Victor looked around the morgue. The dreadful purpose of the room meant it had not changed much in several hundred years. There were no windows, no pictures, nothing to bring the least bit of life to a room meant only for death. All was cold, and sterile.
Robert Leo leaned against a far wall, picking his teeth with a talon. The end of his tail twitching as he waited on Victor to identify the body on the slab. “Well?”
He looked down at the man laid out before him. Stripped bare, the ugly scars of the autopsy on his chest. The man barely resembled the file Victor brought with him. Victor did not know the man well enough to have any type of emotion for him. Only the since of loss of time. Four weeks he had waited on the man to arrive. In four weeks so much had changed. The little town had become the center of the Alliance, power plays were in motion that he could hardly comprehend, and through it all he was desperately trying to keep his company together.
Leo grunted again, becoming impatient.
“This is Dr. Reece Winnera.”
Robert moved next to the table. “Yea…we kind of know that. Just wanted to see your reaction. You were expecting him then.?’
Victor looked up at the massive cat. “You know I was. I’m sure you’ve gone thru his personal data pad and pulled his itinerary.”
“We have. What it does not explain is what you wanted with a Betizoid Professor of antiquities.”
Victor turned and started for the door. “Can we continue this outside?”
Leo reached over and pulled the sheet over the corpse. “Sure Vic. The room getting to you?”
Out side of the hospital they walked along a path thru a garden. “So, You going to tell me why you paid for the good Doctor to come out here?”
“No… I’m not. It was business.”
“You have an idea who wanted to kill him and why?”
Victor had a very good idea why. Who was a different matter. He just shrugged his shoulders.
Leo had enough and grabbed Victor by the elbow, spinning him around. ‘Look. Since you have arrived there has been this and an attempt to kill your security man and his daughter. It’s kind of natural to link this together.”
“You have no evidence of that.”
“Not yet….” Leo took a breath and let go of Victors arm. There would be bruises on it in the morning.
“I want to see you mine.” Leo said in a voice that left no room for negotiation.
This time Victor got in the cats face. “Get a court order.”
Taking a step back Leo knew he was not going to intimidate the human. “When I have enough to go on, you can bet your life on that.”
Victor watched as the Captain walked away, knowing time was running out on keeping his secret. In the weeks that had passed he had placed a high security door to the cavern holding the artifact. No one had entered the chamber, not even himself. There was no point until Professor Winnera arrived. And with him dead, killed by someone wanting to keep Victor from accessing the artifact, he wondered how he was going to proceed.
He came upon a bench next to a small fountain and sat down. Taking in his situation, evaluating his options when a striking young woman walked up and sat next to him. She didn’t say anything for a few minutes but then looked at him with a puzzled face.
“Excuse me, I don’t mean to be forward, but are you not Victor Stone?”
After the long silence he was startled by her voice, “Uh..yes. I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“Oh no. I just thought I recognized you from a news broadcast. Dr. Katherine Snow.” she extended her hand.
‘Katherine’ he thought to himself. His wife’s name. He took her hand and smiled. “Good to meet you Dr. Snow. What is your field?”
“Genetic research. Cloning. Not people “ she smiled. “just body parts.”
Victor smiled back letting that sink in. Light bulbs started going off in his head.
“That sound very interesting. Dr. Snow. I’m famished. Have you had dinner?”
The young woman not only had not had dinner, but was between boyfriends, and knew that Mr. Stone was something of a catch. “I heard there is a new place opening a few blocks from here. Uh… RICKS is the name.”
Victor stood up and offered his arm. Which Katherine Snow took, maybe to quickly.
Off:
Victor Stone
Stone Energy
Camelot
