The Adventures of Lazarus Gray (34 page)

Eun cleared his throat,
exchanging a glance with Samantha. "Mind if I invite somebody
along?"

"Not at all. I think we’d
all like to meet this mystery person you’ve been dating. I imagine
he’ll fit right in."

Eun smiled, relaxing a bit.
He instinctively knew that Samantha hadn’t told his secrets:
Lazarus simply saw the truth, as he always did. "Thank
you."

Lazarus nodded. "So. Where
shall we go?"

"Italian."

"A steak house."

"That deli on 8th
Street."

The group looked around at
each other and everyone abruptly began to laugh. It was a good
sound, Lazarus decided. He hoped to hear more of it as the days
went by.

THE END

An Adventure
Starring

Lazarus Gray & The
Rook

Written by Barry
Reese

Chapter I

Birds of a
Feather

Maurice Chapman opened a
small white container and pushed a rubber-gloved finger into the
white material it contained. He then smeared the grease under his
nose, wincing slightly. He offered the container to the two people
who were in the autopsy room with him: the dainty, beautiful
Samantha Grace and her employer, the tall and thin Lazarus Gray.
"You’ll want some of this," Maurice said when neither of his guests
took the container.

"We’ll be fine," Gray
answered, his mismatched eyes focused on the body that was hidden
beneath a white sheet. The corpse’s feet extended past the sheet
and he could see that her toes had been painted red, probably a
week or so before the murder. The paint was chipped in places and
in need of a touch-up. The scent of medicinal products and
cleansers was almost overwhelming, but it didn’t come close to
matching the odor of putrification that arose from the dead
body.

Chapman resisted the urge
to press the matter. He was sixty-two years old, born and raised in
the cesspool that was Sovereign City. He’d seen burly cops enter
his lab and turn away vomiting at the things he showed them. He
knew false bravado when he saw it – and neither of these two were
displaying it. Lazarus Gray looked like a man who had seen enough
death to no longer be disturbed by it. Chapman studied him for a
moment, having read about the man in the newspapers but never
having met him before. The head of Assistance Unlimited’s hair was
more gray than brown, making him look older than he was, though a
close examination of his features revealed that he was in his late
twenties. He was tall and slender, though with a rangy musculature
that indicated he could more than hold himself in a
fight.

The girl was another matter
entirely and it was only because Chapman had known the girl during
her youth that he knew she was more than she appeared. A stunning
blonde whose parents were wealthy philanthropists, Samantha had
grown up with every opportunity possible. She could speak five
languages fluently, was a champion swimmer, and was a veritable
encyclopedia on topics as varied as fashion, European history, and
the socio-political climate of the Orient. Chapman would normally
have balked at having a female in his lab, especially when he was
about to show off a corpse in this state – but Samantha Grace was
no mere slip of a girl, despite how she might look at first
glance.

Chapman set the container
aside and pulled the sheet away, revealing a body that had been
horribly mutilated. The nude form was neatly bisected at the waist
and the face had been slashed from the corners of the mouth to the
ears, giving her a macabre parody of a smile. The dead woman’s
black hair was matted and still bore traces of leaves and insect
casings. Her body was that of a fit young woman and was admirably
formed, but the unhealthy condition of the body was consistent with
being exposed to the elements for several days before
discovery.

"The victim was 24 years of
age," Chapman began. "Her body was found in a vacant lot on the
west side of South Page Avenue midway between West 42nd Street and
Robeson Avenue."

Samantha exchanged a quick
glance with Lazarus. "That’s not far from our headquarters." She
was obviously troubled to think that a woman could have been
brutally assaulted so close to where she and her friends slept
every night.

Gray nodded silently,
urging Chapman to continue with a quick motion of his
hand.

"The body was discovered by
a local resident named Betty King who was walking with her four
year old son earlier this morning. If you’ll notice, the wounds are
very clean. They were done with surgical instruments and the body
was drained of blood. There are signs that the corpse was washed,
probably in an attempt to remove traces of evidence. Furthermore,
the body was posed with the left arm draped across the breasts and
the right hand covering the pubis region."

"As if she were covering
her nudity," Samantha observed and Chapman murmured an agreement.
"So she wasn’t killed at the scene? Someone dumped her
there?"

Chapman spread his hands.
"I’m no detective but in my opinion, that would be the
case."

"Who was she?" Lazarus
asked. Chapman found himself staring at the man’s eyes: one was a
dull brown and the other a glittering emerald.

"Her name was Claudia
Schuller. A packet was sewn to the skin between her shoulder blades
and it contained the items you see over there." Chapman gestured
toward a nearby table upon which a number of papers had been
arranged.

Gray moved toward them,
slowly touching each one. Claudia’s birth certificate was the first
thing he lifted, but he also brushed his fingers across business
cards, photographs, names written on pieces of paper, and an
address book with the name Max Davies embossed on the
cover.

"Has anyone contacted Mr.
Davies?"

"Of course we have. We
don’t just sit around waiting on you to solve all the crimes for
us."

Lazarus turned his head to
see that Inspector Cord of the Sovereign PD had entered the room.
He was a whippet-thin man who had one eye that seemed to be
perpetually narrowed. His disdain for Assistance Unlimited – and
its founder, in particular – was well known. "Inspector. Just the
man I was hoping to see."

"I doubt that." Cord
reached up and removed his hat, bowing slightly to Samantha.
"Afternoon, Miss."

Samantha gave him a cool
smile in reply.

"You were saying that your
men had contacted Mr. Davies?" Lazarus prompted.

