Devolution

Joshua recognized the building immediately as a flash flood of memory washed through his mind. Celeste; a temptress or a helpless pawn in somebody else’s game of chess? Celeste; so beautiful and sweet that Joshua could not help wonder what might have been had they met under different circumstances. It was foolish of course to think that way because what circumstances could possibly have brought him here, besides the mess in which he was now deeply entangled?

‘Is that it Joshua?’

He had stopped walking without knowing. It was Jacobssen’s voice that alerted him.

Jacobssen spoke again, ‘Is that the building Celeste took you into?’

Joshua nodded.

‘What about the room number?’ asked Jacobssen.

‘Or even the floor number?’ added Hatsis.

The four stood on the footpath outside an al fresco café overflowing with a collection of beautiful, young tourists and businessmen and women. None of them paid any attention to anything or anyone but themselves.

‘This is futile isn’t it?’ asked 3. ‘Even if Josh can remember the room, she won’t be there and we need to talk to her don’t we? I mean-’

‘Why don’t you put a cork in it,’ said Hatsis. ‘I’ve about had enough of your whining.’

‘Why don’t you answer my question? This looks like a case of the blind leading the blind to me, or call it a wild goose chase or whatever.’

Joshua said, ‘That’s enough Ted. You’re not helping.’

‘Let’s go into the foyer,’ suggested Jacobssen. ‘Maybe her first name is listed in the directory.’

3 made sure that Hatsis missed his exaggerated eye rolling demonstration, and bit his tongue to prevent speaking. Police work or straw clutching by drowning men?

The foyer of Celeste’s building was a wide square shape with one elevator on each side and the directory screen on the back wall. Legislation passed the previous year in Earth parliament required that all residential apartments, commercial and professional suites in multi room, multi story buildings have a directory on display in their foyers or at the entrance.

Hatsis walked to the directory purposefully. ‘Good law that one about directories: makes it a hell of a lot easier for emergency service workers to find people.’

‘Problem is,’ said Jacobssen, ‘many people don’t want to be found so the directories aren’t necessarily an accurate reflection of who occupies the building.’

‘Directory,’ said Hatsis speaking to the computer. ‘Search first name Celeste.’

The others looked on with interest, apart from 3 who was dying to make sarcastic comments to Hatsis.

‘Celeste Beauchamp. 713. Not home.’

3 couldn’t help himself. ‘See, not home. Now what?’

‘But we are in the right place. We found her,’ said Joshua. ‘Or at least where she lives.’

Then someone pressed the pause button and the four of them were frozen temporarily in time. A slow, frame by frame advance until finally 3 spoke.

‘All right. What next?’

‘We could wait for her,’ said Joshua.

‘Do you know what time she finishes work? It could be a long wait and that is time better spent elsewhere I reckon,’ said Jacobssen.

‘We could break into her apartment and have a look around for clues,’ offered Hatsis. His eyes bulged with excitement at the thought of it as he stepped to the elevator and requested service. The doors opened almost immediately and Hatsis stepped in.

‘Where are you going?’ asked Jacobssen.

‘Up to the seventh floor.’

‘You can’t break in. Even it wasn’t illegal-a fact which you seem to be missing for some reason-you physically can’t break in. You can’t knock the door down and there is no lock to pick-’

‘Shit man. Are you just gonna stand there flapping your gums about what’s legal and what’s not or are we gonna get on with it.’

‘Are you deaf?’

‘I know you can’t break in but as a local law enforcement officer I have the emergency override code.’

‘It’s not quite an emergency.’

‘Fuck me! If we don’t find this girl Veena,’ he paused to look at Joshua then at 3, ‘if we don’t find her she could die, right? Is that enough of a fucking emergency for you?’ Then to Jacobssen he said, ‘I’m going by myself if you don’t get in this lift right now.’

Joshua moved towards the open lift door but Hatsis prevented him with a stop sign gesture. ‘Police business, so it’s just me and Inspector Plod if he can get his arse into gear.’

