Blood Pact

Chapter Two

 

  "Dr. Burke? It's about number seven. . . "

  "And?" Receiver tucked under her chin, Dr. Aline Burke scrawled her signature across the bottom of a memo and tossed it into the out basket. Although Marjory Nelson had been dead for only a couple of hours, the paperwork had already begun to get out of hand. With any luck the university would get off its collective butt and get her a temporary secretary before academic trivia completely buried her.

  "I think you'll want to see this for yourself. "

  "For heaven's sake, Catherine, I haven't got the time for you to be obscure. " She rolled her eyes. Grad students. "Are we losing it?"

  "Yes, Doctor. "

  "I'll be right over. "

  "Damn. " The surgical glove hit the wastebasket with enough force to rock the container from side to side. "Tissue decomposition again. Just like the others. " The second glove followed and Dr. Burke turned to glare at the body of an elderly man lying on the stainless steel table, thoracic cavity open, skull cap resting against one ear. "Didn't even last as long as number six. "

  "Well, he was old to start with, Doctor. And not in very good physical condition. "

  Dr. Burke snorted. "I should say not. I suppose I'm moderately surprised it lasted as long as it did. " She sighed as the young woman standing by the head of the cadaver looked crushed. "That was not a criticism, Catherine. You did your usual excellent job and were certainly in no way responsible for the subject's deplorable habits when alive. That said, retrieve the rest of the mechanicals, salvage as much of the net as you can, be very sure all of the bacteria are dead, and begin the usual disposal procedures. "

  "The medical school. . . "

  "Of course the medical school. We're hardly going to weight it with rocks and drop it into Lake Ontario, although I have to admit that has a certain simplicity that appeals and would involve a lot less additional work for me. Let me know when it's ready, I should be in my office for the next couple of hours. " Hand on the door, she paused. "What's that banging noise?"

  Catherine looked up, pale blue eyes wide, fingers continuing to delve into the old man's skull cavity. "Oh, it's number nine. I don't think he likes the box. "

  "It doesn't like anything, Catherine. It's dead. "

  The younger woman shrugged apologetically, accepting the correction but unwilling to be convinced. "He keeps banging. "

  "Well, when you finish with number seven, decrease the power again. The last thing we need is accelerated tissue damage due to unauthorized motion. "

  "Yes, Doctor. " She gently slid the brain out onto a plastic tray. The bank of fluorescent lights directly over the table picked up glints of gold threaded throughout the grayish-green mass. "It'll be nice to finally work with a subject we've been able to do preliminary setup on. I mean, the delay while we attempt to tailor the bacteria can't be good for them. "

  "Probably not," Dr. Burke agreed caustically and, with a last disapproving look in the direction of number nine's isolation box, strode out of the lab.

  The pounding continued.

  "Where to, lady?"

  Vicki opened her mouth and then closed it again. She didn't actually have the faintest idea.

  "Uh, Queen's University. Life Sciences. " Her mother would have been moved. Surely someone could tell her where.

  "It's a big campus, Queen's is. " The cabbie pulled out of the train station parking lot and turned onto Taylor Kidd Boulevard. "You got a street address?"

  She knew the address. Her mother had shown her proudly around the new building just after it opened two years ago. "It's on Arch Street. "

  "Down by the old General Hospital, eh? Well, we'll find it. " He smiled genially at her in his rearview mirror. "Fifteen years of driving a cab and I haven't gotten lost yet. Nice day today. Looks like spring finally arrived. "

  Vicki squinted out the window beside her. The sun was shining. Had the sun been shining in Toronto? She couldn't remember.

  "Winter's better for business, mind you. Who wants to walk when the slush is as high as your hubcaps, eh? Still, April's not so bad as long as we get a lot of rain. Let it rain, that's what I say. You going to be in Kingston long?"

  "I don't know. "

  "Visiting relatives?

  "Yes. " My Mother. She's dead.

  Something in that single syllable convinced the cabbie his fare wasn't in the mood for conversation and that further questions might be better left unasked. Humming tunelessly, he left her to relative silence.

