“Got your last looks, little brother ?,” Jean asks, impatiently leaning against the door to Linz’s former suite. “I need you out of here.”
He was half-dressed, his hair up in blue rollers and a long robe cinched around his waist.
I’d spent the last four hours scouring Linz’s old room for any detail about who her killer might have been and I was coming up empty. There was a giant blood stain where she’d been stabbed and nothing else. I’d searched all over for a weapon or a syndicate or some kind of digital trace but the room was clean.
“What’s the rush ? What are you doing with this place anyway ?,” I ask him.
“I’m turning it into a storage closet,” he says with a knowing smile. “I can’t put anyone else in here or they’ll start seeing ghosts. Minnow is sending over her designer and some lovely new cartel clients to clean up the blood. I trust they’ll do a thorough job because...well, you know how hard my sister is to please.”
One of Jean’s perfect styled eyebrows raises all the way up and he gives me a knowing smile.
“She told you ?,” I say, staring off into the distance at nothing.
“She tells me everything,” he reminds me, walking in front of me, trying to capture my gaze.
“Well, I don’t.”
“Oh, come now brother,” he smiles putting an arm around me. “Frankly, I’m just glad she didn’t hurt you. You know my sister--”
“New.Subject,” I respond tersely, shaking of his arm. Those two had no boundaries.
“There’s a reason they say Virtue is the best brothel in the Sprawl--”
“Nobody says that--”
“It’s because I’m a very good teacher--”
“If you wanted me to leave, you could have just asked.”
“Oh, little brother, why is it that I always imagined you getting laid would mellow you out ?,”
Before he can say anything else creepy I snap a 360 image of the
room to look at later and walk out.
-2-
Virtue isn’t open yet so the bartenders aren’t on duty and I have to stomp downstairs to Control to get a drink. Control’s lounge is mostly empty, but judging by the sounds coming from the rooms the escorts are having a busy afternoon.
“Gin and tonic,” I tell the leatherclad woman behind the bar.
She clacks off inch by inch her 7 inch stilettos to make my drink.
“And a cigarette,” I add before she gets too far away.
Smoking wasn’t good for my cybernetics but Alan had found a vendor for my new system so I might as well ride this one hard to the end.
“Luce Grace ?,” a bright voice I don’t recognize asks.
I turn around to see a freckled brunette woman nursing some fancy cocktail and staring at me all wide-eyed.
“It’s me,” she smiles pointing to her chest. “Danica Smythe. From Arkham!”
“Yeah, “ I say suddenly remembering. “You dated Stacy--”
“You remember that ? Huh, I haven’t thought about him in years.”
I’d never run into anyone I knew from outside the cartel in Control and the last person I would have ever expected to run into is Danica Smythe, one of the popular assholes from high school.
“What are you up to these days ?,” she asks.
“I work for MBC--”
“They give you the afternoons off ?”
Right. It was 11:30AM on a Monday.
“I’m taking a day.”
“Wow, well, I remember you were always in the top 10% in class. I knew you’d end up somewhere great. What field are you in ?,” she asks. “I’m sort of between careers right now.”
This girl had been a complete bitch to Summer Walker, one of my best high school friends, from the moment they met. Hotako and Summer had kept me from doing anything retaliatory back then but there was no way I was doing this small talk bullshit without making her squirm.
“What exactly are you into ?,” I ask her. “Who are you fucking here ?”
Danika laughs nervously.
“Hey, come on,” she blushes. “I’m not going to ask you that--”
“The blonde with the RLA ink,” I tell her.
She twirls the fruits skewer in her drink around uncomfortably.
“I just….like to watch,” she shrugs and then shakes her head. “I don’t know. It’s not that serious. I’m not that into it--”
“If you paid to get in here, you’re that into it.”
Her face flushes.
“Well….So, what ? You’re one of those dudes with an RLA rape fantasy thing ?,” she asks pointedly, trying to fluster me.
“No.”
“Well, like you said, if you’re here, you’re into it--”
I just shrug. The difference between me and her is I don’t give a
fuck what she thinks I'm doing.
“Speaking of RLA,” she says brightly. “I was actually working for Attorney General Maxwell previously. I don’t know if MBC has any open opportunities but I --”
“He fired you ?”
