Disruptor (10 page)

Kevin nodded. “It’s also searchable.”

A sharp intake of breath. The tablet shook in
her hand. “So if somebody was looking for anything unusual in this
general area…”

He stood then took the tablet from her.
“Sooner or later, they’ll find out about the Cabrini Ghost.”

“I’m not a ghost.” She squeezed her eyes shut
for a moment. “I’m not…” Her hands fluttered in the air like
nervous birds unable to take flight. “I’m still a person. They
didn’t take that away from me. I didn’t let them.”

Kevin took her hands in his. She held on
tight, as if needing an anchor. If that’s what she needed, that’s
what he would be. He pushed away his own shock at the thought and
gently pulled her into an embrace. Adding to his surprise, she
didn’t resist.

“I’m sorry I didn’t think to tell you
sooner.” He spoke just above a whisper as he stroked her hair. “My
head’s been kind of foggy lately, to tell the truth.”

“I have to get out of Point Sable.”

A pain hit him deep in his chest that had
nothing to do with broken ribs. “I know. We’ll have your new
identity soon. I promise.”

She pulled away. “It may not be safe for me
to wait. The people looking for me, the stuff about the Ghost will
be a giant red flag for them. As soon as they come across that,
they’ll know I’m here.”

“They’ll know you’re in Point Sable but
that’s it. And they’ll be looking in Cabrini, not a downtown
penthouse. You’re safer here, and you’re better off waiting for the
ID.”

Dani stepped away, arms wrapped around her
midsection. “It needs to be soon.”

“I’ll call my friend, set up a meeting for
when she gets off work. In the meantime, we’ll work on the stuff
she needs. I’ll take a picture of you. You can sit down and figure
out a name and all the other details.” Kevin shoved his hands in
the pockets of his jeans to keep from reaching for her again. She
was leaving. He didn’t need to get used to touching her. Plus he
was too damn old for a stupid crush. The very thought of it was
absurd.

He wouldn’t miss her. Not at all.

“You said your head’s been foggy. Did you get
a concussion that night?”

He held up his thumb and forefinger an inch
apart. “Just a little one. I’m fine. Just…I don’t know. Not quite
myself.”

“You never had anything like that happen
before?”

“No.”

“It can mess you up for a while.”

The sound of their laughter as the
gangbangers kicked him still echoed in his head far too often than
he’d ever admit to anyone. Waking up drenched in sweat, on the
verge of a shout. The nauseating terror he’d felt at being back at
the shelter. Yeah, it had messed him up, but he would deal with
it.

Dani offered no advice or words of comfort.
“I’ll think about a name.” She left the room and slowly climbed the
stairs. Huddled into herself as if she wanted to make herself as
small as possible. Clearly she had some shit of her own to deal
with. Kevin stood there for several minutes, debating whether to
follow her up the stairs. See if he could get her to talk.
Ultimately he abandoned the idea and settled in with his
laptop.

The light looked different from the huge
windows in Kevin’s guest room. Whether it was the height or the
part of town, Dani didn’t know. Street level Cabrini was so dirty
even the sunlight had an unpleasant cast to it. Here in a downtown
penthouse, the world looked bright and clean and full of things she
knew about in theory but had no experience with. She pulled a chair
next to the window and stared out for hours. Puffy white clouds
scudded across the crisp blue sky. Sunlight played off the glass
towers. She would like to have seen the lake but his place had no
view of that side of the city. Big jumbo jets passed on their way
to and from the Point Sable airport. The only helicopters she could
make out were from news stations and hospitals. This side of town
must have been too nice for police choppers.

Off and on she napped in the chair. Mostly
she watched the skyline. The sun sank behind the glass towers, the
vivid blue of the sky darkening to twilight. Restlessness pushed
Dani to her feet. She moved through a series of stretches then
dropped to the floor to do sit-ups and push-ups. She was ninety
seconds into a plank when a knock sounded from the door.

“Come in.” She rolled to a sitting position,
her back to the bed.