  An attempt had been made to blend the formed concrete of the new Life Sciences Complex in with the older, limestone structures of the university, but it hadn't been entirely successful.

  "Progress," the cabbie ventured, as Vicki opened the back door, his tongue loosened by a sizable tip.

  "Still, the kids need more than a couple of Bunsen burners and a rack of test tubes to do meaningful research these days, eh? Paper says some grad student took out a patent on a germ. "

  Vicki, who'd handed him a twenty because it was the first bill she'd pulled out of her wallet, ignored him.

  He shook his head as he watched her stride up the walk, back rigidly straight, overnight bag carried like a weapon, and decided against suggesting that she have a nice day.

  "Mrs. Shaw? I'm Vicki Nelson. . . "

  The tiny woman behind the desk leapt to her feet and held out both hands. "Oh, yes, of course you are. You poor dear, did you come all the way from Toronto?"

  Vicki stepped back but couldn't avoid having her right hand clutched and wrung. Before she could speak, Mrs. Shaw rushed on.

  "Of course you did. I mean you were in Toronto when I called and now you're here. " She laughed, a little embarrassed, and let go of Vicki's hand. "I'm sorry. It's just. . . well, your mother and I were friends, we'd worked together for almost five years and when she. . . I mean, when. . . It was just. . . such a terrible shock. "

  Vicki stared down at the tears welling up in the older woman's eyes and realized to her horror that she didn't have the faintest idea of what to say. All the words of comfort she'd spoken over the years to help ease a thousand different types of grief, all the training, all the experience, she could find none of it.

  "I'm sorry. " Mrs. Shaw dug into her sleeve and pulled out a damp and wrinkled tissue. "It's just every time I think of it. . . I can't help. . . "

  "Which is why I keep telling you, you should go home. "

  Thankfully, Vicki turned to face the speaker, the calm, measured tone having dropped like a balm over her abraded nerves. The woman standing just inside the door to the office was in her mid-forties, short, solidly built, and wearing an almost practical combination of gray flannel pants and white, lace-edged blouse under her open lab coat. Her red-brown hair had been cut fashionably close, and the heavy frames of her glasses sat squarely on a nose well dusted with freckles. Her self-confidence was a tangible presence, even from across the room, and in spite of everything, Vicki felt herself responding.

  Mrs. Shaw sniffed and replaced the tissue in her sleeve. "And I keep telling you, Dr. Burke, I'm not going home to spend the day alone, not when I can stay here, be surrounded by people, and actually accomplish something. Vicki felt small fingers close around her arm. "Dr. Burke, this is Marjory's daughter, Victoria. "

  The department head's grip was warm and dry and she shook hands with an efficiency of motion that Vicki appreciated.

  "We met briefly a few years ago, Ms. Nelson, just after your first citation, I believe. I was sorry to hear about the retinitis. It must have been difficult leaving a job you cared so deeply about. And now. . . " She spread her hands. "My condolences about your mother. "

  "Thank you. " There didn't seem to be much left to say.

  "I had the body taken over to the morgue at the General. Your mother's personal physician, Dr. Friedman, has an office there. As we didn't know exactly when you'd be arriving or what the arrangements would be, that seemed best fo
r all concerned. I did have Mrs. Shaw call to let you know, but you must have already left. "

  The flow of information carried no emotional baggage at all. Vicki found herself drawing strength from the force of personality that supported it. "If I could use one of your phones to call Dr. Friedman?"

  "Certainly. " Dr. Burke nodded toward the desk. "She's already been informed and is waiting for your call. Now, if you'll excuse me. " She paused at the door. "Oh, Ms. Nelson? Do let us know when the service is to be held. We'd. . . " Her gesture included Mrs. Shaw. ". . . like to attend. "

  "Service?"

  "It is customary under these circumstances to hold a funeral. "

  Vicki barely noticed the sarcasm, only really heard the last word. Funeral. . .

