((This chapter heading is taken from the song Schwarz (Black) by ASP. The translation would be Definitely not paradise. I had it before the chapter. I also have a (likely) chapter heading for the final or the penultimate chapter. Which might be three or nine chapters away, I have no idea.))
Chapter 18
Sicher nicht das Paradies
Later, Adam didn't know how long he'd sat in that car, numb and immobile. He proceeded to listen to the recording again and again. He couldn't find signs of tempering with his ears alone, but what with the background noise that wasn't saying much. He tried contacting Francis with the infolink. There was no answer. Forcing himself into action, Adam unplugged the recording. For a moment he contemplated driving over it, but then he decided to keep it. This was a forgery and it might help them find the real culprit.
On the way back to Peterculter, Adam tried to contact Francis's infolink. He didn't get an answer and Adam wasn't trying again. He'd need space. He'd lost a friend, after all. Somehow, Adam never doubted that when he reached Abigail's house, he'd go inside, find Francis upstairs, and tell him that they'd figure this out somehow. It would have been too easy. Instead, he found Abigail thrusting the door open as soon as he arrived. Her eyes were red, her hands shaking. 'Oh, God Adam.' She all but pulled him inside. 'I thought they'd taken you, too.'
Adam stared at her. 'Taken me? Who has been taken?'
'Frank.' She sniffed. 'I've called my lawyer, but …'
'Wait. Who took him where? Why did you let them in?'
'The police, Adam. I told the computer to lock them out, but Frank said it wasn't designed to keep law enforcement out and he just went with them.' She took a steadying breath. 'He said it's going to be okay, but they're charging him with murder, it seems, and I have to ask my lawyer if we can bail him out.'
'There's no bail for murder,' Adam said. The numbness had returned with full force. 'And I don't get how they can charge him with it. Marcus's death is a bit of a mystery.' Even if they had been so fast to process Soutar's tape, the thing only claimed that Francis had abducted him. This wasn't enough to charge him with murder.
'You … ought to look at this. It's on the news.'
Adam followed Abigail into her kitchen. His gaze immediately went to the TV. 'Oh my God,' was all he managed. Either a reporter had followed the police into the warehouse, or their own footage had been leaked, because there was no way this was supposed to be seen by the public at this point and certainly not so explicitly. Adam couldn't hear anything past the rushing sound in his ears, but the images were clear. A hidden door had been opened on the second floor, and someone with a handheld camera was moving through it. There was an operating table and various equipment. There was a cut to the camera approaching another door on the far end of the room. It swung inwards, revealing a pile of corpses in various states of decay. Some had augments, some had only missing limbs, but as far as one could see, some were so rotten that it was hard to tell. Adam remembered the stench when he had been there. This door had to be very tight, given how the bodies looked and how faint the smell had been. Noticeable, but the person with the camera had to be wearing some sort of mask or he'd be gagging.
Adam turned away from the TV and let himself fall on a chair. 'Why?'
Abigail had turned the TV off and sat beside him. 'Failed attempts, they said. People who either died on that table or … people he disposed of.' She stifled a sob. 'They also found records about who was taken when. That last one, the guy you visited, he was taken November 27. When they were done with him, they just dumped him on the train station in the middle of the night.' Adam simply nodded. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Abigail banged her fist on the table. 'You think Frank did this? Are you willing to leave him to rot in prison for something he didn't do?'
Adam gave her a level look. 'I'm not doing Francis a favour if I break him out of custody.' He leaned forwards. 'And this?' He gestured to the black TV screen behind him. 'This horrible, disgusting … thing? I do have a suspect list in my head, Abigail, and yes, it's extremely short. But one thing's certain. Francis isn't on it.'
He saw her nod briefly. 'Good. Because there's no way in hell he'd do something like this.'
'I know that. Francis is a gentle soul, even if he tries to hide it. This guy, this …'
'Let's call him asshat, shall we?'
'Okay. This asshat is either extremely ordinary or a person who seems guileless, borderline naïve. He's frustrated, he's hateful, he's broken. He must have, and this is going to save Francis if nothing else does, he must have the knowledge how to operate on someone. Francis is none of these things. He fulfils only one of the attributes I believe our culprit to have: He's male. That's it.' He closed his eyes and shook his head, tried not to think of Francis caged and alone.