Kevin entered the room as if scared of what
he’d find there. Dressed in a light gray suit and white shirt with
no tie, contacts instead of glasses, his dark gold hair smoothed
back from his forehead, he looked ready for a date. Dani narrowed
her eyes, a knot of tension forming in the back of her cheek.

Not her business.

“I need to leave soon to make the appointment
with my friend. Did you decide on a name and other details?” He
held out a pen and small notepad.

Only one name had occurred to her. She got to
her feet and stood in front of him, grabbed the pen and pad a
little rougher than necessary. Last minute hesitation had her
holding the pen poised over the paper. She took a deep breath, her
nose filling with bergamot and rose and maybe musk. She glanced at
Kevin, keeping her gaze only as high as his stubble. So it was
cologne, not aftershave.

She wrote hurriedly and shoved the pen and
notepad at him then returned to the chair by the window. “How long
will it take?”

“She said she’d let me know tonight.” He
tucked the items away in the inside pocket of his jacket and
produced his phone. “We need a couple of photos too.”

The tension spread to the back of her head
and down her neck, bringing a bout of self-consciousness with
it.

“I think in front of the wall would be best,”
he said.

Dani nodded and rose, looking down at
herself. The dark blue t-shirt she wore would be fine, but he
hadn’t supplied any makeup with the clothes. Hell, she hadn’t even
brushed her hair today.

Kevin dropped his phone on the bed and
disappeared into the bathroom. He returned with a hairbrush. Heat
flamed her cheeks. She stood frozen for a moment. Instead of
offering her the brush, Kevin placed his fingers on her shoulder
and guided her to turn so that she stood with her back to him. He
gathered her hair and ran the brush through it slowly, careful with
the tangles. The backs of his fingers touched the skin beneath her
hairline as he lifted the strands in sections. Shivers traveled
down her spine at every brief skin to skin contact. The scent of
his cologne surrounded her. She closed her eyes and took a deep
breath.

“I’ll be gone longer than I thought,” he
said. “My sister called. She wants to have dinner. She’s a doctor,
she’s been a little worried about me since what happened.”

Dani exhaled slowly, all of the tension in
her muscles draining away.

“I promise not to have any wild parties while
you’re gone.”

Kevin smoothed her hair one last time and
arranged it to flow down her back. “If you have any wild parties,
you better invite me.” He turned her around and looked her
over.

It felt…strange. Men had been looking at her
like she was a juicy piece of meat for way longer than they should
have. She’d become inured to it out of necessity. The way Kevin
looked at her now was completely different. A little bit of frank
appraisal. More than a little appreciation. Just enough of what
might have been desire to bring the tension back, but a different
kind of tension. The kind that didn’t feel bad at all.

Kevin smiled. “Now you’re ready to have your
picture made.”

Dani stood against the wall and looked right
at the tiny lens of his cell phone camera. He snapped a pic then
saved it. “One more, and this time maybe a smile.”

“Are you supposed to be smiling on your
driver’s license?”

“You shouldn’t have the exact same photo on
your driver’s license and your passport. Imagine you’re about to go
on the vacation of a lifetime and give me a big smile.”

Dani couldn’t imagine any vacation, much less
a great one.

“Do you like the beach?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mountains?”

“Never been there, either.”

“Surely something can get a smile out of you.
Come on. Think of something. Anything.”

The mystery tattoo on his right upper arm was
the first thing to come to mind. Then the way he’d smiled at her
this morning, slow and lazy and knowing, and that wink. Who the
hell winked anymore? He did, and it worked for him.

She resisted, because she didn’t like the
idea that he could bring a smile to her face. What that might mean,
if she weren’t skipping town as soon as possible. But then she
thought of the voice mails he’d left on the phone she’d stolen from
him. The corners of her mouth lifted without her permission. Not a
big smile, but judging from the way his face lit up, it would do.
He took the photo and nodded.

“That’s perfect.” He put his phone away. “I
left you some food in the fridge. Make yourself at home.”

“Thanks.”

“Can I bring you anything?”

“No, I’m fine. I won’t break anything,
promise.”

“I’m worried about you being without company,
not supervision. There’s a difference.”

Yeah, there was. She liked it that he knew
that. “Your sister’s worried about you. Don’t bail on her.”