  "Well, she doesn't look asleep. " There was no mistaking the waxy, gray pallor, the complete lack of self that only death brings. Vicki had recognized it the first time she'd seen it in a police cadet forensic lab and she recognized it now. The dead were not alive. It sounded like a facetious explanation but, as she stared down at the body her mother had worn, she couldn't think of a better one.

  Dr. Friedman looked mildly disapproving as she drew the sheet back up over Marjory Nelson's face, but she held her tongue. She could feel the restraints that Vicki had placed around herself but didn't know the younger woman well enough to get past them. "There'll be no need for an autopsy," she said, indicating that the morgue attendant should take the body away. "Your mother has been having heart irregularities for some time and Dr. Burke was practically standing right beside her when it happened. She said it had all the earmarks of a massive coronary. "

  "A heart attack?" Vicki watched as the door swung shut behind the pallet and refused to shiver in the cold draft that escaped from the morgue. "She was only fifty-six. "

  The doctor shook her head sadly. "It happens. "

  "She never told me. "

  "Perhaps she didn't want to worry you. "

  Perhaps I wasn't listening. The small viewing room had suddenly become confining. Vicki headed for the exit.

  Dr. Friedman, caught unaware, hurried to catch up. "The coroner is satisfied, but if you're not. . . "

  "No autopsy. " She'd been to too many to put her mother, what was left of her mother, through that.

  "Your mother had a prepaid funeral arranged with Hutchinson's Funeral Parlour, up on Johnson Street, just by Portsmouth Avenue. It would be best if you speak to them as soon as possible. Do you have someone to go with you?"

  Vicki's brows drew down. "I don't need anyone to go with me," she snarled.

  "According to your mother's arrangement, Ms. Nelson, Vicki. . . Ms. Nelson" the funeral director blanched slightly as his client's expression returned him to last names but managed to continue smoothly, "she wanted to be buried as soon as possible, with no viewing. "

  "Fine. "

  "As she also wanted to be embalmed. . . perhaps the day after tomorrow? That would give you time for a notice in the local paper. "

  "Is the day after tomorrow as soon as possible, then?"

  The younger Mr. Hutchinson swallowed. He found it difficult to remain completely calm under such hard-edged examination. "Well, no, we could have everything ready by tomorrow afternoon. . . "

  "Do so, then. "

  It wasn't a tone that could be argued with. It wasn't even a tone that left much room for discussion. "Is two o'clock suitable?"

  "Yes. "

  "About the casket. . . "

  "Mr. Hutchinson, I understood that my mother prearranged everything. "

  "Yes, she did. . . "

  "Then," Vicki stood, slung her bag over her shoulder, "we will do exactly as my mother wanted. "

  "Ms. Nelson. " He stood as well, and pitched his voice as gently as he could. "Without a notice in the paper, you'll have to call people. "

  Her shoulders hunched slightly and the fingers that reached for the doorknob shook. "I know," she said.

  And was gone.

  The younger Mr. Hutchinson sank back down into his chair and rubbed at his temples. "Recognizing there's nothing you can do to help," he told a potted palm with a sigh, "has got to be the hardest part of this business. "

  The old neighborhood had gotten smaller. The vast expanse of backyard behind the corner house at Division and Quebec Streets that she'd grown up envying had somehow shrunk to postage stamp size. The convenience store at Division and Pine had become a flower shop and the market across from it, where at twelve she'd argued her way into her first part-time job, was gone. The drugstore still stood at York Street but, where it had once seemed a respectable distance away, Vicki now felt she could reach out and touch it. Down on Quebec Street, not even the stump remained of the huge maple that had shaded the Thompson house and not even the spring sunlight could erase the shabby, unlived in look of the whole area.

  Standing in the front parking lot of the sixteen-unit apartment building they'd moved to when her father's departure had lost them the house in Collins Bay, Vicki wondered when it had happened. She'd been back any number of times in the last fourteen years, had been back not so long before and had never noticed such drastic changes.

  Maybe because the one thing I came back for never changed. . . .

  She couldn't put it off any longer.