“We parted ways--”
“Did he fuck you ?”
“No!,” she says all offended.
I look down so she can’t see me booting up my internal system. I do a quick search in a database I’d hacked into with the tax commission. She she did work for Maxwell—as his nanny.
“You were his babysitter,” I say. “Isn’t that a little beneath Arkham graduates standards ?”
“ How did--You knew ? I mean, it was a job to get me though grad school,” she retorts quickly. “It paid well. I thought it would lead to something but it never did.”
“Did they fire you because you were watching them ?”
Her bottom lip curls and she starts eating the stale nut mix on the bar aggressively.
The bartender clicks her way back over to me but she doesn’t have my drink or cigarette.
“You have insufficient funds,” the bartender informs me.
“How much is Jean fucking charging for a drink and a cigarette ?”
“$21.00,” the bartender says.
Danica snorts.
“Want me to get it ?,” Danica asks glibly. “The severance I got isn’t much but I think I can cover $21.00.”
I ignore her and check my bank account.
I see a big red -$22,797 dollars.
Had Rias stopped my pay outs ? Sure, I was a little behind on my jobs but not that behind.
I push away from the bar and go towards the exit, not bothering to say goodbye to Danica. At the door I run into Gaige who is being tailed by a blue-haired kid struggling under the weight of shopping bags.
“I’m pissed at you ” Gaige says grabbing my shoulder. “Your boy is stealing one of my best clients--”
I shove him into the wall and continue outside and around the corner to my car.
When I get to The Hydra I go through Rias’s private entrance to his office but this time I knock first.
I hadn’t been in the office since that day. Minnow has completely gutted the place. Everything had been replaced with natural looking wood and gold accents. There was a fireplace now. The space was warmer and seemed more like something Rias would like than Rayne.
As usual, Rias is behind the desk and Minnow is hovering over him.
“What is this about ?,” I shout, displaying my bank account for Rias and Minnow to see.
Minnow gives me a look, saunters over to the door that leads to the loft and opens it wide.
“Luce, please leave--”
“Do you not see this number--”
“We’re working. Does it look like we control your money ?,” she asks
“LUCE!, WHAT THE FUCK ?, ” Ma shouts from downstairs and she sounds more pissed than normal. She’d been in a good mood since she got back from her two week visit with Twyla but apparently I’d already ruined that.
I go down the stairs, Minnow and Rias trailing after me. Suddenly they don't have any work to do.
I find Ma with her arms folded and staring at two large crates in the living room and four deliver men leaving.
“What the hell is this ?,” she shouts, holding up a gold foil paper card.
I get a closer look at the crates and see the logo for The Magnolia Room stamped on the crates.
I open my account again but this time I scroll all the way down to see the last purchase and see a $30,000 dollar charge for wine and shipping.
I’d passed out in the restaurant and they’d still found a way to fuck me over for the two dozen cases of wine.
“We hope you enjoy this wine and we thank you and Mr. Fisher Cross for your patronage to our restaurant. Sincerely, Richard Paulson, Head Sommelier. ” she reads.
“I can explain,” I say taking the card.
“You know what Fisher Cross is don’t you ?,” Ma asks.
It all clicks back into place.
“Yes. It’s one of the fake names undercover Feds use,” I say, it all coming back to me and falling back into place. “Alex and I found out Linz was seeing someone at The Magnolia Room so we went there and found out the man she was meeting with someone who used the name Fisher Cross. Then the wine guy ID’d a fed. Then I…”
I don’t finish because I hadn’t told Ma about my cybernetic issues. Minnow closes her eyes and clinches her fist and Rias looks down.
“Are you sure she was dating a fed ?,” Ma asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “The guy at the restaurant ID’d one of them. I think he dated her because she worked at Virtue… She must have found out the guy she was seeing was really a Fed and he killed her. The Fed built a mimic software to chat with her mother to make it look like she’s still alive.”
“I guess that’s it then,” Minnow sighs.
“We should issue an apology to Isla Haley,” Rias says.
“Eh, we’ll throw some money at her and call it a day,” Minnow says instead.
“And the Fed ?,” I ask.
“What about him ? We can’t lock up a Fed,” Minnow tells him. “Too risky.”
