question in the fake Mastermind image and switched back to the library.

“What were they using the research for?” Meyer asked.

“A method to weaponise alternate powers,” Martese said.

Martese wasn't lying. Unbeknownst to him, Meyer had returned the pressure for him to only answer truthfully. What he said had far reaching consequences, Helena had gone too far. In the original accordance, it was agreed that humans would not engage in experiments on alternates, even if the participants agreed.

“Does Wade know?”

“Of course he does, who do you think has been helping them design it? The research came straight from the Inquisition itself.”

“Who was your government contact?”

Martese answered before he realised the truth field was back up. The game was up, he now knew he wasn't fully in control, but Meyer had the answer to the next of his questions. He repeated the answer to Helena, 'Nigel Elmore,' speaking as Martese.

“You lied to me,” Martese said.

“If what you say is true, then this information needs to be disclosed through the proper channels. Revealing our world to humans would be death to all of us, you know that surely?” Meyer said.

“They will kill him.”

“I know.”

Helena spoke again, “Last question Meyer, who does he work for?”

Meyer flittered back to Martese. He needed more time, although he couldn't keep this up much longer, his energy was plummeting by the second.

“Where can I find the proof?” Meyer said.

“He was bringing us evidence and now he will be dead before we are finished here. You have destroyed all of our work,” Martese said.

“Who else knows? Who can I go to?”

“Nigel works for the Department, they will kill him for sure. I cannot trust you.”

“I can make sure the evidence gets to the right people, we can expose this properly. I will warn him.”

Meyer opened his power so that his consciousness spread out as far as it could, the echo of a name whispered in the wind.

Nigel Elmore
.

It took a few moments, but Meyer felt a twinge as the thought, that name, resonated in its owners mind. Meyer used the tenuous link to send out a warning, although it almost killed him to do so.

“Your secret is exposed, they are coming for you. Run.”

“Now tell me the name of who you work for,” Meyer said.

“No,” Martese said.

“You are a dead man, but if I don't get answers for Helena, I can't promise she won't drag your family into this.”

“My family?”

“They already know everything about them, she could destroy their lives in a heartbeat. Pablo, I have to ask one last question for their sake, who do you work for?”

Meyer was desperate for time. He had started to feel nauseous, which meant his normal power reserves were gone and soon both of the images he had created would collapse.

“I can't,” Martese said.

“Your children, for Christ’s sake think of them,” Meyer said.

Martese paused, deciding if he could trust Meyer. Of course he couldn't, but for whatever reason, he said the name. An impossible name, but there was no time to question him about it. Meyer destroyed the image of library, returning Martese's consciousness and turning the memory of what had just happened to rubble, replacing it with the normal interrogation. Before he took down the Mastermind projection, for which Meyer still played both roles, he repeated Martese's answer to Helena.

“Adrianna.”

Meyer withdrew from Martese's thoughts and returned to his body. With an ungracious thud, he fell to the floor as his legs gave way. He'd overdone it and for what, a lie? Pushing Martese for a name had been a mistake, too much energy expended for an answer that could not be true.

“Mr Ravenscroft?” Meyer heard a voice say. “Are you okay?”

It was Charlie. Meyer opened his eyes and the reality of his foolishness kicked in. Helena was standing in the doorway, her gaze fixed on him. She wasn't happy, that much was clear. Christ, had he mucked that last bit up? Had she discovered what he had done?

“We need to talk,” Helena said.

With those four words, she left the room. Charlie strained to raise Meyer from the ground, letting out a groan as he finally brought Meyer to his feet.

“Thank you, boy. A glass of whiskey and I'll be right as rain,” Meyer said.

He left the room using Charlie as a support and was guided into yet another meeting room. This one was much larger, with a frosted glass board table and surrounding leather chairs. Helena sat at one side, a silhouette against the view of St. James' Park behind her. Meyer took a seat, staring expectantly at Charlie: he hadn't been joking about the whiskey.

“'Expose the government,' 'Nigel Elmore' and 'Adrianna'. Those were the only bits of information Pablo Martese told you?” Helena said.

“You should have said he was an alternate,” Meyer said.

“A mentalist. I imagine no other type of alternate could surely cause you that much trouble, that is unless, there is more you discovered that you would like to discuss?”

“What did he mean by 'Expose the government'?”

“Obviously, he was talking about how we keep the alternate world a secret. Isn't that what those damn terrorists of yours fight for?”

