“Did we manage to find who that client was before the system corrupted?”
Mitch shook his head.
“So we have a sadistic killer out there who now has nowhere to get their fix,” Salvi said.
“As soon as another body shows up, we’ll get ‘em,” Ford said confidently.
“But it will cost us a body to do that,” Salvi said.
“You did well, detective,” the Chief said. “MasterSlave has been shut down. My daughter and others like her have been released.”
“There was a whole network behind MasterSlave,” Salvi said. “If we don’t shut down the entire network, they’ll just set up another MasterSlave somewhere else.”
The Chief exhaled heavily and shrugged. “Sometimes that’s the way it goes.”
Salvi’s face tightened. “What do you mean, that’s the way it goes? We can’t just sit back and let that happen. We have to take them all down. All of them.”
“But you won’t,” he said, before his face took on a look of pity. “That’s the hardest thing to learn about policework, Brentt. You can cut off the head of an organization, a gang, but within minutes a new one will appear in its place. It is an endless cycle. We’ll win some of the battles, but the war itself is eternal.”
“You’re just going to accept that and walk away from the men who held your daughter captive, sir?”
He stared at her a moment, his eyes turning cold and hard. “Of course I won’t. If they show their faces, I will end them.” He took a moment before his eyes warmed again. “But I know that thinking like that is the pathway to hell. We do what we can within the constraints of the law, but while we fight with our bare hands, those with money and power will fight with grenades.” He glanced at Ford, then back at Salvi. “Be grateful we won the battle and that we’ll live to fight another day… Get well, detective.”
He nodded goodbye to her, then to Ford and Mitch, and left.
“How can he say that?” Salvi said after he’d gone.
“Brentt–” Ford began.
“He’s our Chief of Police and he’s admitting defeat?”
“He’s not admitting defeat, Brentt,” Ford said firmly. “He’s being a realist.” She shrugged. “And he’s right. We’ll do everything we can, but if a crooked judge or someone who can pay their way out of things can manipulate the system and override us, they will. That’s just a fact.” Ford looked her in the eye. “We won’t ever kill them, Brentt. History has proven that. But every now and then, if we can nick an artery or two, we can make them hurt. Bad. We can keep them in check. We can keep the balance of power from tipping their way. And that is what you did. You nicked their artery, Brentt. You shut down MasterSlave, and that will hurt them for a while.” She smiled. “We won this battle. And that, my friend, is the balance of power.” She looked at Mitch, then moved for the door. “Get some rest. I’ll see you soon.”
Salvi watched Ford leave. She looked back at Mitch.
“What about the names from Solme?” she said. “We need to get our hands on the membership list from Diabolique–”
“Salvi,” Mitch cut her off. “The Trident team has been working on it, piecing it together. We think that the auto accessory guy, Mark Langford, somehow stole Flyte from either Diabolique or MasterSlave, and that he used that as a sweetener to go partners with Reeves Morgan from Bounce into their new club. The MasterSlave folks found out and had Langford killed. We think Reeves got scared and paid one of the MasterSlave guards to help protect him by stealing Fyte from MasterSlave. Reeves was trying to build his own little army to keep him safe. That’s what got him and the ex-security guard killed, but by then it was too late. The DJ at Bounce was cutting himself a piece of the action and selling the Fyte at Bounce. That’s what got him killed. And the cleaner who killed his boss in Kelto’s Diner, that was over money. The cleaner had bought some Fyte from the DJ to give him the courage to face his boss in that diner, but he lost control and they both got killed. And, of course, we now know that the Randy’s Retrotech owner was killed because he was selling some Dancer specials and the MasterSlave folks wanted to keep that tech to themselves. We think Dancer was in the store at the time, and that’s when they took him.”
Salvi thought of Dancer’s lifeless body falling against her.
“And Barker, the photographer?”
“He was paid to take promotional shots of the Ceiling for their exclusive clients, but he fucked up when he accidentally caught one of your ghosts in that shot of the women. We have no idea how he was allowed to take that shot of Caine with the other ghosts. Maybe they were just so confident of never being found out, they simply smiled and posed,” Mitch shrugged. “But then after they found out who Caine was, they erased him from the photo.”
“And Myki? Francis Mellon? John Dorant?”
“It looks like Dorant found out about the hit on Barker. Dorant warned Mellon, who begged the ghosts to have Myki spared. We think Mellon sent Calabri and his associates to the area the night the hit was taking place, just in case. He wanted them visible to the ghosts as maybe a warning to hold up their end of the bargain and spare Myki.”
“Spare Myki?” Salvi said.
Mitch shrugged. “We still don’t know whether Myki took the Flyte voluntarily in Diabolique, or if the killer intentionally gave it to her down there, to ensure she’d black out the murder later. She still won’t talk.”
“Mellon can’t keep her locked up in his house forever for her protection.
