Devil's Silver #6 Wicked Game Part 5
By Carol M.
Enjoy guys!
Darien walked through the cemetery and sat down in between Kevin and Claire's tombstones.
"Hey guys," he said softly. He looked at the tombstones and smiled slightly, shaking his head. "So you guys dated. I never would have guessed that," he said, thinking that burying Claire next to Kevin hadn't been such a bad idea after all. He eyed Kevin's tombstone. "Just don't get any ideas, Kev," trying to go for a light tone, but failing miserably.
Darien sighed heavily and put his head in his hands. After a few minutes he looked up. "Well, I guess you guys left me hear all alone. I honestly don't know if I'm going to make it through this time. I don't feel anything, anymore, I'm just a bunch of empty space."
Darien stood up and took the letter he had written the night before out of his pocket. "I read your diary, Claire. I read all of the things you said about me. It made me feel really good and then it left me feeling nothing but loss. So I thought I would write you a note and tell you what you mean to me," said Darien as he placed the note on top of Claire's tombstone, putting a small rock on top of it so it wouldn't blow away. "There it is. I don't know how it works when you're dead, you know if you guys are watching me right now and making fun of my hair or something, or if your both just gone. Either way, I needed to do this, to believe that there's someway that you can read this letter because I love you, Claire. I want you to know how much you mean to me."
He looked at Kevin's tombstone, tears threatening to fall. "I love you too, bro. If you guys are up in heaven together, take care of each other. Maybe by some miracle I'll end up there one day too," he said.
He walked into the middle of the two tombstones, kissed his hands and then set his hands on both of their tombstones. "Take care, guys," he said, brushing tears out of his eyes. He took a deep breath and started walking towards his car.
He pulled his keys out of his pocket and was about to open his door when he felt the intense pain of a knife being pushed into the left side his lower back. He turned around in surprise and was promptly hit across the face with a gun. He recognized one of his attackers as a Chrysalis goon. He could have sworn that just before he passed out he saw a camera flash, but that might have just been a hallucination.
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Stark signed his name as Brian Ketterer, the name of an old high school friend. He followed the guard into the prison visitation room and waited.
When Arnaud was led into the room, he gave Stark a harsh look.
"Ten minutes," said the guard as he left the room.
Arnaud sat down in the chair roughly. "What the hell are you doing here, you idiot? I don't want anyone figuring out we're working together," he said with anger.
Stark cleared his throat. "I just thought I would give you a little update since you don't have access to a phone or a computer. Miss Spencer is not cooperating as nicely as I had hoped. I had to give her a little incentive."
Arnaud shook his head. "Your end of the deal was to get Miss Spencer to figure out the bugs in the gland. That way, I fix mine and your organization gets its own working gland. I don't want to hear about your incompetence," said Arnaud as he leaned in towards Stark. "You go messing around and then you get Fawkes on your back. Don't underestimate him. He's has turned into quite a pain in the ass."
"Believe me, I know," said Stark.
Arnaud sighed. "So, are you getting all the information you need?"
Stark nodded. "Some of it, yes, but like I said, she's being difficult."
"Well, I guess you'll just have to try a little harder, won't you," said Arnaud.
Stark looked around the room. "It's unfortunate that you got arrested. It's going to be difficult to fix the gland while you're locked up in jail."
Arnaud smiled. "A minor inconvenience, I assure you. Besides, you wouldn't be thinking about double crossing me, would you?"
Stark shook his head. "Never," he said.
"Well, I'm glad everything is clear, monsieur," said Arnaud coolly.
"Crystal," said Stark as he got out of his chair. "Enjoy the food," he said as he walked out of the door.
Arnaud smiled. "Oh I will, little prick," he said to himself.
Bobby drove his van around town like a madman, looking for Darien, wanting to talk to him. Something was eating him about Claire's death. At first he thought it was because he didn't want to believe she was dead. But as the hours went on, his itch kept intensifying. Things just weren't making sense and when Bobby Hobbes had a hunch, he was normally right. Well if you don't count that whole Brock incident, that is.
