Chapter 005: Angelcity Nightlife
"If
you should go skating
On
the thin ice of modern life
Dragging
behind you the silent reproach
Of
a million tear stained eyes
Don't
be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears
under your feet
You
slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With
your fear flowing out behind you
As
you claw the thin ice"
These lines just kept running through my head. We had made our way back
to the apartment and were currently munching our way through the pile of
junkfood that Martin had ordered. No haute cuisine, but just plain good filler
stuff. Meanwhile we were again going over our options and again we reached the
conclusion that we would need to split up if we were to investigate all our
leads. Perhaps that's what was bothering me; I just didn't relish the idea of
venturing onto the unfamiliar and hostile streets of Angel City on my own.
Somehow I could already feel the crack appearing under my feet.
"You're worrying too much," Wylde told me, and she sent me a
mental picture of me as a scaredy cat, jumping at shadows and afraid to venture
from his spot. I smiled and completed her picture with the image of the brave
and strong Wyldie cat, boldly leading me into unfamiliar territory. She grinned
as if she was the Cheshire cat himself and began nosing through the empty
hamburger-wrappers looking for some edible remains.
Okay, if we had to split up I might as well see which task was best
suited for me. Checking out the guy whose hand had been chopped off seemed more
like a job for Martin, since it would require at least some contacts in this
Shadow. The second job, investigating the Myrone Corporation, also didn't seem
to be the one for me, not in the last place because I just wouldn't have a clue
about what to do, taking into account my almost nonexistent knowledge of big
corporations and their security systems.
What remained were the two corpses of Martin's attackers. Hmm, yes, that
would be a relatively safe occupation, I felt. After all what could go wrong? We
would just have to go round the mortuary and see whether anyone had claimed the
bodies or find some other clue that would lead us to their employer. I told the
others that I thought this would be an appropriate task for me and Adrian said
he would like to come along. Vincent would tag along with Martin on his tour
round the local informers and Murlas and Alex would take a trip to the Myrone
estate.
We agreed we would all come back here at Martin's apartment when we were
done. Martin didn't have any spare keys, but he said we either could wait on his
doorstep or use our ingenuity to open the door in such a way that would leave
the lock more or less intact. He warned Alex and Murlas to be careful at the
Myrone Corporation and not to try anything rash. He gave us directions to the
morgue on 141 street and he also remembered the names of the two thugs from
their ID's: Farn and Torrell. With some words of goodbye and good luck we
finally split up.
As we again hit the cold and damp streets of Angel City Adrian asked me a
question that seemed to have been bothering him for some time now. He had
noticed that he didn't have a Trump of his brother and he was wondering whether
I had one. He seemed to think that Alex may purposely not have given him a copy,
which again made me wonder about the relationship of these two brothers. I had
also noticed that I didn't have Alex's Trump, but I had assumed that he didn't
have one himself and I said so to Adrian. And with all the trouble with Algo and
the murder we just hadn't had any time to have one made of him. Adrian wasn't
entirely convinced; he felt that since there was a Trump of him, there should be
one of his brother too. I felt he just was being just a bit too suspicious and
by now I really would like to know the cause of these feelings of distrust
between the brothers, but now was not the time.
I quickly changed the subject to the job at hand. I suggested we would
act like friends of the deceased from a distant city who had only recently
learned about their tragic deaths. Adrian liked the idea and with this new
strength of purpose we walked the short distance to the morgue, only to be
unpleasantly surprised, for they were closed. A notice at the door read:
"opening hours: 9:00-12:00 and 14:00-16:00". Damn! When we had left
Martin's apartment it had been a little before 22:00. I had just expected the
morgue to be open at this hour, especially since I had a feeling this would be
the time of the day that most of the customers would be arriving.
We were just standing there, Adrian and I, looking a bit lost, and we
were already discussing burglary as a possibility (although personally I wasn't
too keen on that course of action), when after a couple of minutes we finally
noticed the doorbell. What the hell, let's give it a try! I rang the bell and
after a while a small panel in the door was opened and the face of an old woman
(probably the caretaker) appeared. She looked us up and down with an unfriendly
expression.
"Well, what d'ya want? Can't ya tell we're closed?"
"We're so sorry to disturb you," I answered, trying my best to
be as courteous as possible, "but we would like some information and we're
in a bit of a hurry."
"Nobody is in much of a hurry here," she snorted disdainfully.
