When Lexi bent down and measured the width of gurney wheels and the distance between them, Troy realized what was on his partner’s mind. He nodded his approval.
When she returned, she said, ‘The wheels are fifty-four centimetres apart. That’s two more than the tracks in the field by the bodies. So that’s that. Our guy didn’t use a gurney from here.’
‘Not if they’re all the same.’
‘I bet they are — so they all fit the equipment in the ambulance and inside the hospital. I’m after some other type of cart. It might not have anything to do with health and hospitals. The transplant trade isn’t the only explanation for our dead bodies.’
Troy hadn’t forgotten that a peculiar and cruel operation might lie behind the death of the female major with an outer heart. But he couldn’t make sense of it. He understood the need for transplants. He could even believe that mistakes might happen. But he couldn’t work out the motive behind a deliberate biological mix-up. ‘Why would anyone put outer organs in majors? Or the other way round?’
Lexi shivered violently. ‘Maybe it was an experiment to make a sort of outer-major hybrid.’
‘What?’ Troy exclaimed.
‘I know. It’s not natural. It’s … No. Horrible thought.’
Troy shook his head, dismissing the idea. ‘Are you done here?’
‘For now,’ she answered. ‘Let’s go and leave the cameras to do their job.’
As they walked towards the car, Crime Central’s Travel Section called Troy. ‘The man you’re after, his name is Dylan Farthing and he’s on his way home.’
‘Which is … where?’
‘Shepford third quarter. Fifteen Ennis Street.’
‘Great. Thanks.’
In the car, Troy said, ‘Fifteen Ennis Street, Shepford,’ and the onboard computer took control of the journey.
Lexi shook her head. ‘You’re going after him, why? Because he looks shady?’
‘Because I’m curious. And he’s got the muscles you’d need to lug dead bodies around.’
‘I’ll get the handcuffs ready — in case we come across any other body-builders,’ said Lexi. ‘They’re into killing people and mutilating their bodies.’
Ignoring her sarcasm, Troy replied, ‘You can check his shoe size.’
SCENE 12
Ennis Street looked familiar. Troy had probably never been there, but it was the standard design for Shepford’s third quarter. The neat detached houses were a uniform light brown colour, built from the same local stone. They were all similarly sized boxes, two storeys high with tiled roofs that sloped from left to right. Each had a small front garden and a larger one at the rear.
Troy pushed the doorbell at number fifteen. After a few seconds, the smart and sturdy man appeared in front of him. This time there was no cap, but he was wearing tinted spectacles that also seemed out of place. ‘Yes?’ he said, glancing at the life-loggers attached to his visitors’ waists.
Troy asked, ‘Are you Dylan Farthing?’
‘That’s me.’
‘Good. Detectives Troy Goodhart and Lexi Four. We’ve got a few questions for you. Can we come in?’
Dylan stood to one side of the hall, next to a small table. ‘What’s this about?’
As they walked into the plain, spotless living room, Troy replied, ‘We’re looking into some events near the Rural Retreat Transplant Clinic — and we know you go there. We wondered if you’d seen anything useful to our investigation.’
With cropped fair hair instead of a baseball cap, he looked very different. ‘Like what?’
‘Well, first, perhaps I’d better ask why you go to the clinic.’
Dylan sighed. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘Not to me,’ said Troy. ‘Sorry.’
He touched his dark glasses. ‘Why do you think I wear these? Why do I need a stupid cap outside? Why go to the clinic? I’ve just had a cornea transplant in my left eye and I have to protect it from sunlight.’
‘Right. But as you went to and from the clinic, did you see …?’
‘I saw hardly anything. That’s why I needed the operation.’
Troy expected Lexi to be sneering at him but, when he glanced at her, she wasn’t. She was gazing down at the freshly vacuumed carpet. Troy decided that a rapid retreat was the best policy. Heading for the door, he said to Dylan, ‘Well, I’m sorry to bother you. I wouldn’t have if I’d known about your condition.’
As they walked away, Troy waited for a cutting comment from Lexi, but it didn’t come. Inside the car, he said, ‘You seem … thoughtful.’
‘Yeah.’
‘And …?’
Plugging her life-logger into her laptop, she said, ‘I liked his carpet. Clean with a nice pile.’
‘So?’ Troy prompted.
‘We all leave clear footprints on a carpet after it’s been vacuumed.’
‘You recorded his?’
‘Larger than average, standard leather shoe.’ She showed Troy the imprint on the laptop screen. With her forefinger, she marked the position of the toe. Then she slid her finger across the image to the heel and a cursor followed her movement. She lingered for a moment on the back of the shoeprint. At once, the measurement appeared alongside the cursor: 29.5 cm. ‘Thought so,’ she muttered. ‘Size twelve.’
‘But not the same as the trainer near the bodies.’
‘No,’ she replied.
Troy regretted that majors and outers wore the same types and sizes of shoe — and walked in the same way. The two human races could not be distinguished by their footwear.
‘I’d write it off as a coincidence,’ Lexi continued. ‘But …’
‘What?’
‘There was a letter on the little table in the hall. Addressed to Farthing Family Butchers.’
‘He’s a butcher?’
‘Meaning he knows his way around a dead body. And he’s handy with a sharp knife.’
SCENE 13
‘Tomorrow night feels right. I am content. I’m ready. Everything’s in place. It’s a good time to go.’
Troy sat back, checked what he’d written and smiled. ‘That’s a cat I’m putting among the pigeons.’
Lexi shook her head. ‘Sometimes you talk in riddles.’
‘It’ll force Charon Angel’s hand,’ said Troy, hitting the return key to post the comment online.
Replies began to arrive within a minute.
‘I implore you to seek help.’
‘What you’re thinking of doing is wrong. The taking of any life is against God’s law. Choose life.’
‘Forget the past. Whatever happened there is over. You must look to the future and recognize its potential. Start afresh.’
After three minutes came the message that Troy most wanted to see. Charon Angel wrote, ‘The day after tomorrow — or next week, next month or whatever — some full-of-life girl might step off the road in front of a speeding cab. You might have been the one person close enough to yank her back, to save her life. Perhaps she would have gone on to be a leading politician, making the world a better place. That’s what I meant about you — and everyone else — having unknown value. If you go ahead, your absence will change the way things are supposed to be. It’s a shame to deny the world your contribution.’
Troy let out a sigh and shut his eyes for a few seconds. ‘His tone’s changed,’ he muttered. ‘Why?’
‘I don’t know,’ Lexi replied, ‘But he’s in the clear. “It’s a shame to deny the world your contribution.” That’s no way for anyone to get their hands on your kidneys.’
Troy nodded slowly. ‘Unless Sergio Treize tipped him off. Warned him we’re watching. Now he’s coming over all innocent.’