  The security door had been propped open. A security door protects nothing unless it's closed and locked. If I told her once I told her. . . I told her. . . The reinforced glass trembled but held as she slammed it shut and stumbled down the half flight of stairs to her mother's apartment.

  "Vicki? Ha, I should've known it was you slamming doors. "

  "The security door has to be kept closed, Mr. Delgado. " She couldn't seem to get her key into the lock.

  "Ha, you, always a cop. You don't see me bringing my work home. " Mr. Delgado came a little farther into the hall and frowned. "You don't look so good, Vicki. You okay? Your mother know you're home?"

  "My mother. . . " Her throat closed. She swallowed and forced herself to breathe. So many different ways to say it. So many different gentle euphemisms, all meaning the same thing. "My mother. . . died this morning. "

  Hearing her own voice say the words, finally made it real.

  "Dr. Burke? It's Donald. "

  Dr. Burke pulled her glasses off and rubbed at one temple with the heel of her hand. "Donald, at the risk of sounding clich¨¦d, I thought I told you not to call me here. "

  "Yeah, you did, but I just thought you should know that Mr. Hutchinson has gone to get the subject. "

  "Which Mr. Hutchinson?"

  "The younger one. "

  "And he'll be back?"

  "In about an hour. There's no one else here, so he's going to start working on it immediately. "

  Dr. Burke sighed. "When you say no one else, Donald, do you mean staff or clients?"

  "Clients. All the staff are here; the old Mr. Hutchinson and Christy. "

  "Very well. You know what to do. "

  "But. . . "

  "I'll see to it that the interruptions occur. All you have to worry about is playing your assigned role. This is vitally important to our research, Donald. It could bring final results and their accompanying rewards practically within our grasp. "

  She could hear his grin over the phone as he broadly returned the clich¨¦ circumstances demanded. "I won't let you down, Dr. Burke. "

  "Of course you won't. " She depressed the cutoff with her thumb and contacted the lab. "Catherine, I've just heard from Donald. You've got a little more than an hour. "

  "Well, I've got number eight on dialysis right now, but he shouldn't take much more than another forty minutes. "

  "Then you'll have plenty of time. Call me just before you arrive and I'll have Mrs. Shaw begin making inquiries about flowers and the like. The state she's in, she'll probably be able to keep the lines tied up for most of the afternoon. Has number nine quieted?"

  "Only after I cut the pow
er again. He's barely showing life signs. "

  "Catherine, it is not alive. "

  "Yes, Doctor. " The pause obviously contained a silent sigh. "It's barely showing wave patterns. "

  "Better. Did all that banging damage it?"

  "I haven't really had time to examine him, but I think you'd better come and take a look at the box. "

  Dr. Burke felt her eyebrows rise. "The box?"

  "I think he dented it. "

  "Catherine, that's im. . . " She paused and thought about it for a moment, knowing Catherine would wait patiently. With natural inhibitors shut down and no ability to feel pain, enhanced strength might actually be possible. "You can run some tests after you get the new lot of bacteria working. "

  "Yes, Doctor. "

  My, my, my. . . Dr. Burke gave the receiver a satisfied pat as it settled into its cradle. It sounded like they could actually have made a breakthrough with number nine. Now, if we can only keep it from decomposing. . .

  Breakfast dishes were still out on the drying rack and the chair with the quilted cushion sat out a little from the table. The makeup case lay open on the bathroom counter, the washcloth beside it slightly damp. The bed had been made neatly, but a pair of pantyhose with a wide run down one leg lay discarded in the center of the spread.

  Vicki sat at the telephone table, her mother's address book open on her lap, and called everyone she thought should know, her voice calm and professional as though she were speaking of someone else's mother. Mrs. Singh? I'm Constable Nelson, from the Metro Police. It's about your son. . . I'm afraid your husband. . . The driver had no chance to avoid your wife. . . Your daughter, Jennifer, has been. . . The funeral will be at two tomorrow.

  When the funeral home called, Mr. Delgado took her mother's favorite blue suit from the closet and delivered it. When he returned, he forced her to eat a sandwich and kept insisting she'd feel better if she cried. She ate the sandwich without tasting it.