"But what d'ya wanna know?"
"Well, we had heard that two late friends of ours had been brought
here and as soon as we heard the news we rushed to this city to find out whether
it was really them. However we have to leave again tonight, so we have very
little time."
As I told her this I could see she wasn't impressed by my story. In fact
I don't think she believed me at all.
"I can't let just anyone in at this hour. Haven't ya got a badge or
some ID's or papers or something?"
I glanced at Adrian and then dug in my pockets. Martin had given us all
some local currency and the way the woman had stressed the papers or something
had given me the idea that bribery would be worth a try; I already had the
feeling it was quite common practice in this Shadow. And indeed, she seemed more
than satisfied with the $100 bill I gave her. She unlocked the door and let us
in. I gave her the two names and after looking them up in the computer she led
us to residents #212 and #213.
Well, they weren't much to look at: two naked, frozen bodies, one with a
broken neck and the other with a couple of knife-wounds. I asked the old woman
whether anyone else had been here to see these two, like family or the police,
but she said we were the first to show up. According to her the police had more
important things on their minds than investigating the two bodies of some
smalltime crooks.
I inquired if we might have a look a their belongings, but she said that
was highly illegal. However, another $100 from Adrian helped to bend her sense
of legality somewhat. Sadly there weren't very much useful things to be found: a
pile of clothes and a cheap watch for both of them. The only things that seemed
to be worthwile were the ID's which also mentioned the adresses of the two
victims. We couldn't be certain that these weren't fake, but we could at least
check it out; if they were true we might find some information there. I
memorised both adresses since the caretaker wouldn't let us take us anything
with us (at least, not without further payment). We left the morgue and I first
did a little shifting, turning the money I had taken with me from Amber into
local currency. If we had to do any more bribing tonight we would need a little
more than what Martin had given us.
We started walking but of course we didn't have the faintest idea where
to find 38 and 51 street. We checked the streets at some crossroads, but we just
couldn't discern any logical pattern. The town planners in this Shadow must have
designed Angel City during a night of drunken revelry. A solution presented
itself in the form of taxis rushing by. Well, it would have been a solution, if
they just would stop when you signalled them to. They didn't even slow down when
they saw us! After the fifth taxi had ignored my outstretched hand I got the
uneasy feeling that someone was watching us. I didn't want any trouble and urged
Adrian to move along.
As we walked on down the street we suddenly noticed a non-moving taxi
standing in an alley. We ran towards it before it could drive away, only to
discover that this taxi wasn't going anywhere, since the driver had been killed.
Adrian asked me whether I knew how to drive and I told him yes, but that wasn't
of any use since we still didn't know where to find those two adresses. We were
just figuring out what to do, when we heard the sound of police-sirens rapidly
closing in. Before we knew it several cars had pulled into the alley and someone
shouted that we were under arrest.
That wasn't supposed to be in the script! With a quick glance at each
other Adrian and I both started running away, further into the dark alley, with
some bullets flying over our heads. To our surprise however, the police made no
show of following us. And perhaps our course of action had been a little too
hasty; there was barely any light in the alley and I got a very creepy feeling.
Wylde was also very nervous and she stayed very close to me. Suddenly I almost
slipped as I stepped into something soft. Looking down I could barely make out
the remains of a human body, which, judging from the state of decay it was in,
had already been here for quite some time now. We heard the sounds of rats
scuttling nearby, which made us all more nervous, even Wylde! As I took out my
gun I saw that Adrian had already done the same. Then I started running as fast
as I could until I reached the other end of the alley, not really caring whether
the police would be waiting for us there or not. Adrian started after me and I
soon had some difficulty keeping up with him. Wylde was a small dark shape at my
side and at the same time a reassuring presence in my mind.
Luckily we reached the other side unharmed. The police wasn't waiting for
us (perhaps they didn't think we were that important or they hadn't thought we
would be able to make our way through the alley) and we quickly hid our guns
again. We found ourselves on a brightly lit street with lots of shops, most of
them closed at this hour. Looking around we suddenly saw a taxi stopping before
a sandwich-shop. The driver jumped out and rushed into the shop to get some
food. Determined not to miss a chance like this we quickly walked to the car and
found us a place in the backseat. When the driver returned he didn't seem to
mind very much. The only thing he did was immediately start the meter running.
He first finished his sandwich however, before taking us to Farn's apartment on
38 street. Ah well, it's only money...
