Nightmare - A Novel Part 24

Both students blanched but didn't protest when the human teacher lead them away. Father Ched-Hisak turned to Kendi. His wide brown eyes were hard.

"And you," he chattered, "you will once again find yourself on work detail."

"But they pushed-"

"That does not excuse your fighting," Father Ched-Hisak told him. "Finish this sentence: 'Serene must you walk the paths ...' "

" ' ...and serene must you ever remain,' " Kendi said automatically. "I know, I know."

"You do not know," Ched-Hisak said. "Otherwise you would not do these things. I will register your hours. Go to your friend."

Kendi had actually forgotten about Ben. He hurried down the stairs and found him sitting on a bench next to a brown-clad Sister whose gold medallion bore a square cross, the symbol of a medic. She had his left shoe off and was examining his ankle. Ben's face was tight with pain. The crowd that had gathered was already drifting away. Kendi became aware that his own face hurt. He touched his lower lip and his finger came away red and sticky. Other parts of his body were also beginning to ache.

"It's a slight sprain and a few bruises," the Sister said. "Nothing serious." She removed a dermospray from her medical bag and it thumped against Ben's ankle. Another dermospray thumped against his upper arm. "You need to sit here for at least ten minutes for the sprain to heal. The second shot will help the pain and the bruises, all right?"

Ben nodded and the Sister turned to Kendi. She stanched his bleeding lip, gave him a shot, and declared him fine. They thanked her and she left. Kendi started to sit next to Ben, whose leg was still stretched out on the bench, but Ben pointed at the rail.

"My pad went over," he said. "Can you get it for me?"

Kendi peered over the edge and saw the pad caught in the semi-transparent netting. He lay flat on his stomach and was just able to retrieve it with his fingertips. Ben accepted it with a curt "thank you."

"What's the matter?" Kendi asked.

"Nothing."

"Ben, come on. What's going on?"

Ben paused for a long time. "I don't need you to fight my cousins for me, Kendi," he said. "It's stupid."

"Those two were your cousins?" Kendi said in disbelief.

"They're creeps and they've been pulling s.h.i.+t like that all my life. This was nothing new."

"Ben, they tripped you down the-"

"I don't care what they did," Ben said. "I get it all the time from them. So what? They're a.s.sholes-full of s.h.i.+t."

"Don't tell me it doesn't make you mad," Kendi almost snapped. "They tripped you on the d.a.m.n stairs!"

"It makes me mad, yeah," Ben said heatedly. "But I don't need you you to take care of me, and I definitely don't need you telling Mom about it." to take care of me, and I definitely don't need you telling Mom about it."

"Ben, I didn't mean-"

"Just leave alone for a while, okay?" And Ben's face shut down. After a moment, Kendi got up and headed for the Rymar home. As a result, he was just getting in the door when Inspector Tan called to tell Mother Ara that another dead body had turned up.

The first thing Ara noticed was the smell. Mother Diane Giday's house was high up in this particular talltree, and Ara was less than halfway up staircase that wound around the trunk when it hit her-the ripe, rancid smell of rotting meat. Ara faltered, then forced herself onward. Tan had said on the phone that Giday had been killed quite some time ago and that the body was in an advanced state of putrefaction, but Ara hadn't thought the smell of it would greet her before she even reached the front door. Now she was doubly glad she had spent considerable time convincing Kendi-ordering him, really-that he didn't need to come to the site of the murder.

The staircase ended at a wide platform. Just ahead, Giday's little house was so high up that the roof poked up above the talltree's leaves. When she arrived at the address, a Guardian was just switching on the holographic generator. Around the house appeared the same ring of blue light Ara had seen at Iris Temm's home. Ara walked through it and the generator beeped an alarm, just as the other one had. Ara wondered if she was going to be crossing scene barriers for the rest of her life. The Guardian recognized her and waved her on. Ara wasn't sure she wanted to go but knew she should.