Bobby had been to the Agency, the Keep, and Darien's apartment. He was on his way to the only other place he thought Darien might be, the cemetery.
A few minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot, spotting Darien's car. So predictable, thought Bobby as he stepped out of the van. He walked towards Darien's car and stopped short when he saw a foot peaking out next to the tire.
"Fawkes," yelled Bobby as he ran to the car. He found Darien on the ground, unconscious, blood leaking out of his back.
He kneeled down and lifted up Darien's shirt, examining the wound on his back. It didn't look too serious, but it was bleeding heavily. Bobby took his jacket off and pressed it against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
He heard Darien moan slightly. "Fawkesy, come on, buddy, wake up," said Bobby. He rolled Darien over and noticed a bruise on his forehead. "Open your eyes, pal," he said.
Darien moaned again and slowly opened his eyes. He saw the blurry image of Bobby standing over him. "What the hell happened this time?" he asked in a weak voice.
Bobby shook his head. "I don't know, why don't you tell me?" said Bobby as he grabbed Darien by the arms and lifted him off the ground.
Darien tried to shake the cobwebs from his mind. "It was two guys. I felt this pain in my back and then I turned around and they hit me with a gun or something," said Darien weakly.
Bobby put Darien's arm around his shoulder and walked him to the van. "Anyone we know?" asked Bobby as he put Darien in the van.
Darien shrugged. "One of them I've seen before, he works for Chrysalis. I don't know about the other guy."
"Did they say anything to you?" asked Bobby as he started the van.
"No," said Darien with a small groan as he looked down at the knife wound. He then looked over at Bobby with a look of confusion on his face. "How did you find me, anyway?"
"I've been checking out all your little haunts. You're very easy to track down,
my friend. You need to start varying your routine. You make it too easy for wackos to come out and stick you with knives," said Bobby with seriousness in his tone.
"Yeah, well, I'll take it under advisement," said Darien sarcastically.
A half-hour later, Darien had 10 stitches in his back and an icepack on his forehead. Kara sent him home to get some sleep after making sure he didn't have a concussion. Bobby took Darien to his apartment and put him in bed. Then he headed back to the Agency to get a little proof about his hunch.
Bobby sat on the floor of the Agency Archives, pouring over the files on Claire's death. He scanned through the police reports and looked through the pictures. There was something he was missing and he knew it. He read through the reports again, noting specific details. Then he looked at the pictures again. His heart started beating wildly when he found what he was looking for. He got off the floor and walked quickly out of the room.
"Sir, if you could just sign this,"
"Shut up, Eberts, I don't have time to be signing forms on validated parking," said the Official angrily.
Eberts pouted sadly. His look turned to surprise when Bobby burst through the door.
"Chief, you're not going to believe this," said Bobby as he threw Claire's files on the Officials desk. "I cannot believe I didn't see it before," muttered Bobby in a manic tone to himself.
The Official eyed Bobby curiously. "What this about Hobbes?"
Bobby stepped next to the Official and opened Claire's file. "Okay, read the police report. The report says that the bomb was attached to the front door, right?"
The Official nodded.
"So when she opened it, the whole house blew. Okay, now look at this," said Bobby as he took out a picture of Claire's dead body. "Look where her body is. It's inside the house. Now call me crazy, but if she opened the door and the bomb blew up, don't you think it would have blown her into the street? I mean, why would her body be laying inside the house?"
The Official gave him a doubting look.
Bobby saw it. "Just hear me out, okay chief. Arnie said something the other day when we visited him, something about not killing the Keeper because she was too valuable. Suddenly, that's starting to make a lot of sense. I mean, the Keep, she knows all about the quicksilver gland and she knows a hell of a lot about a million other things. Why would someone just kill her? It just doesn't add up," said Bobby as he walked to a chair in front of the Official's desk and sat down.
"Plus, here's another tidbit. The guys who jumped Fawkes this afternoon, one of them Fawkes remembered from Chrysalis. Why would they just attack him? We've been real careful about investigating them, they had no idea we've been checking them out," said Bobby anxiously.
