Claire, page 22
They parked across the street from her door. Niall was getting out of the car when he spotted Lisette walking down the street from the direction of the tram station. He motioned for the security man to stay in the car and walked across to her doorstep.
His timing could not have been better, for Lisette, having once again had her fill of the greengrocers and their griping, had decided to come home early and was walking into sight. She slowed a bit when she saw the company car and its occupant but walked more purposefully when she saw Niall, her face fixed with a stern countenance. That bastard! Quitting that evening, were you? A company man, I should have known. Her voice was ice. “I’m surprised to see you here, Mister Harris.”
“I’m surprised to be here, but it’s necessary.”
She jabbed a thumb in the direction of his car. “I see you brought a friend.”
“Not my idea, but he’s here as your friend, too. We have a problem.”
“You have a talent for bringing them to my door.”
“Not this time. I’m here with good news. Bigelow wants to settle out of court. Here’s his letter of intent.” He handed her the Chip given to him earlier. “He’s folding his hand, and you get the jackpot.”
She glanced at the Chip in momentary surprise before returning her stony gaze. “And how is this a problem?”
“It’s Doucette. He’s against the settlement, and he’s got some Board members on his side. We don’t know how bad it is, but Bigelow thinks he can handle the Board. The good Doctor, however, has gone rogue. Bigelow is concerned he’ll try something rash. That’s why we’re here.”
Over Niall’s shoulder Lisette spotted a pair of Monitors walking towards them. “How thoughtful. Is that also why they’re here?”
Niall glanced back, shook his head. “No, they’re not with me. That’s coincidence. Look, we’ll stay out here, all right? You go ahead and look at the stuff from Bigelow. I think he’s on the up-and-up. We’ll sit out here for a few hours. If Doucette shows up we’ll intercept him. He won’t screw this up.”
“Claire’s life is already screwed up because of him, Mister Harris. How could he make it any worse?” She spun on her heel and went into the house, letting the door close a little harder than usual. Niall walked back to the car. How? You’d be surprised. And all too soon, she was.
- Ͼ -
Lisette dropped her coat in the lounge and brought her bag to her office at the back of the house. Despite the general mess she noticed the presence of scissors and tape at one side of her desk blotter. Has Claire been wrapping things? I’ll bet she has another present for me. Damn, I’ve ruined her surprise. She walked over to the window to get a look at her beloved working in the dirt. What new surprises has her suit given her today, she wondered in amusement as she looked out at the yard, warming at the thought of giving Claire’s mud-splattered breasts another cleansing spray. But her mirth was dashed in an instant and she ran for the back door in horror at the sight of Death, looming at the garden gate.
- Ͼ -
Claire had been in the garden all morning. She loved being out there now, bringing it back to life. She had planted a pair of rose bushes along the edge of the center patch to frame the spot where she and Lisette would soon again have their evenings under the stars. The day had grown warm but not unpleasantly so, the clouds giving a show of light and shadow as a gentle breeze tickled her with reminders of her recent and more exhilarating garden session. Claire was beaming as she got on hands and knees to work the soil. It could not have been a better day. And so, it got worse.
The creak and clack of the garden gate caught Claire unawares. She looked up to find an unfamiliar face staring at her intently. A hollow-eyed spectre, gaunt and balding, who wore a trench coat over grey business suit, hands kept in coat pockets. Sitting back on her haunches, staring blankly forward, she gripped her small trowel to keep her hands from shaking and tried to maintain the cool composure of a Drone. But it was a wasted effort.
“Miss de Berg, I presume.” She cringed at the sound of this stranger uttering her name. He spoke with grim smile and mock formality. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Doucette.” Claire shook in recognition, looked up in shock. “You’ve been a real problem for me, Claire. First you decide not to die, then you show up at work and make a mess of everything. Well, we’re going to clean things up right now, aren’t we?”
He took a step towards her. She reflexively fell back. “Leave me alone!” she tried to shout, but it came out weakly as the panic swelled. It was her worst nightmare made real, trapped and alone with the man who had been the cause of everything. She brandished the trowel as a weapon, thrusting it wildly in front of her, but Doucette only sneered as he drew the needle gun from his coat pocket. Claire wavered and dropped the trowel. She scrambled back until her rear hit the bottom of the kitchen door stairs, Doucette slowly advancing on her, closing the gap.
“Bad move, Claire. Your Series is supposed to be mute, remember? Now, do as I say. I didn’t come here to kill you, but…” he shrugged. “You’re coming with me, right now. We’re going back to Capriccio. You’re going to be our guest for a while. We’re going to take away all your troubles. And when we’re done, you’ll be just another Drone, happy and compliant. Who knows? I might buy you myself.”
“You couldn’t afford her.”
Doucette and Claire looked up to see Lisette standing in the doorway.
Doucette let out a derisive snort. “Look who’s home early from work. Joan of Arc to the rescue!”
“Damned straight!” Lisette let her anger get the better of her and took a step towards Doucette. With a flick of his wrist he turned the gun towards her and fired off a warning shot. She stopped in her tracks and flinched as the shot hit the Umbrella emitter near her head with a crackling discharge.