“Lock up ?,” I say. “Fuck that. Let’s put a hit on him.”
“We aren’t killing anyone unless we have absolutely solid proof they did it,” Rias says. “Nothing explains how he got in and out of Virtue with no one seeing.”
“He’s a Fed. Who knows how he did it. They have more tech than we can imagine--”
“Get him to confess,” Rias says looking over at Minnow who nods. “And I’ll commission the hit,”
---
-3-
The Federation had started assigning agents to look into the cartel a few years ago. They’d mostly stuck with harassing Twyla on the street to confess to shit she knew nothing about. Twyla would listen and then come back home promptly report as much as she could about the people who had taken her in.
We usually kept tabs on them and could see them coming but they’d somehow tricked Linz without us realizing.
I feel disgusting just walking into The Justice Building in Ft. Perch but I do it and I try to look as innocent as possible. I needed to get a confession so I could put a proper end to this. I’d called Justice’s tip line asking for Agent Anton Langley. Barely 5 minutes later I had a call back a for a meeting the next day.
I’d sent Alex the images of the agents working on the cartel and he’d identified Agent Langely as the one the waiter had positively identified. Agent Langley was in his early 30’s, younger than most of the agents. It made sense they sent him to poach Linz.
“Mr. Grace,” Agent Langely says the minute I step through the building’s doors.
I turn to see him waiting for me by some hideous sculpture in the lobby. He’s wearing a standard suit but I see the weapon on his hip through his coat.
I follow him deeper into the building and he walks me into what is essentially an interrogation room.
“I was surprised to hear from you. What can I help you with ?,” Agent Langely asks.
“I know about Linz—Lindsay Schofield,” I tell him pointedly.
He seems unaffected. Not a single sign of guilt.
“And ?”
“I’m thinking about going straight,” I lie. “I want to help the Federation. I know things you might want to know and I’ll talk. But you have to be honest with me about Linz…we kind of have a past. A personal one.”
He stares at me, his eyes narrow.
“Mr. Grace, that is good to hear. There are many ways a man like yourself can help the Federation but you’ve never been a person of interest for us. We didn’t think you were privy to the kind of information the Federation can use. Exactly what kind of information do you have ?,”
The truth was I didn’t have much information. They probably wanted to know about money, inside deals and the drug stuff.
“I might know where some bodies are buried,” I tell him.
Agent Langley seems to think on it
“Do you want the same deal as Lindsay got ?”
“Deal ?”
“You only get paid if you give us a tip that pans out. Once we vouch you are a reliable informant then we move into a more standard monthly contract.”
I wasn’t expecting this.
I thought the Feds had been using Linz without her knowing, but it was the exact opposite. She was a paid informant. She’d gone to them.
It suddenly made sense why she’d decided to become a Virtue escort. She’d have access to more information.
“When was the last time you spoke to Linz ?,” I ask Agent Langley.
“She made contact yesterday,” he says."Why ?"
I needed to get out of here.
“Are you recording me ?”
“No, this is a confidential--”
Before he can finish his sentence I put him in a headlock and cut off the circulation in his neck until he passes out.
I use his syndicate to unlock the doors and run.
Haley
-4-
“Stop frowning,” Father Winstead hisses and Haley quickly schools his face.
In all the years Haley had been playing his role in Control he’d never let his personal feelings come into a session with a client but Father Winstead brought out the worst in him.
He’d been called to Father Winstead’s office in the large New Revolution Temple outside of the Sprawl. He was given the uniform of seminary students so he could walk on to the campus unnoticed, but Haley wondered if Father Winstead had given it to him to add to his fantasy.
Father Winstead’s office was auspicious and large, decorated with religious iconography and doctrines. It was the office where he recorded some of his most famous sermons, where all priests gathered when they came up with new rules or doctrines for the New Revolution Church.
The New Revolution would have you believe it was a place of divine business.
But Father Winstead seemed to have no issues having his hands in Haley’s pants while he presided over a teleconference meeting of the regional priesthood. Winstead’s line had been muted as the priests went around, seeking spiritual advice for the problems in their area.
