Only the MARA Corporation executive building eclipsed Metro HQ as the tallest in the RD1. By Earth standards, a premise with only six floors wasn’t much to write home about. Then again, the sky is the limit on Earth. But not here. Not in a world encased in domes. Anyway, something doesn’t need to be 150 storeys high to be impressive. Just ask the Pope.
The design of the edifice is loosely based on the head office of Scotland Yard completed in 2015. In that way, New London’s Metro HQ building follows many of the Neo-Classical forms of the original, but with one major modification. The walls of the ground floor are made from crystal-clear glass panes. It gives the appearance that the rest of the structure is floating above the ground. The elevators and staircases connect the ground floor to the rest of the building, making it look like something out of an Escher lithograph.
I walked in the front door, approached the on-duty desk, gave my name and why I was there. The policewoman manning the station made a phone call and then waved me off to a row of chairs. It didn’t take very long. A uniformed officer appeared within five minutes and escorted me up to the detectives’ bullpen of the third floor. I tried to see if I could spot Ashdown but he was nowhere to be found. My taciturn chaperone deposited me into an interrogation room.
From the manner in which I shifted around in my seat, anyone watching from the video feed or on the other side of the mirror may have thought the pressure had gotten to me. That I had something to hide. Truth of it, though, was I hurt. I’d been worked over pretty good and they didn’t have comfort in mind when they furnished these rooms. All I wanted to do was go home. Eventually, the detective graced me with his presence.
‘Glad to see you didn’t forget about me,’ I said with very little kindness as he sat down.
‘Spare me your indignation, Helm. You made me look like a chump by not coming straight here.’
He placed a MIX11 between us – its blank screen reflected the ceiling lights – and continued.
‘What’s in the car?’
‘What do you mean?’ I can play 20 Questions, too.
He sighed. ‘You seemed a tad antsy back at the scene but I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. Now I’m thinkin’ I should’ve hauled your ass down here in the back of my cruiser. So again, I ask what’s in the car?’
‘Nothing. Your field techs went through it pretty thoroughly, John—’ He cut me off.
‘Right now, it’s Detective Ashdown.’
‘Anyway, like I said, Detective, they went over the entire car with a fine tooth comb and they didn’t find anything suspicious. But I suspect they already told you that. I don’t have anything to hide except an irrational love affair with a car. Sue me if you’ve got a problem with me wanting to get it fixed up as soon as possible.’
‘Maybe not sue you, Helm, but I’m sure that we could get some obstruction charges levelled against you,’ he replied, and then stopped short. I don’t think he wanted to get into a shouting match. ‘Don’t tread on any more favours I do for you, Helm.’
‘Yeah, sorry,’ I said, starting to feel like an ass. ‘Is that all? Another statement to sign on your tablet?’
‘Where were you Saturday night?’
The question caught me off guard and I just looked at him for a moment.
‘Saturday night,’ he repeated.
‘Out on a date. We went to DKY for dinner and then back to my place.’
‘You were at your place the entire night, then?’
He gave me a cold hard stare. I felt like I was sitting in front of my dad, getting a telling off. The anger that had somewhat abated flared up again. I crossed my arms defensively and I noted the faintest glimmer of a smile pull at the corner of his lips.
If I was a lesser soul – and by that I mean someone not used to a cross-examination – he would have had me dead to rights. He was playing me pretty good and I’d say that within five minutes I’d have said something that I shouldn’t have said. Fortunately, I knew my way around this game as well as he did. I kept up my defensive posture but tried to use it to my advantage.
‘Yeah, I was at home the entire night. My date can confirm it. Her name is Erica Green. I don’t have her number off the top of my head, but she lives at 422 West Willis, Res 2.’
Ashdown glanced up at a video camera and then back to me. A signal to check her out. Erica was going to get dragged into this. Time to see if she could sell a lie to a veteran member of Metro Police. I had my doubts and in the process lost all sense of reason.
‘What’s this all about? Is it about the break-in at MARA Corp late Saturday/early Sunday?’
‘Who said anything about a break-in?’ He tensed because he smelled a mistake on my part. I turned up the crazy.
‘MNN reported the break-in into a “high-tech facility”.’
‘There are a lot of high-tech facilities in this city, Helm.’
‘Not a lot with a security team swarming around them on Sunday like a pack of determined bloodhounds. It doesn’t take genius-level deductive skills to make the connection. Anyway, why are you asking me about Saturday in a very accusatory manner? The article said an arrest had been made.’
‘Because someone smarter than the half-wit we scooped up last night did have something to do with the break-in, that’s for sure. The job was way too sophisticated for him and there aren’t a whole lot of people with the type of training required to infiltrate a facility such as MARA Corporation undetected.’ He leaned back in his chair with the MIX in hand. The glow from the screen reflected off his face. ‘But you do from your service days.’
‘Was anything taken?’ I asked trying to deflect the conversation away from me.
