((This monstrosity of a chapter heading is a line from Twist in My Sobriety by Tanita Tikaram (whose brother Ramon Tikaram voiced Dorian Pavus so wonderfully in Dragon Age: Inquisition, if you want a random bit of completely irrelevant information) and makes extremely little sense in this context but I'm stuck with it.))
Chapter 20
Up in Arms and Chaste and Whole
The police station was bustling with life around Frank while he waited. He knew it took a while from Aberdeen so he prepared to try melting into the background for the next half hour. His head was slowly stopping to spin. Making contact with the infolink had been difficult after the EMP field had been cancelled, the side effects would stay with him for another couple of hours. In the meantime, Frank had had time to catch up with the news in the waiting room. For the first time, he saw the corpses in the warehouse. He looked away. He couldn't stomach violence at the best of times, but now that he was lightheaded already, he was sure he was going to throw up if he kept looking.
The door opened and in a gust of ice cold wind, in swept Adam. Frank stared at him and their eyes met across the room. For a moment the man stood in the doorway, frozen. Frank tried to force his deer-in-the-headlights-look into something less freaked out. And then it didn't matter because Adam all but ran to him, pulled him to his feet and hugged him tightly. 'You thought I wouldn't come,' Adam said quietly. 'You thought I'd abandoned you.'
Frank clung to him like a drowning man. 'Jensen, they don't arrest you for murder unless they have a good reason.' Adam released him, his expression pained. Frank fought the urge to beg the forgiveness he knew he had already. Instead, he kissed Adam briefly. 'They were so certain, they must have found some really hard evidence against me. And no-one sane would stay with a … a …'
'Abigail suggested asshat. And you just wait until you know what they didn't find. I don't know if a piece of paper could have got you out so quickly if they'd had it.' Adam took his face into both hands. 'Let's leave. I need you to hear something. Maybe you can help me figure out how it was made.'
'Yeah.'
'Are you all right, Francis?'
He smiled. 'I'm good. I didn't put up a fight, so they had no reason to hurt me.'
'Wise choice.' Adam stopped at the car. 'Francis. Trust me. I told you that I don't believe you're involved.'
'I know, but … Hang on, that's Fabian's car. And how did you get here so fast?'
'I was already in Aberdeen. Fabian volunteered to take a bus home and let me take his keys. I told him I didn't mind him coming, but he said we'd need space.'
'Bless him.'
'You don't think he's an accomplice to whoever our murderer is?'
'Fabian?' Frank laughed. 'Never. So from what I know, Abi went rifling through my documents and produced the hospital sheet. I probably shouldn't complain, but I don't like the thought. Never mind what would have happened if she'd given them my ID, thinking she was helping.'
Adam swallowed. 'Ah, Francis. That wasn't Abigail. I searched your things. I hoped to find notes on our case, and when I found the release papers, I gave them to your sister. And even I didn't see your ID, so I doubt she would have.'
'Oh.' Frank sighed. 'That's … different. If you did it.'
'It is?'
'Yes. She's my sister and I love her to the moon and back. But you … Adam, you're a part of me. Anything that's mine is yours.' He felt himself blush under the intense look Adam gave him. 'Can we drive home now, or do we spend the rest of the afternoon waiting in this car?'
'I want you to listen to this first. I took this recording from the warehouse by chance. I wanted some piece of evidence I could work with. Can you find out who made it?'
'Let me hear it and I'll tell you.' Frank felt himself go pale when he heard his own voice from the device. 'You listened to this,' he said slowly, 'and didn't think I'm him?'
'Truth now? For a moment, and I swear it was less than a minute, I did. But the truth is, Francis, I know you. The good and the bad. And this isn't something that you've got in you. I tried to call you immediately, but when I got to listen to this, you were already arrested and your infolink dead.'
Francis launched himself half on top of Adam and kissed him hard on the mouth. His hip collided with the horn for a moment, but he didn't care, not even remotely. 'I love you so much, I can't even tell you.'
Adam cupped his cheek. 'Same here, Francis. Don't you ever doubt that. Now let's go home.'
'Good idea. I need a shower.'
Adam started the car when Francis had put himself back into the passenger seat. 'Care for company?'
'And there you go, ruining my subtlety by stating the obvious.'
Ϡ
When they got back to Peterculter, Abigail was writing in her den. As soon as she saw Francis she froze with her hands hovering over the keys. 'Oh my God.' She all but fell over her own feet when she ran to him, hugging him fiercely and kissing his cheeks. 'Why didn't you call me and tell me you were coming home?'