The ride to the apartment was an adventure in itself. Handling his cab
like it was a Formula 1 racing-car the driver just ignored all red lights, as
did all the other cars (or so it seemed). It was a miracle that he managed to
get us to our destination in one piece. He asked us $42 for this reckless ride
and I tipped him $3 just because I felt so happy from still being alive.
A look around told us that 38 street was a little lower on the social
ladder than the neighbourhood where Martin lived. The prime indicator was the
higher number of tramps lying on the sidewalks (a lot of them darker skinned
than their collegues on Martin's street). Across the street from the building
with Farn's apartment (number 540) there was a shop selling all kind of occult
and voodoo stuff, which struck me as a bit out of place in this Shadow. On the
other hand it may just have been a part of the cultural background of this
neighbourhood.
With some difficulty we worked our way through the stair-well, being
careful not to step on any of the garbage bags strewn around the place (most of
them open) or the legion of tramps lucky enough not having to sleep on the
streets. There were no tramps on the gallery however, but as we reached Farn's
apartment I got a very vague sense of uneasiness. I looked around but could find
nothing that might cause such a feeling. Perhaps it was just my nervousness from
having to break into the apartment.
Adrian used a perfectly controlled amount of force to open the door with
as little sound as was possible. We found ourselves in a small hallway leading
to three rooms (bed-, bath- and livingroom). There was no one present and
neither were there any signs of anyone having been there recently. We decided to
take our time while thoroughly searching the apartment. The results were
somewhat disappointing though. Besides all normal items like clothing and such
there was a quite extensive collection of so-called erotic magazines, which made
both Adrian and me a bit uncomfortable (some of the pictures were really very
explicit). Adrian discovered a suitcase containing a sniper-rifle hidden under
the bed. He took a small but vital part with him, thus making it useless for
future investigators. The only thing that might have been worth our troubles was
a small directory which I took with me to show to Martin. Perhaps he would
recognise some of the names mentioned.
It was a little past two o'clock when we left the apartment. Our attempts
to stop a taxi were totally ignored yet again, until Adrian ,being brave and
perhaps a bit suicidal, tried to stop one by stepping in front of it and jumping
out of its way just barely in time. To my surprise this radical approach even
worked. I guess the driver didn't want any bloodstains on his windshield.
The trip to 51 street cost us $20 (this got me wondering whether each
driver set his own rate or whether there was some standard rate), but was just
as nerve-racking as the previous one. The neighbourhood was a bit of an
embarrassing surprise for both of us: instead of the tramps we had gotten used
to there were lots of scantily dressed girls parading around in the glow of the
red lights shining from most of the buildings. We stood a moment in silence, not
knowing where to avert our eyes. One girl seemed to think we were customers and
started walking towards us. She was young, surprisingly pretty and had long
beautiful hair of precisely the same colour as Suzanne.
Ouch! Suddenly I saw Suzanne's face before me instead of this other girl.
What was I doing in this miserable Shadow anyway? Not being with Suze hurt like
a sharp, cold knife slicing through my soul. How clearly did I remember and long
for her smile, her soft touch, her kisses. At that moment I was more than
prepared to drop this whole business and head for Shadow Earth immediately.
A soft mental tug from Wylde brought me back to the real world. With a
tear in my eye I quickly turned away from the girl, who was looking at me
expectantly. Fortunately Adrian had not noticed my emotional relapse; he was
already looking for Torrell's apartment, constantly trying to fix his eyes on
some neutral spot. Behind me the girl shrugged and turned back to her spot under
the streetlight. There would probably still be other customers tonight.
Torrell's place (number 1076) was also in an apartment building, but this
one wasn't as accessible as the one where Farn had lived. You were supposed to
ring the bell of the people you were going to visit so that they could let you
in by means of a buzzer that would unlock the front door. A useful way of
keeping the vagrants out of the building, but unfortunately it also worked
against us. Well, I guess we could always try ringing Torrell's bell, but the
chances of anyone being in seemed to be very small indeed. So Adrian again
showed off his strenghth and we quickly entered the building before anyone would
notice what we were doing. Hey, who needs any keys when you've got Adrian
around?
We ignored the elevator in favour of the stairs and quickly made our way
to the apartment. As Adrian again used his trick to open the door I got the same
uneasy feeling I had felt at Farn's place. Just on a hunch I concentrated and
looked around with the Pattern lens, but I couldn't see anything out of the
ordinary...or could I? No, it was nothing. I was probably still confused from
the encounter with the girl who had reminded me of Suzanne so much and as a
result I was starting to see ghosts everywhere.
