CHAPTER NINE
Back in Delaware, Jarod stared out the window, at the large landing strip where the helicopters would land. So far, not one had come and he was sure they would be considerably less. Ever since Lambourni and Miss Parker changed the setup at the Centre, those who depended on someone else's misery to prove that a drug caused convulsions, and needed four hours to be effective, found the new Centre not to their liking.
Jarod turned from the window and looked at old file that contained information about the first 'Pretenders' who were orphans or love children, and the advertisement used to lure them: "Orphan Boys and Girls of Intelligence and Distinction needed for a Scholastic Program." No one missed a foundling or a child whose mother was probably a whore, a father a drunkard. But these didn't work and neither did the intelligent children grabbed from loving parents until the Hercules Project restored the type of man normal before the Deluge. He handed back the file to Miss Parker. "You can see here the lab reports of how A5425 was created, the transfer into the surrogate's womb, the date of termination of such surrogate after A6425 the offspring was delivered, test tubes and vials used, frozen carbon dioxide, etc."
The first true Pretenders were the children of those used to create these restored Children of Cain but since most were born in the Centre and since Lamech Parker had killed their parents, these were employed at digging out the Centre and increasing its sublevels down below. They were increased through the test tube method which made Miss Parker frustrated that she couldn't find a history on them. "Just a sperm and egg getting together," she explained in frustration.
"Miss Parker, when did you say that Lambourni almost threw Gar off the roof?"
Miss Parker was busy feeding her little ones and not taking notice of her property. She was also talking on the phone and by the sound of it, it was long distance.
"What do you mean? Something in whose pocket?" She adjusted infant number one from her breast and inserted infant number three. It was much easier than saying their names. Everything was in chronological order, the oldest infant first, and then the others. She was seriously thinking of nick naming them Eenie, Meenie, Minie, and Moe.
"Do you mean that Gar was in whose pocket?" asked Jarod.
"That's not what I meant. Sorry, someone in the other room. Okay Officer, whatever your name was, could you give me the details."
"Parking ticket?"
"No, ouch! Sorry officer, hungry baby. Let's see, a Mom and Pop grocery store robbery, three suspects, one dead at the scene, all African American. Dead one must have been the decoy. Evidence of a shoulder holster. Hefty build, dark skinned, suit tailor made, what?"
This time the conversation was in whispers, and Jarod figured that the dead man must have been with the Centre for the way Miss Parker talked. Perhaps Roderick was a little careless, leaving the body out in the open where someone could find it, but he had to show concern.
"Something wrong?"
"Jarod stop what your doing, and get a couple of the new clean up crew."
"Okay. Children behave yourselves."
"Yes father."
They didn't sound convincing.
The older children were trying to construct a model railway that Jarod got them with Miss Parker's money, of course. Not having one himself as a child, he figured that is what fathers do. Jeremiah had finished putting the tracks over a mountain, a formidable task since the mountain was designed so that tracks would go around it, not over it.
The clean up crew, two men in their thirties arrived. One was white, the other black. They did not look like the Old Centre crew, their eyes did not have that merciless stare, and they lacked the certain inhumanness regarded by Centre as ideal. Miss Parker whispered to them.
One of them, a man with red hair blinked. "But Miss Parker, a pauper's grave? A Centre employee?"
"I don't want his name associated with the New Centre. Willie's to be turned over to the city and cremated. Your name is Mohammed, isn't it?"
"Yes," said the black one.
"And you graduated from the Charleston School of Acting?"
"Yes Miss Parker."
"You are to say that you knew this Willie as a wastrel, a no account, shit, I'm beginning to sound like the low class around here. Say that he has no family. You're also broke. And Scott, take these." She handed him a packet. "This contains as much damaging information on Willie as possible. Give it to the investigation officer."
"Thank you."
After they left, Miss Parker turned to the subject of Gar. "Jarod you were talking about Gar a moment ago Maybe the Centre doctors revived him and he went to work even though he was officially listed as deceased. Lambourni could have found out he was a sweeper and since Gar was supposed to be dead, no one would've noticed."
"Look Lambourni's youngest by his late wife are younger than Jeremiah, not older," he explained, "so why did you say it was Gar?"
"And who do you think it could be? Sam? Willie?"
He walked over to her, and tickled the babies who giggled. "Or someone that Lambourni felt he would get in trouble if others noticed who it really was."
"My brother?"
"Raines. Didn't you say that he always kept his door open when Lambourni wanted to see him about something, and he always had someone nearby, just in case? If it were Lyle, he would have thrown him to the ground."
"And why not Lyle?"
"Because of his age. Dominants aren't that dumb. They want to look good, so killing someone in full view who is in his late twenties or thirties is fair game. Tossing someone who has breathing problems, coughs a lot and carries an oxygen tent makes you look like a…"
"Killer." She quickly put the babies in their bed, and while changing them. "Come on Jarod, I saw the Cd!" She was getting angry right now.
"Lambourni can mask his presence and make you see something you don't, like Gar struggling instead of Raines. He is also intelligent enough to alter the CDs and replace Raines's body with Gar. Only since the Centre kept Gar's death a secret from an obvious outsider that Lambourni was at the time, they would have aided in his deception and you, being afraid of being demoted or loosing your share of the Parker millions, would have gone along with it!"
"Look Jarod! If you want to spend the night not being stretched out and chained to the bed, while I use you, you had better be more civil!"
"What's civil got to do with it? It's the truth Margo. Lambourni didn't want people to think he'd toss a sick and evil old man twenty stories or more to the ground,"
She was so angry, she didn't realize he used her first name. "Well maybe he should have instead of waiting for his son to do the chop-chop. Now get the door! Your five minute sense must be on sleeper mode!"
Actually Jarod's sense was working just fine. It was that he knew the Broots was not alone and the woman with him had red hair and the last time he saw her was about two years ago.
"Mother?" he asked.
She stood there besides Broots, and then her eyes widened with fear as she saw Miss Parker.