“My terrorists? You need to watch the way you band us together Helena, not very PC of you at all. Alternates deserve the same rights, surely? You cannot brand us as animals that need controlling, or a dirty secret you don't want to escape. Interesting thing was, you didn't ask how he intends to do it?”

“
Intended
. And I didn't ask, because I already have that information, I just needed the contact. You haven't answered my question.”

“This Elmore fellow, he is a member of your staff?”

“That isn't of your concern.”

“What is of my concern, Helena, is who he claimed his boss to be. Adrianna. Finally a name for the head of Deliverance, but you already knew that.”

“Adrianna is a myth Meyer. It isn't the first time the leader of a terrorist group would take the name of a figure from legend. It doesn't help us in the slightest. My question?”

“A myth? He said it with quite some conviction and you know, they cannot lie to me. First Grendal, then Adrianna - are you worried?”

“It is just a name and there is no evidence to suggest your serial killer is in fact one of the five. They are all dead, it has been hundreds of years Meyer, are you going soft? You appear to be avoiding my question. Was that all he said?”

“Now why would I do that? How could I possibly get away with anything, when you have that new infernal contraption of yours?”

“We focused it on the section of thoughts you directed us to for your interrogation, but the machine picks up everything. Is there a need for me to review it all?” Helena said.

A smile had spread across her haggard face, her deep-set wrinkles becoming ever more pronounced. She had him, it was just a matter of time until she knew everything. Charlie entered the room, breaking the silence that had developed between the pair and placed a glass by Meyer.

“Boy, what on earth do you call this?” Meyer said.

“It's water sir,” Charlie said.

“I asked for whiskey.”

“Sir, we only have water coolers and-”

“Never mind. Helena, if that is all?” Meyer said, turning to her.

Helena smiled, something unnatural about the expression on her face. “For now.”

Another face on the board, the printed image of the unknown victim taken from Alex's phone until forensics could send across the photographs from the scene. Underneath she wrote:

Name:
unknown
.

Age:
unknown
.

Occupation:
unknown
.

Cause of death:
Lateral incision to throat, potential suicide
.

The last item was more of a mystery than the rest, the word
potential
only awaiting confirmation from Chris. Why had the victim killed himself? He was also the first victim found without any identification, which was surely important. There was something special about this killing, if they were going to find a break in the case, this murder was key.

The Homicide and Serious Crime Command, or SCD1 for short, dealt with the most heinous and prominent of crimes and, as such, was filled with the best detectives in the Met. Alex belonged to a sub unit that consisted of five DIs, numerous DSs and a myriad of DCs, PCs, administrators and support staff. The case had been picked up by the newspapers and big publicity meant a big police budget, which, in turn, meant you got all the bells and whistles of a full investigation force. It was incredibly hard to transfer into one of the units and a successful stint was a ticket to future career success. This was a unit for career cops. That was probably the reason why the incident room was known as the bull ring, not because the previous Superintendent was from Birmingham, but because it was where big egos clashed and voices were raised enough to be heard across the station. Drew sat at a desk across the room, his nose red and swollen from the night before. His gaze was fixed on Alex, blood shot capillaries surrounding his hazel irises.

Alex stood back from the board and panned across the eight pictures. Six men, two women - all killed in the same surgical way, by someone who had been labelled by the media as a ghost. Everyone in the incident room stood silently in front of the board, as striped light poured in through blinded windows across the rows of desks, painting masks across the faces of the detectives. A literal depiction of how their lives were led, hiding their true selves from their colleagues, putting on a face they wished others to see.

“Either we have made too many assumptions and lost the pattern, or we are missing something major. This last killing is a further step away still,” Alex said.

“You mean that this one killed himself, right babe?” Dimitri said.

Why he thought he could call her 'babe' was beyond her. Dimitri was a pig, why she had been partnered with him was anybody's guess, probably because no one else could stand him.

“Yes, although we are still waiting on forensics for their assessment,
babe
,” Alex said.

She paused on the last word, staring into his almost black eyes with a threat that suggested another word from him and Alex would send him flying back to mother Prussia.

“We have been unable to determine the identity of the victim,” Drew said.

“Dimitri, did the house-to-house calls bring anything up?” Alex said.

“Nobody saw nothing, which isn't surprising as there is mostly offices around there,” Dimitri said.

“Nobody saw anything,” Alex corrected him.

“Whatever.”