I dropped the Pattern lens again and followed Adrian into the one-room
apartment. There was however quite a surprise waiting for us inside in the shape
of young girl with fluffy blond hair sleeping on a couch. Judging from her
attire her normal place was among the girls on the street, but she probably
worked different shifts. We both stared at her for a minute and then Adrian
moved forward. Before I could do anything he sat down beside her and woke her by
gently placing his hand over her mouth. Well, at least she couldn't alert any
neighbours that way. Not that she didn't try though, but Adrian was quite
persistent that she should remain quiet. Her blue eyes flared angrily as she
kept struggling in his grasp, barely missing his groin with her knee, and I
couldn't help but wonder whether it wouldn't have been wiser to let sleeping
dogs lie. Anyway, what's done is done and considering Adrian's strength he
should at least be able to restrain her. As a matter of fact it seemed to me
that the problem wasn't one of restraining her, but more one of not accidentally
doing her serious harm, like breaking one of her bones. Poor Adrian. He must
have felt pretty uncomfortable holding a barely dressed girl in his arms like
that.
I told the girl to be quiet; we didn't want to hurt her, we were just
looking for some information. Turning on the lights I started looking around.
Judging from the piles of women's clothing strewn around the place (a
disproportionately large part of them being lingerie) the girl had already been
living here for quite some time now. I pocketed a small pistol I found lying in
one of these piles, just to be on the safe side. There was ample evidence that a
man had been living in this apartment too, but I couldn't find any useful
information.
In desperation I gestured to Adrian that he should take his hand from the
girl's mouth; she might be willing to talk and could give us some information on
Torrell. As was to be aspected she had indeed something to say, but Torrell
wasn't the first item on her list.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here? Get out of here
before I call the cops!"
She was clearly bluffing; I just couldn't imagine prostitutes being on
good terms with the police. Or had prostitution been legalized in this Shadow?
Anyway, I was more worried by the possibility of her alarming her collegues on
the street, so I decided to try a method of negotiation that had proved to be
successful earlier this night: bribery. And surprise, surprise, one $100 bill
and she immediately became a lot friendlier.
"Oh , if you had only told me earlier you needed it that badly. What
would you like to know?"
"We're looking for information on a man called Torrell," I told
her.
"John? I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him for a couple of
months. Last thing I knew he was going to do a job for that creep Fox."
"Who's Fox?"
"Creepy guy. Short, light hair, usually wears a pair of
mirrorshades. I don't like him, but John never let that bother him. He always
said Fox's money was good."
I was going to ask her more about Fox's jobs when suddenly that uneasy
feeling hit me again, this time a lot stronger than before. At the same time
Wylde warned me there was danger coming from the window. Apparently Adrian had
also noticed something and his reactions were a lot faster than mine. He shouted
to me to duck as he jumped forward and pulled the girl to the floor. I ducked
aside just in time. The next moment the window was shattered and someone emptied
a machinegun at the spot where we had been standing only a few seconds ago. I
glanced at the window and saw a girl with long, dark brown hair, standing on the
balcony with a smoking gun in her hands. She wore a leather jacket and tight
fitting jeans. Before I could react Adrian was up again, firing his own gun at
our unknown assailant and even managing to hit her. She lept away, starting to
climb down the building from balcony to balcony and before I knew it Adrian had
rushed out of the apartment after her.
I got to my feet and immediately checked on the girl, but it seemed that
Adrian's reflexes had saved her from harm. I thought it better to leave this
place in case our female assassin wasn't working alone, but I didn't want to
leave the girl behind. For all I knew the bullets might have been meant for her;
perhaps someone was afraid of the things she could tell us. At the moment she
was staring at me wide-eyed, I guess in a state of shock. I told her to quickly
gather a few things she couldn't do without before we would leave. She snapped
out of it and began rummaging through all the lingerie lying about. Meanwhile I
carefully looked out of the window, just in time to see Adrian disappearing into
an alley. I thought it strange that he hadn't caught up with our assassin yet,
knowing his strength and athletic skills. No time to muse on that now, better
head for safety first. Even if there were no other killers nearby, we were still
in danger of being interrogated by the police, whom I suspected had immediately
been alerted after our little failed St. Valentine's Day's Massacre here.