“That was your only warning. Don’t be stupid.”
Lisette wasn’t sure what to do. Pull yourself together! Think! The box crackled again as if to get her attention. He shot the emitter. The Umbrella is down. That’s it! Keep him talking!
She stood tall, struggled into her courtroom persona. She stared him down coolly. “There’s a Capriccio security detail in a car out front.”
He shrugged. “And we’re out the back. They won’t see a thing. We’ll be gone by the time they notice.”
Claire had risen to her knees. “Lis!”
Doucette trained his gun on her. “Stay down, you!” His voice was a bark, harsh and menacing. But Lisette could also see the crease in his brow, the tic in his grip. She recalled the impression she’d gleaned of him from his Capriccio memos, self-centered and brittle. It’s not going like he’d planned. He’s losing control and he knows it. Got to take his focus off her before he pulls that trigger again! She eased her stance, feigned a nervous pose. All things considered, it wasn’t that hard to do.
Lisette caught the faint ringing from inside of her house phone. Was that Niall? Did he hear the shot? Did he pick up Claire’s signal in the car? She could only hope as the ringing stopped. She spoke reassuringly to Claire. “It’s all right, Claire.” Then, to Doucette, with hardness, “Trespassing, threats, assault! Kidnapping! You’re in too deep, Doctor.”
Doucette’s ego was getting the better of him as he indulged in the verbosity common to many would-be villains. “And you’ve been harboring a fugitive, Miss D’Amour. She is in possession of stolen Capriccio property. Her suit. That’s our proprietary technology. Since she can’t be separated from it, she has to come back to the office with it ‘till it comes off on its own. Should only be, what, five years?”
“You might be out of prison by then.”
“And you’ll be disbarred. Our legal team will see to it.”
Lisette heard a pounding on the front door. Break it down! Hurry!
“Not before I see you in court.”
He trained his gun on her. “Maybe. Or maybe I just shoot you now. I will, if you try and stop me.”
The emitter box crackled electrically as Lisette smiled. She noted movement at the gate.
“I don’t have to. You’ve already stopped yourself.”
Doucette’s perplexity at her answer evaporated as he suddenly stiffened and gritted his teeth. He fell to the ground with a groan. At the opened gate behind him stood the two Monitors that had passed Lisette on the street, one holding the stun gun that had taken out Doucette. He lowered his gun and brandished a badge as they walked into the yard.
“No one move! This is an official investigation. We received an alert of a Drone in distress at this location.” He spoke to Lisette, pointed at Claire. “Are you the owner of this Drone?”
“I am”, said Lisette with hardly any hesitation. “This is my home. And that man – ” she pointed at the jittering Doucette “ – came into my yard and tried to abd-, er, steal my Drone at gunpoint. Guess he didn’t know I was here.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.”
His partner had moved to Doucette’s side and removed the needle gun from his twitching hand. “This is a lethal weapon. Any idea why he was threatening you?”
From inside the house came a noise of rapid approach. Niall appeared behind Lisette with the security guard. “Gentlemen, if I may.” He stepped past her and into the yard to present the senior Monitor with his ID. “I’ve been sent here by direct order of Mr. Bigelow. That man” he pointed at Doucette – “is unstable. He thinks this Drone is a human being. It was in for maintenance not long ago and he’s been obsessed with it ever since. He’s deluded, of course.” Then with a wave he had the security guard restrain Doucette with handcuffs. He turned to Lisette. “Miss D’Amour, we’ll handle this for now. Please take your Drone inside and put it into its pod, so it can be checked for damage.” He gave her a conspiratorial look and wink, unseen by the Monitors.
“Oh, uh, right. Good idea.” Lisette moved to Claire, who was already on her feet and walking in a small circle, hugging herself. She went to take her arm but Claire hugged her tightly, her body trembling violently. Lisette returned the hug and whispered soothing reassurances.
Niall shrugged a bit theatrically and grimaced at the Monitors. He spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “Damned CLRs. The entire Series is like this. One little shock and pffft! The whole emotional dampening protocol is shot.” He shook his head while the monitors looked on Lisette with sympathy, thinking she had spent big cash on a bum product. Wanting to distract them, Niall asked, “So, uh, you guys hear the shot and come in or something?”
The lead Monitor gave a shake. “No, we got a ping on the System from a Drone in distress not fifty yards from where we were. We were walking back around when we heard some voices. Guess we got here just in time.”
The other one pointed at the shot Umbrella box. “Looks like the owner got lucky. You know, I’ve seen some weird stuff on this job, but this one’s a doozy.”
Niall grew a crooked smile. “You got that right.”
By this time Lisette had put an arm around Claire’s waist and was walking her back into the house. A distant siren’s wail grew louder. Lis got Claire upstairs and down the hall. She hugged her again, tightly. Then she looked at her, watched the tears that had flowed run down the waterproof mask in beads, shining like diamonds in the skylight light. She lifted her hand and wiped them away.
“Police will be here soon. I don’t want them questioning you. Wait in the bedroom, OK?”
Claire shook her head. “They don’t question Drones. But they’ll want to see me. Only one way they can’t. You know that.”