Kevin nodded and strode to the door. “I’ll
see you later.”

“Have a nice time with your sister.”

He grinned. “It’s always nice to be lectured
at about my life choices.”

Alone again, Dani returned to the window.
Tired of staring at the skyline, she closed the curtains and left
the guest room. Time to check out the fridge and that giant TV
downstairs. Half an hour and a plate of pasta later, it was the
tablet that drew her attention. She didn’t know the first thing
about social media but she knew electronics. In moments she had the
tablet awake and found the app he’d used earlier.

There were new messages, tweets, whatever the
hell, in the #CabriniGhost column.

Anybody seen #CabriniGhost tonight?

#CabriniGhost needs to tell my boss to keep
his fucking hands off my ass.

Saw a fight on Cliffwood and Volunteer. No
#CabriniGhost to shut that shit down

No #CabriniGhost in days, where he at???

That one rankled her but she kept reading.
Most of it was idle gossip made digital. Speculation about the
Ghost’s identity, whereabouts, what the cops might do if they
caught the vigilante.

Get their asses kicked, was the answer to
that one. She didn’t automatically hate all cops but she’d had
enough dealings with police while on the streets to not have much
use for them. Asking one for help was for damn sure something she’d
never do.

Holy shit. Dead girl by the river.
#CabriniGhost needs to get her ass back out here.

Dani swore. After helping a few, now
everybody expected her to, what exactly? Do what the cops couldn’t,
or wouldn’t, do? Clean up the South Side? Dani was nobody’s savior.
It was long past time she stopped that nonsense anyway, especially
if people were talking about it on the Goddamn internet. She dumped
the tablet on the sofa and searched the coffee table for a TV
remote. Maybe she’d find something about vampires to watch, look
for some popcorn in Kevin’s well-stocked kitchen, and just
chill.

It took her a whole ten seconds to give up on
the remote and pick up the tablet.

Not an overdose. This girl’s throat is all
marked up. Somebody killed her. #CabriniGhost

Anybody know this girl? #CabriniGhost

A picture was attached to the last tweet,
partially obscured. She tapped on the screen and the rectangle
expanded to a much larger view.

Jesus fucking Christ. It was one of the
Russian girls.

The photo had enough detail to lead Dani to a
strip of gravel and garbage filled land between the lake and an
abandoned machine shop. The location was a few blocks south of
where the traffickers brought the girls to shore and transferred
them to a van. Dani waited, her back to the north facing alley
wall, hearing dialed up and night vision on. She’d found a black
leather jacket in a hall closet at Kevin’s, just big enough to
obscure her true size but not so large that it would impede her
movement. A black balaclava that had been tossed in with some ski
apparel was now bunched in a jacket pocket.

Full dark had fallen. The usual stink of the
lake was worse tonight, underscored by something dark and foul.
Satisfied there was no one around, Dani stepped away from the wall
and approached the rocky shore. It didn’t take long to find the
body. She just followed the smell of decomposition.

A single high heel peeked out from under a
ripped plastic bag that rippled in the wind. The girl’s body lay
mostly exposed to the elements, her dress torn, eyes open and face
frozen in terror. Dani knelt at her side, careful not to touch
anything. This had been the second girl down the fire escape, the
one who’d practically vibrated with fear during her escape. She
looked so young, younger than Dani had ever felt. A girl this young
should have been safe, worried about homework and boys. Not dead,
surrounded by trash and God knows how far from home.

Another face hovered over that of the unnamed
girl. Dani blinked the illusion away. The people who called her a
ghost had no clue. She was the haunted one, haunted by horrors and
her own weakness.

Now was not the time for marinating in her
own misery. Dani forced the past away and focused on the dead girl
in front of her.

A ligature mark circled the girl’s neck.
Bruises were scattered over her body. Damage around the eyes
suggested…Jesus, birds or some kind of animal. Dani suppressed the
urge to vomit and lowered her face deeper into the jacket. The
faint lingering scent of Kevin’s cologne helped cover the stench
coming from the body. Nothing but leaving could help with the
sight, so Dani hurried up her examination.