The Adventures of Lazarus Gray (38 page)

"And then?"

"Then we’re going to look
for Mr. Hansome."

"I don’t have any clue
where Devil Face has taken him!" The Rook muttered. "What are you
proposing? That we drive around town in hopes of spotting them
somewhere?"

"Not quite," Lazarus
answered. "All of my aides regularly ingest a radioactive isotope
that allows me to easily trace them should they vanish while
performing their duties. It’s quite harmless. Earlier today, I took
action to ensure that all of the men on our list of suspects
ingested those same isotopes."

The Rook stopped just
inside the fully stocked medical lab. "Including me?"

"Including you."

"How in the
world--?"

"It was different for each
of you – but for you, I slipped it into the scotch you poured back
at your hotel room. You barely sipped any of it, but you still
managed to swallow enough for me to trace you."

The Rook’s lips spread into
a grin. "I just realized you just tricked me into revealing my
identity."

"It wasn’t hard to figure
out," Lazarus said in all honesty, leading The Rook toward a chair.
After the vigilante was seated and Lazarus had begun treating his
injuries, he continued, "The authorities in Boston have nearly
uncovered your dual identities on several occasions. You’ve been so
sloppy that it almost seems like you want to be caught."

The Rook winced as Lazarus
dabbed antiseptic into his knife wound. "Yeah, I’ve been told that
before. It’s just so hard to balance a personal life with my
private war… Considering how my father was killed because his
enemies knew who he was, I thought it was important to keep my own
identity secret. But when push has come to shove, I’ve erred on the
side of catching bad guys, even when it meant that my identity
might be compromised."

"I understand about the
nature of dual lives," Lazarus admitted. He was normally a taciturn
individual, but he sensed that Max Davies was someone who could
fully understand the difficulties he faced. "Not long ago, I was a
man named Richard Winthrop. I was a member of an international
cartel with their fingers in every occult conspiracy you can think
of. When I turned against them, I was killed… but here in Sovereign
City, I was reborn. Now I find elements of my old life encroaching
upon the new with disturbing regularity."

The Rook seemed to sense
that he was being honored with this show of familiarity. He reached
out and squeezed the other man’s arm. "Maybe we can help each
other. You can give me advice when it looks like I’m skating on
thin ice with my secret identity… and I can offer you assistance in
dealing with those old friends of yours."

Lazarus pulled away,
reaching under a counter where he retrieved a gauze bandage. "I
just might take you up on that."

***

"I don’t like him," Eun
said for about the fifteenth time. He glanced over at Morgan, who
was leading the way down the hotel lobby. They had used their
status as members of Assistance Unlimited to convince the desk
clerk downstairs to tell them what rooms belonged to Mr. Melvin and
his secretary. To Morgan’s surprise, Melvin wasn’t in the penthouse
– rather, he was in one of the rooms on the fourth floor. Smithson,
as Lazarus had surmised, was in an adjoining suite.

Morgan reached up and
rubbed his fingertips over the slicked pencil-thin moustache that
covered his upper lip. "Eun, give it a rest. The Rook is on our
side."

"He’s wanted for
murder."

"I’ve killed more men than
I care to remember," Morgan pointed out. "Most of them were back in
my criminal days but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m a
murderer. At least The Rook supposedly hasn’t offed anyone who
didn’t deserve it."

Eun didn’t bother
responding but from the sour look on his face, there was no need
to. Morgan knew he was smarting more from his hurt pride than
anything else. Hoping that the younger man would get past his
distrust of The Rook, Morgan stopped outside Melvin’s door and gave
it a hard rap.

There was movement from
within and the door opened and revealed Melvin, dressed in a
smoking jacket and slippers. He seemed alert, despite the hour.
"Yes?" he asked.

"My name’s Morgan Watts. I
work for Assistance Unlimited. You’ve heard of us?"

