The Eternity Project

31



‘Tell me you’ve got something.’

Karina Thorne pulled out into the stream of traffic as Ethan and Lopez settled into the rear seat, the university disappearing behind them. Lopez had called her as soon as they walked out of the university, eager to share the new information. Jarvis had climbed into the front seat, but Ethan had noticed that the old man had remained mysteriously quiet for some time.

‘We have,’ Lopez replied, ‘but you’re not going to like it.’

Karina sighed as she glanced in the mirror.

‘You’ve got fifteen minutes before we get back to the station. Shoot.’

Ethan filled her in on the details they’d learned from Professor Bowen. Karina seemed to take it all in well enough, but the response when Ethan was finished betrayed her disbelief.

‘You seriously think it’s a spook hunting down these victims?’

‘Supposedly so,’ Lopez confirmed, ‘and it fits what we saw in that courthouse. There was something with us.’

‘What the hell am I supposed to do with that?’ Karina asked. ‘Issue an arrest warrant for a poltergeist?’

‘Maybe,’ Ethan replied, ‘but right now, we need to get back to the station and look into the case and see if there’s a connection between the dead men in the warehouse and the dead clerk.’

Karina frowned.

‘You think that Wesley Hicks and Connor Reece were with Gladstone and Earl Thomas, the guys who hit the Pay-Go and caused the accident?’

‘Is there a reason why they shouldn’t be?’ Lopez challenged.

‘Sure there is,’ Karina replied. ‘The men who hit the Pay-Go were hardened criminals, professionals, backed up by the two men we caught. Reece and Hicks were small fish, not the type capable of arranging a major heist.’

‘There wasn’t much major about the attack on the Pay-Go,’ Ethan pointed out, ‘in case you hadn’t noticed. Brute-force impact to rupture the armoured truck was enough to extract the cash, wasn’t it?’

‘Sure,’ Karina agreed, ‘it wasn’t graceful, but the men responsible would need serious connections or experience to make use of the money. The cases it’s sealed into on those trucks are equipped with trackers and ink dispensers that allow them to be followed and render the cash useless if the cases are forced open.’

Ethan thought for a moment. ‘I’ve read about the spate of bank robberies down the east coast. It could be a copy-cat robbery, somebody mimicking the original gang in the hopes of avoiding arrest themselves if the original gang ends up being caught.’

Karina shrugged. ‘I guess, but that’s speculation, and Donovan’s not going to let you just walk in and start sifting through the evidence.’

‘Donovan’s not going to have much choice,’ Jarvis said to Karina. ‘He starts obstructing us, I’ll have him removed from his office until we’re done.’

‘Jesus,’ Karina muttered, ‘this just gets better and better. He’ll hit the goddamned roof if you try that on him.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ Ethan pointed out.

‘Tell Donovan that,’ Karina complained. ‘He’s losing control of a case that could cost us our jobs now that the media’s getting involved and budget cuts are being made. There’s a good chance that the mayor will make an example of our unit if things don’t turn out for the best real soon. Last thing we need is a serial-killer scare hitting the headlines.’


‘Let me handle Donovan,’ Jarvis said, as Karina turned into a parking lot near the 5th Precinct. ‘I’ll make sure he sees sense.’

Karina said nothing in reply as she parked and led them up into the precinct offices. They were halfway across the room when they spotted Donovan standing in the doorway to his office, glaring at them and beckoning Karina with one hooked finger.

‘See what I mean?’ she said.

They filed into the office, Ethan closing the door behind them, as Donovan sat at his desk, folded his arms and glowered at Jarvis.

‘You want to tell me why you’re really here, Mr. Jarvis? Right now, you’re the a*shole who’s taken this case from us for no good reason that I can figure.’

‘I am that a*shole,’ Jarvis replied. ‘And you don’t need to know anything else.’

Donovan stood up abruptly and towered over Jarvis. ‘I’ve got ten staff working with me, all of whom might see their jobs on the line if we get chopped from the precinct, and I’m damned if I’m going to let someone like you come in here and steal this from under us—’

‘Your jobs are safe,’ Jarvis interrupted. ‘Nobody’s going anywhere.’

Donovan’s eyes narrowed. ‘You can’t know that or force the mayor to secure our positions.’

‘I can’t control the mayor,’ Jarvis replied evenly, ‘that much is true. However, our presence here is covert. Any breakthroughs made during this investigation will be announced by yourselves, not us. So the faster we solve this case, the safer your jobs will be, agreed?’

