Terry was interested now. Keenly.
“Such as?”
Mir took up the conversation. He wanted to make up for any slight he had inadvertently given to Terry, so he plowed in with a vengeance.
“For one thing, before Traci left, there had been three murders of cab drivers. Neither of the first two had been given any special consideration by the police. Both had involved two of the less…savory characters that plied the trade, and given that both were also rumored to have friends in the local drug trade, the police, as well as most of the other drivers, surmised that their relationships had soured and their deaths were the result.”
Terry mulled over what he was hearing. It fell in line with what he had come to expect from local law enforcement. It wasn’t a case of not caring but resources. There was only so much to go around, and if a case bore all the signs of being brought on by the victim, especially if the victim was a low life, the investigation was more or less for show only. It was sad but the way of the world.
Mir continued.
“The thing that drove her out of the city was the death of Peter, Pop, Martin. Martin was one of the older drivers, trying to supplement his retirement income he said. Most, though, thought he was just an old man who was alone and forgotten by whatever family he had. He was famous for working extra hours just to be on location when one of his favorites was going to need his services. Usually at a greatly reduced fare or in some cases for free.”
“Traci had been adopted to that list almost immediately when they met,”
Charlie chimed in, apparently not wanting to be left out.
“She had been working on Chicago’s south end for a few months when she met him.”
Mir jumped in again there, defending her like an errant lover.
“She had lost her husband and her job. Her family had always been against the marriage, and once he was gone, she refused to go back to them and listen to the
I told you so
chorus. So, she turned to this to survive and to punish herself. She still has skills, training and her own abilities, but the anonymity of this work appeals to her. She could find better, but she believes this is her due.”
Terry felt for her. She was fragile, beautiful and sexy as all hell. Her choice of employment sucked, but Terry realized with a start that it was trivial to him. He was glad he had met her for more reasons than just her appetite for sex. She had suddenly become far more than just the latest conquest. For a moment, he wondered if Charlie or Mir had a hand in it. Then, he decided that if either of them did, he didn’t want to know.
Mir, however, wasn’t finished.
“Pop had spent many an hour trying to convince her to move on, but her resistance was almost obsessive. More than once, they had argued themselves silent, yet they always remained friends. Perhaps even more than friends. Traci had once tried to seduce him, but he refused, saying he didn’t want her to think that was why he was trying so hard to help her. She, of course, took this as another example of her worthlessness. Pop had made it his personal mission to dissuade her from her choice right up until the day he was killed.”
Terry interrupted him there. It was important to get the facts, and given his passion for Traci, Mir seemed to be concentrating on how it was affecting her. While Terry found himself concerned about that as well, it had to take second place to the murder victims. Even so, Terry knew there was a part of him that wanted to know more about this woman and how to reach her. He wanted to think it was just his normal do-gooder mentality. The kind he had learned from the comic-book heroes he had spent his childhood with. Values of steel and ice forged in a lonely child’s mind that took the place of a mother and father that had little time for the pleasantries of life or for him.
He didn’t mind really. It was probably that immersion in comics that had given him the means to deal with Charlie and all the news he brought. Without it, he might have gone stark-raving mad when he first learned about the Chrliti.
Now though, he was faced with another factor. Traci. She was in trouble. She was gorgeous. And she was, like him, occupied. He wondered what that meant. But he suddenly decided it didn’t matter. Not to him anyway.
“Mir, tell me this. How was this guy killed? What makes you so sure it was the same guy that killed the first two and the ones since?”
For a second, Terry felt coldness emanate from Mir. A terrifying wave of hatred pushed its way through the connection he shared with Charlie and him. It took Terry by surprise by its intensity.
After a second, it seemed to fade as Mir pulled himself back from whatever abyss he kept that amount of emotion in.
“Pop Martin had been busy that day with work and a few of his favorites. And as usual, he was into his eleventh hour on duty. They found him in his cab with his throat cut nearly completely through. He was still sitting behind the wheel in the parking lot of his favorite little diner. The car was still running. He didn’t even look like he struggled. It looked as if he had simply sat there and let whomever it was simply cut him and then sat there quietly and bled to death. When she found out about it, she cried for three days all but constantly. She even called her mother, who demanded she return home at once. I tried to use what influence I had to get her to go, but she refused. With what I know of her mother, it was probably best. If she had, it would have been an admission that she wasn’t mature enough to deal with life and she’d have never gotten away again.”
Again, Terry could sense the level of protectiveness that Mir radiated when it came to the woman. It struck him that it was quite possible that he was, for lack of a better term, in love with her. Assuming that was possible for the Chrliti.
“Was there anything that connected the murders?”
Mir seemed to swell with a bit of pride there.
“Not publicly. The autopsy reports were sanitized to the point of the ridiculous. However, one of the lab assistants was an occupied and informed as many of us as he could that there was a connection. But unlike Tanoak, we have no direct way to contact any human to share the information with them.”
Terry nodded, realizing the advantage that he and Charlie could enjoy. And with Mir’s help, it could be an even greater benefit. At least it could if Mir was around. For a minute, he toyed with the idea of asking Traci to come with him, but then, he remembered the look that had passed over her face when he had had even brought up the subject of Chicago. Clearly, she was not ready to return to the Windy City just yet.
Mir was continuing.
“The reports said all three men had traces of what was listed as unidentified chemical compounds. It was a lie even then. The truth was they were all saturated with a curare compound. It was only found on one body, but the problem was it was mixed with an alkaloid that broke it down to a form that resembled a chemical mush that didn’t really register as anything. The same compound was found on each of the bodies. Each of the other ones, the final slush compound was there, but on Pop, there was a pocket in his jacket that had got a splash of the alkaloid itself. It seemed to be thrown on after the fact to disguise the original chemical. Finding that allowed a comparison to be made between the two, and as such, the curare was found. But that piece of news never made it to the reports.”
