Mickey, who had been on her way to some social engagement, was wearing a short, skin-tight dress of some color Chris recognized as a shade of blue – it shifted to a different shade every time Mickey moved, as though it was part of a tropical sea. The effect was guaranteed to attract attention as she walked across a room. Livvy would probably recognize the material, Chris thought, and appreciated what it said about the woman who chose to wear it. As she seated herself on the spotless white sofa across from him, Mickey focused on Chris for the first time.
“My sister-in-law called and asked me to see you, Mr. McGregor. I have very little time this afternoon. I have an engagement I simply cannot miss this evening, I have number of other engagements I have to cancel, and then we leave for Italy tomorrow, and I still have to pack this afternoon,” Mickey said. “Paula has said there is some imminent danger to me and to Jesse, and on that basis, because she was very insistent, I accepted her invitation to join her at her family villa for a while. She also said I should listen to you.” She tossed her hair back and used a perfectly manicured hand to make sure it was in place, then flashed him a brilliant but vague smile.
“Where did you say you were from, again?”
“I’m a detective from LLE – Longevity Law Enforcement.”
“Yes, I know what it means, of course, but I thought you only dealt with things like Longevity fraud and illegal enhancements. That sort of thing. Paula said you wanted to warn me about a possible kidnapping. She said that your warning to her was responsible for her impromptu invitation, although, of course, she said it much more charmingly.” She held up a hand to forestall him, smiling disarmingly to soften it.
“You understand that people in our position are inured to the threat of kidnapping and I have always been very diligent when it comes to security. However, if you have information about something specific, I am happy to listen. Surely by going to Italy we are forestalling any plot that you may have heard about.”
“Is your son here with you?” Chris asked.
“If you mean in the house, yes, and I know Paula asked if Jesse could be present as well, but Jesse is with his tutor,” Mickey said. “Children nowadays mature so much more slowly and I’ve always tried to make sure that Jesse had a normal childhood. It is hard enough… I don’t expose him to these concerns about kidnapping unless it is unavoidably necessary to keeping him safe.”
“I understand,” Chris said. “I wonder, Ms. Bedford, if you could give me a picture of your son?”
“Mickey, please. I don’t mean to be disobliging or to imply that I don’t trust you, but I would prefer not. It is just one of my security measures, to keep people from recognizing Jesse.”
“I see,” Chris said. “I suppose your father-in-law was happy to advise you on such matters.”
“Of course, who else would have Jesse’s safety so much at heart? And he has so much experience in arranging his own security. But Detective McGregor,” Mickey said, nodding graciously at him to show she was pleased to have gotten it right, “you still haven’t explained what LLE has to do with a kidnapping threat against my son.”
“Your son seems to have led a very secluded life,” Chris said.
Mickey may have sensed some disapproval, and her next words took on a slight defensive tone. “Perhaps more than you are used to, but then his grandfather is both extremely wealthy and has many enemies.”
“And he has been careful to remind you of this, and to advise you on this aspect of your security, as well?” Chris asked.
Mickey’s patience had worn out. “Of course,” she said thinly.
“Ms Bedford… Mickey, I’m sorry to have tried your patience, but it’s your father-in-law that I have to warn you about,” Chris said finally.
“I… I don’t understand,” Mickey said. “What are you saying? John is extremely wealthy. He has no need of Jesse’s inheritance from his father.”
“It’s not money I’m talking about, Ms Bedford.”
“Then…?”
Chris continued to watch her steadily as she thought through the possibilities. She had to know Bedford well enough to have glimpsed the obsession that Paula understood all too well.
“No, it is too fantastic. I must thank your… good intentions, I’m sure, but I have no time for nonsensical…” Mickey stood up and her gaze on Chris had hardened. She didn’t believe him, and now didn’t trust him.
“Detective McGregor, you must please excuse me. I will send Robert to see you out.” She started to turn away.
“Ms. Bedford,” Chris said, keeping his tone both rational and persuasive. “Please listen. I need to be brutally frank with you, and you need to decide if you can believe me. I ask you to remember that your sister-in-law, John Bedford’s daughter, already has heard everything I’m going to say, and has asked you to listen to me.
“I have good reason to believe that John Bedford plans to kidnap Jesse and exchange identities with him.” It was as bald a statement of his suspicions as Chris had ever made, even to himself, and even now it made him feel a little sick. It stopped Mickey Bedford in her tracks, and she stared at him. At one point she started to say something, then she appeared to think better of it and her eyes unfocused. She was thinking, and remembering, Chris was glad to see.
“But how could he? Jesse would never agree. I would never agree. Paula herself would never agree.”
“I know,” Chris said. “I am sure of all that.” Chris watched Mickey absorb this. She had neither Paula’s innate intelligence, nor her willingness to easily accept such a stark assessment of John Bedford. But she was thinking through the implications, and probably reconciling her own experiences of her distant father-in-law with what Chris was saying about him.
“But no, this is unbelievable,” Mickey said, and for the first time Chris picked up a hint on an accent, although he didn’t recognize the origin. She began to pace, with her arms pressed protectively across her midriff as Paula had done. “You must be mistaken somehow.”
Chris let her alone to think it through.
“How could anyone? Unthinkable.” Mickey stood in the middle of the floor as though undecided which way to move. Chris knew she was a chronological 55, but at the moment she seemed as lost as the 21 year-old she looked to be.
“The DNA mapping, and how…?”
“Ms Bedford,” Chris said. “I have worked in LLE for longer than you have lived, and I will tell you that there is nothing, nothing that money cannot arrange or buy. These matters are not a problem for someone with resources and uncommon persistence, and not the issue for John Bedford. What he wants, what he believes he needs, is a legitimate long-term identity that he can assume so that he can live unchallenged for another lifetime. With his intact fortune at his disposal, as well. Unfortunately, I am able to remind you that people have murdered other people, sometimes their own family members, for far less. Tell me, in terms of appearance, meaning height and features, are Jesse and John similar?”
Mickey nodded slowly. “Similar enough.”
“And both have lived in seclusion. I need to ask you if there was some additional security measure that you have considered lately, and that you may have mentioned to your father-in-law?” Chris asked.
Mickey placed her fingers on her lips briefly, then said, “Yes. There is a new kind of injectable tracer that after it is injected cannot be located for extraction and cannot be jammed. Last Thursday I told John that I was arranging it for Jesse, along with an early pre-reset mapping, for security. I haven’t done them yet. I thought he would be pleased,” she added bitterly. “He told me not to rush into it, that he would investigate it for me, but he did not say what his concerns were.”
Much as Paula had done, Mickey came up with a word that came close to accurately describing John’s plan. “If it is true, it is diabolical. Please understand, I do not doubt that you are sincere, I just cannot believe…
“You have evidence of this?” she asked abruptly, turning to face him fully.
“Unfortunately, I have no direct evidence. Paula believes it. My partner and I are trying to get proof. We need you to be safe for a while so that we have time to find it.”
“But wait, if it is true, he is… not a man who tolerates interference. He will not give up unless you make him. He is also very powerful. You can get the proof? For the courts? Can you make him give it up? Arrest him! You can arrest him.”
Chris found it chilling that Mickey was also relatively quickly convinced that what he was warning her about was true, and that now that she was convinced, she was plainly very frightened.
“I’m sorry. We would if we could. Not without the evidence. It would just handicap us further, because he would be warned and he might be able to take legal measures to impede us. Even in LLE we need proof to take legal action.”
