“Fair point,” Girard agreed.
“I’ll get Modron to collect samples right away,” Frollo said, and moved away, reaching for the radio at his shoulder.
With the brief moment of privacy, Girard turned back to Hallie. “My impression is that he was annoyed with you and with us in general. Also embarrassed that he was given an assignment that seemed less important. Did you pick up anything else from him?”
Hallie could tell from the way he phrased the question that he was wondering about her truth sense. She shook her head. “He didn’t give us much. He’s a lot younger than I expected, though.”
“Yes,” Girard agreed. He glanced over as Frollo came back.
“Modron and Caerleon are on their way to collect samples,” Frollo reported.
“Can we try the other one, as we’re here?” Hallie asked.
“Of course,” Frollo said, and led the way to the next door along.
The scene was a near-perfect mirror image of the room they had just left. The captive was sitting with his back against the wall, flexi-cuffs holding his arms behind his back and his ankles close together. Hallie took a moment to assess him and the differences from the captive they had just left. The man in front of her didn’t have a head wound, and his hair was a paler blond, but other than that their colouring was very similar. He, too, was young. Perhaps a year or two older than the other one, but not much more than that. He looked up at her with the same hate and anger and, in the harsh light from the overhead bulb, Hallie could see he had the same small pupils.
She tried the same approach, taking a step forward and crouching down so she could meet and hold his eyes almost on a level. “Can you tell me your name?”
No verbal response. The hint of a sneer at his mouth.
“Not talking, eh? Well, you can still be useful.” She paused and tilted her head, as if considering what options she had available to her. The man’s pale brows drew together in a frown. It seemed he had taken her words as a threat. Interesting. He lifted hischin, as if to try to show his lack of fear. “You were searching the office. What were you hoping to find?”
A flicker of something across his face. Glee or triumph, Hallie wasn’t sure, but something of that nature.
“Looking for something specific?” she prompted.
The chin went up a little, mouth set in a straight line.
“No. You didn’t know what you were looking for, did you? More likely you were just looking. Trying to find out what we knew.”
His eyes widened, expression changing to shock before he got his face back under control and went back to looking sulky again.
“Do you know what drug you’ve been taking?” she asked instead.
More shock. And a hint of worry, his bravado slipping. He opened his mouth, lips moving, but no sound came out.
“Can’t speak, can you?” Hallie rose to her feet and took a careful step back. “No, it’s nothing we’ve done,” she said, reading the glare he sent her way and transferred to Frollo and Girard. “Whatever drug is in your system it was there long before you came here. We’re going to take samples from you to see if we can work out what it is.”
The man’s expression changed again. Confusion. Hope. Anger. He tried to speak again, with the same result.
“We’re also headed for a facility with a lot of very clever people and a lot more medical expertise,” Hallie said.
More of the hope, less of the anger.
Progress, as far as Hallie was concerned. “Any questions?” she asked Girard and Frollo.
“No. Doesn’t look like he’s capable of answering right now,” Frollo said. “But we’ll fix that soon enough.”
With that, Frollo opened the door, letting Girard and Hallie out of the room before he followed, locking the captive in again.
As they made their way back along the corridor towards the rest of the house, they passed Modron and Caerleon, with Modron carrying her large, dark green medical kit.
“Get anything useful, sir?” Modron asked.
“Not much,” Frollo said. “Looks like they both have the same drug in their system.”
“It seems to stop them from speaking,” Hallie added. “Any idea what that might be?”