Linus Gray, his face matching his name, met her just inside the door. The stench washed over Ara and made her gag. She suddenly wished she hadn't eaten that sundae at lunch.

"Here," Gray said, pressing a dermospray to her upper arm. The drug thumped home.

"What is it?" Ara demanded "An neurological inhibitor," Gray explained. "It'll put the olfactory bulb in your brain to sleep for about an hour. You won't smell a thing."

He was right. The horrible stench had already faded. Ara nodded her thanks and glanced around the room. Giday's house was little more than a cottage, with three tiny rooms and a bath. Ara could see into every room from the front door. The miniature living room contained one easy chair, a short sofa, and a set of wall-mounted shelves that displayed various knickknacks. On the couch was a lumpy bundle covered by s.h.i.+ny black cloth. Two Guardian technicians were just starting to tuck in the edges. Ara caught a glimpse of discolored flesh. Tan was watching, her eyes flat and angry. A small gravity sled hovered in front of the couch like a coffee table.

Gray handed Ara a set of gloves. She put them on. "Do you want to see the body?" he asked.

"No," Ara said flatly. "What about her finger?"

"Cut off and replaced," Gray said. "The DNA of the new finger matches Iris Temm's. We've already compared a sample of Giday's DNA to the samples we collected from the finger sewn to Vera Cheel's body. It's a match. Giday's DNA also matches the blood Tan found on the s.h.i.+rt in Dorna's room."

"So Dorna's definitely the killer, then," Ara murmured.

"Sure looks that way," Tan said.

The technicians finished tucking the cloth. With a soft hissing sound, it sealed itself around the corpse and the couch cus.h.i.+ons beneath it. The techs gently lifted the entire bundle onto the sled. The first tech adjusted the sled's controls until it hovered at waist level and maneuvered it out the door. The second technician nodded at Tan and followed.

"How long was she in here?" Ara asked.

"Preliminary scan suggests about two weeks," Tan said.

"Two weeks weeks?" Ara gasped. "How did she go this long without being found? Who found her?"

Tan took out her data pad and consulted notes. "The downbelow neighbors called in to complain about a weird smell. One of our boys came up to look around and found her. No one noticed Giday was missing because she was supposed to have left for an off-planet vacation fifteen days ago. s.p.a.ceport records show she had a ticket to DelaCruz, but she never boarded the s.h.i.+p. Between that and the fact that her house is up so high hid the smell for a while, no one even knew she had been murdered."

Ara thought about a woman named Diane Giday in the Dream taking care of last-minute business and looking forward to her vacation. Perhaps she had hummed to herself a bit or sighed with satisfaction at the completion of her last piece of work. Then a dark man appeared and turned the Dream into a nightmare, leaving her corpse to rot in her cozy little house. Ara's mouth turned down with silent fury.

"If she's been dead for two weeks," Ara said in a flat voice, "there's no way I can recreate the scene. Too many minds won't be in the same place, and most of the others will have forgotten the patterns."

Tan nodded. "I thought as much, but figured I'd ask anyway."

"Giday was probably the thirteenth victim," Gray said. "That means the killer is escalating."

Ara gave him a blank look.

"He means the attacks are coming closer together," Tan explained. "Look, Prinna Meg was murdered about three years ago, a few weeks after Dorna Saline was recruited into the Children, in fact. About a year later, Wren Hamil is killed. Eleven months after that, Iris Temm is murdered and we bring you in to have a look. Nine months later, this woman Giday dies, but we don't find the body until now. Two and a half weeks after that-two and a half weeks weeks-the monster goes after Vera Cheel. There's going to be another one, Ara, and soon. We have to find this guy."

"The word is out among the Children," Ara said. "Female Children aren't supposed to enter the Dream alone, and they need to be ready to leave it on an instant's notice. But you know how it goes-plenty of people disregard the advice. At last count, we have over three thousand Sisters, Mothers, and Grandmothers, and most of them figure that they're either more powerful than the stalker or the odds are against any one of them being attacked."

