Xenopath by Eric Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

body."
    Vaughan relayed
the question and the program responded with, " Night-watchman
employed by Raja Amusements PLC. Alibi corroborated: at midnight he
was in visi-contact with superior at Kandalay Security."
    Vaughan said,
"Dependants, next of kin?"
    "Victim's
marital status: Married, no children. Spouse: Hermione Kormier."
    "Address?"
    "Two
Gulshan Villas, Allabad, Level One."
    He looked at
Kapinsky. "Anything else?"
    "Ask about
his last job posting, when he arrived on Earth, things like that.
It's a long-shot, but you never know."
    "Victim's
last professional posting?"
    "Information
unavailable."
    "Arrival on
Earth?"
    Again the
information was unavailable. Kapinsky shrugged. "We'll get all
that when we question his boss at Scheering-Lassiter."
    She nodded to
the corpse boys. "Okay, we're through here."
    They moved in,
and Vaughan turned away—but not fast enough. With the
dispassion of their calling they lifted the corpse onto the waiting
stretcher, torso and legs first, leaving behind the head and arms
like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
    Vaughan looked
around at the rusted stanchions. He shook his head and said to
Kapinsky, "We're out of luck if we thought a security cam
might've caught the killing."
    "None
installed?"
    "Once upon
a time." He gestured to the vandalised remains of surveillance
cams.
    He turned and
stared across the park, wondering if a cam surveying the streets
beyond the park might have caught something. It was a long shot, but
one worth checking out later.
    He copied the
information to his handset's memory, ejected the pin and handed it to
Kapinsky.
    He watched the
corpse-wagon rise into the air and bank low over the decrepit
panelling of the amusement park, leaving silence in its wake. Gaudy
advertisements for unlimited family fun hit the eye from every
direction, contrasting with the forlorn ghost-town aspect of the
abandoned park. Vaughan thought it a ghoulishly apposite setting for
a laser slaying.
    "Two
things, Lin," he said. "What was Kormier doing here anyway,
and why at midnight?"
    "Meeting
someone?" She shrugged. "Okay, looks to me like we have two
obvious lines of enquiry. His employers—the Scheering-Lassiter
outfit—and his widow." She went on before Vaughan could
state a preference, "I'll take his bosses. You talk to his
widow, find out if—"
    "Lin, I
know what to do, okay?"
    She flicked him
a smile. "Two years out of practice, driving a tanker..."
    "Fuck you,
Kapinsky." He strode towards the waiting Russian flier. "I'll
take the taxi, okay?"
    "You're
such a gentleman, Vaughan."
    He slumped into
the padded rear seat and said, "Gulshan Villas, Allabad."
    He stared out as
they rose. Far below, Kapinsky was a tiny figure dwarfed by looming
epitaphs to a happier time.
    He watched the
streets flicker past, then turned his thoughts to Sukara, and their
daughter, and wondered what his wife was doing now.

FOUR
    VOICE
    "Pham..."
    A voice nearby,
and a hand on her shoulder, waking her up. She opened her eyes and
blinked up at a small brown face. She recognised the young boy, then
remembered his name.
    "Abdul?"
She sat up. "How did you find me?"
    He grinned. "You
told me you'd spend the night here, remember?"
    She did, and she
remembered everything else, too. The ghost train, the laser killing,
the white light that had smashed into her face.
    Then the voice
in her head.
    She had been so
sleepy that she had thought it might have been a dream. The voice had
said nothing more, just told her not to be frightened, that it could
help her.
    Then silence,
and she had slept all night.
    Abdul was
kneeling before her, staring into her face as she rubbed her eyes
with both fists. "What happened, Pham? When I got away I waited
for you in the Level Two tunnel. You were ages, and when you did
appear you just ran off before I could catch you."
    Pham smiled.
"The murderer. The man with the laser. He came after me, tried
to kill me."
    Abdul's eyes
were massive. "Did he see your face?"
    "I