Lis made a glum face. “Yeah. I wish I could go in there with you. The next few days are looking long and tiring.”
They kissed, long and lovingly. Claire rested her head on Lis’ shoulder. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
Claire slowly broke away, walked into her room, removed her boots and slid into the pod. Lisette kneeled down next to her, took her hand and kissed it, gently stroking Claire’s forehead with the other.
“Sleep tight. And when you awake, this nightmare will be over. I promise.”
Claire returned her loving smile. “My heroine.” Lisette stood up and wiped away a tear of her own. The pod closed and as it lulled the still-smiling Claire to sleep she whispered again, “Mine.”
- Ͼ -
Lisette came downstairs to find the police walking in through the front door. Niall and one of the Monitors had been out front to meet them and were guiding them through to the back. A few minutes later they had taken a statement from Lisette and were leading Doucette, still groggy from the shock, through the house to the waiting patrol car. She was less than thrilled with having that cretin in her house for even a moment but held her tongue. On the way out she stopped to check the damage to her door but found it intact. With a groan she realized that she had been in such a huff coming inside she had left it unlocked. He might have got past Niall, waltzed right in, got to me first. Some guardian you are! Lisette made a mental note to have the lock upgraded in the morning.
Outside, a small crowd of neighbors and passers-by had gathered. Lisette noticed that Ethel was amongst them. Her worried brow eased when she saw Lisette emerge from the house unharmed, but gave way to shock and dismay a moment later when she realized who it was the police were easing into the back seat of their cruiser.
“Oh, Melvin! What have you done?” Ethel’s words were little more than a timorous whisper, but it was enough to catch Lisette’s ear. She turned, wide-eyed, to see Ethel oblivious to all but her would-be mentor’s demise. The police car pulled away from the curb as a crestfallen Ethel walked back to her house slump-shouldered under the weight of a great disappointment.
Lisette didn’t notice Niall approach. “Let me guess: Ethel Pritchard.”
She turned to Niall in surprise. “What? How do you know Ethel? And how did she know Doucette?”
“Never met her. But she’s met Doucette. Its something I heard this morning. Let me look into it. Right now, I have to go. Police are expecting me to come in and make an official statement. You want me to leave our large friend here?” He nodded towards the bulky security man in the Capriccio car.
“No, thanks. I think we’ll be fine now. Tell Bigelow we’ll be in touch, and to have his check book ready.” She paused. “Thank you, Niall. Thank you for caring.” Niall flashed a lopsided smile and nodded before heading for the car. Lisette was back inside before they were out of sight.
Lisette stood silently in the quiet house that had only minutes ago rung with the din of a near-catastrophe. She closed the kitchen door, then wandered aimlessly as the violence of the moment caught up with her and set her to shaking so terribly she had to grab a door jamb for support. Eventually it passed, and her shuffle brought her to the upstairs hall where she could see into Claire’s little room. She watched as the lights on the pod display shifted with its cycle of status reports. Lisette noted the time counting down until that locked chest would open again and return her treasure. She went to the lounge, lay down on the chaise now immersed in an amber nimbus from the afternoon sun, curled up, and waited.
- Ͼ -
The midday sun played peek-a-boo through the clouds as Lisette sat by the window in the café, sipping her tea and scrutinizing her tabula. It had been a week since Doucette had made his rude appearance in her garden. This morning she had had the pleasure of seeing him appear in court. The preliminary hearing was brief. He had been smart enough to cop a plea to lesser charges. It still meant jail time. Not enough, she thought, but it will do.
The incident had put Capriccio in the spotlight and on the spot. They were conducting a media blitz of damage control. Every news show or tabula blurt contained one of their talking heads or press releases trying to remind everyone that Doucette was acting alone and that they really weren’t evil. Notable in his absence from the public view was Bigelow. He had removed himself to an exclusive spa in Switzerland for several weeks and was unavailable for comment, but not before exercising his place as Chairman and majority shareholder by dismissing nearly half his Board of Directors on charges of incompetence. Lisette smiled grimly on reading this. He might not ride the bus anymore, but he still knows how to throw someone under it.
Niall appeared in the doorway and made his way to her table. He sat across from her without ceremony. “How goes it?”
She mustered her courtesy. Niall wasn’t a bad sort, she knew that, but he had still been part of the problem. Every time she saw him, she saw Capriccio. “It goes. Truth be told, it went easier than I expected – seems the Monitor Superintendent belongs to the same country club as Bigelow. Officially, it’s as you told the Monitors. The good Doctor was cracked, took too strong a liking for one of his Drones and became obsessed. No doubt that will go in his favor at the sentencing hearing.”
He nodded. “I thought you might like to know that the new Board met before Bigelow went to Switzerland. Doucette was stripped of everything. He’s ruined.”
“As well he should be. Wonder what he’ll do once he leaves prison?”
Niall smiled enigmatically. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll find a job shoveling shit somewhere.” Then, more seriously. “How’s Claire doing?”
Her breeze went a bit cool. “As well as can be expected, given the circumstances. We’ve managed to keep her out of the public eye. And Bigelow has so far been true to his word. We expect to favorably settle out of court in the near future. I doubt you’ll be getting a bonus this year.”