"Technically they're right about the odds," Linus said. "Less than one in three thousand."

"Tell that to Mother Diane." Ara shuddered. "I certainly wouldn't take the risk." certainly wouldn't take the risk."

"Let's do the search," Tan said. "See what clue the killer left for us this time."

Searching the cottage didn't take long. Ara found six pairs of earrings lined up on Giday's dresser and a thirteenth singleton broken in the wastebasket. "It was probably fourteen earrings and the killer broke one to make a 'set' of thirteen so he could keep one and leave twelve."

"Dorna's a she," Tan said. "Unless there's something the monastery medics don't know about."

"I don't think it's Dorna," Ara said.

Linus Gray, who was carefully stowing the earrings in an evidence bag, gave her a hard look. "Why not?"

"Call it a feeling," Ara said. "It's just-it's just-I don't know. Out of character for her."

"For Dorna, maybe," Tan pointed out. "But who knows about one of her alternates?"

"I just think we need to keep an open mind," Ara said. She started to sit on Giday's narrow bed, then stopped herself. The crime scene technicians might want to examine it.

Tan nodded. "I agree. And you're right-it's possible Dorna didn't do any of it. But the fact that she disappeared right after one of the murders says she's got something to hide."

"Which may not be connected to this case," Ara said.

"And there are those nightmares about people dying in the Dream," Tan said. "Kendi mentioned her talking about them."

"She's not the only one," Ara countered. "I've had a few bad dreams myself."

"And I found Giday's blood on her sleeve," said Tan.

"Someone could have planted it there," Ara said. "If I I had chopped someone's finger off and there was even the tiniest chance some of my victim's blood got on me, I'd burn my clothes. I certainly wouldn't hang them in my closet for the Guardians to find. And if I were afraid the Guardians were close to catching me, it'd be awful tempting to plant some phony evidence in the room of someone who had recently disappeared under mysterious circ.u.mstances." had chopped someone's finger off and there was even the tiniest chance some of my victim's blood got on me, I'd burn my clothes. I certainly wouldn't hang them in my closet for the Guardians to find. And if I were afraid the Guardians were close to catching me, it'd be awful tempting to plant some phony evidence in the room of someone who had recently disappeared under mysterious circ.u.mstances."

"Do you think Dorna's dead somewhere?" Gray sealed the bag.

"I don't know," Ara said, worried. "I hope not. But it's a definite possibility. And what if she was murdered to keep her quiet about something?"

Tan put a gloved hand on Ara's shoulder. "Look, I don't want it to be Dorna either. But she's the obvious suspect right now and we have to talk to her even if her disappearance and the blood are completely innocent. Come on-let's see if we can find anything else the killer left behind."

This time it was Gray who noticed it-a music disk t.i.tled Thirteen Lucky Love Songs Thirteen Lucky Love Songs. "The last song has been wiped," he reported.

"All we're doing is proving that the same killer got each one of them." Ara tried to pace the miniature living room, then gave it up. There wasn't enough room. "This doesn't give us any clues to who the killer is is."

"He-or she-will slip up eventually," Tan said grimly. "The nano-second that happens, we'll nail the b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

Ara's gaze drifted about Giday's living room. The denuded sofa seemed to mock her, a blot in the otherwise tidy house. It was the house of a woman bent on enjoying her vacation until at the last minute a lunatic had crushed her mind and destroyed her body. On the wall above the couch hung a lot of framed photographs and holograms interspersed with the occasional certificate of award.

"Has someone told her family?" Ara asked. "I'm figuring she wasn't married."

"No, she wasn't, and not yet," Tan responded.

Ara got up and went over to investigate the certificates more closely. One of them was a commendation for outstanding work in multiple message transmission in the Dream. It was signed by one Tara Linnet, Manager for Dreamers, Inc. Ara blinked, her heart suddenly pounding.

"We've been stupid!" she almost shouted. "G.o.d-completely stupid!"

