Chapter 23.
Strange was biting his nails and for the first time, the expression of heard-it-all-before calm that he wore whilst listening to Nat’s story was broken. He leaned forward. “The finger, you say… the finger didn’t catch fire. Are you absolutely sure about that?”
“What? Yeah…” Nat pulled himself out of the reverie that he had found himself in, having talked himself almost hoarse in his excitement to explain the showdown at the Moorhouse Hotel, at least that’s the way he had begun to think about it. Now, though, he studied Strange, the concern etched on his face, for the first time, a lack of certainty in his eyes. He pulled his own hip flask out and took a small drink. “Why?” he asked.
“Why what?”
“Why’s that what you want to know about? I mean, Dark Angel died, and Joshua got turned into some sort of monster, and your only question is about the finger?”
“Of course. You said yourself, the finger is the key. The fact that it didn’t burst into flames has to be part of understanding why it is so important.”
“More important than understanding why Joshua went completely mad and why his hand seemed to catch fire?”
Strange pondered this. He shifted his heavy frame uncomfortably on his seat. He pulled out his rolling paper, distractedly staring to roll another cigarette, and allowing it to fall apart, the tobacco landing on the floor. Absent mindedly he stepped on it.
“The drug” he began. “The drug is known. Its effects are somewhat unpredictable. Granted, I was not aware that it could cause spontaneous combustion, but it is possible, I suppose.” He sat and thought for a minute. “I am surprised, I must admit, that it was being used. I would imagine that Messrs. Dredd and Maker are being retained by Anarxis to carry out field tests, I hadn’t realised that it had reached that stage.”
“Anarxis?” Nat asked.
“Anarxis. Surely you’ve heard of them. The major pharmaceuticals company?” He saw Nat’s expression and shook his head. “No matter. I doubt very much that it is important.” He paused. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“No. It doesn’t matter. We need to focus. We need to focus on Miss Jenkins. We need to understand more about her. That’s the key.”
“The key to what?”
Strange looked at Nat. “Tell me, what are you being charged with?”
“Yeah, well that’s just it, I don’t know. Well…”
“Well?”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t been charged yet. Not exactly. After Joshua left, Dredd got really angry, started accusing me of all sorts, you know, really started throwing his toys around. The other guy, Maker, you know, the guy who seems to work here as well, he calmed him down a bit, but you could tell, Dredd, he was mad. Accused me of being responsible for the whole thing, you know, for the woman’s death, for…”
“She died then?” Strange interrupted.
“Yeah. Yeah she did. It was sad, really. I mean, it’s strange, isn’t it, I mean, she hung me out of a window, didn’t she, you know, and she was a bit rough, but you know, I kind of liked her, to be honest….”
“Mmmm. I don’t know if she is important or not. I’d say probably not. I think the key here is…”
“The finger, yeah, you said…”
“Yes, the finger, but also Terri, of course, and Joshua, and their relationship. As I said. I think your girlfriend Irmtraud Bizinski just got in the way, literally. I would imagine she was very concerned about Joshua’s impending escape, and wanted to stop him. However, she clearly wasn’t aware of the finger and its connection, otherwise she would have shown a much greater interest in in. I can therefore conclude that her death was an unfortunate accident.”
“Yeah, that’s what Maker said. Dredd, he wanted to charge me with murder.”
“Terri’s murder?”
“Well, yeah, that, but also Dark Angel’s.”
Strange smiled. “And how did he manage that intuitive leap?”
Nat sniffed. “He said that if I hadn’t resisted arrest, then Joshua wouldn’t have had the chance to escape, she wouldn’t have gone after him, and the bullet would never have been fired.”
Strange shrugged. “It has a certain twisted logic to it, I have to admit. What did they do with her?”
“They mentioned something about getting the morgue guys out to deal with her. An 81, they said, though Christ knows what that means.”
Strange nodded. “A police code, clearly. I used to be quite familiar with them, though now I must admit that I am a little rusty. It must concern them, though. Dealing with an accidental death these days is quite complex, there can be a number of internal investigations.”
“Yeah, well the sooner someone takes them down the better. I mean, those guys are completely mad.”
“Don’t judge them too harshly, Nathaniel. They are just trying to do a good job in difficult circumstances. I know Philip Maker, he is a reasonable man. I don’t know Justin Dredd personally; however, I have heard that he has a good reputation.”
“Yeah, well they kind of fooled me. And…” Nat waved his finger at Strange to make the point, “Joshua said they were on the take.”
“Mmmm. You feel that Joshua Reeves is someone that you can trust?”
Nat sighed. “No, I guess not. I guess he lied to me.”
“Clever boy. I take it that the policemen then took you for questioning…”
Nat shook his head. “They got into this argument about how they were going to secure me now they didn’t have any cuffs or any of that strange drug. In the end, Dredd took his tie off and tied my hands with it. That’s why I’ve got these bruises” he indicated the burn marks on his wrists. “Then they dragged me off here and chucked me in this cell. I mean, I was glad at the time, really, I mean, I thought Dredd was going to rip my head off. He wanted to sit in the back of the police car with me and leave Maker at the front. Seriously. You may think he’s all right, but the man’s dangerous.”
“I would avoid creating a personal antipathy towards Detective Dredd. It’s not a battle that I think you are likely to win. For my clarity and understanding, they haven’t formally charged you, or interviewed you, yet?”
Nat should his head. “Nothing. They just dumped me in here. They said they’d be back for me soon and to sit tight. That’s what Maker said at least. I thought he was joking. I asked for a lawyer too, I thought that was my right, but Dredd started going on at me about it being a clear sign of guilt if I need a lawyer and, Jesus, well then like I said they just dumped me in here and…”
“And then you met me.”
Nat half laughed. “Yeah. Then I met you.”