Now, Terry perked up.
“You mean they withheld it or that it was withheld from them by the coroner?”
Now, Terry could sense Mir’s bewilderment.
“I have no idea. None of our people have occupied any of the inner circle in the mayor’s office or in any of the government proper. The only one of my people close to the center of power in this instance was the lab assistant. He learned what he did almost by accident. Whatever is going on, they want to be sure that it stays in house.”
“So, it was like that, eh?”
To Terry, it meant he was sure to get little help from the local government. They were too busy covering their asses. They, of course, could be trying to keep the public out of the loop. And that could make his job that much harder.
Like it wasn’t hard enough. Despite his hatred of the FBI, he had to admire their support system. Although, admire was, perhaps, the wrong word. It was more like envied it. Out here, he was on his own except for Charlie. And as far as physical help, well…
Mir was still talking through the connection with Charlie. And the tone of it told Terry this was definitely the worst of it.
“When Traci finished crying, she grabbed all the clothes she could carry and bought a bus ticket. She had just enough money to get here and get herself set up. She never even told her parents. Has not contacted them since she arrived. She seems to be doing her best to erase her past as well as her future.”
Suddenly, Terry felt a burst of emotion that was as human as anything he had ever felt. Only this was powerful enough to cause near-physical pain. It took him a second to realize it was from Mir.
In a voice that said if it was connected to the right equipment, it would be crying, Mir shouted telepathically,
“And I cannot stop her! I try to push her back, but she fights her way down the wrong path every time! I scream to warn her of what she is doing, but she cannot hear me! I would give all to be able to talk to her like Tanoak can talk to you. To be able to tell her that it isn’t her fault. That she deserves a better life than she thinks she does. She has the courage of a lion in the terms of some of your literature, but she thinks this is paying her dues. That if she punishes herself enough, she’ll be forgiven. That someone will love her!”
Terry could feel the power of the emotions Mir fought down to maintain a semblance of composure. It was almost overwhelming. The thought he had had earlier that, perhaps, Mir did love her, after whatever fashion the Chrliti recognized, seemed to have more truth to it than he had thought at first. Charlie had told him they were past such things, just as they were past gender, sex and evil. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been wrong.
Terry thought about his own loss, an ex-girlfriend, Chandra, and what might have been. Of the kids they might have had. It suddenly hurt to think about. It hurt to realize that this beautiful girl was punishing herself for the things others had done to her. It hurt even more to think he might add to it.
Terry could keep Charlie out of a part of his mind and keep some thoughts to himself. He had learned that first. It was the only way he had been able to survive. He got better at it over the years and, now, could summon up a private place to think for himself at a moment’s notice. He did so now, as he thought about how things could change so quickly. She was not what he was looking for when he came to town. All he wanted was a little fun.
But as he looked down at Traci, curled up and still sleeping peacefully, he realized this wasn’t going to be anything like normal.
He opened himself to the other two and took over the conversation.
“I won’t promise anything. I’m just a human. We try to pick up hints as to what the other one wants and hope we got something right. I know you guys think you got all the answers, but the trouble here is you been a couple of million years removed from the question.”
Mir was still unsure of Terry, but he felt with Charlie, as he would with almost any of his people, that he could trust him. Mir had little contact with Chrliti of the kind that Charlie and Terry had dealt with in Lester. If he had, he might have had cause to rethink his belief that the Chrliti were above such things, his own attachment to Traci notwithstanding.
Terry had had enough. Whatever was happening in Chicago, he couldn’t help from here. But before he left, he had one thing left to do.
“Mir, can you wake her up?”
Caught off guard for a moment, Mir seemed confused. The change in the conversation barely registered on him at first. He knew humans were famous for abrupt and seeming-unrelated changes in their lines of thought. This, however, was the first time he had ever been subject to one of these changes in person.
Only for a moment, though, as he recovered quickly.
“Tweak her left breast lightly. It’s one of her favorite spots, and I have sensitized it to the point it will cause her an intense burst of pleasure.”
After a short pause, he added almost slyly,
“If you are in the mood for more sex, that will be a good way to start.”
Terry was almost surprised.
“You pushing for it?”
Mir was amused, and it came through.
“I have held her back for so long, her escapade with you was…refreshing. The amount of pleasure she received was enough to cause her to think that there could be another way to live. You could be the thing that saves her. You could be what she needs to bring her back from this long night she keeps herself in. If you chose to, that is. Of course, the choice is yours.”
Oh great
, Terry thought,
no pressure.
Charlie had remained silent throughout the exchange. Now, privately, he told Terry,
“This is a woman that has been a prostitute by choice for years. You owe her nothing.”
With equal discretion, Terry replied,
“She’s a human being, Charlie. A human being that needs help. If she were a victim of a psycho, there wouldn’t even be a question of whether or not we’d be coming to her aid. And on top of all that...”
Terry mentally argued with himself for a moment about whether he should even say it, then decided,
fuck it
and finished.
“I like her. If there were nothing else, that would be enough for me to want to help her. So that is the way this goes. Problem?”
Charlie retreated silently. There was no point in arguing. Nor was there any reason to. Charlie’s desire to help pretty much anyone was as strong as Terry’s. And older.
He still remembered the terrors he had experienced the night the Titanic went down. He had been relatively new to Earth, and the intensity of the emotions they produced. Especially the fear. But the worst he could remember was the terror and sadness of the parents for the children that they couldn’t save. Or of husbands for their wives that they put on the lifeboats knowing that they would ever see them again.