Tan, who had been talking to Gray, jumped in surprise, then recovered herself. "What are you talking about?"

"There!" Ara pointed to the certificate. "Right there. We've been ignoring a potential lead."

Gray stepped forward. "In recognition for outstanding contribution and work in multiple message transmission," he read. "So?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ara said. "Giday worked for Dreamers, Inc., before she came to the Children of Irfan. They're a corporation that offers Silent communication for a price."

"I've heard of them," Tan said. "What's the big deal?"

"You said one of the problems with tracking down information about the killings on other planets is that there are so many law enforcement agencies that don't talk to each other and compare notes," Ara said. "But what about the corporations?"

"Go on," Tan rasped.

"Dreamers, Inc., has more employees than some governments have subjects. They're not just multi-national-they're multi-planetary. But for all that, they're is still a single organization. It doesn't matter if one branch falls under one government and a different branch falls under another-it's still a single unit. And you can bet that if someone's been killing their employees and chopping off their fingers, they'll know about it. Why don't we ask them?"

Tan looked excited for the first time since Ara had met her. "You're right! The corps can cut straight across police boundaries."

"There's Dreamers, Inc., and the Silent Partners," Gray said, ticking off his fingers, "and Silent Acquisitions-"

"Silent Acquisitions only deals in Silent slaves," Ara said. "They don't hire out Silent."

"Wonder if Dorna pa.s.sed ever through them." Tan toyed with her braid. "The records that came with her were incomplete, and you can bet I checked."

"That's pretty common," Ara said. "I was the one who bought and freed her in the name of the Children, and the clearinghouse I found her in typically didn't give anything but a short medical history. Previous owners were kept in strict confidence."

"Why do they do that?" Gray wanted to know.

"Because sometimes people own slaves in places where slavery is illegal," Ara replied. "They keep the slaves ignorant this fact. It's easier than you might think, especially if the slave doesn't speak the local language. And a lot of slaves are abused until they acquire a slave mentality. It wouldn't even occur to them to try escaping or to demand their release. It sometimes takes years of counseling to bring them out of it."

A breeze wandered through the windows, making the curtains flutter. Ara thought she caught a whiff of decaying flesh and wondered if the shot Gray had given her was beginning to wear off.

"At any rate," Tan said, "we need to start checking with the corporations. The killer's MO is unique, so they'll probably have no trouble remembering it if they've seen it. Then we just find out if they ever owned someone named Dorna Saline, and-"

"That might not work," Ara pointed out. "It's common for buyers to change the names of their new slaves. It reinforces the slave mentality-you don't even own your name-and it muddies the trail if the purchase was illegal. Half the time the slaves themselves don't know their owner's real name or the name of the planet they lived on. Dorna, if if she's the killer, may have had a different name with every owner. For all I know, Dorna made up her current name. She was only listed as a lot number on the auction catalog." she's the killer, may have had a different name with every owner. For all I know, Dorna made up her current name. She was only listed as a lot number on the auction catalog."

"You didn't bother trying to check?" Gray asked.

Ara shrugged. "Why should we? Like I said, the previous owner is kept anonymous, and we give our new people as much privacy as we can, since slaves have had so little of it. It means a lot to most of them, being able to choose their own name. Some keep their slave names as is or they change the spelling or p.r.o.nunciation. Some use a name from their childhood. Others make up brand new ones. Kendi did that, I'm pretty sure. I have no idea what name he was born with, and I've never asked."

Gray deflated a bit. "How will checking with these corporations help us find Dorna's hiding place?"

"It won't," Ara said. "But right now we don't have definitive proof that Dorna's involved in the murders at all. If we find another place that had these finger-chopping murders, we can cross-check names of Silent employees and slaves with the monastery records of Silent who arrived here before the murders began. We might get lucky."

"More sifting," Tan sighed.

"I believe a wise woman once told me-how did the saying go?" Ara said. " 'Welcome to the tedious side of Guardian work'? "

"Very funny."