I turned away from the window just as the girl stuffed the last few items
into a big shoulder-bag. I handed her back the pistol I had found earlier,
feeling that she should have a way of defending herself. I didn't think she
would use it on me, not after she had just been saved from certain death by us.
We left the apartment and moved downstairs. On the street I asked her whether
she knew any place nearby where we could wait for Adrian to return. She pointed
at a bar across the street and said she would ask the others girls to look out
for my friend. At least Adrian would be easily recognisable.
The bar was hot and the air inside was thick with smoke. We found two
empty chairs and I ordered us some drinks. To pass the time I started up a
conversation and learned that the girl's name was Lush. She told me that she and
John had been living together for some time now, but I got the feeling that it
was more a matter of convenience, as they didn't seem to be very close. I
steered the conversation to the more neutral subject of music, feeling a little
uneasy about having to tell her that John was dead. As we talked I got the
impression that she was in fact a couple of years younger than I had first
thought she was. She was very cynical though, which helped to strengthen her
older image. She must have had a hard life so far. At least I couldn't imagine
her taking up this line of work of her own free will. Given another chance she
might have become a totally different person. But then again, so might I...
We spent almost an hour chatting without any word from Adrian. Finally I
excused myself and went to the men's room where I could safely use Adrian's
Trump. Luckily contact came quickly. He was standing underneath a bridge near
the outlet of a big sewage-tube. He said he had lost the girl, but had gained
some valuable information from a peculiar old man who was fishing there on the
river. He started explaining, but to me it just seemed a whole lot of nonsense
about fishes. He said he wanted to talk to the old man a bit further before
returning (probably to get some more fishing tales) and I told him I was heading
back to Martin's place. I confess that when we broke contact I was beginning to
doubt Adrian's sanity somewhat. Oh well, perhaps he would still learn something
useful.
I told Lush that we would go to a friend's place to spend the rest of the
night there. It was okay by her, but as we walked to Martin's apartment she
asked me whether I wanted anything else for the $100 I had given her, since it
seemed an awful lot of money for the little information she had given us. I
gracefully declined though, once again pushing back thoughts of Suzanne. Lush
gave me such a peculiar look though, that I decided to tell her what had
happened to John. Hell, she had to find out sooner or later. She didn't take it
too badly though, even when I told her that the hit in the apartment might have
been aimed at her. She might be young, but she certainly could be tough.
All the others except for Adrian were already back at the apartment. I
introduced Lush and while she started looking through Martin's liquor collection
I quickly told them all that had happened. Their night had been pretty quiet and
they said they hadn't learned anything useful. The only interesting thing was
that Murlas had seen a man of Fox's description leaving the Myrone building.
Coincidence?
Instead of waiting up for Adrian I decided to try and get some sleep. I
had only just dozed off when I woke again: my partner had returned to be greeted
by Lush, who by that time was more than a little drunk. Embarrassed he
disentangled himself from her arms and started telling us of how he had tried to
catch the assassin, but that she had been just a little too fast and cunning for
him. The trail had ended under that bridge where the girl had fled into the
sewers. Adrian had however learned a few things from the old man (the one with
the fishes). The girl's name was Lisa and the old man had seen her using these
sewers on several occasions; according to him she used them to get into the
Myrone building. This seemed to be too much of a coincidence to me. There was
more, but sleep overpowered me and I missed the final part.
After another dreamless night I awoke to the sight of Lush lying in
Adrian's arms. A touching scene, but I also felt a little jealous. I wondered
what Suzanne was doing. I hope she was thinking of me just as I was thinking of
her. Ah, cruel, cruel fate! Remember: Duty, Dorian, Duty...
When Adrian woke he became quite embarrassed and immediately started
saying that nothing had happened, that he had done nothing but sleep all night.
Lush just smiled and started looking for something to eat. While we were having
our breakfast we discussed the happenings of the previous night and Adrian
repeated his story. Lisa didn't sound very familiar to Martin, but Lush
remembered seeing a girl of that description accompanying Fox on one occasion or
another. Yet another coincidence!
Adrian told us that the old man had offered to show him another way into the Myrone building, namely by boat. According to him the people in the building weren't aware of that route. Adrian had arranged to meet him again under the bridge tonight, so we could all come along. This plan seemed to have everyone's approval. It did mean however that we would have to spend another afternoon waiting...