Jayne Castle - After Glow

"Is this the one that singed you?" Emmett asked, studying it intently.

"Yes." She shuddered, clutching the book close. "There was no other way out. I couldn't go back. So I waited until the pulses seemed to ebb somewhat and then I tried to slide past, hugging the wall. But it flared suddenly and scorched me. I was running on pure adrenaline at that point and I managed to keep going a few more yards. I got as far as the next intersection, turned into another passage, found a chamber, and collapsed. The next thing I remember is Fuzz licking my face."

Emmett bent down and picked up an object lying on the floor. He held it between thumb and forefinger.

"My bracelet," she breathed. "This is where I lost it. I broke the catch when I escaped from the guards so I clutched it in my hand. It got me this far, but when that ghost brushed me I must have dropped it."

Emmett eyed the huge ghost. "If that chamber we just left really is a library, I guess this would be the circulation desk."

"Staffed by the librarian from hell."

Emmett tossed Vincent Lee Vance's amber signet into the air and caught it in his hand.

"Lucky for us I've got my library card," he said.

Monday morning Lydia lounged in her office chair, sipped hot rez-tea, and surveyed her small, attentive audience. Melanie was propped on the edge of the desk, skirt riding high. Shrimpton hovered in the doorway.

"That's pretty much the end of the story," Lydia concluded, "After Emmett used Vance's signet to de-rez that big ghost blocking our path, we made our way to the nearest exit. Emmett immediately got in touch with Verwood and Detective Martinez and briefed them on the situation down in Greenie Land. Martinez went in with a contingent of cops and hunters and mopped up. It was a huge coup for her, of course."

"Too bad Herbert Slattery or Troy Burgis or whatever his name is got away," Shrimpton said dourly.

"They'll find him," Lydia said.

Melanie nodded. "Meanwhile, finding that cache of illegal weapons in that corridor the Greenies called Area 51 will pretty much guarantee that Martinez gets a huge promotion."

"By the time Martinez receives her new promotion, Emmett will be an ex -Guild boss," Lydia said firmly. "Wyatt's recovering nicely, thank goodness. He's going home from the hospital today."

Shrimpton scowled thoughtfully. "Have they figured out what this Herbert-Burgis character was planning to do with all those guns?"

"Burgis is the only one who can answer that question for certain but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he had plans to follow in Vance's footsteps."

"Conquer the city-states?" Melanie was appalled. "Impossible. There's no way he could have done that."

"I think he dreamed of finding some alien technology in that so-called tomb of Amatheon," Lydia said slowly. "By all accounts he's been obsessed with Vance for years. Got a hunch he figured that Vance had discovered some great secret in that chamber."

"And Burgis thought that if he got his hands on that secret, he could accomplish what Vance failed to do, is that it?" Melanie asked.

"That's the current theory," Lydia said. "Like I said, we'll know more when they get Burgis."

"Shouldn't take long to find him," Shrimpton said. "Something tells me that if Martinez doesn't catch him right quick, the Guild will hunt him down very soon."

"That's for sure." Melanie chuckled. "Jack says every hunter in every city in the Federation is looking for Burgis. He can run for a while but he won't be able to hide for long."

Shrimpton heaved a mournful sigh. "So much for the great deal on the Mudd Sarcophagus. There never was a real private collector waiting to pay twice what it was worth. It was all a ruse to make the kidnapping possible."

Melanie's brows zipped together. "I don't get that part. Burgis must have known that if you disappeared in the middle of a Greenie tour someone would have suspected the Order of the Acolytes of Amatheon."

Lydia shook her head. "He didn't care if a few of the Greenies got picked up off the street and questioned. None of them knew anything. The ones who were involved in the kidnapping were all safely back underground. It never occurred to Herb that anyone could find his hidden empire."

"But he was wrong," Shrimpton said. "Professor Lawrence Maltby discovered it first and he tried to warn you, didn't he?"

"Yes." Lydia put down her empty cup. "Poor Maltby. He wandered for years down there in the tunnels. At some point he must have stumbled onto Burgis's operation. He obviously recognized Burgis and figured out that the Greenies were responsible for my Lost Weekend. He tried to warn me but by the time I got to his apartment, someone else had gotten to him first."

"Burgis or one of his Greenies," Melanie said. "Everyone in Maltby's neighborhood knew he used drugs. It wouldn't have been difficult to spike a batch of Chartreuse with something lethal."

"Yes," Lydia said. "I think the killer probably went in to make certain that the drugs had worked. Maltby must have still been alive. He'd been using Chartreuse for years and had no doubt built up some tolerance. It probably took him longer to die than the killer expected. There must have been a struggle."

"That's when the killer's necklace got broken," Melanie said. "Afterward, he picked up as many of the beads as he could find, but it was dark in the apartment and he was in a hurry."

"He missed the bead that I found," Lydia concluded.

"He also missed the note that the professor had started to write, the one about the Amber Hills Dairy milk carton. Even if the killer noticed it, he probably assumed that it wasn't important. Just the start of a grocery list."

"I take it Burgis sent some more Greenies to search Maltby's place later that night just to make sure that nothing had been left behind that might give the cops a clue?" Melanie asked. "Those were the two guys you and Emmett surprised?"

Lydia nodded. "They didn't find the milk carton, either."

Melanie frowned. "What happened to Burgis's three pals? The ones who were with him in that pulse-rock band and later disappeared?"

"The cops haven't been able to identify them yet."

Lydia said. "The assumption is that they are all living under other names and are part of the Greenie hierarchy. But it's going to take a while to get to the bottom of that organization."

There was a short silence while they all absorbed that fact.

"It's not fair, I tell you," Shrimpton said darkly. "The governor appointed the university to oversee the excavation of that library chamber and all of the big museums are going toe-to-toe to get a piece of the action. They're lobbying like mad and calling in old favors. But this institution is out in the cold. It's not right."

Melanie cleared her throat. "We don't exactly have the facilities to handle a major excavation like that one, sir."

"Nevertheless, we should have been allowed to be part of the team that will open up the library." Shrimpton slapped a hand against the doorjamb, his indignation rising. "But no. We don't get zip-squat. Not zip-squat , I tell you."

"It's okay, Boss," Melanie said soothingly. "Take it easy. Remember your blood pressure."

"The devil with my blood pressure. It was a Shrimpton employee who discovered the way into that chamber. If there was any justice this institution should have been granted the lead license to excavate."

Lydia exchanged a glance with Melanie. Referring to Shrimpton's House of Ancient Horrors as an institution and making it sound as though it belonged in the same category as the Department of Para-archaeology at the university or the renowned Cadence Archaeological Museum was pushing it. But neither of them had the heart to point that out to Shrimp.