Taken in Death (In Death #37.5)(17)

“What else does it do? It records, right? He left that disc.”

“It does, yes. Again in a limited way. He could do a bit of schoolwork on it, checking math and letters, playing match games and simple brain teasers, adventure games and the like. He can photograph or—”

“It takes pictures?”

“It does. Rather decent ones considering.”

“Can he transmit them?”

“Ah.” Realization dawned in his eyes. “If he’s learned how, he could.”

“Okay, okay, we can work with that. Peabody, how’s that map coming?”

“It’s coming.”

“Trueheart, work with Peabody.” She turned to Roarke, lowered her voice. “Can you and McNab handle that hardware for a while?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Feeney, Callender, you need to take a shift on the canvass.”

“It’s been nearly two hours since he transmitted.” Callender rubbed her eyes. “He could try again any minute.”

“McNab and Roarke will handle it from here. Geeks walk, too. There’s a twenty-four/seven market near the southwest corner of this block.” She dug in her pocket for credits and cash. Frowned at the amount.

Roarke barely sighed. “How much?”

“I don’t know. Enough for bottled water, tubes—”

“Cherry fizzy!” McNab called out.

“I wouldn’t mind one of those,” Trueheart added.

“Fine, fine, fizzies galore. Show the photos again. Do a sweep, bring back supplies.” When her ’link signaled, she pulled it out, glanced at Roarke. “Thanks. Put in an expense chit.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” he said dryly, and handed Callender cash.

She glanced at the readout on her ’link, saw Mira’s name. “Dallas.”

“Eve, I’ve had time to read over more of Maj Borgstrom’s records, and speak to some of the staff at the institution and halfway house.” The concern in Mira’s tone tightened Eve’s belly.

“And?”

“Needless to say, she should never have been released from high-level security. Several members of the staff reported her for violent behavior, lodged complaints. She was twice caught in intimate situations, once with a guard, once with a medical. Both times she claimed coercion. It couldn’t be disproved, and the staff involved were fired.”

“Bartering sex for privilege. That’s nothing new in or out of a cage.”

“In the second instance, security was alerted when the medical began to scream, when he ran out of the infirmary, bleeding. According to reports she had been performing o**l s*x, and bit him.”

“Okay.”

“Bit through, Eve. Bit off the tip of his penis, and consumed it.”

“Ouch, and yuck.”

“The report states they found her, face smeared with blood, laughing. Later she claimed she’d been forced, had panicked, tried to defend herself. I can’t say the institution covered it up, altogether. They terminated the medical, and negated Borgstrom’s privileges, confined her to solitary for a week, increased her meds and her therapy. She never wavered from her story. And engaged counsel, threatened to sue.”

“So they closed it down,” Eve surmised. “If she’d been able to get her hands on a sharp or a shiv, the blow job boy would’ve lost more than the tip of his dick.”

“I tend to agree. In altercations with other patients she was known to bite—viciously.”

To let out some steam, Eve kicked a chair. “How the hell did Edquist get away with letting her out?”

“For a period of nearly three years she appeared to respond to treatment. She became less volatile, more cooperative. There were incidents, but in each case it proved difficult to be certain she instigated or was at fault. Even after she was transferred she appeared to have balanced. She showed remorse, and an eagerness to make amends. However, after she’d escaped, another resident stated she’d seen Borgstrom sneak out at night, or had seen her sneak back in, with blood on her face, her hands. The resident claimed she was afraid to speak up as Borgstrom threatened to kill her. And eat her.”

“The kid said something like that. A vampire thing. You don’t actually believe she’s a cannibal.”

“She believes her sister consumes her space, her life, her being, by existing. She may have twisted that to mean she must consume in order to be whole and free.”

“Dr. Mira, I don’t want to tell these parents the lunatic sister killed their kids and ate them for breakfast.”

Licked the knife, she remembered. Licked the kid’s blood off the knife. Licked and lapped her father’s blood.

“Send me everything you’ve got. Every report, every conversation. Anything you can think of,” Eve demanded.

“I’m already putting it together for you. I don’t know how much time they have, Eve.”

“It’s going to be enough.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Eve pored over Mira’s data, she picked apart the case files from the investigation into Edquist’s murder, and reviewed the reports on the incidents involving Maj Borgstrom at the institution.

Mira’s data and analyses were detailed, insightful, offered a clearer picture of the subject. Batshit crazy pretty well summed it up, but with the seriously dicey element of cannibalistic tendencies.