Day 10
Garden
Sunrise
Seth did not sleep much the night before. He went home after his chance meeting in the dark with Temple and his mind would not let him fall over the precipice into dreamland.
He kept thinking and replaying in his head what Temple told him only a little while ago, in the dark.
I'm doing your job Seth, I'm chasing a murderer.
That was how it started. Seth had stepped back a little in amazement, and then his head had swiveled around for a complete viewpoint around themselves.
"What you mean now? You've found someone?" His voice rose pitch a little as it was apt to do when he was taken by surprise, but it had dropped an octave by the end of his question.
"I was tailing someone tonight...I thought i saw someone hanging around the outskirts of the park a little bit ago."
Seth interrupted him at this point. "I was patrolling around that whole area since Dusk, I didn't see anyone!"
"Of course you didn't, you were scaring people off. I saw you and I am sure this person did as well. I hid and watched Redress until long after you had left. That was when I saw this person come out. They left there and made their way here. I tailed them, but I had to keep a fair distance back and I lost them somewhere around here."
He cocked one of his eyebrows in Seth's direction.
"That wasn't me, I just got off duty at the Yard!" Seth cried, his hackles rising.
"I'm sure it wasn't Seth. As I said, I tailed them here, but do to the delicate nature of not being caught doing so, I never got a close look at them."
They looked at each other for a moment, the darkness hiding everything of their features but their light eyes.
"What are you doing here Simon? You're clearly more than a tourist; you have been the most valuable asset of the Force here in Garden since this thing started."
Seth forestalled Simon's next words by holding up his hands as if to physically stall the verbiage.
"Hold Temple. Out of all of us, save Mondieu, you have been the most helpful. Now, what are you doing here? Is it just chance that Garden had the help of your services? Or is it more?...."
Simon hesitated for a moment before answering.
"It's very difficult to know what to say to that Seth. I don't know who exactly to trust..."
Seth made a small choking noise in his throat at this, but this time Simon forestalled him.
"I'll explain and you will know what I mean. I suppose it wont make any difference if you know or not."
Simon, at that, walked over to the Tower and leaned against while Seth followed and did the same.
"I can't mention any names, countries or even strict timelines. That being said, this is what happened."
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I was a detective not that long ago. I was successful, people had started to notice my cases in the papers. I suppose that's why I was called into this particular case.
It was a dark and stormy night, I was alone in my office when I got a ring. They sounded official. They said they have a case for me, but it had to quiet, had to be good.
I said I could do that. We met up that night in a little place not far away. He wore a hat pulled low, making it very hard to see his features. He acted nervous, and said he might be being watched as we talked.
After all this excitement, I had high hopes for this caper. He didn't disappoint as he recollected the story for me as I drank.
It was a case of stolen diamonds. Not just any ordinary diamonds though, these were diamonds that belonged on a certain royal tiara. They had disappeared in such a way that could only mean they were stolen. When the theft was discovered, it was both a scandal as well as a complete fiasco for the royal family. They were having trouble keeping their sway over the people as well as their Congress and this loss meant they might lose any respect their title might have had with their people and the elect.
We now come to the present. Could I help?
I didn't know much of this country, but I had heard of some of the unrest as well as the abuses wrought by the royal family.
I said yes, I could and I was ordered to meet him at the train station the next morning before sunrise.
After that, it was hightail run through the country, chasing one lead after another. It was all a deadend steeplechase until I heard a rumor from the underworld.
DeMarc Douglas was supposed to have been involved.
Seth interrupted that point. "You were the detective involved in that case? I read all I could about it! DeMarc was never caught was he?"
Simone ignored this and continued.
After that I started to catch a break on my leads concerning DeMarc. All of his other jobs had been handled in the same way, and all of them also involved a certain panache for taking from those who stole and giving it back. I knew if DeMarc was involved, I could look as long as I wanted at different fences, I would not see the diamonds up for sale. They would be safely disposed of and sold, the proceeds usually dispersed to the people most affected.
That's when I started to focus solely on DeMarc and his habits. No one knew what he looked like, his country of origin or any personal habits at all.
