Deadly Lover (31 page)

“Bradley...” Lily tried to press him, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes and she realized that Jolaj and Brian had edged closer, standing at her sides.

Brian held his hand out palm up. Lily slipped her fingers into his grasp and her heart sped with anticipation or dread of what he would say. “She did that to edge you farther out, Lil. She always worried you’d step back into the family and everyone would turn on her.”

“It was my fault,” Bradley said, studying his toes. “I never loved her like I should have.” He looked up and finally met Lily’s eyes. “I should never have given you that ultimatum about dropping out of Metro academy. But when you refused and I was spending all my time at the college. Rose was there. Sweet, giving, perfect wife material according to everything my dad had been preaching to me for years.”

Lily so didn’t need to hear any of that. Her stomach turned. “None of that matters anymore.”

When Jolaj wrapped a hand on her hip, she welcomed the connection they we’re building. “Your brother said something about a lead?”

“Lily could have kissed him in gratitude for the change of subject. “Tie LeRoue, he might know what clinic Jennifer went to. It could lead to more info on Simon Rawls.”

“Maybe I can help.” Bradley was still trying to be helpful. “I have contacts—”

Brian released Lily’s hand and edged between her and Bradley. “We’ve got it covered. Why don’t you go back in and sit with Mom. She could use your support right now. She hasn’t been comfortable with the O’Learys in years.”

“Sure. No problem.” He gave Lily one last sorrow-filled look then went back inside.

 When the door closed behind Bradley, the knots in Lily’s stomach eased. She activated her com-link and put in a call to Tie. She kept the com on audible. Brian leaned to hear, but Jolaj had no need. She stayed close but gave her more room.

Tie’s smooth voice filled the space between them. “Hey,
cher
. What’s up with you? You
mebe
have news?”

“Sorry, Tie. No news yet.”

“No worries. You’ll catch this bastard,
oui
?”

“Yes.” She didn’t tell him she had more reason than ever to go after the killer with all her heart and soul. “But I need your help.”

“Anything,
cher
. Anything at all.”

“I need to know which clinic you took Jennifer to for the bite.”

“The clinic? That would be the Clinton Street Clinic.”

“Isn’t that next to the Corner Grocery?”

“
Oui
.

She looked around and found Jolaj watching, listening intently. Brian frowned. He hadn’t yet made the connection. “One of the other victims worked there.”

Tie made a humming noise. “Anything else I can tell you,
cher
? I, ah, I’ll be tied up for a bit after this.”

“Working?”

“Non,
cher
. Playing.” There was thick, sultry sin laced through his voice and with what she knew of Tie and his lover, Lily suspected his reference to being tied up had been perfectly literal. “Luc,” he continued, “he has been doing his best to keep my thoughts off Jen and Luc’s best is damn good.”

“I have no doubt.”

Brian touched Lily’s shoulder to get her attention. “The doctor?”

Lily nodded. “Tie, can you recall the doctor’s name?”

The com went quiet, then Tie answered, “
Non
, sorry,
cher
. I do remember it was a man, mid-thirties. Good-looking.”

“Okay, Tie. Thanks.”

“You be careful,
cher
.”

Lily closed the link.

“Sounds like we need to make a visit to that clinic,” said Jolaj.

Lily turned around to look directly at him. “You’re not wearing a Law Keeper tunic.” It had registered when he first arrived, but the realization of what it might mean seeped in bit by bit.

He put a hand out to cup her cheek. “The tunic never made me who I am. I still need to stop these attacks and prevent any more killings. That hasn’t changed.”

Her jaw clenched compulsively and she closed her eyes to fight the angry regret. They had stripped him of his role because of her.

He pressed his lips to her temple. “We’ll talk about this later,” he said, leaning back. “Now we go on the hunt for the killer.”

A check of the weather confirmed that a storm was approaching. Brian flew the Jet-hop he’d rented at the transport center. He complained about having to fight the wind but the hop rode steady. Lily teased him about being a baby and the moment felt good. She had no choice but to accept Jolaj’s decision not to talk about what had happened at the Council meeting. He sat in the back while she sat in front with Brian.

