Hennig reckoned on his fingers before answering.
“Um, yes, sir, I’m pretty sure it is.”
“Was Inspector Peabody running the meetings?”
“No, sir, that would have been Captain Bradly.”
“I see. Did Peabody assist him?”
“No, sir. That would have been Lieutenant Carr.”
“Did Peabody do anything other than listen to the discussion in the meetings?”
“Not much, sir. The occasional comment when somebody spoke to ‘im. That ‘uz about it.”
“Indeed. And Bradly gave you your instructions?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What were your instructions?”
“To off this Director Carter guy, along with his ‘pet dog,’ Detective Ashton, and their wives, who were ICPD detectives, helpin’ Carter an’ Ashton.”
“And is the video you just watched with your counsel accurate as to how you went about doing this?”
Hennig hung his head. “Yes, sir.”
“Were you given any additional instructions?”
“Um, yes, sir. I was supposed to off Inspector Peabody, sir.”
“What?!”
“Yes, sir. Captain Bradly told me I was t’ find Peabody – told me where his apartment was, an’ all – and see he bit it. ‘Make it look like an old enemy offed him,’ he told me. Wanted me to do it this morning, as was.”
“And did you?” Demetrius leaned forward, intent.
“Nah,” Hennig sighed. “You guys got me ‘fore I had a chance to locate ‘im.”
“Pardon me for a moment,” Demetrius said. He rose and left the interrogation room.
Gorski met him in the hall.
“Yes, Gene, he’s telling the truth,” Gorski said, before Demetrius could ask. “In fact, me an’ Doc McCray had the impression he was spilling his guts.”
“But I thought Nick said Peabody was…” Demetrius broke off. “Bradly is aiming for the top office.”
“Sure sounds like it. We need to ping Nick, because I have no idea where Peabody is right now, do you?”
“No, and that’s bad.”
Ashton was still at Carter’s house, getting ready in the guest bathroom alongside Ames, when the urgent message came in on the classified VR channel being reserved for the conspiracy investigation. He glanced at Ames in the mirror, and tapped his temple. She nodded, concerned, and he dropped into VR.
“Nick!” Demetrius and Gorski both exclaimed when Ashton arrived in the virtual meeting room.
“Yeah. What’s up, guys? I got the ‘urgent’ notification.”
“Do you know where Peabody is?”
“Not offhand, no,” Ashton said. “Why?”
“Because Bradly ordered one of the enforcers to kill him, too,” Demetrius explained. “Are you sure Peabody was working with you and Lee?”
“As sure as I can be, short of reading the guy’s mind,” Ashton said, biting his lip in concerned thought. “And of course I told him to keep his VR off until this mess was over with, later this afternoon, so they couldn’t trace him…” He shook his head. “Shit. I didn’t think about them going after him, too. Not without them finding out he was helping us, at least.”
“Oh damn,” Gorski murmured. “Hennig says he didn’t have time to do the deed, but if Bradly has someone else on Peabody’s tail, too…”
“Yeah. That’d be bad, all right. But I got an idea, guys,” Ashton said then. “I’m betting he’s gone to see his old flame, a lady he wanted to get back together with, a mystery writer named Emily… what was it, oh! Emily Walton.”
“I know that writer,” Gorski said. “She’s good.”
“Yeah, she is. Do you know how to find her?”
“Not yet.”
Gorski and Demetrius put the rest of Hennig’s interrogation on hold, explaining to Chase that a matter of life and death had come up. Chase agreed, in the circumstances, and the two inspectors dived into an attempt to find Emily Walton.
“Here! I’ve got a link through her publisher!” Demetrius said, after nearly half an hour of searching.
“Put it through, police urgent!” Gorski said.
Moments later, they got a sleepy voice response.
“Um, hello?”
“Is this Ms. Emily Walton?” Demetrius asked.
“Speaking…”
“My name is Inspector Eugene Demetrius, ma’am. I’m with ICPD. Is there any chance you know where Winston Peabody is?”
“Can you prove who you are?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Can you prove you’re with ICPD?”
“In VR? Not definitively,” Demetrius said, “nor quickly. I can if I need to, but time is of the essence. I need to get an emergency message to Mr. Peabody from his supervisor. If you know where he is, please tell him to contact Detective Ashton at once.”
“Thank you. Goodbye,” Walton said, and broke the connection.
“Do you think she knows where he is?” Gorski wondered.
“Yes. She knew enough to ask for my bona fides,” Demetrius pointed out. “Now, if she’ll take it seriously and tell him, before we have a worse mess on our hands…”
“What was that all about?” Peabody wondered, as he sat up in bed beside Walton.
“Somebody named Demetrius, claiming to be from ICPD, wanted you to contact a Detective Ashton on an emergency channel. Isn’t Ashton your supervisor?”
“Yes! Inspector Demetrius?! That was one of Ashton’s colleagues when he was at ICPD!” Peabody exclaimed. “You said emergency channel?”
“Yes,” Walton said, becoming agitated. “Win, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know yet, honey,” Peabody said. “Give me a minute to try to contact my boss and find out.”
“…And so apparently Bradly was gunning for you, too,” Ashton finished the explanation. “Watch your back, Peabody. And your lady friend’s too.”
“Can you get someone trustworthy out here to help do that?”
“Not until we get the Sintaran part of IPD cleaned up, but if you bring her in to the ICPD headquarters precinct, there’s guys there who will. I’ll meet you there with my crew. That’s where I was headed this morning, anyway.”
“Consider it done, sir. And thank you.”
“I think that’s my line, Peabody.”
Finally Bradly and his
