The Gemini Age: Book One

[13-2] To Blindly Leap - Part Two

    The leaden toll of a skull thudding against an immovable metal panel placed the sight on Point Locke's doorstep in Fiona's mind before she saw it. Kevin stood hunched over, his arm propped on the wall beside him. "No good, boss. No one's home. We can't get in." His voice was deflated.

    Fiona peered through the windows and scanned for signs of movement, tapping the glass to test its resilience. "It'll take ages for a techy to get here, and even longer for them to hack the lordling's security system, no doubt. For the love of..."

    "Voice recognised. Welcome, 'For the love of...DCI Fiona Sinclair'. I'm delighted to inform you that Miss Penelope Locke has assigned you special access privileges. Would you like to come in?" The door lock clicked loose, and the door drifted open into the porch.

    Catching his heavy head before he fell too far forward, Kevin fixed his tie and whistled to himself. "Wow. That kid is a bright spark."

    "You're not wrong. I guess it doesn't take one to know one after all." Fiona winked at her partner as she stepped straight through the porch into the house.

    Point Locke was too big a property for the small family that owned it. What little life ever inhabited the walls and furniture had fled with the occupants, leaving glorified base matter behind for Fiona to scan her eyes across. An empty mug sat stranded on a side table, a faint air of citrus dwindling around it. Fiona curled up her nose at the scent, placed the mug down, then noticed a door hanging open off the corridor. She crossed the corridor, swearing the same door had been locked shut on her last visit. It opened too easily at her touch for her to prepare for what lay on the other side.

    A bedroom had been implanted into the side room, attentively decorated and fitted with more medical equipment than Fiona had seen in care homes. Pill bottles and syringes lay scattered across a plain white dressing table. Fluids circled through tubes over a crystal blue duvet into a skeletal arm, and she took a moment to realise the arm stemmed from a body lying motionless in the bed. Another moment confirmed the body was a woman's. Fiona frowned and approached the bed, ready to call Kevin over to examine the scene, then froze in place.

    She was not sure how she knew, or how it was even possible, but the woman in the bed knew she was there. She was watching her.

    "Kevin! Photos!" Fiona hurried out into the corridor and ventured further into the house, stopping at another open door. "Curse you, Kev, where are -"

    "Sorry, Detective," said a voice that was not Kevin's. The open door led into an office, or at least a room pretending to be an office like the one Penelope had described. Kevin stood inside against a wall, his legs trembling too vigorously to keep him up unaided. His weapon lay mute on the desk, and between the gun and its owner stood a tall, proud man, the source of both the voice and the hand around Kevin's neck. "Your sergeant and I were just having a chat about...what did I call them?"

    Kevin choked on his spit. "Boundaries! We were talking about boundaries."

    "Ah, yes." The man nodded and gave a long sigh of realisation. "So we were. See, integrity is an important thing. Personal, professional, societal..."

    Fiona's weapon flew into her hand, its barrel eyeing the wrist by Kevin's neck. "Gripping stuff, honestly. I'm enthralled. Let my sergeant go and I might even let you finish rambling before I bring you in for assaulting an officer." Her eyes identified the right nerves to shoot, and her smile reflected her confidence in hitting all of them before the man could move. Tempered or not, he would be neutralised. "Byron Farron, I take it?"

    "Correct, Fiona Sinclair." Byron bowed his head with a soft smile. "Don't be surprised, my associate often speaks of you. He finds your blunt demeanour disagreeable, but frankly, I think it's refreshing to meet one so secure in their skills. Why shouldn't those of us who have worked long and hard to develop exceptional abilities take pride in them?"