“Look–” Ford began but she stopped when an incoming call sounded. She accepted the call on her iPort and her eyes turned silver. “Riverton?”
They all stood in silence and watched.
“Shit…” Ford said, dropping her head and closing her eyes briefly. She turned away from them. “When?” She nodded to herself. “Okay. I’ll be right there.” She ended the comms, placed her hands on her hips and looked up to the ceiling. “Fuck!”
Salvi’s heart raced. “Beggs?”
Ford turned back to them. “No. Lance Chaney’s dead.”
“What?” Salvi asked, feeling the blood rush out of her. “What about his tail? We had two cops watching him.”
Ford looked to Sorenson. “They’re dead too,” she said gently. “I’m sorry.”
“Farrugia and Burke?” Sorensen said, straightening. “My guys are dead? The fuck?”
“Oh, Jesus...,” Kara said, lowering her head into her hands.
“This ghost is everywhere,” Mitch said. “He’s watching everything.”
“Let’s head to the crime scene,” Ford said, “see what we can find out.”
“No,” Salvi said, shaking her head. “I’m going to speak with Myki Natashi before someone erases her too.”
“I’ll come with you,” Mitch said to Salvi, and they hurried toward the door.
13: GHOSTED
Dawn began to break as the Raider snaked its way across town to, of all places, Francis Mellon’s house. It was the last place that Myki had been seen, according to Riverton’s data. Two days after Barker’s murder, she had packed her things and moved back in with her ex, Mellon.
“She’s not going to talk to us if she’s back with Mellon,” Mitch said. “She’s in this up to her neck.”
“We just have some follow-up questions on the case. Mellon can’t deny us that.”
An alert sounded on the Raider’s console. Salvi tapped the screen and answered the incoming communication from Riverton.
“What is it, Riverton?” Salvi said.
“I’ve undertaken further analysis on Barker’s photographs,” it said. “It appears they have indeed been tampered with. Whoever was responsible did an excellent job at covering their tracks, however, my applications were able to find a faint digital trace.”
“What’s been altered?” Salvi asked, as Mitch switched the Raider into autodrive, his eyes fixed on the console screen.
“Bodies have been erased from two of the photographs.” Two images appeared on the screen. One was the image of the women with their glasses raised. In the background, Salvi saw the enhanced outline trace of a person on the edge of the photo. Just half a face, half a body, but it had been erased from the image.
“How do we know that Barker didn’t just clean this image up to keep the focus on the women?” Salvi asked.
“This could be a possibility,” Riverton said. “However, based on statements made by Mr. Chaney in his interview, I believe the body in the first image may just be our ghost, detective. If you look carefully,” Riverton zoomed in on the image and the trace of the man’s face showing extra lines. The AI then enhanced the lines. “This face appears to be wearing a digital mask.”
Salvi’s heartbeat shot up a notch. She exchanged a glance with Mitch. “It could be… but the types of people this club drew, we can’t be sure it’s not just someone else wearing a digital mask for fun. I saw a woman wearing one in Diabolique.”
“Perhaps, detective. However, it is odd this one has been erased, don’t you agree?”
“Possibly.”
“And the other image?” Mitch asked.
“I will need to undertake further work, detective, but early indications are that the second figure is that of Detective Caine.”
Now the blood seemed to drain out of Salvi’s veins completely. She stared at the second image. It was of a group of four men, and on the edge of the group a fifth man had been erased. She watched as their AI zoomed in on the figure and enhanced the trace, making extra lines appear. Even though the shape was only an outline, Salvi recognized it as Caine’s. The shape of his hair, the way he held his body. That smile.
“These must be the guys Chaney said he saw him with,” Mitch said. Salvi scanned the faces of the others in the picture.
“I’ve met one of these,” Salvi said, her eyes falling onto the young, handsome man in the centre of the group. “The dark blonde in the middle. His name is Tom Bradley.”
“Who is he?” Mitch asked.
“Just some guy who flirted with me while I was waiting for Chaney. Chaney made a crack about how if he left a woman for a moment, Tom was in there trying his luck.”
Mitch nodded. “Sounds like he wanted what Chaney had.”
Salvi exchanged a glance with Mitch, then looked back to the screen. “But when I spoke to Chaney in the interview room, he admitted he’d seen Caine with some of the regulars, but he never identified Tom Bradley. Chaney was on a first name basis with this guy. He knew that I knew him.”
“But Chaney also said he promises his clientele anonymity. You think he purposely didn’t mention who it was because he was protecting him?”
“I don’t know,” she said, looking back at Mitch. “I mean, I think this guy has just finished college. Maybe that’s why Chaney protected him, because he’s young. There’s no way he could be the ghost. He wouldn’t have the power.” She turned her eyes back to the first image, the half-figure on the edge of the shot, wearing a digital mask. “But we might just have half a ghost, here. Now we just need to find the rest of him.”
“And you think Myki can help us with that?” Mitch asked.
Salvi nodded, staring out the Raider’s window as the city flew past. “She dated Francis Mellon for years before they broke up. She once dated a powerful man with some of the most powerful friends in the city. I have no doubt she met these friends during their time dating, and I think if we push her, she might just know who the ghost actually