  Now, there was no one left to call and Mr. Delgado had been convinced to go home. Vicki sat, one foot dangling over the arm of the old upholstered rocking chair, one foot pushing back and forth against the floor.

  Slowly, the room grew dark.

  "I'm telling you, Henry, she looked wrecked. Like Night of the Living Dead. "

  "And she didn't hear you when you called to her?"

  Tony shook his head, a long lock of pale brown hair falling into his eyes. "No, she just kept walking, and the guard wouldn't let me go up the stairs after her. Said only ticket holders were allowed and wouldn't believe me when I said I was her brother. The motherfucking bastard. " A year under Henry's patronage hadn't quite erased five years on the street. "But I copied down all the places the train was going. " He dug a crumpled and dirty piece of paper out of the front pocket of his skintight jeans and passed it over. "She was carrying a bag, so I guess when she gets there she's gonna stay. "

  The names of nine towns had been scrawled onto the blank spaces of a subway transfer. Henry frowned down at them. Why had Vicki left town without telling him? He thought they'd moved beyond that. Unless it had something to do with the fight they'd had on Saturday night. However great the temptation to prove his power, he knew he shouldn't have coerced her as he had and he intended to apologize as soon as she cooled down enough to accept it. "Her mother lives in Kingston," he said at last.

  "You think you did something, don't you?"

  He looked up, startled. "What are you talking about?"

  "I like to watch you. " Tony blushed slightly and dug his toe into the carpet. "I watch you all the time we're together. You've got your Prince-of-Men face, and your Prince-of-Darkness face, and your sort of not-there writer face, but when you think about Victory. . . about Vicki. . . " His blush deepened but he met Henry's gaze fearlessly. "Well then it's like you're not wearing a face, you're just you. "

  "All the masks are gone. " Henry studied the younger man in turn. A number of the hard edges had softened over the last year since Vicki and a demon had brought them together. The bruised and skittish look had been replaced by the beginnings of a calm maturity. "Does that bother you?"

  "About you and Victory? Nah. She means a lot to me, too. I mean, without her, I wouldn't have. . . I mean, we wouldn't. . . And besides. . . " he had to wet his lips before he could continue, "sometimes, like when you feed, you look at me like that. " Abruptly, he dropped his gaze. "You going after her?"

  There really wasn't any question. "I need to know what's wrong. "

  Tony snorted and tossed his hair back out of his eyes. "Of course you do. " His voice returned to his usual cocky tones. "So call her mom. "

  "Call her mother?"

  "Yeah, you know. Like on the telephone?"

  Henry spread his hands, willing to allow Tony this moment. "I don't have the number. "

  "So? Get it out of her apartment. "

  "I don't have a key. "

  Tony snorted again. "You don't really need one. But," he laced his fingers together and cracked the knuckles, "if you don't want to slip past the lock, there's always our old friend Detective-Sergeant Celluci. I bet he has the number. "

  Henry's eyes narrowed. "I'll get it from Vicki's apartment. "

  "I've got Celluci's number right here, I mean if you. . . "

  "Tony. " He cupped one hand around Tony's jaw and tightened the ringers slightly, the pulse pounding under his grip. "Don't push it. "

  From the street, he saw the light on, recognized the shape visible between the slats of the blinds, and very nearly decided not to go in. Tony had seen Vicki leave the city in the early morning. Overnight case or not, she could very easily have returned and, if so, she obviously wasn't spending the evening alone. Standing motionless in the shadow of an ancient chestnut, he watched and listened until he was certain that the apartment held only a single life.

  That changed things rather considerably.

  There were a number of ways he could get what he wanted. He decided on the direct approach. Out of sheer bloody-mindedness, honesty forced him to admit.

  "Good evening, Detective. Were you waiting for someone?"

  Celluci spun around, dropped into a defensive crouch, and glared up at Henry. "Goddamnit!" he snarled. "Don't do that!"

  "Do what?" Henry asked dryly, voice and bearing proclaiming that he did not in any way perceive the other man as a threat. He moved away from the door and walked into Vicki's living room.

