Chapter One
She was tall, dressed all in blue with shoulder length black hair and a smile on her face and flowers in her hair. A glimmer of brightness amongst the bleakness of armoured officers, a light among the darkness.
While M was riding the train on his way to work that morning, he saw her face staring back at him from a thousand different newspapers. She was hope, reassurance. A tiny glimpse of normality staring chaos in the face. But it wasn't any comfort to him. M had too much else on his mind.
When his boss had spoken to him that morning it had hardly been a surprise. He'd been late with his report, he'd been expecting a scolding. But the thing that surprised was that she wasn't angry about that. In fact she hadn't even mentioned it. She wanted him for something, she'd said. She needed him. Why could she need him? His last case had been a failure.
Several months ago, Peppermince had disappeared of the face of the globe. Pepper was a renowned criminal, perhaps one of the most dangerous in the city. Little over a year ago he had been nothing more than a lowlife, a common thug, But that all changed when Bandit began to grow in popularity. The two had been friends at school, and bandit had several links to criminal organisations. That didn't stop bandit rising in the opinion polls to become one of the main candidates for mayor. As bandit grew in popularity, so did peppers power on the criminal underworld. And then Bandit became mayor. And then pepper disappeared.
M had been assigned to investigate what had happened. He had thought he was getting somewhere when the case was shut down by the mayors office itself. The mayors spokesman claimed that Peppermince was murdered several months before Bandit even began his campaign. Lemona was satisfied, but M wasn't. In his opinion, the information didn't add up, and he continued the investigation on his own.
He'd managed to come into contact with some other's who had known bandit and Peppermince when they were at school, but then Lemona found out what he was doing, and she'd stripped him of all his powers. He was now an agent in name alone.
And now she needed him for something. This was going to be interesting.
'The girl, whose name is currently unknown, has become a media sensation.'
'Excuse me'
'The photograph, which had been shared on facebook nearly 2 million times just half an hour after posting'
'Excuse me'
' - shows a young woman confronting riot officers shortly after they began -'
'Hey!' shouted the man, growing ever more impatient 'I'm talking to you.'
Elizabeth sighed and turned her attention away from the TV screen. 'Sorry' she said, 'how can I help?'
'I'd like two chocolate muffins please. And make it quick'
Business had been slow for most of the day. But it was starting to pick up. But Betsy already had a headache. Serving baked goods to fat, grubby men was hardly an appealing prospect, but it tumbled to the bottom of her mind with what was going on at the moment. She was constantly watching the news, desperately hoping to hear something more about Jacob, but so far there hadn't been a single mention.
His body fell into the crowd, and everybody knew. Half the population of the city had been watching TV, the other half out there on the streets. And so far there had been no mention of anything. She'd expected that of course, Bandit would try to cover everything up, But she thought she would have been contacted in some way. She was his sister, surely that meant something.
She had phoned Linda late last evening, but got no reply. She was most likely to know something. But she'd ignored her, just as she'd expected.
'That'll be £4.20' she told the man
'For two muffins? Are you joking?' the man sighed irritably, and reached into his pocket to dig around for some change, as if it was a surprise he would actually have to use money to buy his food.
The coins she was handed were filthy, covered in dirt. All except one. The 50 pence piece wasn't prestene, but it stood out from the others. She turned it over in her hand, and looked up at the man. He was staring out her, and for a brief moment his expression changed to one that was slightly friendlier.
Suddenly, Elizabeth felt the tension inside her uncoil slightly, and she smiled back at the customer.
'Keep the change' he said back to her, and he turned and made his way to the shops exit.
'Beth, I'm going for my break,' said Betsy, as she walked as quickly as possible toward the fire exit, her pounding with anticipation,
She climbed out into the alleyway, and once she was sure she was alone she inspected the coin more closely.
It wasn't a coin. Or at least it wasn't made of metal. She pulled at with her fingernails, and she realised it was made of foil, like a chocolate coin that you get a Christmas. She prised the two pieced of foil apart, and found a piece of paper folded up inside it. Tentatively she unfolded the paper, and saw the words written there in green ink
Meet me in the park after midnightShe wasn't sure whether to feel more or less nervous now. She didn't know who the note was from, or who she was supposed to me, and she couldn't even be sure why. But at least someone had tried to get in contact with her. At least someone had thought of her. .
