Titan Song by Dan Stout

Author:Dan Stout [Stout, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2021-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

24

SO WE KNEW THE TIME of Paulus’s arrest, but were unable to do anything about it. Jax and I parked our Hasam down the street from the social club where Paulus was due to make a public appearance alongside Weylan, the celebrity Barekusu guide. We thought we might at least see the event when it happened. Ragweed Road was in a posh neighborhood, and we might have been out of place if not for the crowds and reporters who’d already gathered for the joint hand-pressing session. So we were able to sit and eat our take-out noodles and chug caffeine in peace, as we waited to see it all descend into chaos.

Jax had a napkin tucked in his collar, pulled down far enough that he could eat and talk without worrying about adding a few extra dots to the pattern on his tie.

“Tell me if I’m wrong,” he said, “but I don’t see any way Paulus’s people being in the vents decades ago would cause the sinkhole to collapse now.”

“No.” I caught myself. “We don’t know for sure. They may have planted the seeds, somehow weakened the ground. But I doubt it.”

“Because the timing is too tight, isn’t it?” He bounced his head, as if counting days on a calendar. “I lost my badge on Firstday and the sinkhole opened up Quaddro night. So someone was in the hole during that three-day gap. And whoever it was, they knew the bodies would be found shortly, or else why plant the badge at all?”

“It’s a mess,” I agreed. “The sinkhole uncovered an old crime—the intruders in the vents. But because of the badge we know it’s actually a recent crime. Someone entered the vents, left the badge, and did nothing about the bodies. And I don’t think we’re the only people being set up.”

“Paulus.” He slid a forkful of noodles down his mouth.

I nodded. “She’s arrogant, and arrogant people can be sloppy. But planting a badge on her own crime scene? No, she’s the one person we know didn’t try to take us down.”

“The fact that Paulus is implicated means that she’s not involved in the newest interference.”

“Yes.”

“But we can’t say so, because the other bit of evidence was my badge, and we sat on that piece of information until it was too late.”

I glared into the side-view mirror, watching the pedestrians going by. The other missing piece was the identity of Gellica’s sister. But I couldn’t say anything about that, either, without exposing Gellica’s secret. And I couldn’t watch her hauled away like poor Andrews.

I sighed. “Would it make you feel better if I said you were right about the badge?”

“Yes.”

“Too bad.”

My pager buzzed. I dug around in my coat pocket and fished it out. Code 187. Jax picked up the radio and thumbed the push-to-talk. He reported in to Dispatch, but instead of a prompt reply with an address, the dispatcher hesitated. “One moment, Detective . . .”

I gave Jax a shrug. There was a burst of static, then the dispatcher was back.

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