“And what gang is that?” Stake asked.
“The Mutie gang,” Null said, glaring from under bony brows.
“I see,” Stake said.
“I hope you do.”
“So what’s this proposition?”
“We hear you’re a private eye. A good one.”
“I was. Once. I made a not-so-good private eye move, and here I am.”
“Well this would be a better move for you. I want to hire your services. The pay, like I said, is we take care of your skin as long as you stay here in T-P… however long that turns out to be.”
“But what do I have to do? If it involves me impersonating someone, forget it. I –”
“No, that’s not it. You’ve heard about the killings in this place, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“The last victim was my cousin Chowder. We grew up together, like brothers. We got arrested for stealing from a warehouse one night. The job was my idea. If it wasn’t for me he’d be alive, and he’d be free.”
“So you… you want me to find out how these men have died. Chowder specifically.”
“Right.”
“And if it turns out they’re being murdered, say by a gang like the Orange Bunch, and you get revenge by killing the guilty party or parties, then I become an accomplice to murder.”
“That part doesn’t concern you. If there’s blood, we’ll keep it off you. But you will help me, Stake. You hear me on that?”
Stake lowered his face into his hands and kneaded its skin, as if to remold his features so thoroughly that he faded out of sight altogether. His voice muffled behind his palms, he said, “Tell me what you know about these deaths.”
FIVE: EXAMINATIONS
Stake, Null, and Billings ambled along the second floor balcony as they talked, not afraid about other inmates seeing them together. Null said that was desirable, if Stake wanted the general population to know he was under the protection of the Muties.
“The deaths started about four months ago,” Null said. “But we’re not really sure how many have died, because it’s not like the warden has announced what’s going on… we only know about it from witnesses.”
“Witnesses? Have people actually seen some of the victims die?”
“No, I mean cellmates waking up to find the victim already dead. Uh… but let me correct that. There are always killings in prison, but what links these deaths is you don’t find a body afterwards – just a whole lot of blood on the guy’s bed, the walls, even the ceiling. That’s why when this happens, the men will say, ‘The vampire got another one.’”
“Vampire? A vampire would do the opposite – take the blood and leave the body. So the only real witness, then, is your guy Blur, and you can’t be sure if this ‘ghost’ or ‘skeleton’ he talks about is based on something he really saw.”
“Right.”
“But what about camera footage? There’s a security camera in every damn cell.”
“Well, from what little leaks back to us from the guards, every time this happens there’s some kind of electrical interference and the camera cuts out. But how can we know if that’s true or not? Like I say, the warden isn’t talking to us about these deaths at all. I think the only way he would is if we could organize a riot, and nobody wants to open a can of worms like that. But if that’s what it comes to…”
“You know what it sounds like to me?” Billings said. “A military experiment, and they’re using us prisoners as expendable guinea pigs, out here in limbo where they feel like nobody can see what they’re up to. Some kind of remote weapon that can target a man and vaporize him from a distance. And they purposely block the camera before they do it.”
“Yeah,” Null said, “we’ve already considered that. It’s a good theory.”
“The prison has a medical unit,” Stake mused, stopping to lean against the balcony railing and look down upon the prisoners milling about below. “A chief medical officer, right? They have to know something about this… at least, what’s being done to the victim’s body. They must have examined the blood. I’d like to talk to them, if I can think of an excuse to go to the infirmary.”
Null nodded, then turned to Billings. “Break his nose.”
“What?” said Billings.
“What?” said Stake, looking around.
“I can’t do it myself,” Null explained. “Can’t afford to go into solitary right now.”
“But…” said Billings.
“I told you to hit him.”
“Hey, now hold on…” Stake began.
“With your special condition, couldn’t you have reconfigured your broken nose on your own?” the medical unit’s chief, Zaleski, asked Stake while examining the results of the restorative treatment he had just administered.
Sitting still as Zaleski consulted a holographic scan display of his head, floating in the air beside Stake like a doppelganger of the doppelganger, the private detective said, “I can alter my appearance, but I can’t regenerate injury any better than the next guy. If I tried to morph a broken nose I’d just be torturing myself.”
“Well, in any case everything looks good now.”
Dr. Zaleski gave the impression of ill health: thin, pale as his lab smock, his eyes red-rimmed and high forehead moist with perspiration. When Stake had first come in, a young prisoner in a yellow uniform had quickly departed, and Stake had sensed he’d just interrupted an illicit transaction – either involving sex or drugs, or both. Stake wouldn’t be surprised to find the physician was an addict. If he were right, and had spotted it so quickly, he couldn’t believe Cirvik wasn’t aware.
“I’ve only been here a week and already I’ve had my nose busted,” Stake said. “I’m not too confident about finishing my six months in one piece. Especially with those weird deaths going on.”
Zaleski gaped at the prisoner for a second and a half. “Weird deaths?”
“Doctor,” Stake chuckled, “you know – people exploding in their cells during the night? Leaving nothing but blood behind? Those weird deaths.”
Zaleski immediately averted his bloodshot eyes, but couldn’t seem to help himself from replying, “It isn’t just blood left behind. If one examines the material remaining, there is in fact flesh and bone present. It’s just been reduced to small particles, mixed with the blood.”
“What do you think would cause that, doctor?” Stake asked. “I mean, I was a soldier and I’m familiar with all kinds of weapons. Strong plasma, of course, would dissolve the body, not break it up like that. But I’m wondering… some kind of ray weapon that could be fired right through the closed energy barriers?”
“How could a prisoner obtain a weapon like that, here?” Zaleski said, eyes still turned away.
“Who said it had to be a prisoner?”
Now Zaleski did face him. “What are you implying? That the guards are executing prisoners in their sleep?”
“I’m just indulging in a little idle speculation, doctor, just out of curiosity. Okay… curiosity and concern for my own skin. But you must have a theory of your own. Don’t you?”
“I have no idea. I’ve found no suspicious residue in the blood or body remnants I’ve examined.”
“Okay, but how is that possible?”
“I’m a general physician, Mr. Stake. I’m finding this matter to be outside my realm of expertise.”
“Then other people with a broader range of expertise must be looking into it, eh? At the warden’s direction?”
Zaleski hesitated, and then said, “Of course. Of course he’s investigating the cause of these events.”