Gavin Smith - The Age of Scorpio

She hurt, but anger was carrying her through. It had to because what she knew about the world, particularly a previously unquestioned faith in – no, knowledge of – the non-existence of monsters, had been challenged. She had anger to deal with this. The alternative was a shaking crying mess.

The door opened. He was attractive , Beth thought as the blond man she had seen at the stadium entered. He had a folder under one arm and was carrying two cups of tea. There was something military in his bearing, but an officer not a squaddie. She’d known enough squaddies to recognise them.

He put one of the mugs down in front of her.

‘I made it myself,’ he said. ‘And put lots of sugar in it.’

It smelled good to Beth. It smelled familiar.

He opened the folder. The only thing in it was a black and white photograph of her sister. Beth looked at him and then the picture. It was a good picture. She’d been caught in an unguarded moment. The smile on her face was genuine. Beth had seen too few of those in her life, but you could truly see how beautiful Talia had been. She hadn’t needed the make-up and the attitude.

‘Where is she?’ the man asked.

‘Dead, died in a terrorist attack. You may have heard about it.’

The man watched her for a while. His face was the perfect example of an adult disappointed by a wayward young person. He had children or a younger sibling, Beth decided. She broke the gaze and took a sip of the tea. It was good.

‘Then why are you looking for her?’

‘What was that?’ Beth asked, meaning the creature she had fought. The man looked at her again, seemingly coming to a decision.

‘A very strong and dangerous man with a series of unfortunate genetic deformities and deep-seated psychological problems. He was probably high on PCP.’

Beth considered this, nodding as he was speaking.

‘Bullshit.’ More silence.

‘Okay. What do you think it was?’

‘I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure you do.’

‘We saw the lights from the bridge. We investigated.’

‘Did I kill it?’

‘No, I did.’

Beth nodded again. ‘Good. I think you did it a favour.’

‘Look, Elizabeth—’

‘Beth. Who are you?’

‘My name is Malcolm du Bois. I’m working with Special Branch. Would you like to see some ID?’ Beth just shrugged. ‘You’re in more than a little bit of trouble. Particularly with your previous—’

‘What is the sentence for gladiatorial fighting these days?’

Du Bois looked at her and smiled. ‘Fine. I need some information. If I don’t get it, I’ll lock you up. This is an anti-terrorist investigation. I can make you disappear for a long time and then make sure that you get sentenced to the full extent of the law. If I do get the information I want then I’ll let you go.’ He tapped Talia’s photo.

‘You think my sister’s alive?’

Du Bois leaned back in his chair. He was getting tired of being asked questions. He pulled his cigarette case out of the pocket of his tailored leather coat.

‘Cigarette?’ he asked.

She shook her head. ‘I’ve been told they’re bad for you.’

Du Bois lit one of the cigarettes and then took a mouthful of tea.

‘Don’t mind if I do?’

Beth shrugged. ‘I’ll overlook the abuse of my civil rights this time.’

‘She’s not your sister.’

Whatever Beth had thought he was going to say next, that hadn’t been it. It took a moment to penetrate.

‘I grew up with her,’ she told him. ‘This is a weird approach if you want something from me.’

‘She looks nothing like you or any member of your family. Your mother was unable to have children due to complications during your birth. I can provide you with medical records if that’s what you want. There’s no birth certificate in her name: in fact, according to the government there’s very little proof of Natalie Luckwicke’s existence at all. I imagine the only reason she slipped through the cracks for so long is because she grew up in Bradford. However, she is of an age and looks like the parents of a baby girl who went missing from Helmsley in North Yorkshire a little over twenty years ago.’

Beth stared at him. She didn’t want to believe him, but too much of what he said fitted. Too much of it made sense. If nothing else, it pointed to the reason why Talia was the focus of so much unspoken resentment for her.

‘Why?’ she asked, uncertainty in her voice.

Du Bois didn’t answer.

Maybe this is good , Beth thought . If it’s true then it doesn’t matter so much that Talia hated her. She could give up this stupid search for her. Make it not her problem.

‘Bullshit,’ she said without much feeling.

‘I can prove it if you want, or the next time you see your father just ask him. Now, if you tell me what I want to know, we won’t press charges, and remember you are now an accessory after the fact. We just want to find her. It’s not your problem any more, and by the looks of it you won’t live too much longer if you keep looking. I’ll give you some money and you can be back on your way home.’

It sounded so attractive. Let it go. Maybe not the part about going home, but she had to look in her father’s eyes. She wanted the truth, deserved the truth, and then she wanted to know why they loved a child they had stolen better than their own. Fuck them, fuck them all . She didn’t owe any of them anything.

‘Is she alive?’ du Bois asked.

‘As far as I know, no.’ He started to say something. ‘Listen. I came here looking for her. Then I discovered she was in the house that got blown up. I was going to leave it at that, but then I decided to find out what happened to her, how she ended up like that. The more I looked into it, the more it looked like people didn’t want me to know stuff. It felt like a…’

‘Conspiracy?’

She nodded. ‘But I don’t think it was. I think she was involved in some really dodgy stuff, and when she died the people she was involved with just wanted to make sure nobody found out about their part in it. Just arseholes covering their tracks is all.’

‘Like who?’

‘Somebody called William Arbogast.’

‘The man you tortured?’

It took someone coming out and saying it. She had no illusions about what she had done but somehow du Bois driving it home like that made it worse. His blue eyes seemed relentless. She looked away but nodded.

‘Anyone else?’ he asked.

‘That was as far as I got. The rest are below him on the ladder and…’

‘You’re not a grass,’ du Bois finished with a sigh.

‘No more than I have been.’

‘So who picked you up?’

‘I don’t know.’ Du Bois opened his mouth to protest. ‘Now wait. I don’t know if it’s to do with Talia or me rattling the wrong cage, but I got a sheet chucked over my head in the middle of the road, a bit of a kicking and chucked in the boot of a car.’

He dragged deep on his cigarette and then stubbed it out.

‘Younger sisters are a pain in the arse, aren’t they?’ he said.

She looked away from him again and nodded. Then cursed herself as the tears came and the shaking started. Du Bois just watched her. He was impressed that she hadn’t gone into shock. He let her get it out of her system.

Finally she looked up at him.

‘What happened to her? Terrorists? A meth lab? The same people as hit the nightclub?’ Beth remembered seeing him there now.

‘The truth is, I honestly don’t know.’

She looked miserable as she took a sip of the lukewarm sweet tea.

‘I’m going to see about getting you released, okay?’

Beth nodded numbly.

Du Bois walked out of the interview room. She was lying. She knew who had taken her to Tipner. Following orders, he should have made her talk. He was more than capable and had done it in the past, but she didn’t deserve it. She wasn’t part of his world. She’d had a glimpse, and he was still wondering what the S-tech-augmented hybrid had been doing in a greyhound stadium in Tipner, but she wasn’t playing in the same leagues. She was just doing the best she could for her father. She hadn’t done anything wrong as far as he could see. He could respect that. She got to walk. He would get what he wanted another way.