Jeanne Stein - Retribution

It takes me about twenty seconds to pick the lock. I slip inside. The office space is big, about twenty by twenty, but not as luxuriously furnished as I would have expected. There’s a wooden desk and chair, a row of wooden file cabinets, a leather couch and glass-topped coffee table and two leather visitor’s chairs.

The desktop is clear. Nothing on it, not a blotter or a telephone. The desk drawers are locked but yield to a little persuasion. That’s all they yield. The only things I find are telephone logs. A quick perusal tells me business is brisk. Calls from area codes across the country.

Paper-clipped together on the inside cover are the most recent. I flip through the stack. One customer has called three times in the last two days. Must be desperate for her miracle makeover. I replace the stack as I found it.

In another drawer, web-generated order forms. Lots of them. Eternal Youth has struck a chord with middle-aged women in a big way.

No wonder I saw so many trucks going in and out. Must be preparing for the big launch the newspaper spoke of.

Now what?

The file cabinets.

Again, everything is locked. There are six cabinets, none labeled on the front so I have no choice but to start at one end and jimmy each open. As is usually the case, the last cabinet is the one I want. Personnel files.

One file is marked Personal. When I open it, I find info about Simone Tremaine. There isn ’t much—insurance forms, utility bills for an address in Coronado, an out-of-state telephone number printed on a piece of company letterhead. I memorize the address and number and return the file to the cabinet.

Then another file catches my eye.

Test Subjects.

It’s thick. I take it to the couch and get comfortable.

There must be one hundred cases. I go through each one. All include remarkable before -and-after pictures as well as testimonials.

They’re from local women in all walks of life—including some with PhDs and medical licenses. Women in their fifties and sixties look thirty again. With no adverse side effects reported. In fact, just the opposite, women report renewed vigor and increased libido. A few add that their figures are fuller, their hair more lustrous and their minds sharper. They call the cream miraculous.

I pull the jar out of my pocket and look at it. Miraculous, indeed, if it’s true. In fact, if I were still human, I’d be tempted to try the stuff.

No wonder Gloria wants to hook her wagon to this star. Besides the obvious, Burke would be richer than God in a very short time if the product lives up to its press. Too bad she won’t live long enough to enjoy it.

I return the folder and walk my fingers through the other tabs. I’d like to find a formula to take to Williams. He could duplicate it and see if there’s magic involved. I don’t find one so I’ll have to do the next best thing. I’ll give him the jar I took and let him analyze the product itself.

I relock the cabinets and offices and head back into the factory. I leap up to the catwalk, slip out of the window and secure it behind me while I cling to the wall outside. Then I let go and drop to earth.

Next stop: that address across the bay in Coronado.

I’m halfway up the bank to my car when my cell phone rings.

“Anna Strong.”

“Anna, it’s Williams. Where are you?”

“In National City. Why?”

“Meet me downtown, the end of the Navy Pier. Another body turned up, and if you get here quick enough, we can check it out before the police.”

He disconnects before I can object. I glance at my watch. The navy pier isn’t too far out of my way. I’ll give him five minutes. That’s it.

THE WOMAN IS LYING ON A COIL OF ROPE, AWKWARDLY, her back bent, legs twisted. Dumped here, probably, after dark.

This is a busy pier during the day. Her form and face are obscured in shadow. The only light reflects from the pool of blood ringing her head like a halo.

And that looks black.

The scent of her blood is heavy on the air. “She’s human,” I say.

Williams is kneeling beside the body. “She’s human. I thought when the report came in it might be another vamp.” He stands and slips off the latex gloves he’d donned when we arrived. Cop habit.

“Looks like her skull was crushed,” he says.

Being around this much blood awakens the hunger always lurking beneath the surface, but I force it back and stoop to take a closer look. The woman is dressed in good linen slacks and a long-sleeved blouse.

“She’s wearing Jimmy Choos,” I say, pointing to her pumps. “There’s a good-sized rock on her finger, and I’d bet those earrings are a carat apiece. She wasn’t mugged for her jewelry.”

I lean in. The woman’s hair has fallen over her face. Gingerly I brush it away.

She looks vaguely familiar. She’s in her thirties, attractive.

The wail of far-off sirens distracts me.

Williams puts a hand on my shoulder. “We need to go.”

Still, I hesitate. I know I’ve seen this woman before.

“Anna, come on. We can’t be found here.”

Reluctantly, I get to my feet. Williams motions for me to follow him, and we make our way quickly back along the pier to the parking lot.

Flashing lights and sirens bear down on the pier. We turn to the right and head across the trolley tracks toward the Gaslamp district.

There’s a hotel with an outdoor patio still serving and we take a seat. We can see the pier from here.

The show starts as soon as the cops arrive. I recognize Ortiz in one of the lead cars. No surprise then, how Williams found out about the woman. A crowd forms, the media arrives, a coroner’s wagon pulls up.

I know I should be out of here—check that address in Coronado. But something tugs at the back of my mind. I’m sure I’ve seen that woman before. I sift her face through the sands of memory, hoping to shake something loose.

When it hits, it’s not who she is but what she is that does it.

Today. The literature I picked up from the receptionist.

I jump to my feet and leave Williams with an abrupt, “I’ll be right back.”

The Jag is parked down the block. The brochure is still on the front seat. I grab it and quickly thumb the pages.

She’s there. On page five.

She was one of Eternal Youth’s test subjects.

When I rejoin Williams, I thrust the brochure at him. “Look familiar?”

He studies the picture for a minute, then looks up at me. “A coincidence? One of Burke’s test subjects turning up dead?”

I shake my head.

Quickly I tell Williams about the other women in Burke’s files.

I hand him the bottle of cream.

“You’d better have this analyzed. She’s using magic, I’m sure. Can’t do anything about that. But if it turns out the product she’s selling at two hundred fifty dollars a jar contains nothing but animal fat and food coloring, maybe you can get her for fraud.”

He slips the bottle into a jacket pocket. Then he calls Ortiz on his cell and passes the information along.

He listens for a minute, hangs up.

I already suspect what he’s going to say. He doesn’t disappoint.

“Ortiz will join us as soon as he can, but the fact that this woman was one of Burke’s test subjects is not sufficient cause to get a search warrant for Burke’s warehouse.”

Ortiz is standing by his patrol car and he turns and looks for us in the crowd now gathered at the restaurant.

I stare back at him, a troublesome wariness beginning to build. Burke said she wanted to play a game.

“I don’t need a search warrant. I’ll get the file of her test subjects.”

For once, Williams doesn’t argue. “Bring the file back here. Ortiz and I will wait.”