I caught another break though, and this one was the biggest one of all. I had a tip that he might be heading this way, up the country hiding out in different places until the heat was off. I started a little south of here and made my way to here, city to city, looking for anything that might tell me that DeMarc had been here.
Seth interrupted again. "DeMarc Douglas here in Garden? You're crazy...He would stand out instantly."
"Not really. Do you know what he looks like? Even the barest description would be helpful as I haven't found anyone that could describe one thing about him that hasn't turned out to be part of a disguise. I don't know that he's not here, but from everything going on now; It looks like DeMarc is in Garden: yes."
"Was that who you were chasing tonight?" Seth asked eagerly.
"I don't know." He shrugged in the darkness. "I don't know anything for sure. It's been the craziest case I have ever worked on. I have hunch though, that DeMarc is here."
They were both silent at this announcement.
"What are you going to do now, tonight?" Seth asked quietly.
"I am going home to sleep. It's late, I suggest you do the same. I think you are scheduled for early duty tomorrow at the Yard."
"But..." Seth started to say, but Simon cut him off.
"I have lost enough sleep for two men over this case, you don't really have to join me in it." He smiled, the whites of his teeth just faintly gleaming.
He started to walk off, but then stopped and turned around for a second to the still frozen figure.
"Seth, I hope you don't tell anyone this." His tone was serious, gone was the little mocking edge it sometimes had. "Anyone could be DeMarc, Anyone. I want to catch him off guard, understand?"
Seth nodded, the motion just visible by his eyes moving.
"If you're wondering why I told you this just now, I don't really know. I had planned on keeping it secret until I caught him..." He started walking again, but said over his shoulder back at Seth.
"But I know now that if DeMarc finds out who I am, I will know who to look for."
*"Anyone in Garden can be DeMarc, anyone...even you Seth."
"Anyone in Garden can be DeMarc, anyone...even you Seth."
He thought this as he put on his uniform for work. He thought this as he went out of his front door. The sun, low in the sky and still smoldering with promise of heat to come, made him realize how early in the morning it truly was. He yawned; thanks to Temple and his story, he had only got a few hours of sleep. Well really, it has his duty to patrol that night that made him stay out late and away from sleep, not Temple in the least. The only thing Temple did was to plant a seed of doubt in his mind about Garden and its inhabitants.
"Anyone in Garden can be DeMarc, anyone...even you Seth."
For a wild second, he asked himself if he was DeMarc and what that would mean. Then he laughed quietly and continued walking towards the Yard.
He shivered as he walked and he felt a little chill. He glanced upward in surprise and found the sun was still there as always, shining bright as ever.
He had never felt that chill before here in Garden.
He increased his speed and found himself outside the station in a couple minutes.
"Good Morning!" The cry was hearty and alert, two things that Seth did not currently feel.
Seth's eyes snapped to in front of him in surprise. He had been concentrating on the bakery and its subsequent smells near the Yard and had not noticed Temple standing at the gated entrance. He looked like what Seth wanted to look like now: as if he had woken from sleep completely refreshed and alert.
"Mornin', " He mumbled.
"Do you know when the Inspector is going to be in?" Temple asked as they walked inside.
"He likes to keep his own hours, the Inspector does." Seth sat down at his desk. "Nobody tells me nothing."
He was not in a dark mood, he just wasn't interested in influencing where his mood currently ran.
"Well, when he gets in, can you let him know I am going to investigate the IT Tower in conjunction with that last warning."
With those words, he left, not waiting for Seth to say anything.
Simon made his way towards the IT Tower. It was no longer just after sunrise and the sun had almost hit full strength in the sky.
He had noticed the absent warbling of scattered birds and this worried him. It was not that they were not sounding, he didn't actually miss their warbling very much; it was an ominous sign considering the last warning. He wanted to check on the Vivarium's small pond aquarium as well, it would seem prudent considering what he wasn't hearing right now.
Robinson left his small apartment early that morning as well. This was not his normal time to leave, but this was not a normal errand he ran.
He had agreed late last night that he would do his best to uncover what lay behind these random occurrences. He had made his pact with the woman Evelyn and his employer, Doctor Evatt. He had no real intention to follow through with his agreement; someone could very well get themselves killed that way, was his thinking to that line of thought.