  As if he has every right to. Celluci found himself backing up. Son of a bitch! It took a conscious effort, but he dug in his heels and stopped the retreat. I don't know what game you're playing, spook, but you 're not going to win it so easily. "What the hell are you doing here?"

  "I might ask you the same thing. "

  "I have a key. "

  "I don't need one. " Henry leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "My guess is, you've come back to apologize for slamming out of here on Saturday. " He read a direct hit in the sudden quickening of Celluci's heartbeat and the angry rush of blood to his face.

  "She told you about that. " The words were an almost inarticulate growl.

  "She tells me about everything. " No need to mention the argument that followed.

  "You want me to just back off right now, don't you?" Celluci managed to keep a fingernail grip on his temper. "Admit defeat. "

  Henry straightened. "If I wanted you to back off, mortal, you would. "

  So if I'm a good eight inches taller than he is, why the hell do I feel like he's looking down at me? "Think pretty highly of yourself, don't you. Look, Fitzroy, I don't care what you are and I don't care what you can do. You should've been dust four hundred years ago. I am not letting you have her. "

  "I think that should be her choice, not yours. "

  "Well, she's not going to choose you!" Celluci slammed his fist down onto the table. A precariously balanced stack of books trembled at the impact and a small brown address book fell onto the answering machine.


  The tape jerked into motion.

  "Ms. Nelson? It's Mrs. Shaw again. I'm so sorry to bother you, but your mother's body has been moved over to the General Hospital. We thought you should know in case. . . well, in case. . . I expect you're on your way. Oh, dear. . . It's ten o'clock, April ninth, Monday morning. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help. "

  Celluci stared down at the rewinding tape and then up at Henry. "Her mother's body," he repeated. Henry nodded.

  "So now we know where she is. "

  "If this call came in at ten, we can assume she got the original call about nine. She didn't tell you. . . "

  Celluci broke off and pushed the curl of hair back out of his eyes. "No, of course, she couldn't, you'd be. . . asleep. She didn't leave a message?"

  "No. Tony saw her boarding the 10:40 train for Kingston so she must have left the apartment just before that call. She didn't leave a message for you either?"

  "No. " Celluci sighed and sat back on the edge of the table. "I'm getting just a little tired of this 'I can handle everything myself' attitude of hers. '"

  Henry nodded again. I thought we'd gone beyond this, she and I. "You and me both. "

  "Don't get me wrong, her strength is one of the things I. . . "

  The pause was barely perceptible. A mortal might have missed it. Henry didn't. Well, he's hardly going to tell me he loves her.

  ". . . admire about her, but," his expression seemed more weary than admiring, "there's a difference between strength and. . . "

  "Fear of intimacy," Henry offered.

  Celluci snorted. "Yeah. " He reached behind him for the address book. "Well, she's just going to have to put up with a little fucking intimacy because I'm not going to let her stand alone in this. " The binding barely managed to survive the force of his search. "Here it is, under M for Mother. Christ, her filing system. . . " Then, suddenly, he remembered who he was talking to. He wasn't, however, prepared for how fast Henry could move, didn't, in fact, see Henry move.

  Henry looked down at the address and handed the book back to the detective. "I assume I'll see you in Kingston," he said and headed for the door.

  "Hey!"

  He turned.

  "I thought you couldn't leave your coffin?"

  "You watch too many bad movies, Detective. "

  Celluci bristled. "You've still got to be under cover by dawn. I can see to it that you aren't. One phone call to the OPP and you'll be in a holding cell at sunrise. "

  "You won't do that, Detective. " Henry's voice was mild as he caught Celluci's gaze with his own and let the patina of civilization drop. He played with the mortal's reaction for a moment and then, almost reluctantly, released him. "You won't do it," he continued in the same tone, "for the same reason I don't use the power I have on you. She wouldn't like it. " Smiling urbanely, he inclined his head in a parody of a polite bow. "Good night, Detective. "

  Celluci stared at the closed door and fought to keep from trembling. Patches of sweat spread out under each arm and his palms, pressed hard against the table, were damp. It wasn't the fear that unnerved him. He'd dealt with fear before, knew he could conquer it. It was the urge to bare his throat that had him so shaken, the knowledge that in another instant he would have placed his life in Henry Fitzroy's hands.