“What about the business card we found on the body? Minerva, any ideas?”

“The card with the two gates on it? I have tons of forensics to wade through this morning, Dimitri, do you have time to follow it up?” Minerva said.

Dimitri nodded and Minerva handed him an evidence bag with the card in, the polythene container just poking out of her overly sized woollen jumper that gave her the look of a bedraggled sheep.

“I'll get the Holmes action updated,” Drew said.

Holmes was the Met's IT system for keeping track of any major investigation, recording all evidence, interviews, potential leads and suspect information. It was a system that, although efficient, felt a million miles away from the police dramas you see on the television. Its only bonus was that absolutely everything was stored in one place.

“I heard that the other unit is going back over all the victim's friends and family interviews. What does that leave us doing?” Alex said.

“Superintendent Stroud wants us to handle the new case,” Drew said.

The phone rang on Alex's desk and she answered it.

“Alex, is that you? I tried ringing Nick, but there was no answer.”

“Hey Chris, yeah, he's seeing the commissioner about the new murder. Surely you can't have finished the autopsy already? It's only ten,” Alex said.

“Alex, I don't know how it happened, we can't explain it,” Chris said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Alex, it's the body. It’s… well, it’s gone.”

Five minutes later Dimitri was driving them to the morgue. The journey was made in silence, Dimitri not stupid enough to offer up any 'funny' comments. Arriving at the Westminster Public Mortuary, Dimitri parked in one of the designated spaces by the entrance, no doubt deciding it was better to receive a parking fine than to further upset her.

Alex barged through security, showing her warrant card to the guards as she shouted at them to get out of the way. Dimitri had to adopt a slight jog to keep up, as she sent doors flying open along her path. Chris stood at the door to the mortuary suite, his face as pale as the bodies he examined.

“What happened?” Alex said, still striding toward him.

“We don't know, the victim’s body was transported here last night and was then processed as normal. Alex, it just disappeared,” Chris said.

“What do you mean
disappeared
?”

“We booked it in and then did the initial checks. The body was kept in freezer overnight, but this morning, when my technician went to collect the body for autopsy... it was gone.”

“Gone? Did you get the records mixed up, have you looked for Christ's sake?” Alex said.

“Of course we bloody looked. What the hell, Alex? Do you think we make a habit of misplacing bodies? Our CCTV was tampered with last night, which suggests one thing: someone broke in and stole the body.”

“How the hell could they get in? We passed a dozen security doors just to get here, let alone trying to get a corpse out of the building. Were there any signs of forced entry?”

“We don't know how they got in. I have people looking at the possibility that our security system was hacked, but so far there are no signs of that. Alex, things get worse,” Chris said.

“Worse? How the hell could this get worse?”

“A group of government types appeared right after I phoned you. They have taken possession of all the evidence we collected last night: the photos, samples, notes - everything. Head of Pathology called in to confirm it, they were in and out in ten minutes.”

Alex was shaking, not with fear, but with rage. She didn't need this, the case didn't need this. The Greys Inn murder was their first lead in weeks, the killer had made mistakes and, if they found out why, they’d have him.

“Did the government take the body?” Alex said.

“That's what I thought when they turned up, but they were furious when they heard about it, accused me of disrupting an investigation relating to a matter of national security. Detective Superintendent Stroud called me after my boss did, he said the case has been dropped in relation to your serial killer. It's over Alex,” Chris said.

“Did you find anything else out, anything you didn't tell me last night? What are we missing here Chris?”

“I didn't get a chance to examine any of the evidence we collected. Everything I know, you know.”

“You believe it's the same killer?”

“Of course, but Superintendent Stroud said-”

“And you definitely think it was a suicide? I mean, he killed himself before the killer made their move?”

“That I am not sure of, given the amount of blood over the victim, the two events were very close in time. Alex, we need to drop this.”

“Ask around, I want to know what we found that brought the spooks in. They're not taking this case from us, we need it.”

They were back at the station in a flash. Alex climbed the stairs to the eighth floor at such a speed, Dimitri was out of breath by the time they reached the landing. Standing in front of Detective Superintendent Stroud's secretary, a plump ginger haired woman with appalling taste in blouses, Alex loomed over her, leaning on the desk.

“I need to see him, is he alone?” Alex said.

“Yes, but-”

She didn't wait for her to finish. Alex barged into the office and slammed the door behind her before Dimitri could follow.