She reach into her pocket and took out a lighter, and set fire to the note, dropping it on the floor of the alleyway, and turned and headed back into the cafe.
As soon as she stepped back inside, she was supposed to see two men standing at the counter, looking directly at her. One man was tall and thin, wearing tiny spectacles to go with the tiny amount of hair on his head. He was wearing a long beige coat and had a serious look on his face. The other man was short and chubby, dressed in a police officers uniform, and with a much less serious look on his face.
'How can I help?' Elizabeth asked the men.
'Ma'am' said the tall thin man 'are you Miss Elizabeth Willis?'
Her breath caught in her throat, and it took her far longer to reply then she would have liked 'Yes, yes I am'
'My name is Terry Craig, and I am the chief inspector with the city police. This is my associate, police constable Teleram.' Terry indicated to Teleram on his left. Teleram gave an awkward wave back. 'We'd very much like to ask you a few questions concerning your brother.
'My brother?'
'Yes' said terry, a small smile emerging on his lips 'He recently died, as I believe you are aware. It, ah, made the news.' an awkward silence began to fill the air, and Elizabeth noticed Teleram began to hungrily eye the chocolate muffins.
'I don't have anything I can tell you.' Elizabeth said, knowing that it wouldn't be enough to satisfy them.
'I'm sure you don't. We just want to go over a few things that all. It's only a short ride to the police station.'. Terry began to fix on her with an intense stare, and Elizabeth began to get the disconcerting feeling like she was a mouse being hunted. 'You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide' terry said, and gestured towards the shops entrance.
Elizabeth nodded her head glumly, and turned to Beth, who was hardly taking any notice of the situation as she was busily reading a magazine. 'I guess a have to go with them then,' Elizabeth said
'Whatever,' Beth replied.
Elizabeth took of her apron, hung it up, and silently walked from the shop as terry escorted her to the police car. Teleram toyed with the idea of buying a muffin, but he soon followed.
It was only when Elizabeth was sat in the passenger seat that she realised she had let the pieces of silver foil fall to the ground in the alleyway instead of keeping them. That was a big mistake.
As Mister M made his way through the street on his way to 667, he noted how there seemed to more people heading to work today than in the last few weeks. The protests had stopped, momentarily, and if it wasn't for the boarded up shop windows and occasional cordoned off street, things seemed mostly back to normal. Of course, they were anything but.
When he arrived on Dark Avenue and made his way up the large marble steps to 667, it took him a while to realise that the large statue that had previously adorned Squalor Square was now gone. That was a mystery, it really was. Why would anyone want to damage a statue of Emma?
As he entered the building, there was a noticeable bustle of activity inside the reception area. Everyone was hard at work, trying to sort things out as best they could. People who were far more suited to help than he was. Why was he here? What did Lemona what with him?
A short elevator ride later and he found himself on the floor above the penthouse, and a familiar voice greeted him
'I was wondering when you'd turn up again.'
'I'm surprised I managed to stay away this long.' he smiled back at her. 'Did you miss me?'
'Miss you?' said Anka, who was busily typing away, refusing to look up at the screen 'I hadn't even noticed you were gone.'
'Don't lie to yourself,' M leaned over her desk 'Haven't your days seemed long and endless, full of boredom and misery?'
'They were.' she looked up at him, crossly, 'and then you left. I've been much more efficient ever since.'
'Anka!' Said a demanding voice, and they both turned and looked to see Lemona standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, 'leave him alone'
'Don't blame her! It's not my fault that I'm irresistible.'
'Come in, Mister M. I'll try and contain myself. We have important business to attend too.
Bee had been sat outside the police station for several minutes, with several things more on her mind.
A figure emerged from the police station, and stared intently through her binoculars, but it was only a police officer. She leaned back and sighed, frustrated. She was taking too long.
She pulled out her phone, and look at the message she had gotten the previous day. She had kept on looking at it, over and over again, as if deep analysis would reveal some hidden meaning to it. But it wouldn't. The words themselves were simple, the ramifications astronomical. She wasn't sure whether she was angry, surprised, upset, or pleased about it.
