-1-
Linz: Luce and I just got back from The Magnolia Room. The food was amazing!!! It was super fancy I wore the black dress I wore at graduation
Mom: Cute! Do you have heels with you ?
Linz: No. One of my work friends gave me a pair of hers to borrow for the night and I paired it with that pearl necklace Gramps gave me. I felt glam but a little overdressed…
Mom: I'm sure you were beautiful
Linz: Yeah...Luce loved it though. And later we went dancing at the promenade. BUT OMG THE FOOD!!!
Mom: What
did you have ???
Linz: I had the mushroom ravioli, Luce had the pork chop. The house wine was delicious and I said I wanted you to try it so Luce sent A WHOLE CASE to you. He is the sweetest!!!! it should arrive soon.
Mom: Such a gentleman ! Can’t
wait to get it, tell him I said thank you and I can't wait to meet him.
I feel like my brain is going to leak out of my ears from reading just the last two weeks of chats between Linz and her mom before she died. Their 500 line chat session over reality television rivaled the length of any conversation I’d ever had with Ma.
And I couldn’t get past the fact that she was writing about fake dates with me.
I’d made a copy of every chat between Linz and her mother and shared them with Alex. We’d been in the coffee shop for the last hour trying to find something in them that would give us a hint of who this “Luce” actually was or how these chats were continuing since Linz had been dead.
“I can’t believe her mother hasn’t noticed the newer chats aren’t from her daughter,” Alex frowns. “Whoever is doing this had to have known Linz well to keep this up.”
“Not exactly,” I counter. “Any idiot can write and execute a code to mimic someone’s chat style if they have access their archives. There wasn’t a syndicate on her body, the killer probably stole it to make the mimic code.”
“That’s awful.”
“Well, I can’t read anymore of this bullshit.” I push the screens away.
“We should find this boyfriend,” Alex suggests. “I’m sure he knows something.”
“Boyfriend ?," I scoff. "You mean me ?”
“Stasia said Linz was always going out. Maybe it was a real guy and there is a reason she’s keeping this guy’s identity a secret. Maybe it was a reason worth killing for.”
“Or she’s just a silly girl making up more stories.”
“We know their last date was at the Magnolia Room before she died. Why don’t you hack into The Magnolia Room’s security system and see if you see her on a surveillance tape ?”
I hadn’t told him just how badly my cybernetics were malfunctioning and I could see him freaking out about it. I was fine, I just couldn’t do anything hacking intensive until I got my new system in place. Hacking remotely and going through security footage would take up too much energy.
“It would take me too long,” I tell him. “It’s easier if I can get near a device and spoof it like I did with Mrs. Schofield’s syndicate.”
He smiles at me.
“Fine. Let’s go on a field trip.”
***
“I WANT TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER, I HAD A RESERVATION!,” A woman screams at the poor maître d.
“Ma’am--”
“WE’VE BEEN ON THE LIST FOR TWO MONTHS--”
“So sorry for the noise, gentlemen,” our host apologizes as he shepherds Alex and I away from the pissed off woman and into The Magnolia Room’s opulent dining room.
Alex self consciously puts a stray strand of hair behind his ear and I take his fingertips gently in mine so he doesn’t break.
Coming to The Magnolia Room in person was a good idea, but in
order to get past the host stand you needed a reservation. We didn’t have time to wait on the month long waiting list for so I’d broken into the restaurant this
morning and replaced someone else’s reservation with my name. The reservation
list tablet wasn’t secure and had just been siting there. I just had to run a remote code breaker to get the password and then make the change. It was a stupid
child’s play hack but it did the job and didn’t use as much of my system.
The waiter sits us down at an intimate table near the floor to ceiling glass windows that overlooked the glossy city promenade below. There are giant fresh flowers and an actual fucking candle lit on the table. I hate bullshit upscale places like this but I try not to let it show.
I’d dug in the box in the back of Ma’s closet and found one of Rayne’s old waistcoats and pocket squares and put them on with the dark suit I’d worn to his funeral.
On our short trip from the host stand to the table Alex has garnered the attention of nearly everyone in the restaurant. I was always used to seeing him in the dark, plain wardrobe he wore at the club-- disposable clothes that were easily removed and designed make him look like a walking wet dream for horny idiots.
Horny idiots like me.
The crisp white button up he wore now was lined with lace and well fitted, instead of a tie he wore two silver collar pins in the shape of angel wings with a delicate chain connecting them. His hair was pulled back by a soft pink ribbon, exposing the delicate gold moon and stars earrings that hung from his left ear.
He looks up at me and smiles. It suddenly feels like my heart is on fire and I like it more than I’ll ever admit.
“Why do I feel like you just tricked me into taking you on a date?,”
I tease to break the tension
“I’ve never been on a real date,” he grins, letting his finger glide over the wine menu.
“Me either. Seems overrated.”
He just shrugs and smiles at that and I want to hook my finger around the chain at his collar and—
“Gentlemen, my name is Richard. I’ll be your sommelier tonight,” an older man dressed better than me announces as he comes to our table.
He reads us a riot act about all of their wine. They don’t have the bootleg blackmarket shit served at self-respecting cartel establishments so I ask for a glass of the driest red on the menu.
“Wait,” Alex says as the man turns to leave. “I have a question about your house wine.”
“Okay,” the man smiles uneasily, probably because Alex doesn’t look old enough to be ordering alcohol and this wasn’t the kind of place that looked the other way.
My suspicions are confirmed when the man does a half turn away from Alex and starts talking to me instead.
“We currently have 12 imported wines. Our whites are a vintage 2100 Sauvignon--”
“Actually,” Alex says. “A friend of a friend of ours had one of your house wines delivered to their house and we really enjoyed it…If we tell you their address can you tell us which wine it was ? We want to buy a dozen cases.”