Detective Superintendent Nick Stroud was a balding man whose remaining jet black hair was cut short on the sides of his head. With his raven like features and deep set eyes, Nick had a stare that was able to break suspects fake alibis without a word being said. He was also Alex's father, but she convinced herself that he had nothing to do with her latest promotion to DI. Just his name carried weight around here and, until she got married, she shared that name. Married. She didn't have time to think of that now.

“Alexandra,” Nick said, looking up from some papers on his desk.

“The homicide case from last night is apparently no longer our concern?” Alex said.

“And good morning to you, do come in. The Greys Inn murder is a matter of national security and therefore no longer in our jurisdiction.”

“Our jurisdiction? You've got to be kidding me. This is the first lead we get and you are giving it away? It's the same killer.”

“We don't know that and even if that is so, the decision has been made. All the details have been removed from the incident room, if you have anything else pertaining to the case you are to turn it in immediately.”

“Do you not care about us solving this case or the fact that you are flushing my career down the toilet?”

“Watch what you say Detective Inspector. I, of all people, want us to bring this case to a close, it is my name that rests upon our success.”

“But how can we solve it when they have taken away our strongest lead?”

“Alex, as your father, trust me when I say you have got to let this go. Fight it and you'll be done for, I won't be able to protect you. I am having us go over all of the evidence again, there will be some clue that was missed.”

There was a knock at the door and Alex turned to meet a tall woman in a dark suit standing in the doorway, a large leather portfolio under her arm. She was pretty and slim. Alex immediately didn't like her. Her jet black hair was cut in such a way as to frame her face perfectly, a straight fringe accentuating her exquisite bone structure.

“I hope I'm not interrupting anything?” the woman said, her voice had a weight to it that made Alex feel uneasy.

“Not at all,” Nick said, as he rose from his desk. “We had just finished.”

Alex turned and started to leave when the woman sidestepped to intercept her.

“Alex, isn't it?” she asked.

“Detective Inspector Alexandra Stroud. And you are?” Alex said.

“Alice Harvey-Smith, QC. You have a look of your father you know?” Alice said.

Well thank you. No greater compliment that looking like her dad. Was that a power play, a quick put-down that said she knew that her father was behind any career success Alex had? She had to stop thinking like that, paranoia did nobody any good.

“I do hope not,” Alex said.

She moved to the other side of Alice and left the room, closing the door behind her to the sound of laughter. Dimitri was standing next the secretary who flashed a nervous glance toward her.

“What?” Alex said.

The woman found some paperwork to busy herself with on her desk.

“We are off the case,” Alex said.

“What did he say?” Dimitri said.

“Bloody secret squirrels will pick it up. We get left with the rest.”

“Did you fight him? I know he is your father, but-”

“Of course I bloody did, you idiot. Damn it. We need to get back to the bullring.”

When they reached the incident room, it had already been stripped of anything to do with last night's murder.

“Christ,” Alex said looking through the photos on her mobile. “They've wiped the pictures I took.”

“They are the government, guess that's the sort of thing they can do,” Drew said.

“You heard?” Alex said.

“Of course, we have been put on crime scene duty. We are to go over them all again, look for anything we could have missed.”

“Well, that's just perfect.”

“The plan is to scan though CCTV from further out, see if we spot anything odd,” Drew said.

“How dull is that? It's not like we will find anything,” Minerva said, her grey haired face popping above a monitor on the other side of the desk.

“Damn,” Dimitri said. “They forgot the stupid business card we found on the victim, they left it on my desk.”

“Not surprising given how messy you keep it,” Minerva said.

“Alright, alright,” Dimitri said, smiling. “Stupid thing is, I think I recognise it. Guess I should pass this on and the information. Drew, who do we contact?”

“You know where the card is from?” Alex said.

“Yeah, at least I think so. It's a club, see, an old girlfriend of mine took me there once. It's some kind of trendy Goth one, anyway that's their logo,” Dimitri said.

“What's it called?”

“The Two Gates Club.”

“Dimitri, get your coat. We are paying this club of yours a visit.”

“Alex, we were not just told to drop the case?” Dimitri said.

“We are following up on potential leads, exactly what Superintendent Stroud asked us to do. Are you okay with that
Dimitri
?”

Dimitri looked Alex and chuckled.

He was in.

“I guess I'll cover this as General Enquiries then?” Drew said.

“I hope you know what you are doing,” Minerva said.

“
So do I
,” Alex thought and grabbed her coat.