It was a long night. Security took a single look and called in the local peeps as I’d known they’d have to. They didn’t like me being there. If they could have blamed me for what had happened they’d have done it, but even they could see that Sheba had been dead for several hours.
Daisy wouldn’t let her go. I had to unfold her cramped hands finger by finger before she would set her down on the rose-printed bedcover. After that it was easier to coax her away into the other room.
“Can you tell us what happened?”
The man wasn’t unsympathetic, just bored. He wanted to be done with it. This was just routine. File and forget. Daisy shook her head. I knelt beside her.
“You weren’t at work this afternoon. Did you find her?”
A nod. Her mouth worked. “She’d had her last test.”
“Pregnancy,” I explained to the peep before he could ask. “She’d want to be home to share the result.”
Another nod from Daisy. “Yes. She was…
She couldn’t go on. I couldn’t tell Daisy or this bored peep that she must have been killed because of her connection with the Port. Her partnership with Daisy. But I didn’t understand how, or why, it could be linked to the other deaths. Jon and Blue Eyes had had their IDs taken, but Sheba’s was untouched. Perhaps Daisy had arrived in time to stop the killer taking that last step and he’d escaped while she was taking in the shock of seeing Sheba’s body.
But why Sheba? Could they have meant to get Daisy herself, and been interrupted by Sheba on her return from the test? But why go to the trouble of invading a home that had better security than most, when Daisy was around Midway all day?
I had questions, but no answers. And as I watched the peeps wave their scanners over the room and collect their samples, I didn’t think they would find any soon. I tried not to think of what was happening behind the closed bedroom door. Wanted to tell Daisy that it was my fault. Tell her I shouldn’t have nosed around. Tell her to shout at me. Couldn’t. Fed caf to the peeps and tried to make Daisy drink something or take a knockout. Failed.
“No. I don’t want to sleep.”
She was more coherent now, answering questions politely, but able to tell them nothing beyond the fact that she had found Sheba. All in the same dead tone. I wished she’d break down. Scream. Throw something. I wanted to throw things: smash all Sheba’s treasures against the smooth pastel walls.
“Ready to go.”
The indifferent voice belonged to a young medic who’d seen things far worse than this. He wanted only to finish tidying and go on back to whatever vid or bed he’d been dragged from.
Daisy looked up. Understanding. “No! You can’t take her away.”
“We have to. It’s routine.”
“No!”
“Sorry.”
“She never went out at night!”
Its simplicity silenced even the peeps. Into the void I said, “Can’t you leave her? Send someone round in the morning? I’ll stay till then.”
Then the next shift could deal with it. They looked at each other, shrugged. A few hours would make little difference. They could pass the night grilling security, who were explaining how no intruder could break through their system while trying to refuse permission to wake the other occupants of the building. The peeps were enjoying their embarrassment. I wondered how long these two forces had been rivals. Different owners, of course.
“‘Kay We’ll wait. But we have to take her in the morning.”
Security would rather Sheba’s body left under the discreet cover of darkness but weren’t in a strong enough position to insist.
In the end they all left and I sat with Daisy in the bedroom, not saying anything. I don’t think she knew I was there. The only time she spoke it wasn’t to me.
“I’m sorry, love.”
She was kneeling by the bed, her head resting on the cover by Sheba’s shoulder. She wasn’t looking at the closed eyes but her right hand was holding Sheba’s left, her thumb rubbing ceaselessly against the plain ring on the third finger.
Let me alone that I may take comfort awhile.