"Oh, yes." Cord took out a
cigarette and lit it, though he knew that Gray hated the smell. He
moved closer to Gray, blowing out a long cloud of smoke that
enveloped the taller man. "He’s here in Sovereign, on business he
says. Apparently, his father – Warren Davies, now dead – was a
newspaperman back in Boston. One of the papers he owned at one time
was The Sovereign Gazette. The younger Davies still has some stock
in the paper, though he’s a minority holder. Says he met Miss
Schuller for the first time about a week ago at a dinner party
thrown by the Gazette’s current majority owner, Theodore
Groseclose. Supposedly, they went out together for drinks two
nights later and that was the last time he saw her. Coincidentally,
it’s the last time anybody’s reported seeing her."

Samantha looked at Chapman.
"How long ago did she die?"

"I’d estimate it was about
five days ago, given the rate of decomposition."

Lazarus knew what his aide
was getting at and so did Inspector Cord. Five days ago would have
been the same night she’d had dinner with Max Davies. "Where is Mr.
Davies now?" Gray asked, confident he already knew the
answer.

"He’s coming in for
questioning right now. I think we’ve got him dead to rights." Cord
took a long drag on his cigarette, a look of confidence on his
face. "Last man seen with her and there’s his address book right
there."

"Then who sewed this packet
onto her back?" Gray asked, his words carefully neutral but his
eyes betraying his dislike for the other man.

"What do you mean? He did,
of course. Davies."

"Why would he include his
own address book? And these business cards: Robert Phillips,
Chairman of the city’s Building Association; Merle Hansome,
Attorney; Theodore Groseclose… all of them should be questioned but
I don’t think any of them are the killer." Lazarus looked back at
the corpse of Claudia Schuller. He tried to imagine her in life,
young and beautiful. It was difficult with her reduced to a
bisected piece of meat. "Whoever did this horrible act wanted us to
know these men’s names. The question is: why?"

Cord looked like he’d
bitten into something sour. "You’re over thinking things, Gray. In
order to kill like this, a man has to be insane. Once you establish
that, none of his actions should be taken as a surprise. I’ve seen
killers throw themselves into our grasp, explaining every gruesome
detail of their acts. That’s probably what happened here. Davies
wants to be caught." Cord lowered his voice, doing a stage whisper
that was easily overheard by Samantha. "Besides, this isn’t the
first time that Davies has come to the attention of the
law."

Gray looked at him
steadily, waiting for Cord to continue. When it became obvious that
Gray wasn’t going to say anything, Cord took several more puffs on
his cigarette before uttering a sigh.

"Back in Boston, there were
accusations that he might be related to a murderous vigilante known
as The Rook. Nothing could ever be proven but get this: he’s put
his home up for sale. Rumor has it he’s planning to head out west
or maybe down south. Why would an innocent man flee the town he’d
grown up in? Maybe because he’s not so innocent?"

Gray turned away from Cord
and caught Samantha’s eye. Without a word to Cord and just a brief
thanks to Chapman, the duo exited the room.

"Where to, Chief?" Samantha
asked, the clicking of her heels on the tiled floor seeming very
loud. Gray noticed she was wearing a new scent today and he found
the perfume to be quite pleasing. He wasn’t blind to her interest
in him but for many reasons, he didn’t think it wise to encourage
it.

"We’re going to speak to
Max Davies."

Samantha smiled softly.
"You’re planning to get to him before Cord does, aren’t
you?"

A rare grin seemed to dance
upon Gray’s lips, but it vanished so quickly that Samantha wasn’t
sure if she had actually seen it. "No sense in allowing the
Inspector to ruin a perfectly good investigation."

***

Max Davies was thirty-five
years old, though he could have passed for a man ten years younger.
He was stunningly handsome with wavy black hair and a slightly
Olive complexion, which made Samantha think that he had
Mediterranean ancestry. He wore a black suit, white shirt and red
tie, looking like he’d stepped off the cover of a European fashion
magazine.

Having booked the penthouse
at Sovereign City’s most expensive hotel, Davies was reclining in
relative luxury when Lazarus and Samantha arrived to speak with
him. The room looked barely lived in, despite the fact he’d been
staying there for over a week.

Davies was sitting now, his
legs crossed before him. He held a small glass of scotch in one
hand though Gray was positive the man was merely swirling it about
in his glass for effect. Twice he’d brought it to his lips without
actually taking a sip.

"You two just caught me,"
Davies was saying, gesturing for both of his guests to take a seat.
"I was just walking out the door."

"We appreciate you taking
the time to speak to us," Samantha said, smoothing her skirt over
her long legs. She noticed that Max’s eyes dipped down to watch the
gesture and she smiled. Though she was the equal of any man when it
came to a fight, she wasn’t above using her beauty to her
advantage. After all, it was one more weapon in her
arsenal.

"How could I refuse an
invitation from someone so attractive?" Max smoothly replied. With
a twinkle in his eye, he added, "And might I say, Miss Grace, that
you’re quite a looker as well."

Samantha stared at him for
a moment before the joke hit her. She looked over at Lazarus and
saw that he wasn’t quite as charmed as she was.

"Mr. Davies, perhaps you
don’t understand the severity of this situation," Lazarus said, his
voice betraying absolutely no emotion. "You’re the last person
known to have seen Claudia Schuller alive. And an address book
bearing your name was found on her person."

"Along with the business
cards of other men, isn’t that right?"

"How did you know that?"
Lazarus asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Inspector Cord told me
when he phoned earlier."

Samantha could see Lazarus
visibly composing himself. He didn’t care much for Cord’s methods,
which bordered on the incompetent at times. "You’re still
considered the prime suspect. Could you tell us the nature of your
relationship with Miss Schuller?"