Synthetica (17 page)

Officer Nox's eyes narrowed. He took a step towards them.

“
Is
that so?” he said softly. The hairs on the back of Anais' neck
stood up, as those silver eyes fixed on her. “You know Miss Finch,
I find it extremely odd that you just happen to show up here the
moment another murder suspect is brought in. All in this sick little
charade together, are you?”

His eyes flicked to Xander, who scowled at him.

“
I
hope you've got a permit to question us, Officer, or I'm afraid
we're going to have to leave,” Xander said tightly. He turned to
Anais. “Let's go, Anais.”

Officer Nox held up a hand.

“
Not
so fast,” his cold eyes gleamed. “I want to know what happened
to that rather expensive screen, and what you're doing here.”

Anais knew Nox just wanted a rise out of her, that he was just
looking for an excuse to arrest her again - but after being pushed
to the edge of exhaustion, she simply didn't care any more.

“
The
boy you brought in is innocent,” she said bluntly, staring Nox
squarely in the face. “I'm telling you – Marcus didn't know what
he was doing.”

Nox didn't look impressed by her explanation.

“
Is
that so? You seem to know an awful lot about these murders Miss
Finch, for an innocent bystander.” The sneer in his voice was
unmistakable.

Anais snapped.

“
I'm
not up to anything you stupid man, believe it or not I'm actually
trying to help,” Anais shouted. Out of the corner of her eye she
could see every other head in the room was swivelled in their
direction, riveted by the action that was unfolding.

Nox took another step towards her, a dangerous glint in his eye.
Xander immediately stepped forward in front of Anais, shielding her
from Nox's tense body. Both men eyed each other, their hands curled
into fists by their sides. Anais didn't break her gaze with Nox over
Xander's shoulder.

“
Officer
Nox,” came a sharp voice from across the reception area. The
tension broke as all three them looked up. Anais felt a wave of
relief as Officer Hughes strode over to them, her black bob
swinging. She stopped in front of them, hands on hips.

“
What's
going on here?” Although her question was directed at Nox, her
eyes swept over Xander and Anais, her eyes lingering for a moment on
Anais.

“
I
was just going to apprehend Miss Finch into custody,” Nox said
smoothly.

“
What?!”
Anais said, outraged. “What for?”

“
Oh
let me see – vandalism, showing disrespect to a police officer,
being a suspect in an ongoing murder investigation...” Nox reeled
off. Anais glared at him, hating him with a passion she'd never felt
before. Her insides were cold, and she only noticed she was
clenching her fists when a sharp pain shot throgh the hand she'd
injured. She looked at Officer Hughes rather desperately, who merely
raised an eyebrow.

“
That's
quite an impressive list,” she said, and Nox threw a smug look at
Anais. “However, seeing as how you clocked off duty fifteen
minutes ago, I'm afraid none of these charges can be upheld.”

It was Nox's turn to look furious.

“
But
– but, look at that screen,” he pointed to the self-service
station, which was still flickering and occasionally emitting bursts
of static. “She did that! Her and her accomplice. Any witness in
this room will tell you so!”

He pointed to Anais and Xander. Officer Hughes ignored his
outburst.

“
Officer
Nox, I suggest you go home. That's an order from your commanding
officer,” she said, a steely look in her eye. For one wild moment,
Anais thought Nox was going to hit Hughes. Instead, he threw them
all an extremely ugly look before turning on his heel and storming
out of the station.

Xander whistled.

“
That
was close. Thank you,” he said, turning to Officer Hughes, who
gave him a small nod.

“
Don't
worry about him,” she said, jerking her head towards the door.
“He's a bit wound up at the minute, we all are. But I have to say
I am curious, Anais - what are you doing here?”

“
The
boy you've just brought in, Marcus Smith, I have to speak to him,”
Anais said in a rush. Now that Nox was out of the way, her earlier
urgency to see Marcus returned. Officer Hughes looked surprised.

“
But
– why?” she asked. Anais shook her head.

“
I
need to ask him something. My friend, she's – she's sick, and I
think he might be able to help her,” she invented wildly, the idea
popping into her head for no apparent reason.

“
I'm
sorry, Anais, but surely you must know that I can't allow you to
speak to suspect before he's been officially questioned?”

“
Please,”
Anais pleaded. “He's my only chance to save my friend.”

Officer Hughes looked torn. She glanced around her, but everyone
else in the reception had gone back to staring into space as they
used their RetComs, now that all the excitement was over.

“
I'm
not sure Anais. It's a lot to ask,” she looked troubled for a
moment. “What's wrong with your friend?”

“
Oh,”
Anais realised she couldn't tell her the truth without getting
Marcus, Dalla and herself into massive trouble. “She's...got a
brain condition. Marcus knows all about it – he's her
ex-boyfriend.”

She crossed her fingers behind her back as Officer Hughes looked at
her suspiciously.

“
And
this has absolutely nothing to do with the homicide he's been
accused of?”

“
Nope,”
Anais said blithely. When Officer Hughes continued to look at her,
she carried on. “Please - the medics say she doesn't have a lot of
time left. Marcus is my only chance to save her.”

Tears sprang unwanted to Anais' eyes, as she pleaded with Officer
Hughes. Even though it was just a cover so she could to get to
Marcus and find out as much as she could about the SLP he'd bought,
it brought home to her that she might already be too late to save
Dalla. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She saw Officer
Hughes clock the blood on her hands, and the smashed self-service
screen.

