Page 17 of The Devil's Embrace

“I’ve reminded her of the evidence,” Bruce said. “What happened back then wasn’t your doing. I know you still carry it with you, but it’s time, kid. Let it go. It was a faulty vehicle and you were an eighteen-year-old scared out of your wits.”

“Tell that to everyone else who remembers my face plastered all over the news,” Cal drawled, glancing out the window as they drove through the city.

For a moment, it was quiet, and then Bruce broke the silence. “I heard about what happened last night.”

Calix bristled, waiting to see what kind of gossip had spread.

“How many of them jumped you?” he sounded angry. “You sent the police away last night without giving them any details, but I’m sure you recognized them. Assault is a serious offense. You shouldn’t let them get away with it.”

So the assault story was holding, that was good. Better than everyone knowing the truth, at least.

“How much did the doctor tell them?” Calix couldn’t help but ask, pretending not to care one way or the other even though that was a lie.

“Aodhan told my guys that you were trying to be a martyr and let the thugs who beat you get off scot-free. He mentioned you thought you deserved what happened to you, and that it was within your rights not to press charges.” Bruce gave him a once over before returning his eyes to the road. “Got to say though, you look fine to me. What, did they just avoid your face or something?”

Right, because if he’d been beaten up by more than one person, he’d at the very least have a split lip. Especially since an ambulance had been called for him.

“The doctor feared I may have a few broken ribs,” Cal lied through his teeth. “That was why he insisted I get wheeled out of there. Fortunately for me, that’s not the case. There’s just severe bruising around my midsection.” Knowing that wasn’t nearly good enough to sell the story, he added, “Aodhan found me before they could do any worse than kick me a few times.”

“Well, I’m grateful to him that he did,” Bruce said, seemingly believing it. “I was also glad when he was suggested as our liaison with the hospital. Aodhan is a fantastic doctor and charismatic as well. Everyone who meets him ends up liking him. He’ll be useful to the investigation.”

“You really think our killer has a connection to the hospital?” Calix asked, glad they were veering back toward a safe topic. Lying wasn’t a problem for him, but he worried the longer they spoke about last night's events, the better the chance of him slipping up and spilling the truth.

“A group of the medical staff traveled to the planet Vitality recently for a wedding. Would you guess that’s around the same time as when the third murder was committed?”

“Can’t be a coincidence.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Bruce pulled into a mostly empty parking lot where only a handful of police vehicles could be seen. “One of those staff members ended up arrested the day after the wedding for a murder. We thought perhaps it was him at first, but then the fourth kill happened.”

“Why couldn’t it be him?” Calix undid his belt as soon as they came to a stop in front of a dense line of trees and a single dirt path.

“He was still being detained in Vitality,” Bruce replied as they got out and headed toward the path where another officerCal hadn’t met yet was waiting to greet them. “Something about his case tangling up with charges being brought against their Imperial Heir.”

Calix let out a low whistle. It was rare for an Imperial to be caught doing anything wrong—usually because they had enough power and money to make people look the other way. “Who’d they piss off to make that happen?”

“No clue. But it’s not looking good for Lyra Diar. Guess being an Imperial isn’t the get-out-of-jail-free card we always believed it to be.” He stopped in front of the other officer. “Brents.”

“Afternoon, sir,” Brents, a rookie officer by the looks of him, gave a curt nod to Cal, “Detective. If you’ll follow me, sirs. We’ve cordoned off the area, but so far there doesn’t seem to be anything amiss.”

“You mean aside from the severed head?” Bruce drawled, rolling his eyes behind the younger guy’s back, smiling when Cal noticed.

“Well, yes,” Brents said nervously, “there’s that, sir.”

The path led to a small clearing where a single towering decer tree with glittering orange leaves stood. Beneath it, clearly staged, was the head of the fourth victim, Williams Gorty. It’d begun to rot, the smell and the sight ghastly as they approached.

Bruce covered his nose and gagged a little. “Never gets easier, does it?”

“We’ve already taken photographs and tissue samples.” Amory stepped away from the small group of officers standing nearby and approached. “His eyes have been removed and his lips were sewn shut, but even with the rot setting in, we were able to confirm Mr. Gorty’s identity.”

Calix pulled a small, clear orb the size of a billiards ball from his right pocket and set it on the grass between his feet. Theobject made a whirring sound and then rolled forward, straight for the head. “N.I.M. will run a detailed forensics assessment.”

The N.I.M. was a useful tool given to all detectives in the force. It was a small AI that connected to Demeter Station, the largest knowledge hub in the universe, and could run all sorts of imaging scans within seconds.

“Have you contacted Meadows?” Bruce asked her. “I want to introduce him to Cal, since this is his case now.”

“Yes, sir, he’s on his way.”

“Mitri Meadows is our lead forensic scientist,” Bruce explained. “He’s a bit eccentric, but he gets the job done. Actually, he was recommended to us by Aodhan when our last scientist retired. He’s a big Effy fan.”

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