The wine guy looks between us. He seems unsure and confused but I wasn’t sure anyone was going to tell Alex no with the way he looked tonight.
Plus he probably wanted the commission.
He pulls out his tablet and unlocks it with his fingerprint. I boot up my piggybacking software and easily latch on to the tablet so I can see everything he is seeing.
The man types in some commands and then the Schofield’s address. He stops on a profile and I just need him to scroll a little more so I can see the name of the person who sent the wine.
Alex shoots me a look and I motion to him that I need more time to figure this out.
“We delivered a 2115 Magnolia Merlot to that address,” he informs us. “One of our finest vintages...You want a dozen cases ?”
“Yes, is that a problem ?,” Alex asks.
The wine guy goes to close the screen on his tablet, but he taps it in just the right way that I see the name of the person who sent the wine.
Fisher Cross
I know that name.
Motherfucker.
I close out my piggybacking software, go through my index and project an image using Alex’s syndicate.
“Wait. Have you see this guy ?,” I ask the wine man.
“No, sir I--”
I show him a different image.
“How about him--”
“Sir--”
“How about him ?”
“Luce,” Alex says under his breath with a fake laugh.
I was probably blowing our cover but I didn’t care, I was too close. I project another image.
“How about him ? I’m just curious. Then we’ll take those wine cases. Two dozen.”
The man stares at the image and nods his head.
“Yes. I’ve seen that gentlemen in here. Anything else ?”
“No. Thank you.”
“Alright then. Your server will be with you shortly,” he says with a small bow.
He walks away and Alex looks at me with anticipation.
“You know something ?” he says.
“Kind of,” I admit. “I think I can explain who has the resources to build s software that can mimic Linz.”
He looks excited and then I blink.
His smile is gone and he’s—
I blink again
and he’s hovering over me.
There’s a sharp pinging in my ear and my entire body is going
slack as I slide out of the chair.
Fuck.
My cybernetics.
I try to gain control but the system is fighting me and---
Everything goes dark and—
then the floor is moving
underneath me.
and then---
I’m in an ambulance.
Alex is crouched next to me clutching my hand. EMTs keep shoving needles in my arm and putting monitors on my body.
I can’t speak, I can’t get anything to function and I feel like I’m going to go under again but I try to fight it and communicate to Alex through stares. I can’t go to a regular hospital. The Federation will be up my ass if they get a look at all my unsanctioned cybernetics.
I don’t know if Alex knows that.
I reach for my system to send a message to his syndicate. Instead my system screams at me again and my vision goes red.
***
-2-
When I open my eyes again, I feel more stable but my entire body is sore.
I’m not wearing my suit and I’m---
I’m in my bedroom at the loft.
Alex is sitting cross-legged in the bed next to me, clutching my forearm. His eyes are glossy and when I look at him he lets out a loud sigh.
I roll my eyes in the other direction and see a smug looking Alan Gray at my bedside and just behind him is Rias, wearing a university t-shirt and athletic pants, looking uncomfortable to have to even be here. I didn’t know if he was here as my brother or here as my boss and I fucking hated that.
“What happened ?,” I ask. I try to sit up but it hurts like hell. It feels like someone beat the shit out of me. “Why am I so fucking sore ?,”
“You passed out in the restaurant,” Alex says, his eyes cast down. “I said you were fine but the restaurant called the ambulance…Alan met us at the hospital and took over.”
“I wasted my last legit cover on this,” Alan grumbles.
“We had to sneak you out in a body bag so they wouldn’t start a file,” Alex says.
I could only imagine the farce of Alex and Alan carrying my deadweight. No wonder I was so sore.
“And you ?,” I throw at Rias because I can’t help myself. “What did you do ?”
He re-folds his arms.
“I didn’t know you needed a system re-calibration,” Rias says quietly. “I can ask Minnow if we know someone who--”
“I don’t need the cartel’s help,” I tell him.
“It wouldn’t be the cartel--”
“I’ve got it covered.”
“Do you?,” Alan asks with a chuckle. “I can maybe feel my way though a re-cal but with the way you use your system--”
“I know other ripperdocs besides you,” I tell him. “You can’t even figure out what killed a girl--”
“I just saved your life. I’m getting sick of you thinking you can boss me around--”
“Maybe if you could do your fucking job--”
“You know what ? You don’t pay me. Figuring out cause of death for a random dead escort. Taking your ass out of an ambulance. None of this is my fucking job--”
“Fine,” I tell him. “Get the fuck out. Both of you.”
Rias doesn’t need to be told twice but Alan looks back at me once before walking out.
Alex runs his hand across my forehead and through my hair. It feels nice but I don’t like it so I smack his hand away.
“I didn’t know you were…breaking down,” he says. “You should have told me. I wouldn’t have asked you to-,”
“I’m not breaking down,” I spit at him, more irritated than I mean to be. “I just need a re-calibration. We’re not talking about this anymore.”
“Okay,” he says. “So, who was that man in the image?”
“What hell are you talking about ?”
“The man in the image you showed. The one that the sommelier identified--,” he says patiently.
“What the fuck is a sommelier--”
“The man at the restaurant with the wine,” he frowns. “You showed him a picture of some men and when he recognized one you said you knew who was re-creating Linz’s chats. Remember ?”
Fucking hell.
I search my index for a memory or a snippet but there is nothing for the last few hours. I was so used to the index that it was chilling not to have anything recorded.
“No,” I admit. “I don’t remember any of that.”
-----
SHV: Why did we make this chapter so short ?
CPSHAWNA: BECAUSE CLIFFHANGER ENDING !!!!
SHV: It's now occurring to me that this should have been tacked on to the last chapter.