Jacobssen finally, but still with visible reluctance entered the lift with Hatsis who immediately ordered the door closed. Through the ever narrowing gap, he said, ‘Behave yourselves boys. We’ll be right back.’

Joshua looked at his watch, then at 3.

‘What’s eating you Ted? You seem to be trying as hard as you can to tick Hatsis off. He’s obviously not the kind of guy you want to get on the wrong side of.’

Gliding away from the lift, back towards the front door, 3 stopped and stared out onto the street. ‘I’m worried about Veena. This seems like a waste of time. I just want to know she’s all right, and where she is, you know.’

‘Yeah, I do know,’ said Joshua as he walked over to stand beside 3. ‘I feel the same way but these two cops are our only chance, and they are doing what they…’

The final word was murdered before it was spoken: strangled by shock.

‘No!’ said Joshua.

‘What’s wrong, Josh?’

‘Celeste is coming! She’s walking towards us!’

‘Where?’

Joshua pointed at a tall blonde in a dark and snug fitting skirt and jacket combination.

‘See?’

‘You weren’t kidding when you said she was hot.’

‘What are we going to do? We can’t warn Jacobssen and Hatsis, but we can’t let her go up to her place either.’

‘Stall her here or out there before she gets inside.’

‘What am I going to say to her?’

‘Hurry up, Josh she’s nearly here!’

Joshua didn’t have time to ask 3 again what he should say because it was Celeste herself who spoke next. She had seen him naturally before she came inside but like Joshua had insufficient time to think of anything to say. The best she could do was say his name.

The instant that followed was the epitome of the awkward moment. It was clear that Celeste was surprised to see Joshua, why shouldn’t she be, but the expression on her blanched but still pretty face indicated that she was perhaps more than surprised, and not just to see him here, but to see him anywhere.

Her reaction was as though she was looking at a ghost.

With both Joshua and Celeste dumbstruck, 3 decided to take the initiative.

‘Hello Celeste. My name is Ted. I’m a friend of Joshua’s.’

He offered his large wrinkled hand which she eventually accepted after considering it for a moment.

‘Hello,’ she said in low, almost whispered voice.

Joshua rediscovered his courage and his voice with it. ‘Hey Celeste. How are you?’

‘What are you doing here?’

‘That’s no way to greet an old friend. We were almost intimate friends.’

Presenting a striking contrast, Celeste’s face changed from white to red causing Joshua to regret his indiscretion.

‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I’m just so surprised to see you. I…’

Revelation broke into Joshua’s mind. Celeste thought he was dead. ‘You thought I was dead?’

‘No need to answer that one,’ said 3 for some obscure reason. Joshua looked at him hoping his curious disapproval showed.

Celeste moved past them and headed for the lift. Joshua panicked and grabbed her arm. She shook him off.

‘I think you should leave. I don’t know why you came here but I don’t have anything to say to you. I’m sorry.’

3 wondered where that came from. Suddenly the mortified and speechlessly shy girl was confident and aggressive.

She asked for the lift and the door opened immediately. Joshua stepped in front of her to block her path, so that when she stepped forward she bumped into him and rebounded back a few steps.

‘Get out of my way or I’ll call the police.’

‘Don’t do that Celeste. Just calm down. I only want to talk. Have coffee with me? Come on.’

‘Like I said I have nothing to say to you. I have to get back to work anyway. I just called in to grab something from my apartment.’

She stared at Joshua. ‘Let me pass!’

Then the door closed and she was stuck in the foyer for the time being. Joshua could only pray that it was Jacobssen and Hatsis who had requested the lift. How long had they been? He looked at 3 who read his mind.

‘Half an hour,’ he said.

Celeste turned sharply to look at 3 then back at Joshua. ‘What’s going on Joshua? What do you want?’

How much longer would they be if it wasn’t them on the way down? He wanted to look at the level read out to see if the lift had gone to the seventh floor but that would be too obvious. Thank God the other lift is out of order.

Celeste spun around to face the other lift and ordered it open.