She was definitely angry with Sophie, though. Or was she? In fact, the more she thought about it, it wasn't just anger, more despair. It had been difficult enough to deal with her as it was, but now she was exposed in such a public way that it was going to be hard to come back from. Did he know? Was that why he'd sent the message?
She was suddenly yanked from her thoughts back to the real world when she noticed someone else coming out of the station. This time she didn't need binoculars, there were was no mistaking it. It was Elizabeth Willis. She was walking down the steps, and Terry Craig was escorting her to his car. She looked nervous, but mostly okay. What information were the police hoping to get from her? From what Bee has read it hardly seemed like Miss Willis would be able to give any enlightening information.
Bee watched as Terry's car began to move away and waited until it turned round the corner before she opened the door and got out of her own car. As she did so, she left her job behind her, and her mind filled once more with anger.
As she walked into the police station she was mildly amused to find a cliché sat in a chair next to a small reception like area. It was a tubby police officer eating doughnuts.
'Excuse me' she said, rather loudly than she normally would. The officer jumped and suddenly looked up at her whilst simultaneously trying to hide the doughnuts. 'Oh!' he said 'I thought you were -, never mind' he let out a little sigh and visibly relaxed once more. 'How can I help you ma'am?'
'I'm here to pick someone up.' She looked at the man with a slight hint of anger 'Sophie.'
'Oh, right, I see.' The man stood up clumsily, and placed the food down on the chair. 'I'll just go and, ah, I'll go and... yes. Wait right here.' He waddled towards a door and was about to open it when suddenly he turned and looked directly at Bee. He looked her up and down, and then thought for a moment before saying 'Are you who I think you are?'
'That depends how clever you are,' she replied
'Oh. You probably aren't then'. He shook his head, and bustled through the doorway, shouting back 'Help yourself to a doughnut.'
Bee looked at the doughnuts for a moment, and thought better of them. They didn't look particularly appetising. She picked up the packet and looked it over, but it wasn't from Elizabeth's cafe. That didn't necessarily mean anything, but it could. It was always worth looking.
There wasn't much to look at here, though. A few posters adorned the walls, the usual things about reporting crime and whatnot. She didn't have long to wait.
She could hear noises coming from the other side of the door, echoing down the corridor. Sophie was clearly not happy with the situation she had found herself in. A few second later the police officer burst through the door with Sophie following.
'Hey,' she said, waving meekly at Bee. Her clothes where torn and ripped, and she was wearing an old leather jacket that Bee had never seen before. Her long hair was caked with dirt and mud and blood, and Sophie has several cuts on her face and a large bruise under her eye.
'Is that all you have to say for yourself? Hey?' Bee glared at Sophie
'Well what do you want me to say? 'Oh not you again' ?'
'An apology would have been nice.'
'It probably would have been, yeah.'
'You are unbelievable, d'you know that?' She walked over to her and grabbed her by the hand and pulled her in the direction of the exit.
'You don't need to drag me around'
'Maybe I should.' Bee shoved her through the doors, and turned back to the police officer. 'What's your name, by the way?'
'Teleram' said Teleram.
'Thank you Officer Teleram.'
Bee escorted Sophie to her car and pushed her down into the passenger seat, and reached into the back for a copy of today's newspaper.
'Here' she said, handing it Sophie, 'I thought you might like to see this.'
Sophie looked down and was surprised to see a picture of herself on the front page, accompanied by the headline 'MYSTERY WOMAN CONFRONTS ARMED MEN'.
'What do you think of that,' Bee asked, now sat in the drivers seat
'I think it's terrible headline.'
'Don't be smart with me. Did you think I wasn't going to find out what you were doing.'
'Not really know'
'Why were you there? What were you doing?'
'What do you think I was doing, learning to tap dance? It's a protest rally, I was protesting'
'But why did you need to be there?'
'Because I wanted to be. Because I should be'
'You could have at least told me where you were'
'Well you wouldn't have let me go.'
'Why? ….Was she there?'
Sophie looked back down at the newspaper for a moment, thinking, and then stared back at Bee 'Yes'
'Would have you gone there is she wasn't there?'
