Page 82 of Perfection

He blew out a disgusted breath. He had attempted to eliminate her and failed miserably. Fuck, he hated failure. He hadn’t been aware of the intricate workings of a laser gun. Who knew there was more to it than point and shoot? Or that there was a stun function? She was alive due to his error—but not for long.

With his back pressed against the corner of the wall, he shifted position. He entered some notes into his spot comm. She would be punished for putting the children in that cryogenic facility. He hadn’t anticipated that. Dammit.

Soon, she would pay. They all would pay. Just like Gina had.

* * *

Last night after he’d gone through Vi’s reports and found the woman of interest, a computer search and identity match showed his suspect to be a Gina Walls. He’d ordered a warrant to search her place and bring her in for questioning. He sent a notice to Shishido to meet him at her address.

He purposefully omitted sharing the news with Cal, because his brother would have wanted to tag along, and because he trusted Cal like no one else to keep Kindra safe.

Shishido and another officer met him outside a three story apartment building on Main. Shishido went inside with him. Gina Walls’ unit was on the second floor. York knocked. “Police.”

Not a sound came from inside. He slid his police override bracelet over the lock and went in.

He knew immediately upon entering, Gina, or someone was dead. The acrid smell almost overwhelmed him. He brought his sleeve up and covered his nose. “Jesus.”

Shishido did the same. “Oh, man.”

Past the sofa in the living room, he saw a body on the floor. It was like Vi’s death all over again, except this victim had been gone for a while. He tried to move her fingers over the computer scanner. Rigor mortis had set in. She was so disfigured by mutations he wasn’t sure he could ID her. He went through the motions anyway, taking out his gauge for time of death and scanning her fingerprints with his spot computer. TOD, oh two hundred forty hours. To his surprise, computer gave a positive ID. Damn, good.

He stood and took in the living room. The coffee table was upended. The chairs looked as if they’d been kicked around. She had definitely put forth a struggle.

York turned to Shishido. “I want you to check out Gina Walls. She worked for a small news media. She would have been privy to unreleased inside information. See what else you can dig up. Acquaintances, family, interests. You name it.”

He let out a disgusted sigh. His one true lead, and she was dead.