The Official cleared his throat. "Did Fawkes put you up to this?"
Bobby shook his head. "No sir, he doesn't know anything about this. I was going to tell him, but then I decided I didn't want to get his hopes up in case I was wrong," said Bobby as he leaned forward in his seat. "Look, how well did you know this coroner that matched Claire's dental records."
The Official shrugged. "He's someone I've used in the past. He's always good and accurate."
"Well what if he wasn't so accurate this time," said Bobby shadily.
Bobby looked over at Eberts who was staring at him incredulously. "What are you staring at Eberts? Jealous that I cracked the case and not you," said Bobby sarcastically.
The Official looked at Bobby for a few moments. "Are you suggesting what I think your suggesting?"
"You're damn right. We dig up her body and compare the dental records using someone we know isn't dirty. What's it gonna hurt, chief," said Bobby.
The Official nodded slowly. "All right, we'll do it. But Hobbes, if your wrong about this, then your paying for all the expenses," said the Official gruffly.
"With pleasure," said Bobby.
Four hours later the Official, Bobby and Eberts sat in uncomfortable chairs at a morgue in Lakeview. They had Claire's body exhumed and brought it to the neutral city of Lakeview, where they were sure the coroner was on the level.
Bobby stared at his watch, waiting in anticipation. He knew he was right, he could just feel it in his gut.
The trio looked up eagerly when the door opened revealing the coroner. Bobby hopped up excitedly to his feet. "Well?"
The coroner shook his head. "It's not a match. That body is not Claire Spencer."
Bobby practically jumped in the air. The Official sat back down heavily in his chair, in shock. Eberts just stood there quietly, grinning.
"So she's not dead," said the Official quietly to himself. He looked up at Bobby. "Find Fawkes, tell him. Then get your butts back to the Agency and we are going to track her down," said the Official firmly.
Bobby smiled. "Yes, sir."
The loud knocking on his door jolted Darien out a deep sleep, making him fall to the floor with a yelp.
"Fawkes, open the damn door," he heard Bobby yell.
Darien looked at the clock. Eight o' clock at night. He had slept the whole day away. Darien stumbled towards the door, still sore from his encounter in the afternoon. He opened the door with irritation. "What the hell do you want, Hobbes? You just woke me up from some much needed beauty rest," said Darien in a sleepy tone.
Bobby pushed Darien into the apartment. "Sit down, Fawkes, you're not going to believe this," said Bobby excitedly.
Darien looked at him with curiosity and sat down. He had never seen Bobby so excited in all his life. "Been taking the meds, Bobby?" asked Darien.
Bobby ignored him. He walked to Darien and put his hands on his shoulders. "Brace yourself, my friend, for what I'm about to tell you."
Darien looked at him with anticipation. "What?" he said.
"Claire is alive," said Bobby with a huge smile.
"What?" said Darien with confusion.
"She's alive partner, she's alive," repeated Bobby.
Darien shook his head. "No, no don't tell me that. She's dead. Don't get my hopes up, Bobby. I went through that with Kev and I'm not doing it again," said Darien with puppy dog eyes.
"I got proof, D. I went through her file and found some inconsistencies. Then I went to the Official, explained it to him and we exhumed her body," said Bobby.
"You exhumed her body? Why the hell did you do that?" asked Darien, hurt evident in his voice.
"To compare dental records. And guess what, they didn't match. The body under Claire's tombstone isn't Claire, my friend," said Bobby matter of factly.
Darien sat in stunned silence, taking short gasping breaths. He finally looked over at Bobby. "So she's alive, she's really alive."
Bobby put a reassuring hand on Darien's shoulder. "I wouldn't do this to you if I wasn't sure, Fawkes," said Bobby.
Darien stood up, a huge smile on his face. "Well what the hell are we waiting for, let's find her," said Darien.
Darien quickly got dressed and the duo got in Bobby's van, heading to the Agency to start searching for their beloved Keeper.
TBC