Chapter 8

The door to Narcisa’s office opens and her secretary steps through. “Ms. Quinn?”

Narcisa looks up from her computer to the door with a smile. “Yes? What is it Maria?”

“There is an Inspector Farai Soria here to speak to you,” Maria says, returning the smile.

The police? What the fuck could they want from me?

“Send her in please.”

Maria nods and slips out. Moments later Farai Soria is stepping through the door, taking the place where Maria was just at.

“I’m sorry to take up your time, Ms. Quinn,” Farai says kindly.

Narcisa isn’t fooled by her niceness, yet she returns the smile. “Please, call me Narcisa. Now what can I do for you?”

Farai steps further into the office. “May I have a seat?”

“Please.” Narcisa waves a hand in an arc toward the set of chairs in front of her desk.

“Thank you,” Farai says as she takes a seat.

“So, again, what can I do for you?”

“There appears to have been an attack on Doctor Donna Wilks, a coroner for the city,” she begins to explain. “Would you happen to know her in any capacity?”

“I can’t recall ever hearing her name before today,” Narcisa answers after a bit of thinking. “What does this woman have to do with me?”

Farai smiles and says, “Not you per se, but Castle Enterprises.”

“I still don’t follow.”

“Doctor Wilks was killed last night.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I still don’t see what that has to do with me or the company.”

“She was found dead inside a limousine. Her driver was lying about fifty yards from the scene,” the inspector begins. “That driver was employed by Castle Enterprises and the transport belongs to the company as well.”

“I don’t know anything about that, but if you were to speak to Mr. Castle, I’m sure he could provide you with your answers.”

“I rather just talk to you,” Farai answers. “I fear that Mr. Castle would just lie to me.”

“And how do you know I won’t?” Narcisa asks, not leaving out any sarcasm.

Farai smiles at this. “I have done quite a bit of digging. You know, it is quite interesting that no matter how well something is hidden, with enough perseverance everything can be revealed.”

“Excuse me?”

“The driver, the transport and the connection to Doctor Wilks,” Farai says. “All these have been buried but with a little digging the connection was found. Can you say the same about you?”

“I’m not sure I follow,” Narcisa says, looking a bit confused.

Farai pulls out a tablet and swipes through a couple screens before looking back up to Narcisa. “Let’s see. Narcisa Quinn. Born right here on Cueria, both parents deceased, recruited right out of college into Castle Enterprises. Worked herself up the ladder. Does that sound about right?”

“I know it isn’t much but...”

“It isn’t much,” Farai interrupts. “And that is because there is far more to your story than you believe.”

“If this is some cheap ploy to get information from me – information that I don’t have, mind you – then you might as well leave,” Narcisa says as the anger inside her starts to rise.

“I’m not here to threaten or coerce you,” Farai reassures her. “I am merely here to present you with the truth.”

“I may only be an executive manager here Inspector, but I can tell you that I leave my naivety at home.”

Farai let the comment slide by and continues. “All of it is a lie. You were born on Xantar 2, in the Xantdros System. Your parents are deceased, which is why you left for Sagittarius Nova. There you met Steffen Quinn and married him. He was then stationed at Solaris Seven where you lived until his death. From there you signed up with DreamTrip to be placed in stasis, in an endless sleep and drifting through the cosmos.”

Narcisa laughs heartily. “You sure do spin a wonderful tale, Inspector. But if I’m drifting through the cosmos in an endless sleep, how am I here now?”

Farai looks at the woman blankly. She expected such a reaction before she came here. “Your pod was stopped and you were kidnapped. For what purposes and how you ended up here is unknown.”

“So you can tell me all contradictory stuff about my life, but you can’t explain anything afterward?” Narcisa asks, shaking her head. “That sounds very convenient for you, doesn’t it?”

“Any records about what happened afterward have to be stored in the computers of this building,” Farai reasons. “But it makes a lot of sense since DreamTrip is owned by Castle Enterprises. It would explain how they found you.”

“I think I have had enough of this, Inspector,” Narcisa says standing up. Her chair slides back, hitting the large window and causing it to vibrate. “I believe that it is time for you to leave.”

Farai stands up and smiles. “Very well Ms. Quinn, but I will be back. In the meantime, why don’t you review this video?” She slides a small card onto the desk. “When I come back you can tell me exactly, how it is you don’t know Doctor Wilks.”

For the first time since the inspector has been here, Narcisa shows a flicker of doubt. She quickly covers it up, but knows that it is too late and the inspector has the confirmation she is looking for. Farai smiles one more time and then turns and leaves.

-

Bryan looks up from the monitor to his father. “I had a feeling that things would start to fall apart once we got close to the end of this project.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Demarius agrees. “With her dreams becoming more frequent and now this inspector nosing around, we cannot afford trouble. This unsettling news will only expedite her memory to return.”

“I don’t believe that we need her for much longer anyway, father,” Bryan surmises. “We have everything we need to finish and start up the next generation.”

“This inspector still needs to be dealt with or our contract with the Alliance will be forfeit. And that would ruin the next generation is before it even begins.”

“Leave that to me,” Bryan says grinning wickedly.

-

Farai slips through the white halls toward the elevators. This entire new revelation is still as much a mystery to her as to the woman she just left behind, but it also helped stir things up around here. The murders over the past few months and now the doctor’s death present too much to be a coincidence. Something is going on here and she is going to find out exactly what it is. She smirks as the doors to the elevator open and she steps in.