‘It’s broken.’

‘Obviously,’ said Celeste with a new tone of exasperated contempt creeping in to her voice. ‘What do you want?’

Joshua looked over again at 3.

Celeste said, ‘Can’t you talk or think for yourself? Why did he say half an hour? What’s happening in half an hour?’

Joshua felt like every word forming in his head was being pulverized by the sound waves from his pounding heart. Stop panicking, he said to himself. Calm down!

Then a minor miracle occurred which caused Joshua to almost faint with relief. Celeste turned away from the lifts and made for the door. At that moment the lift opened and Hatsis stepped out. A double miracle.

‘Wait a second Celeste,’ said Joshua in a loud voice.

Right behind Hatsis was Jacobssen and they both heard the name at the same time as they saw the girl.

Jacobssen said, ‘Excuse me Miss Beauchamp.’

Celeste froze then slowly turned around to see Jacobssen and Hatsis both holding open their badges. Before they could introduce themselves, she was gone. Through the door and across the road miraculously avoiding any vehicles, she ran and she ran and she had to because once Joshua, 3, Jacobssen and Hatsis had sorted themselves at the front door as to who would go through in what order, they were in hot pursuit.

Celeste had only made it two blocks and was about to enter the Botanic Gardens when 3 slid in front of her and blocked her way. As she attempted to reverse she backed into Joshua. Hatsis arrived next, and it was he who spoke first.

‘Miss Beauchamp, I’m Detective Hatsis, SLARC. Just wanted to ask you a few questions.’

Celeste wasn’t about to answer any questions. She took off again, sidestepping 3 and leaping a low hedge she sprinted across the soft green grass towards the Harbourside Walk.

Jacobssen arrived at the scene after Celeste and her pursuers had left. Had he had any air left in his lungs he might have yelled the question about why Hatsis didn’t handcuff her immediately. As it was he took a few moments and a few very deep breaths and then set off after them.

Again it was 3 who overtook her first. He moved from side to side, covering her attempts to dodge him again. From behind Celeste, 3 watched the others stagger across the expanse of grass. A jogger also approached at a more moderate pace along the track. Joshua arrived first then the jogger who neither Joshua nor Celeste knew was coming. There was no time for a warning. 3 had falsely assumed the runner would simply divert around them but he hit Celeste with his shoulder and knocked her to the ground.

Looking every inch the concerned Samaritan-although how he could justify crashing into her, 3 couldn’t imagine-the jogger stopped and began to help Celeste to her feet. With his hands under her arms he raised her to a standing position and apologized profusely, before running off.

‘What about that moron?’ said 3.

‘What the hell happened then?’ asked Hatsis gasping for air.

3 kept his eyes on Celeste while Hatsis handcuffed her and she offered no resistance this time. By the time Jacobssen had arrived, collapsed on the ground and rolled on his back puffing like a fish out of water, Hatsis had explained to Celeste that they only needed information and that she really shouldn’t have run away.

Joshua noticed the glazed look in Celeste’s eye’s before the others and pointed it out to them. He didn’t wish her any harm. He just wanted to find Veena.

‘Celeste?’

When Hatsis released her, Celeste fell to the ground like she had been knocked out. She was in fact, on close examination by Hatsis and Jacobssen, dead. Neither of them noticed the spot of blood on the armpit of her shirt.

‘Shit!’ said Hatsis. ‘We’ve lost our only real lead.’

Jacobssen spoke next, ‘Cheer up. All is perhaps not lost.’

They watched as Jacobssen fiddled with his watch. ‘I’ve got a message here from a guy who only identified himself as Jason. It came via HQ as an e-mail.’

He read silently while the others looked on expectantly.

‘Well?’ said Hatsis impatiently. ‘What does this Jason have to say?’

‘He says that a man by the name of Gareth Masterman knows all about the murders of Senator Singh and 15 in Mumbai, and if we can catch him we should probably have a word to him.’

‘If we can catch him?’ asked Joshua. ‘Is he fast?’