"Of course. Who hasn’t?"
Understanding seemed to dawn in the old man’s eyes and he stepped
back, allowing them entrance. "This is about that horrible murder,
isn’t it? The Schuller girl?"

Morgan stepped inside but
Eun hung back. "My friend’s going to speak to your secretary. He’s
next door?"

"Yes. But I can access his
room with our adjoining door."

"We’d rather speak to each
of you separately." Morgan nodded at Eun, who moved toward
Smithson’s room. Morgan took the door from Melvin and shut it.
"You’re right about us being here about the murder. I wanted to ask
you how well you know Mr. Smithson."

"I’d trust him with my
life. If you’re going to accuse him of some wrongdoing, you’re just
going to end up with egg on your face. He’s morally upstanding."
Melvin took several steps toward a table where a half empty bottle
of vodka sat next to an empty glass. Morgan had thought he’d
detected the smell of alcohol on Melvin’s breath and now he knew
his senses had been correct. "Can I get you a drink?" Melvin asked,
sitting down with creaking knees.

"Normally, I’d like nothing
better, but I can’t afford that right now. I’m working." Morgan sat
down across from Melvin, his eyes flicking toward the door that led
into the adjoining room. If The Rook was correct and Smithson was
the murderer, Eun might be in grave danger. At the first sign of
danger, Morgan would burst into that room, guns blazing.

"What makes you think that
Smithson is the murderer?" Melvin asked, pouring himself a glass.
He tilted the bottle until the liquid reached the lip of the glass,
threatening to overflow.

"We’re not accusing
anyone," Morgan said. "As a matter of fact, Smithson’s name wasn’t
one of those found on the dead girl’s body. But most of the others
either have alibis or have other elements to their lives that
preclude them from being part of the killings."

"Killings?" Melvin asked,
his eyes shining. "There’s been more than one?"

"Yes. The press and the
local police don’t seem to have noticed, but Schuller wasn’t the
first girl to be killed. There have been several over the past few
years, mostly prostitutes and the like. We think we’re dealing with
a modern day Jack the Ripper."

"Oh, my," Melvin whispered,
the color draining from his face.

"What’s wrong?"

Melvin suddenly seemed very
fragile. "I think I might know something about all of this, after
all…"

Morgan leaned forward with
interest. It was at that moment that the sounds of gunfire rang out
from Smithson’s apartment.

***

Eun knew that he was being
wrongheaded but he couldn’t bring himself to change his opinion
with regards to The Rook. The man was trouble with a capital T as
far as Eun was concerned. He was still pondering this as Morgan
shut the door to Melvin’s room and Eun began to knock on
Smithson’s. There was no answer and Eun repeated the procedure,
applying a bit more force to the knocking this time.

When Smithson still did not
appear, Eun reached down and tried the doorknob. It was locked and
Eun pondered for a moment what to do. He could enter Melvin’s room
and try to cross over through the adjoining door, but he didn’t
want to expose the old man to any danger if Smithson was the
killer.

According to the clerk,
both Smithson and Melvin were supposedly in their rooms but only
one of them was answering – and while it would have made sense for
the elderly Melvin to be hard of hearing, it defied logic for
Smithson to be the same.

Eun took a step back and
raised his right foot. He drove it hard against the door, repeating
the blow twice more before the barrier cracked and swung open. Eun
heard movement from within and he hurried inside, saying, "Mr.
Smithson? Don’t be alarmed."

The first thing that Eun
noticed was that the room was illuminated by a single lamp, which
sat next to the bed. Lying on top of the sheets was Smithson, but
any hopes that he might shed some light on the murders was smashed
when Eun spotted the pool of crimson that lay beneath him. A bullet
hole over his heart was the source from which the blood had flowed
and Eun knew immediately that Smithson was dead and had been for at
least an hour.