Francis frowned slightly. 'I thought you knew. Isn't Fabian here, yet?'
Abigail sighed. 'No. He called that he had to return to the homeless shelter. Something must have come up after he left his car with you.' She smiled fondly. 'He told me he'd given you his keys, Adam. He said you had to pick up a package.'
'Well, I'm glad they didn't stuff me into a carton box to deliver me to Adam,' Francis said. 'Although he'd probably like that.'
'Frank, how could they arrest you? Do you need anything? Did they hurt you?'
'No one hurt me, Abi.' Francis let himself be steered to a chair by her. 'I'm fine, for crying out loud, I was in custody, not left to fend for myself alone amongst a bunch of thugs and rapists.'
'But … they couldn't just take you away like that, I'm sure you can sue for compensation.'
Francis laughed. 'Don't be so American, Abi. Look. They came to ask me a few questions and I failed to answer the first by refusing to give them an ID. I'm a foreigner without credentials. They had no choice, if I were their murderer, I'd have grabbed my passport and fled not only the country but the entire continent and gone dark.'
'Adam?'
'He's right.'
'When they came, I didn't think of the release papers, I have to admit. I just knew I had nothing to do with this, and I relied on you finding the real kidnapper.' Francis stood up again. 'Adam, I'd like to run a few tests on the thing we've got. Come on.'
Adam was halfway upstairs when something occurred to him. 'If Fabian isn't back by nightfall, let us know.' He heard her confirmation and continued. 'Something isn't right about this, Francis. It's too convenient.'
The hacker shook his head. 'You really think he's involved?'
'No. But he talked to our killer and he feels bad about it. I just fear he might do something reckless.' Adam swore and balled his fists. 'Damn it, Francis, I can't sit here and wait. I'm so sorry, but I have to go to the shelter. I've got a horrible feeling about this.'
'And you gut instincts are pretty damn solid. I understand, Adam.' He gave him a lingering kiss that tore a sigh from Adam. 'Be safe out there. Come back home to me in one piece. Promise.'
'I fully intend to do so.'
'I'll run my programs after a shower. I should have some results soon.'
'Ideas?'
'Only two, but with this crappy quality I can't tell just by listening.'
'Tell me what you think before I go.'
Francis rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. 'Very well, Jensen. Let's see. How much do you know about laryngeal augments?'
'I know that the infolink has a part …'
'No. Please stop. I'm not talking tiny implanted microphones for subvocalisation.' He walked into the bathroom, pulling off his shirt on the way. Adam followed, intrigued by the movement of the muscles in his back as well as his voice. 'What I mean is there are two kinds of laryngeal augs. One is used mainly for sex reassignment surgery, male to female, to be precise. It uses the existing vocal chords to alter pitch, mainly. There is no way to tell people who have these augs from natural, non-augmented voices. But these aren't the point right now.
'But there's the other kind. For patients who have suffered severe physical damage to the larynx in an accident or due to cancer. They get an implant that can, based on a recording of their voice, reproduce how they sounded. That, too, sounds convincing enough, but it is … well, flatter. The voice, you could say, is too perfect, no airiness, no glottal stop, no instances where your voice just fails for a second. You can hear that face to face or on a good audio file if you know what you're listening for. With the static on your recording, I couldn't tell. But you can always, even on that crappy device of yours, find things, artefacts, if you analyse the voice sample.'
'So what is it you are trying to figure out?' Adam asked while Francis ditched his remaining clothes, standing in front of him naked and tempting. He swallowed drily and forced himself to stay focussed.
The smirk on Francis's face showed that he knew exactly what he was doing to Adam. 'I want to know if whoever that was pieced the recording together by using voice samples from me, or if he used the second type of technology to reproduce my voice. The former would be disconcerting, because he'd need quite a bit of footage. The second … If I can work out what his sample was – the words or syllables taken from the sample sound more natural than those that were calculated from those samples. If I can work out what his sample was, we may know who he is. Assuming it was something more unique than, 'Hello, world'.'
Adam covered the distance between them and pulled Francis against his chest, squeezing his butt. He let one finger tease his crack and was rewarded with a low moan. He released Francis and smiled at him. 'You are more brilliant than anyone has a right to.'
'I'm doing my best.' He sounded slightly husky.
Adam looked down between them and saw Francis half hard. 'Keep it warm for me, would you?' he said gently. 'I'll try to come back soon.'
'I'll contact you as soon as I know something. Now go, as long as I let you.'