‘No,’ he answered, without conviction.
‘So if that’s the case, then was he caught trying to break into MARA Corp? I ask because I’m trying to understand why you arrested a man you don’t think is connected to the break-in.’
Ashdown waffled. He couldn’t lie here because the news article said the arrest happened this morning, and I already established that I had read it.
‘Fine,’ the detective replied on the back end of a sigh. ‘The perp was found in possession of stolen goods from MARA Corp.’
I crossed my arms. ‘I don’t understand why you’re asking me where I was, and what I was doing last night. Whether you believe it, or not, you have your guy. Seems to me like an open-and-shut case.’
‘Because the guy insisted that he found the stolen property in an alley in Res 3. And, like I said, he isn’t exactly the criminal mastermind type. He isn’t lying. I’ve been in this business long enough to know when I’m being lied to.’
‘Has he named any accomplices?’
‘No. He’s sticking to his story about finding the item in question in the alley. The guy has no record. No reason to lie. I think someone put it there, and he found it.’
I shook my head and affected a chuckle. All part of the show.
‘So let me get this straight. You think that I busted into MARA Corp, boosted some item from inside the building, then dumped it in an alley for some poor slob to stumble across and take the heat for me? Why would I even do that? Risk a b-and-e, then further risk getting caught by disposing of it in an alley? Why not destroy it? Or hide it for no one to ever find? I’d like to think I’m smarter than that.’
‘It’s hard to say what you would do, Helm. Maybe you didn’t like what you found. Maybe someone hired you to do it to send a message to Kitterman that her joint isn’t as secure as she might think it is. It could be a hundred different things. But what I do know is that we have video of you driving through Res 3 yesterday and then you were in the area today. It’s all a bit suspicious, even you have to admit that.’
‘I bet that you have video of me driving through a lot of places, yesterday. In fact, if you review the files long enough, you’ll see me staggering out of the 3rd Street Lounge after midnight. Maybe I just have a soft spot for the worst parts of this town. Anyway, John, do you have actual video of me getting out of my car and disposing of the item? Or any other evidence to connect me to it? Do you have anything that isn’t circumstantial?’ I had used his first name, again, to try to rile him up a bit and throw him off his game.
He didn’t rise to the bait and continued to look at me through narrowed eyes. I figured I might as well keep talking.
‘As for why I was in the area yesterday, I was out for a drive, and I like to visit the old neighbourhood from time to time. Last time I checked, that isn’t a crime. And you already know why I was on the east side today. I made a statement, which is why I thought you called me down here – to sign it.’
Now to apply a little righteous indignation to the situation: I put my hands on the table and leaned in for the full effect.
‘Not to mention, that if you had anything solid on me,’ I continued, raising my voice just a tad, ‘you wouldn’t have let me take my car today. You would have brought me in yourself. These accusations you’re trying to hang on me are all last minute and I don’t know what you’re playing at, Detective, but it stinks.’
‘Calm down, Helm, they’re routine. That’s all.’
He eyed me again warily. ‘No need to get worked up into a huff. You are one of the few people that could pull off a heist like that and you know that you are. I’d be a piss-poor cop if I didn’t question you – and you know that too.’
A light flashed on the wall and Ashdown stood up. ‘I’ll be back shortly.’
With his MIX11 in hand, he made for the door.
‘Can I at least get a cup of Joe while I wait?’
‘Sure. I’ll have one of the uniforms bring you one. In the meantime, sit tight.’ He walked out and left me alone, again, with my thoughts.
A couple of minutes later a beat cop brought me a paper cup filled with slightly-warmer-than-room-temperature coffee. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have touched it. But these weren’t normal circumstances and the act of drinking it gave me something to do.
Nothing but cold dregs remained when the detective returned to my interrogation room. He pushed his tablet and a stylus in front of me. My statement from today filled the display.
‘I’m guessing my alibi checks out,’ I said as I looked down at the document.
‘Yeah, Ms Green confirmed your story and we have no evidence of you leaving your place. It must’ve been someone else.’
Whew! I owed her big time now.
The statement appeared to be on the up-and-up so I autographed it and pushed it back towards Ashdown’s side of the table.
‘Am I free to leave?’
He picked up the computer, glanced at the signature line, and put it to sleep.
‘You’re free to go.’
I stood and walked out of the room.
‘Look, no hard feelings,’ he said as I passed him at the doorway. ‘I’m just doing my job and chasing leads. You know how it is.’
I scanned the area quickly and saw Erica being led out of the bullpen by another police officer. She looked good. I kept quiet as I watched her head to the elevator bank. I wasn’t sure how I could thank her and hoped she might have a suggestion or two.
‘Sure, John, no hard feelings,’ I replied with a distinct lack of sincerity as I looked back at Ashdown.
‘Juarez’ll take you downstairs.’ He extended a hand to shake.
I pulled a move from his playbook and jammed my hands into my pockets and followed Juarez towards the elevator bank.