  "Goddamnit, Vicki. " The hoarse whisper barely shredded the silence. "You are playing with fucking fire. . . . "

  "Geez, Cathy, why'd you bring them?"

  "I thought they could carry the body. "

  "Oh. " Donald stepped back as Catherine helped two shambling figures out of the back of the van. "The program I wrote for them is pretty basic; are you sure they can do something that complicated?"

  "Well, number nine can. " She patted the broad shoulder almost affectionately. "Number eight may need a little help. "

  "A little help. Right. " Grunting with the effort, he dragged a pair of sandbags out of the van. "Well, if they're so strong, they can carry these. "

  "Give them both to number nine. I'm not sure about eight's joints. "

  Although living muscles strained to lift a single bag off the ground, number nine gave no indication that it noticed the weight, even after both bags had been loaded.

  "Good idea," Donald panted. "Bringing them along, that is. I'd have killed myself getting those things inside. " Fighting for breath, he glanced around the parking lot. The light over by the garage barely illuminated the area and he'd removed the light over the delivery entrance that afternoon. "Let's just make sure nobody sees them, okay. They don't look exactly, well, alive. "

  "Notices them?" Catherine moved number eight around to face the door, then turned and discovered number nine had moved without help. "We better be sure that no one notices us. "

  "People don't look too closely at funeral homes. " Still breathing heavily, Donald slipped his key into the lock. "They're afraid of what they might see. " He shot a glance at number nine's gray and desiccated face perched above the collar of a red windbreaker and snickered as he pushed the door open. "Almost makes you wish someone would stumble over Mutt and Jeff here, doesn't it?"

  "No. Now get going. "

  Long inured to his colleague's complete lack of a sense of humor, Donald shrugged and disappeared into the building.

  Number nine followed.

  Catherine gave number eight a little push. "Walk," she commanded. It hesitated, then slowly began to move. Halfway down the long ramp to the embalming room, it stumbled. "No, you don't. . . " Holding it precariously balanced against the wall, she bent and straightened the left leg.

  "What took you so long," Donald demanded as the two of them finally arrived.

  "Trouble with the patella. " She frowned, tucking a strand of nearly white-blond hair back behind her ear. "I don't think we're getting any kind of cell reconstruction. "

  "Yeah, and it's starting to smell worse, too. "

  "Oh, no. "

  "Oh, yes. But hey. . . " he threw open both halves of the coffin lid, "let's not stand around sniffing dead people all night. We've got work to do. "

  Number eight's fingers had to be clamped around the corpse's ankles, but number nine took hold of the shoulders with very little prompting.

  "I'm telling you, Donald," Catherine caroled as they guided the two bodies back up the ramp, "number nine has interfaced with the net. I'm sure we're getting independent brain activity. "

  "What does Dr. Burke say?"

  "She's more worried about decomposition. "

  "Understandable. Always a bummer when your experiments rot before you can gather the data. Stop them for a second while I get the door. "

  The two grad students did the actual loading of the van. Not even Catherine could figure out a series of one-word commands that would allow number eight to carry out the complicated maneuvers necessary. And, as Donald reminded her, both speed and silence were advisable.

  "Because," he added, settling number eight into place, "what we're doing is illegal. "

  "Nonsense. " Catherine's brow drew down. "It's science. "

  He shook his head. He'd never met anyone who came close to being so single-minded. As far as he'd been able to determine, she had almost as little life outside the lab as their experimental subjects did, and considering that they were essentially dead, that was saying something. Even stranger, she honestly didn't seem to care that what they were doing would result in fame and fortune all around. "Well, in the interest of science, then, let's try to stay out of jail. " He gave number nine a push toward the vehicle.

  Number nine lowered his head and the reflection of the stars slid off the artificially moist surface of his eyes.