'He wasn't even in the country, November 27,' Abigail said.
'I know, but we cannot give them his travel documents. He hinted that they've been tampered with or forged. Abigail, I'll go upstairs and look for anything that Francis may have found and didn't get to tell me, yet. We'll get him out of this. Not because we are biased, but because he is innocent.'
Abigail swallowed and covered Adam's hands with her own. 'You really love him, don't you?'
Adam sighed. 'More than he knows.'
Ϡ
The moment Adam stepped into Francis's room, the reality of it all hit him with the force of a shotgun blast. Trancelike, he walked to the bed and let himself fall on it, burying his face in the pillow to soak what scent lingered into his core. If he closed his eyes he could imagine Francis was there with him, asleep and sheltered. But the pillow didn't breathe and it didn't have a heartbeat and trying to forget only made it worse. Adam sat up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'Francis?' he tried. No answer. They must be keeping him in an EMP field. It wasn't unexpected.
With an effort, Adam got up and walked to Francis's desk. 'Sorry, I have to,' he said quietly. Going through his stuff seemed wrong, but the only other option was to do nothing at all.
He found … a lot. Notes that probably referred to the MANES in some way. A part of a script that Adam didn't dare read because it seemed even more of an intrusion than anything else he was doing. The release papers from the hospital. And finally a number of pages with notes concerning their case. There was an address in Glasgow – Soutar's, Adam assumed, although it didn't say so. Diagrams that Adam couldn't make head nor tail of, reminding him that Francis's mind worked in a rather unique way. On one piece of paper there was nothing, only the name Fabian with a question mark and circled thickly. What it meant was anyone's guess, but Adam couldn't picture him cutting up people, either.
He put that note aside. He knew Fabian was home, he'd speak to him. His eyes brushed the release papers. For a moment, he stared at them, then he grabbed them and the other piece of paper and ran back downstairs. He found both Fabian and Abigail in the downstairs den, talking in an undertone. Adam all but shoved the release papers into Abigail's hands. 'Call your lawyer. Send him this. Francis was in hospital when Marcus Dillinger was taken.' Adam watched Fabian start at the mention of the name. Abigail snatched the papers, pressed her lips to Adam's cheek, and ran out.
Adam approached Fabian. 'Dillinger mean anything to you?'
'I … Adam, I can't talk about it.'
'Marcus Dillinger was murdered today. In the past months or more, an unknown number of people were butchered in that warehouse. People in your sphere, because you are a social worker, and they were all homeless or prostitutes or addicts.'
Fabian closed his eyes. 'God. You don't think I am that monster, do you?'
Adam closed his eyes for a moment. He was very sure he was barking up the wrong tree and that didn't help anyone. 'No. But I think you know something.'
'I … do. Maybe.' He looked at the door where Abigail had vanished. 'Both Marcus and I were working with the police. Marcus as an undercover investigator, he had … contacts. The local police … you see, there's so little going on and he worked with them before, never anything dangerous, just asking around. We thought this was more of the same. He told me he thought he knew who our kidnapper was the day before he vanished.' Another glance to the door. 'Look, Abi doesn't know this and she can't.'
'How could you work on the case if you were in Guatemala?'
Fabian blushed mildly and looked away. He was obviously still uncomfortable about leaving Abigail hanging like that. 'I worked on it before I went. When Marcus vanished, they pulled me out of the operation. God knows what the police is doing instead, but I'm sure they're trying. They just can't risk losing civilians.'
'I get that.' Adam showed Fabian the paper. 'How did Francis know you're in this somehow?'
'I … may have tried to persuade him not to meet Marcus. I didn't want him to get involved in this entire mess. Poor soul.'
'I can't do this alone, Fabian. I need to know what you know. I know it's a lot to ask because your information is classified as long as the investigation isn't over. But I cannot sit here and do nothing.'
'I … I've been thinking the same thing. My brother-in-law's in custody while I sit here with my thumb up my butt. I need to get back out there. And so do you.' He stood and put his hands on Adam's shoulders. 'Let's nail this bastard.'
Adam nodded slowly. 'Yes. But not today. Hanzer or no, I need sleep. And right now, I think I need a lot. It was … a long day.'
((So. The weekend is knocking on my door and I'm going to spend most if it away from home. So I won't get to write (much) during it. I'll be back next week.))