'I don't know.... Maybe. Maybe not.'
'Right, well there we go.' Bee turned on the ignition and started to drive, and for a moment the two of them avoided each others gaze for as long as possible. Sophie looked out the window, and Bee looked at Sophie's face, and she finally 'Are you hurt?'
Sophie mumbled back 'Why would you care?'
'Because I'm you mum, Sophie. It's my job to care.'
'Did you enjoy your break, Mister M?
'Break?' asked M, confused.
'Oh yes, that's right. You weren't on a break were you. You've just been taking so long to write this damned report that I thought you were.'
Mister M was now seated in Lemona's office. Lemona wasn't, and she was stood leaning against the edge of the desk and looking at M with a stern look on her face, like an irked headteacher scolding a misbehaving pupil.
'Well can you blame me? After I complete that report that's it, this job is done. I'm trying to make it last as long possible.'
'I understand,' Lemona sighed. 'That doesn't mean I'm happy about it.'
'Look, I'll try and finish it by tomorrow. Will you be happy then?'
Lemona moved from the edge of the desk and went to sit down on her chair. 'No, I'm never happy. Especially with you lately. I still don't understand what you were thinking, continuing the investigation on your own.'
'It wasn't right to stop, not when we were so close to the truth.'
'It doesn't matter if we were or not, when I tell you to stop, you stop. We lead dangerous lives Mister M, and I can't afford to let you play with fire.'
'That's why I'm so surprised you called me here. You said you need me for something... well what is it? Is it do with the Peppermince case?'
Lemona looked curiously at Mister M. In fact, she was almost surprised. 'Did you see the news yesterday, M?'
'No, not really. I was busy, ah,... well doing nothing really'
'Willis is dead.'
Jacob Willis was one of the most notorious criminals in history. For years the company had been trying to track him down and put him away, but they had never managed it He'd always found some way to escape or get the better of them. For the last few years it had seemed as though he had taken a step back from things, so for him to be dead was even more surprising.
'How did it happen?' M asked Lemona.
'He fell fell the balcony of room 312 of the Pandora. 32 storeys high. He fell into the middle of a demonstration happening all across the streets of the city. It was captured by news outlets from around the world.'
'Ah. I see what I've missed now.'
Lemona Continued: 'It was an assassination. It was supposed to be done quietly, nobody was supposed to know. Why else chose to assassinate someone like that than on a day like yesterday. The whole city – well, the whole city except you at least – was focused on the protests and the mayor and all the crap that's going down there. Nobody would be looking at Willis, so that was the best time to take it out. But it went wrong, and now we know about it. It isn't a secret anymore. We have the upper hand.'
'Do you have any idea who did do it?'
Lemona sighed, and reached for a file on her desk an opened it. 'We had an operative on the scene moments after the attack happened. She was hiding in a broom closet but she managed to identify the man as a Mr. Zortegus Pen.' She opened the file and indicated towards a picture of a man in late 20s with short curly hair, a slight beard, and – most notably – only one eye.
'Did you say Pen?' M asked, studying the man's file.
'Yes, I did. He's the son of noted mobster Fredrick Pen. He's been of the radar for a while but he's got previous. He's taken down several notables over the years, including a few of our own. We have strong reason to believe he was involved in the Squalor incident.'
'That was before my time'
'Yes, it was, but many who work here knew the squalors and their loss still affects them to this day. Zortegus is a dirty name around here, especially now. His employer won't be happy that the murder took place so publicly, so we need to be on the look out.'
'Are you saying he might have gone rouge?'
'Not necessarily, he's as good a marksman as any but his father has powerful connections. But Zortegus isn't who you should be asking questions about.'
Lemona leaned over and snatched the file from Mister M's hands, even though he was halfway through a sentence. 'Who should I be asking questions about?'
'Who's behind this. Who ordered Jacob Willis' execution.'
'Well then who is?'
'The last time I heard anything about Zortegus was 16 months ago. A woman was found dead in her home, bullet through the head. The woman was Sherry Ann, an associate of Willis, but not a criminal. Just...morally grey. At the time, I believed that this was a tactical attack by Peppermince. Sherry was a private detective, someone who you'd like out of the picture if you had an enemy tracking you. Now, I'm not sure....