Lightning flashed in the distance, but still no rain when they parked in front of the clinic.

Brian studied the street. “None of the victims are listed in the clinic’s database.”

Lily watched his eyes take in the neighborhood. “You hacked in?”

“The Pool did,” he said.

“The Pool?” Jolaj asked.

“It is a community of people who spend their time connected to a network of computers,” Brian explained. “They’re in every metropolitan area and they have access to practically every networked system.” Brian continued to talk as they walked up to the clinic entrance. “The people that make up The Pool use neural implants and biosensors to connect to the network. They can move through data streams as easily as we move from place to place in the physical world. Easier.”

“The security for med records is typically pretty tight and protected by tough privacy laws,” Lily commented.

Jolaj frowned. “And these people, The Pool, they accessed the clinic’s data?”

Brian rested a hand on the clinic door but delayed opening it. “That’s right, but they didn’t have to break any laws to do it. Some of my white-hat contacts have a contract to verify med record security.” A hint of a grin lightened Brian’s features. “I think the health department is going to be getting a recommendation to upgrade network security for neighborhood clinics this week.”

He pulled the door open and they walked into the small reception area. A young brunette with plain features sat behind a wide counter. She looked up from her work screen, already asking for their health codes.

“Where not hear for that. We need your help in an investigation.” Brian stepped up to the counter and slipped a flex screen from his coat pocket and unrolled it on the counter top. He laid his hand on the thin, flexible material. “If you check your link, I just sent you Metro credentials. We’re working with them on official business.”

Lily had a feeling the credentials were a bit exaggerated. Jolaj stayed quiet behind her.

The receptionist looked them over and nodded. “How can I help you?”

Brian didn’t even move, but vid stills of Jennifer Richardson and Mary Santini popped onto the screen. “Have you seen either of these women in the clinic?”

The woman’s face twisted then her features smoothed into a professional mask. “I can’t give out patient information.”

“Both these women are dead and you have our credentials.”

She glanced over to her work screen rechecking what Brian had sent her and nodded.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t recognize either girl.”

Brian’s eyes flicked away from her as he focused on something only he could see. His body language changed as if someone had dumped a power boost into his system.

His hand slid out to touch the screen again and the images changed. It filled with vid stills. Rawls on the street outside the clinic, Rawls keying in a door code, image after image of Rawls going in and out of the clinic with date stamps spanning months before her death.

The receptionist brightened. “That’s Dr. Rawls. She volunteered here for a while. Haven’t seen her in several weeks.”

Jolaj moved closer to get a better look.

Brian and Lily exchanged a glance. “Snow found vid of Rawls at the docks and followed her here.”

Lily smiled. “Give Snow a gold star.”

Brian nodded but then he frowned as he focused on a point over Lily’s shoulder. “We’re having trouble getting details on staff and patient appointments. The victims aren’t in the clinic list but if we can narrow it down to patients Dr. Rawls saw, we could try to verify identities and take a second look for anyone who might have registered under an alias.” His gaze refocused then snapped back to the receptionist. “Could you provide us with a list of Dr. Rawls’ patients?”

The receptionist wrinkled her nose. “Not for Dr. Rawls. She didn’t see patients. She helped out with the lab work.”

Lily’s thoughts went back to their earlier discussions about Rawls. Could this be where she’d been doing her lab work? “Sara would want to see any lab notes.”

Brian leaned into the woman. “What do you say? Notes?”

“That I can do.” She tapped out a couple of selections on her screen. “You should have the file now. Not much there. She must not have been much of a note taker.”

“Or she kept her notes on her private unit,” Jolaj suggested. “Did you know Dr. Rawls well?”

The receptionist hesitated. “No, not really.”

Lily remembered Tie’s description of the doctor. “We believe Jennifer saw a male doctor, mid-thirties, good-looking. Sound like anyone you can think of?”

The woman frowned. “Could be. We have lots of staff here. Most aren’t full time. They work shifts to meet the med board requirements for community care.”