Donovan, apparently stumped, seemed to lighten up a little. ‘Agreed,’ he said suspiciously. ‘What’s your interest in this?’

‘A long-running investigation,’ Jarvis said airily, ‘the less about which you know the better.’

‘I don’t like being kept in the dark,’ Donovan rumbled.

‘You won’t be,’ Jarvis replied, ‘as far as the case you’re investigating is concerned. Right now, our priority is analyzing the closed-circuit-television camera footage obtained from the Williamsburg Bridge.’

Donovan raised an eyebrow. ‘The footage? Why would you need that? I thought you were here for the Aaron Lymes’ case?’

Karina stepped forward.

‘They think that the two men we found in the warehouse on Hell Gate were involved in the auto wreck.’

Donovan appeared surprised. ‘They didn’t fit the profile of professional armed robbers.’

‘It’s not profiles we’re interested in,’ Ethan said, ‘it’s connections. All of the murders share similar characteristics that seem impossible, especially the absence of forensic evidence and the presence of extreme force. Maybe there’s a reason why they were all targeted. Find that reason and we might just find our killer.’

Donovan appeared to consider this for a moment.

‘That’s a weak link by any stretch. There’s a more likely scenario: our professional robbers use hired hands to do their dirty work and then silenced them afterward, permanently.’

‘I doubt that a well-educated clerk would have much to gain from working with professional criminals, except to report them to the police at the first opportunity,’ Ethan pointed out. ‘And your theory doesn’t explain how the criminals supposedly killed two men without leaving any evidence behind whatsoever.’

Donovan chuckled and shook his head.

‘This case isn’t going to be solved by two gumshoes,’ he said. ‘There’s no link between these two murders and—’

‘Yes, there is.’

The voice came from behind them all, and Ethan turned to see Tom Ross standing in the now open office doorway.

‘Tom?’ Donovan said in surprise. ‘You should be at home.’

Karina hurried to his side. ‘Tom, you shouldn’t be here.’

‘I’m fine,’ Tom insisted to her with a faint smile. ‘I want this case solved and any avenue of investigation is fair game for me right now. I’ve been able to dig up one piece of information that might be useful.’

‘What’s that?’ Ethan asked.

‘The connection between the two men found dead in the warehouse and the clerk.’

Donovan rolled his eyes. ‘Go on, then, what’s the story?’

Tom gestured to a picture board nearby, where images of the two dead thieves and the clerk were pinned.

‘Those two men were involved in the raid,’ he said.

‘You don’t know that,’ Donovan insisted. ‘Even we don’t know that.’

‘And that clerk,’ Tom went on, ‘was responsible for the paperwork assigned to the case. The signatures that failed to make it onto the statements must have been doctored, and that means that she must have been involved, because I won’t believe that the two men we have in jail right now could have walked from the interview rooms without having signed and dated their own statements.’

‘That’s very thin,’ Donovan pointed out, ‘and speculative, too. There’s nothing to suggest that the clerk was in any way involved in some kind of cover-up, or that there was one in the first place.’

Jarvis stepped forward. ‘Worth checking out, though, don’t you think? We’ll need access to that camera footage.’

Tom looked at Karina in confusion. ‘Who the hell is he?’

‘Defense Intelligence Agency’s handling the case now,’ Donovan explained, then turned to Jarvis, ‘not that we’re happy about it. Okay, go ahead, but I want to be informed of anything that you learn. I can’t imagine why a clerk would be involved with two dropouts.’

‘That’s why we’re doing it,’ Lopez replied tartly.

Karina turned to Tom. ‘We’ve got this, Tom, really. You need to get some rest.’

Tom sighed. ‘I need to do something to help. Sitting at home all day is driving me nuts.’

‘And being here could compromise the validity of our investigation,’ Karina replied. ‘You know that. You’re too emotionally invested. I’ll keep you posted, on everything.’

Tom glanced at the team in the office and then reluctantly turned and walked away. Karina watched him leave for a moment and then turned to Donovan.

‘I’m worried about him, he’s not taking care of himself right now.’

Donovan glanced at Jackson, who’d just walked in. ‘You want to keep an eye on him?’

Jackson nodded. ‘I’ll drop by, tonight.’

‘I’ll visit him tomorrow,’ Karina added. ‘He needs people around him as much as possible.’

Ethan stepped forward. ‘The tapes,’ he said to Donovan.

The chief pressed a button on his desk. ‘I’ll have them sent up.’