He made his way towards Redress; his manner not hurried, but he made sure he was not followed or seen in his early morning sojourn.
The Park was empty, and the door to the Dome unlocked for which he was profoundly grateful. He slipped quietly inside the door.
Marie slipped her balaclava over her face, successfully hiding her features before stepping out of her door. It was not necessary, she had decided, to completely hide where and when she left, but she still felt the need to be careful.
There was something in Garden, some force that was preying on its citizens and she wanted to be a little more careful.
It was mid-morning as she walked down the avenue. She was going to forgo her usual morning Market visit and rather visit it this afternoon.
She walked quickly, and with practiced motions of her head, checked to make sure she was not being followed. As she walked, she tried to digest the warning she had seen scrawled the night before. The words looked like they had been done carefully and methodically, not as some form of practical joke. It frightened her more than a little, thinking that whoever wrote those words, was still out there walking around, plotting something else to happen.
Something happened.
She wasn't what it was; it was such a cacophony of sound that she could not distinguish any individual sounds among the many.
It was pure noise at its loudest level.
She had fallen to the ground on her knees when it first happened, her hands over her ears.
It did not help. The sound continued, unbroken, unbent.
When the sound didn't diminish after a few seconds, she braved a look upwards to where it sounded like the sound began.
Birds streamed past.
They numbered in the hundreds if not thousands. They swooped past; not any idle flight, they all headed in the one direction. Not any uniform motion or array, it was a flight to match the sound. Erratic the birds flew, the only constant was the one direction they flew from Garden.
Away.
DuMont did not have the same reaction to the birds. He heard the sound in all its extremity, but he did not fall to the ground. He merely reached swiftly up and covered his ears while looking up for the source of the sound. He was standing in the Vivarium grounds holding his knapsack.
When the sound did not abate after a moment, he grimaced and took one hand away. He reached into his pocket and extracted a set of ear plugs.
Putting them in with slow and steady hands, he stopped grimacing and went back to his work.
He grabbed one of the chickens with the same precision movements and plucked a feather out. He let the fowl go and deposited the feather in a small bottle which he then stored carefully in his knapsack. He walked forward a little and did the same to another animal after a moment. He deposited that bit of hair and walk forward a little more, towards the large pond aquarium. The sight of the pond stopped him for the first time among all the instances that morning.
The usually calm demeanor of the water was broken by the bobbing of fish. They did not do so in th playful rhythm of life, looking for food; the fish were dead, floating and moving according to the whim of the surface.
His calm, stolid face did not change after his pause, but he continued walking towards the edge of the pond.
DuMont stood, the inch deep water where he was standing lapping slightly at his boots, then he reached down swiftly to the surface to grab one of the dead fish. It did not smell fresh or freshly dead, it stunk of putrefied water and flesh.
His expression still not changing, he dropped this sample into a bag in his knapsack.
"DuMont, what have you got there?"
The voice was Temple's, and it was cool and precisely calculating.
DuMont, hiding his surprise well, turned slowly to face Temple who stood behind him. After a second, he also removed his ear plugs.
"'What are you doing here Temple?" His voice, not gruff in any way, still suggested menace regardless of what DuMont said.
"I would assume the same thing you're doing: investigating the last warning by checking the pond in the Vivarium. Is that what you're doing?" He stepped forward as he said the last bit.
"Yeah, that's what I'm doing. I got a sample of one of the dead fish. Smells bad." He indicated his knapsack without taking his eyes off of Temple.
"I did notice a certain smell coming from that direction. I wonder if that smell is the dead fish, or whether it comes from something that poisened the fish?" Temple mused aloud, taking his eyes off of DuMont and looking around him towards the pond.
"I am going to take this to the Yard, Mondieu will want to have a look." After this announcement, DuMont started to walk past Temple. When he was past by a few feet, Temple called back to him, "Are you also going to show him all those other samples you've got in your bag?"
"What samples?" DuMont called back without stopping or even glancing back.
I wonder what he's up to and what he is going to do? He thought to himself while staring at the back of the retreating DuMont.
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