'You remember how I said an agent of ours managed to reach the location shortly after the assassination? Well, she managed to extract some information for us. The room was paid for in the name of Mayor Bandit. Bandit knew when and were Willis was, Willis was assassinated by someone who we believe to be working for Peppermince, and we have credible evidence that bandit and Peppermince have strong connections to each other. This leads me to the conclusion that either Bandit or Peppermince decided to take Willis out of the picture, and they did so. But that's not the part that's got me so worried M. The thing that bothers me is that Willis isn't stupid. He knew Bandit was paying for him to be there, and he still went there. They were working on something. Together. And that can't be good.'
Lemona reached into a drawer of her desk and pulled out a photo, and handed it to M, saying 'Take a look at this.'
The picture was of a small plastic bag and inside were two circular tablets. They were both a deep red colour, and looked slightly powdery. 'What is it?' M asked.
'I don't know, but we've got our best people on it. Our agent found this in Willis' room after the skirmish. We don't have any evidence, but I'd place a pretty good bet that this has something to do with why Willis was killed.'
'Okay. Look, I understand what you've said and everything, but why are you telling me? What do you want me to do.'
'Early this morning, a few sleepers reported to me that a couple of people we're following have been seen.'
'Who were they?'
'That doesn't matter, just a couple of lowlifes, but they all have connections to Peppermince. That's not a coincidence. Peppermince is still alive, I know he is, and he's planning something. I don't know what it is, and that scares me. And do you know what I do when things scare me? I fix them. So that's why you're here, Mister M. I need you to undercover. I need a man inside Peppers operation, to try and find out what the ickle is going on.'
M thought for a moment. Of all the things he'd expected Lemona to say to him, he hadn't expected this. He wasn't even an agent anymore... but then, he supposed, that made sense.'You want me because you can't send anybody else.'
Lemona rose from her desk, and walked over to the window overlooking the city. 'How many years do you think I've done this job?'
'Longer than I can remember'
'Too long, M, too long. I've seen it all. I've seen them come and go, the bad guys and the good ones, the agents and gangsters, and I know how to keep this city safe, and how to get the best out of my agents. But its hard. Sometimes I feel like I'm all that's stopping these streets from flowing with rivers of blood. But I've never seen something like this before. It's our job – all our jobs, not just mine – to help the government protect the people of this city. But what am I supposed to when the government is hurting these people more than the criminals? How do I protect everyone when my boss is the one I need to protect them from. This city is in the grip of Bandit, and he's monitoring everything I do. So yes, I need it to be you because he thinks you've left the company. Yes, I need it to be you because I can't let Bandit know I've put one of my own agents to work against him. But mostly I need it to be you because I trust you. I trust you enough that I know I don't even have to ask you if you're okay with this.
'When do I start?'
'Soon. Willis had a sister, she lives in the city. Here name is Elizabeth. She's.... unstable, but weak. They'll be watching her. She's your way in.'
Lemona's intercom buzzed, and a few moments later Anka's voice could be heard coming through 'Ma'am I've got Bee outside waiting to see you.'
'Well send her in then, she was supposed to be here at 9!'
A few moments later, Bee walked in, and a small smile of surprise crossed her face when she was M. 'Well I certainly didn't expect to see you here.'
'Yes yes, I'm sure it's surprising, but we really must get on.' Lemona ushered Bee over to the seat where M was sitting, and pulled him up and pushed him in the direction of the door 'You have a meeting with Dante at 11, I'll catch up with you later.'
When he was gone, Bee turned to Lemona and asked her 'What is he doing here?'
'That's exactly why I wanted to meet with you. Where were you?'
'I was, ah, busy.'
'Well don't be busy again. We can't afford to be late, not in this climate anyway.'
'Why does he have a meeting with Dante?'
'He's going undercover, to investigate the Willis case.'
Bee looked shocked 'Don't you remember what I told you last night? It's no accident that Bandit made so clear to us that he paid for the room. He's trying to send us a message.'
'I know he is.' Lemona sighed deeply. 'And this is my reply.'