When Jolaj looked confused, Brian explained. “Medical staff are required to work a minimum number of hours annually in a neighborhood based med facility to keep their license. The med board’s way of ensuring the neighborhood clinics can get good medical staff, since they can’t pay as well or offer as many opportunities for advancement as the large med centers.”

“So, where does that leave us?” asked Lily.

The receptionist said, “I can give you staff lists.”

 “Snow will be able to do a facial recognition scan on the same camera that picked up Rawls coming in to the building,” said Brian. “If we can figure out what days the victims were here, maybe we can use that to narrow down a list of folks for Sean’s team to check out.”

To Lily, it sounded like they might finally have something to work with. “Maybe they can find someone who spoke to them, knew them, anything that might have connected the two girls.”

“Is it possible that coming here for care of this injury is what made them targets?” asked Brian.

Lily nodded. “We should pay special attention to anyone who would have recognized the injury as a bite and might have understood its significance.”

Brian frowned. “Significance? Do we know that already?”

The quiet that fell over the group seemed to be answer enough for Brian. Lily would have to explain later, out of earshot from the receptionist who was watching them with rapt attention.

“Okay,” said Brian, directing his next question to the receptionist. “If I give you the dates, can you give me the staff that worked that day and the patient list?”

“Sure.”

Lily stood back, feeling antsy and frustrated. She wanted something solid. Today. Now. She was tired of waiting. A loud boom rocked through her already revved senses. The glass storefront of the clinic shattered and the floor shook. She followed close behind Jolaj as he dashed through the door. She cast a quick glance at Brian. “You stay here and do this,” she said. “We can deal with whatever is out there.”

When Brian nodded, Lily turned her focus back to the street. A loud boom and a wave of heat flashed four meters ahead. She latched on to the doorframe. Absorbed the rumbling vibration of the explosion.

It rolled across the front of the building, originating in the little grocery next door. Fire licked out of the shattered front window, but the devastation barely reached beyond the storefront. Improvised explosive. A small crowd of angry citizens stood in the street shouting and yelling. They carried lit signs reading
Go home!
and
Employing Ormney funds murderers!

“Damn.” Lily reached for Jolaj’s tunic but he was already
slipping
and her hand met empty space.

 She knew he hadn’t left the area. He’d probably taken, what for him, was the easiest route into the building. He’d make sure the people inside were safe and that left her to deal with the rowdies in the street.

Lily activated her link to the emergency response net. “Reporting riot in progress, my location.”

As she listened to the AI respond, she activated her locate beacon. She ignored the heat pulsing against the bare skin of her cheeks, despite the light mist starting to fall, and took a moment to search the half lit faces of the crowd.

She wondered if the killer was there, among them. Had he started this? Was he watching? Or was the riot just reaction, another offshoot of the violence he’d started? Ordinary folks shouted and hissed, some in jeans and sneakers, some in transit system uniforms, others sporting the caps handed out at the local welders union, all with faces twisted in anger or fear. No one seemed to be relishing the destruction enough to be the killer.

The market’s fire suppression system kicked in, jetting chemical-laced water onto the fire with a hiss of steam, spewing a bitter waft of the flame retardant chemicals into the air. The excess water sprayed through the broken glass, splashing onto the pavement near Lily’s feet.

A chorus of boos swelled up from the crowd. The noise jerked her attention to two women standing at the front. The open duffel bags at their feet tagged them as the fire starters, but they continued to chant, showing no signs of moving to reignite the blaze. Near the back of the mob, a man in a shiny, pea green bag-suit caught her eye. Something about his movements bothered her. He danced from foot to foot, arms held out in the rounded A-frame stance of street corner bullies. His dance took him more and more to the side of the crowd, but it didn’t seem likely he was trying to leave.

Senses alert, Lily moved carefully toward him.

His eyes were on the storefront and his hands darted out, then in, toward the deep pockets of the suit. She lengthened her stride but not in time to reach him before he pulled out a boom-needler. Once clear of the crowd, he wasted no time in pointing the deadly, black market weapon at the store front.