“You’re sure?” She cranes her head to follow me but goes back to watching the wall screen when I dismiss her question with a shrug.
CANNON: We have 2 bodies. Plus 1 unidentified male, long dead. His face is gone from rats. Ditto hands and feet. Ours were stripped. The unidentified one was clothed. Some objects in pockets. Pen, gum. Plus a possible phone memory card. The connector is non-standard. Text on card says *P 2 data*. To access it I need permission to submit to the IT lab personnel. I’m there now. Just need the okay.
“Fuck.” I squeeze shut my eyes. Who do I trust?
CLAY: Give it to Van Kerr. No one else has clearance. NO ONE. Report results ASAP.
CANNON: Will do.
CLAY: I’ll wait. Record everything about those bodies, one copy to me only, then dispose of our two at sea. Get DNA from the unknown and lose him too. We need his ID.
CANNON: Yes, sir. The two personnel who saw the bodies are trusted. I own them.
I can hear the click of his heels when I read thatSir.
I lie back and wait for updates after finding myself a glass of red wine, a piece of chocolate torte, and the newest book by King. After stopping at the study door, and getting a kiss on the cheek, Rebecca goes to bed, happy.
One hour goes by. I poke Cannon and he simply texts back,still looking at it. It’s complex. Non-standard.
He already said this. The bottle of red calls me again so I grab a third glass. At this rate, I’ll finish the bottle. My head might hate me tomorrow. I should’ve bought something from Freddy to tide me over. Some coke would be good.
What the fuck is P Two? Was there a P One? That memory card might be the key to this frankenstruct. If he’s hiding bodies, there’s something about them he doesn’t want known. Where he came from might be on that memory card, I hope. Though…I guess a murder is a good reason to hide bodies. Shit. I hope it’s more than that.
29
PRIORITIES AND PLANS
“Any questions?” Kail asks, stony faced.
Clearly, he is expecting the worst of the Weirdos, braced for curses or shock. It cannot be easy to stand there like that and know you do not fit into their idea of a human. I rise from my armchair and go to him, to stand next to him and face our audience.
I sneak my fingers beneath his and he accepts my hand without words, engulfs it in his, presses on mine.
His solid presence brushes tranquility through me.
Esau jolts forward and makes a dismissive gesture. “So this is why we are here. We’ve finally found one of the weird things, and we’re talking to it?” He looks at Molly and Ron. “I thought we wanted to rid ourselves of this kind of thing?”
They both seem dumbfounded, though Molly scowls and opens her mouth.
Oh god. This is my cue. I burst out talking before Kail can figure out words. “Hey! Kail is human underneath whateverthey did to him! And it isthey, Esau. Not him. He’s not at fault here.”
“Let them speak, please, Esau, all of us. Let them,” Molly says in an even tone.
Disgruntled, still, he reclines. “I’m listening.”
“Can I ask,” Melody begins, “though it seems self-evident. You sir, Kail, you are capable of independent thought, and are you truly made of various parts?”
His chest rises and falls—calming himself, I guess—before he answers. “I am made of parts, though I don’t recall the process. Somewhere like your institute made me. Yes, I can think…I think.” Then he smiles. I’m glancing from Kail to this motley crowd of suspicious investigators and back again, and that smile certainly disarms Melody, for she smiles in return.
Esau relaxes, nods.
“Although what I said stands, since I won’t risk my job by participating in any criminal act, those I can fix.” She jerks her chin toward Kail. “I can remove the staples and sutures, if you want. I’ll get my kit from the car when we’re all decided on what we’re doing.” Melody folds her arms.
Good. I wanted to ask her this.
“Kail’s memory isn’t sorted out properly yet. We should be forgiving, for that reason alone. It’s even possible our institute created you?” I look up at him. “Sorry. It’s best to be truthful.”
He grunts. “I know you’re all wanting to blame the Large Hadron Collider, so there is this. One of my memories is of my handler blaming that for a weird effect on the forest we walked through, and I got the impression there was more to it than that. He’s gone, and I don’t know where, but this may interest you.” Kail pulls the black phone from his pants pocket. “It’s lost its charge, and I couldn’t get into most of the files. I was hoping someone could do that. So. Here it is.”
