Falling Awake(66)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Dave’s gaze switched back and forth between Isabel’s and Ellis’s face. Isabel sensed that he was finally starting to listen and process the information they were giving him.

“Why would Katherine take the risk of bugging Lawson’s phone?” Dave asked. “She worked for the guy and she liked her job.”

“She liked her job but she loved Vincent Scargill,” Ellis said. “My guess is that he probably gave her some story about being set up. Maybe told her that he needed proof that I was the bad guy so he could take it to Lawson. He asked her to help him.”

Dave put the coffee cup down hard on the desk. “I’m not buying any of this yet. I need more proof that you’re telling me the truth.”

Ellis hesitated. “I found something in your sister’s apartment. I want to show it to you.”

He straightened and bent over the briefcase. Alarmed, Dave gripped the arms of his chair and started to get to his feet.

“It’s all right,” Isabel assured him. “He’s not reaching for the pistol.”

“What, then?” Dave did not take his eyes off the briefcase.

“This.” Ellis removed a magazine from a manila envelope. “It was in Katherine’s living room. Something about it seemed wrong at the time but I couldn’t figure it out. All I knew was that it didn’t fit into the scene. I tried a Level Five dream but that didn’t help.” He gave Isabel an ironic look. “Probably because I didn’t have enough context. But it did reinforce my hunch that it was important.”

“You stole that from her apartment?” Dave snatched the magazine out of Ellis’s hand and flipped it over to look at it. For a few seconds he just stared at the photo on the cover with an uncomprehending expression.

Isabel looked over his shoulder and saw a picture of a cobra. “Ugh. Snake.”

Dave’s face became even more grim and desperate. Slowly he raised his eyes to look at Ellis. “Where, exactly, did you find this?”

Somewhat to Isabel’s surprise, Ellis slipped off his dark glasses before replying.

“On the floor,” Ellis said. “Very close to where Katherine was found. I think what bothered me was that this was the only issue of the magazine in the place. There’s no subscription label so I assume she bought it at a newsstand. Was Katherine interested in nature and wildlife? I didn’t see any other books or magazines on that subject in her place.”

“Oh, shit,” Dave whispered in a strangled voice. He could not seem to take his eyes off the cobra. He appeared to have been transfixed by the creature. “Oh, shit.”

Ellis watched him closely. “Talk to me, Dave. Is it the magazine or the snake that interests you?”

“The cobra.” Dave’s stunned expression gradually transmuted into anger. “That was the symbol of his avatar.”

“Explain,” Ellis ordered.

Dave put the magazine on the desk very carefully, as though he feared the cobra might strike. “Katherine played one of those big, online fantasy world games, the kind that thousands of people can play at any given time. They call them massively multi-player games.”

“Go on,” Ellis said.

“The one Katherine liked involves a world of towns and cities. The players have various powers and skills. They compete to rule the urban zones. Each player gets an avatar.”

“An avatar is a computer-generated character in the game?” Isabel asked.

“Right.” Dave did not look away from the cobra. “The players give their avatars whatever personality traits or quirks or temperaments they choose. They also select symbols or heralds for their banners and shields. You know, like the knights and nobles did in medieval times.”

Isabel shuddered. “Talk about a setup that allows people to act out their repressed side.”

“Yeah,” Dave said. “It’s supposed to be a game of strategy but a lot of the players go overboard. They really get into the life they create online. It’s like an endless Level Five lucid dreamscape.”

Isabel noticed Ellis’s brows climbing at that comment but he kept silent.

“I’ve read about that syndrome,” she said to Dave. “Some players don’t play the game just to win, they play it to have a life. Through their avatars they form relationships with other players.”

Dave swallowed visibly. “Sometimes people get really intense, all right. That’s what happened to Katherine about three months ago.”

“After Scargill’s death,” Ellis said quietly.

Dave nodded. “Yes. I tried to tell her that she was getting way too involved but she wouldn’t listen. She had introduced Scargill to the game when they were dating, you see. It was one of the things they did together. I guess playing the game after his death was her way of hanging onto his memory. But one day a couple of weeks before she was killed—” He broke off abruptly.

“What happened, Dave?” Isabel asked.

“She suddenly sounded a lot better. More like her old self. I thought she was coming out of her depression. I figured maybe she was seeing someone new.”

Ellis’s expression sharpened. “Did you ask her?”

“Sure.” Dave looked at the photo of the cobra. “She said she wasn’t seeing anyone new but that things were definitely looking up. She said she didn’t want to talk about it on the phone but she promised to tell me everything the next time we got together.” He exhaled slowly. “I never saw her again. Two weeks later she was dead.”

Isabel touched his shoulder gently. For a moment no one spoke.

After a while Ellis reached out and took the magazine from Dave’s grasp.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “You’ve confirmed some of my own conclusions and you’ve given me some useful information. Now I’ll tell you what I know and what I think I know.”

Dave’s throat worked but Isabel could see that he had himself under control.

“I’m listening,” he said.

“Technically speaking, some of what I’m going to tell you comes under the heading of classified information,” Ellis said quietly. “At least as far as Lawson is concerned. But you already know a lot more than you’re supposed to know about the work that’s done at Frey-Salter so I’m not going to worry about it. In any event, you’ve got a right to be informed about what is going on.”

“You mean, what you think is going on,” Dave said.