Haley had been imagining his grandmother seeing him here now and a small crease had formed between his eyebrows. She’s given up so much for an organization that was being lead by a liar. Haley wouldn’t be here if he had a choice but Jean wasn’t letting him turn down the $500 and hour rate Father Winstead was willing to pay for private visits.
“You’re still frowning,” Father Winstead spits
“Do you take penance for this when I leave ?,” Haley asks.
He wasn’t supposed to be speaking but a part of him did want to know how this man reconciled the things he preached and the things he did.
“That is none of your business,” Father Winstead snaps. “ I think you need you need to spend some time on your knees.”
Haley happily sinks to his knees, glad to at least not have to look the man in the eye anymore but Father Winstead has other ideas. He removes Haley’s pants and drags him out of his office, down the steps of his third floor office and to the temple’s sanctuary below. They walk up to the alcove that held the Altar of Penance.
He forces Haley down and he kneels into the tiny sharp pebbles embedded into the altars step, their rough edges sting the sensitive flesh of his bare knees. He doesn’t complain and Father Winstead stands above him, the older man’s blood flow inhibitors clearly kicking in.
Father Winstead has a
tablet under his arm and is still on his conference call. Haley stays on his
knees through the rest of the call. Father Winstead carries on about the
immorality taking hold of the world and leads the group in a prayer all while receiving oral sex on an altar.
“I have been ordained as a leader from a higher power,” Father Winstead says when the call ends, pulling Haley from his knees. “A leader can not also be treated as a member of the flock. I have the divine knowledge of what is righteous for the people and what that path means for me.”
Haley keeps his expression neutral.
“I asked Gaige for your name the minute I saw you in Control with that saltire around your neck," Father Winstead says. “I found your record from The Bellgrave School. It said you were so obedient. So pious. Not a single punishment. You'd better get back to that because we are going to be spending a lot of time together. I want your body not your mouth. Understand ?"
“Yes.”
“I think it’s time you left. I won’t be paying for this session and l’ll be letting Mr. Dory know I expect better service. I have many colleagues asking for his services. Don't make me recommend somewhere else.”
Haley says nothing and leaves.
Despite the shame he feels at what he’d done in a place that was sanctified to his grandmother, he lights a candle on the main altar before leaving the temple.
At the train station he finds the shower stall with the least amount of mold, washes off and changes into his own clothes.
The train from the Sprawl to the Temple only ran 5 times a day and he has a two hour wait for the next one. He goes back to reading through the e-mails between Linz and her mother, then the messages between the Fake Linz and her mother. He’d gotten it in his head that there could be a sign in them that they were missing.
By the time he gets back to his room at Control he’s made a map and timeline of the many restaurants the real Linz mentioned that she had gone with her supposed suitor and the ones the fake Linz had mentioned. He projects the map and starts to draw a line, seeing what was in the boundary of all the restaurants.
His syndicate vibrates in a three beat pattern letting him know Luce was about to unlock the door to his room. Seconds later Luce enters the room, mid-inhale on a cigarette.
“I thought Alan told you not to do that--,”
“I just did something really fucking stupid,” Luce says, taking a long drag.
“What--,”
“I went to Justice--”
“Luce--”
“I tried to get the Fed who was using Linz to confess to me but he didn’t even know she was dead. They weren’t using her she was an informant and now--,”
Luce stops midsentence and looks at the timeline Haley had made.
“What the hell is this ?”
“I had a long train ride so I read through all of Linz’s chats and made a timeline of all the places she went--”
Luce stares at it, his eyes lighting up.
“Shit,” he curses.
And then bolts out of the room.
***
Haley follows after Luce as he runs up the stairs to Virtue.
It’s still early and the club is closed . Only Charlotte is sitting at the bar, finalizing the weekly schedule for the receptionists.
Luce zeroes in on her and leans against the bar.
“What do you want from me now ?,” she asks, annoyed.
“Why did you kill Linz ?,” Luce asks.
A/N
SHV: Huh...so Luce just gets his memory back. What was even the point of that last chapter cliffhanger ?
CPSHAWNA: Did you not see that collar pin we had to shoehorn in ? ALSO DATE AT FANCY RESTAURANT FAN AUTHOR SERVICE !!!!
SHV: Huh
CPSHAWNA: Yeah...that commenter totally caught us.