“
Alright,”
Officer Hughes said in a low voice. “I can give you five minutes
with him, that's all. But you're not allowed to ask him anything
about the homicide. Got it?”

Anais nodded, feeling immensely relieved.

“
You
can stay here,” Officer Hughes told Xander. “It's going to be
hard enough to get her in, without getting you in too.”

Anais turned to him.

“
Wait
for me,” she said and Xander nodded. She followed Officer Hughes
through the double doors they'd passed through the first time she'd
been in the station. Now that it was daytime she could hear snatches
of conversations coming from the other side of the grey doors they
passed. Many of the small screens outside the doors were now lit up,
displaying information about the suspects inside. Officer Hughes led
the way down the corridor, past the room where Anais was questioned,
and turned a corner.

There were less rooms down this corridor, but each door was now
guarded by two matte black securi-bots, the blue lines across their
otherwise blank faces constantly scanning the hallway for movement.
Officer Hughes stopped outside the third door on the left. The two
securi-bots outside the door held up their arms, stopping Officer
Hughes from getting any closer to the door.

The robot's sensors bathed Officer Hughes in a blue light as they
confirmed her identity. Once they'd done a sweep of her, their blue
light turned to Anais who shielded her eyes from the glare of their
sensors. Their sensors turned red as they completed their sweep of
her.

“
Access
denied,” the two securi-bots spoke in unison, in flat voices.

“
Override.
Permission granted by Officer Hughes,” Officer Hughes said firmly.

The securi-bots processed this command and lowered their arms so
Officer Hughes could open the door. Hughes looked up and down the
corridor before beckoning Anais closer.

“
I
can only guarantee you a few minutes,” she said in a low voice.
“They're already begin to break up the mob outside and once that's
been sorted, they're going to want to question your friend ASAP.
We're going to go in, ask him whatever it is you need to know about
this medical condition, and then come straight back out.”

“
Okay,”
Anais said. Officer Hughes took one final look at her, as though she
still couldn't quite believe what she was doing, before sighing and
opening the door.

Anais stepped into a room not unlike the one she'd been held in
herself. The only difference was, there was only one chair in the
centre of the floor and Marcus was handcuffed to it by his hands and
his feet. His head was bowed, his distinctive hair flopping over his
face. His shoulders heaved and, with a pang of pity, Anais realised
Marcus was crying.

“
Marcus?”
she said cautiously.

Marcus raised his head to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot, his
face shiny and puffy from the amount of crying he'd been doing.

“
Anais?”
Marcus' voice was hoarse, although Anais thought she could detect a
hint of hope in it.

“
You
look terrible,” was the first thing she could think to say, and
she immediately wanted to kick herself for it. Marcus gave something
that sounded like half a laugh and half a sob.

“
Marcus,
I don't have a lot of time,” Anais said, throwing a sideways look
at Officer Hughes as she drew closer to him. “But this is
important. I need to know what happened today.”

Marcus' red-rimmed eyes focused on her. Out of the corner of her
eye, she could see Officer Hughes standing by the door, listening
for any movement outside the room.

“
You
have to get me out of here,” he whispered. “I didn't do it. I
swear...”

“
Marcus,”
Anais said more urgently, leaning closer so Officer Hughes wouldn't
hear. “I need you to tell me what you remember.”

Marcus was silent. For one horrible moment, Anais thought he was
going to refuse to talk and her whole trip had been wasted.

“
I
don't remember,” Marcus said, no longer looking at Anais. His
voice so quiet and cracked that she could barely hear him. “I –
I faked being ill so I could go home from work early. I was nearly
home and then – and then everything...just – just went...black
-”

He gave another dry sob. Anais hesitated before placing a gentle
hand on his shoulder. Anais could just see Officer Hughes turning
towards them, her eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion. After a few
seconds he managed to compose himself.

“
When
I came to, I was standing over this man's body. There was blood
everywhere, and when I looked down, I was – I was holding a - a
gun -” his voice broke down into sobs and Anais patted him
awkwardly on the shoulder.

“
So,
you don't remember anything else?” Anais said. Her mind was
beginning to buzz, but she was still struggling to put everything
she knew together.

“
No,”
Marcus sniffed hard. “Everything went black and then....the next
thing I know I'm standing there with a corpse in front of me.”

“
Anais,”
Officer Hughes' voice cut sharply through the air. “I explicitly
told you
not
to
ask him about to do with the homicide. That's enough. We're going.”

She made to move towards Anais, but Marcus raised his head, his
bleary eyes focused solely on Anais. He didn't appear to notice
Officer Hughes placing a firm hand on Anais' arm.

“
You
have to believe me. I'd never kill anyone. You know me, Anais,
please - you have to help me.”

Anais resisted the sharp tug on her arm. Her eyes took in Marcus'
rumpled clothes that were still smeared with dirt and blood. There
were bloody fingerprints all over his jeans, and spots of red on his
navy shirt. She could almost see Grayson standing in front of her,
his yellow eyes dull and blank as he repeatedly smashed a brick into
Pearson's skull. She blinked, and Marcus' pitiful form reappeared.

There was one more thing she needed to find out, to prove whether
or not her theory was correct. Officer Hughes was still pulling on
her arm.