A rustle of fabric drew
Eun’s attention away from the body. Standing in front of the open
sliding glass door that led to the balcony was a dark figure. Eun
remembered The Rook’s description of Devil Face and quickly
realized that this man did not match that look at all. This man
wore a white shirt covered by a gray vest, black tie, and an ebony
jacket. Over all of this was slung a dark opera-style cape that was
clasped about his neck. With black slacks and shoes, as well as
leather gloves and a top hat, the figure looked like he might beon
his way to a fancy ball. But the presence of an automatic in his
right hand and a large domino-style mask made it quite clear to Eun
that the man’s presence was a sinister one.

"I know how this looks,"
the man began, "but it’s not quite what you think."

Eun grinned and sprang
toward the man, eager to redeem his earlier defeat against The
Rook. He moved so quickly that the well-dressed man was unprepared
for the first blow that came: Eun caught him flat on the side of
the skull with a closed fist. The younger Korean followed with a
knee to the man’s midsection that knocked the air from the man’s
lungs.

Eun felt a sense of
elation, realizing that he might be about to singlehandedly solve
the entire case. If this man was the killer, then perhaps he was
working with Devil Face – or, just as likely, The Rook had made up
the whole thing and was working with this man.

The well-dressed man
recovered faster than Eun would have thought possible. He raised
his pistol and squeezed off two quick shots. The first whistled
past the Korean’s ear and passed through the sheet rock behind him.
The second stuck Eun in the left thigh and caused him to grit his
teeth in pain.

Eun had taken bullets
before and refused to give in. He was about to strike back when the
masked man pistol-whipped him, cracking Eun’s lip and sending a
spray of blood against the wall.

"I’m not the killer," the
masked man said. "I came here for the same reasons you did: to talk
to that man. I found him like that just minutes before you showed
up."

"I don’t believe you," Eun
hissed. "I’ve had it up to here with masked men telling me
lies."

"Not sure what you’re
talking about, friend, but I’m called The Dark Gentleman. And I’m
working to clean up the cesspool that Sovereign City’s
become."

At that moment, the
adjoining door to Melvin’s room burst open. Morgan sprinted
through, throwing himself into a rolling ball. He popped up next to
the bed and, with barely a glance at the corpse in the bed, opened
fire at The Dark Gentleman.

The masked man cried out in
surprise, hurling himself backwards. He landed against the balcony
railing and quickly twisted so that his legs were up and over it.
He dropped out of sight, leaving Eun and Morgan to rush forward in
hopes of catching a glimpse of his fate.

Down below, the city
streets were empty. It was a three-story drop but there was no sign
of The Dark Gentleman.

Morgan took note of his
friend’s bleeding shoulder and mouth. "What the hell
happened?"

"That guy in the mask that
you just shot at – he calls himself The Dark Gentleman. I’m
starting to think that those names on that girl’s body weren’t
suspects… they were targets. Hansome missing, Melvin’s secretary
killed… maybe these men know something and that’s why they’re being
bumped off now."

"Something that’s tied to
the murders of all those girls?"

Eun shrugged. He turned
back toward the bed, where Melvin was now standing. The old man was
staring at the body of his confidante. Melvin looked horrified and
one liver-spotted hand came up to cover his own mouth, as if he
wanted to stifle a scream.

"Mr. Melvin, we’re going to
summon the police," Eun said. "Can you remain here and wait for
them?"

Numbly, Melvin nodded. He
turned away from the corpse and seemed to regain some of his
strength now that he wasn’t faced with his secretary’s body. "He
was a good man, almost like a son to me."

Morgan caught Eun by the
sleeve. "How about making that call and then staying here with
Melvin? I can go looking for that guy without you."

"No," Eun answered firmly.
"I’m not being left behind."

"You’re hurt."

"I’m fine."

Morgan sighed and nodded.
He was pretty sure that The Dark Gentleman hadn’t left them any
kind of trail worth mentioning, but they had to make sure. He was
about to step out into the hall with Eun when he remembered that
Melvin had been about to say something to him before the shooting
began. He hesitated a moment, gesturing for Eun to go on without
him.