Abominations Read online

  “Now... I haven't been keeping up with the news, so I guess I'll just take questions? Unless this isn't about me... which would make much more sense, honestly.” She let her voice go a little dry toward the end, making it clear that she thought all of this attention unwarranted.

  A dozen voices shouted at once, finally causing Haversham to yell over them.

  “One at a time or we'll move you all out until you can be civil!” The large man roared. It got the crowd's attention and they actually went quiet.

  Gwen tried to help by gesturing at a man near the front with her right hand, fingers together, using the whole hand, careful not to point because that could seem angry or accusing she remembered from some show or another. That had been about courtroom stuff, but still, just in case it turned out to be true for reporters too, it seemed like a good idea.

  “Miss Vernor... Rumor has it that you were attacked last week... Stabbed? Is that true?”

  She nodded, then in her crisp voice, she elaborated.

  “That's right. A single stab wound to the chest, it missed the heart and luckily for me a healer came quickly, almost immediately I've been told. If not for that, I'd be dead right now. The blade went in about four inches. I don't really remember it, except that it hurt quite a bit...”

  Moving her whole arm she indicated another man, standing a few people to the right of the first, this one wearing a brown jacket and black slacks, with a fedora on his head. He held a microphone up to his mouth and took a few steps forward. Chuan let him pass, but kept the rest of the crowd back.

  “Will Warner, WTRV... Is there any truth to the rumor that your attack had something to do with the recent string of ritual murders in the area?”

  The microphone pushed toward her face, though the man stopped a good two feet away.

  “I'm terribly sorry, but that information is part of an ongoing Constabulary investigation, you'll have to address it to the proper officials, so that they can determine what information they can give out that won't aid the criminals doing this. Perhaps if you get with Chief Constabulary Detective Peals after our talk here is done? I'm sure he'd be more than willing to tell you where to go with your question.”

  Or at least where to go, she thought, keeping a smile on her face.

  The next question took them into the real issue here, she knew.

  “There have been suggestions that you are not Katherine Vernor and are instead a woman named Gwen Farris, Katherine Vernor having switched places with you using magical means. Is there any truth to those claims?” This came from a female reporter, also with a microphone.

  Gwen chuckled a little, her eyes going wide.

  “Is that what all the fuss is about?” Her voice still crisp, holding the slightest hint of derision. “No wonder everyone's here. No... I guess I best tell the whole story... I am Gwen Farris. It's the working name I took... In part so that I could try to stand on my own, without my family name opening doors for me that I haven't earned being opened yet. The other part... well, I'm sure some of you know of my reputation... If I failed I didn't want to sully the family name either.”

  She looked around the room, wide eyed. “I guess I better not fail now!”

  The reporters laughed at that, as she'd hoped they would.

  The questions kept coming.

  “Did you really take a job with a Westmorland?” This from the back. As far as she could tell it was a really short man or a talking hat.

  “Yes. This one in fact.” She brought Bethany forward, giving her full name and title. “Hopefully I'll still have that job after all this.” She added, causing yet another round of chuckles.

  An older man in the back asked if she'd be attending any social events now that she had a job.

  “Well, occasionally, of course. This Friday's my Mother's birthday party, and I wouldn't miss that... You know how her parties are of course. As to the rest, I'm hoping to contribute a little more to society than I used to... call it a side effect of almost dying. I suddenly realized how much more I could be doing in the world than I had been, if I just bothered to try...”

  A woman actually called out to ask if she and Bethany were dating. This caused a shocked silence in the room, but the woman stood, microphone high in the air over the crowd, waiting for a response.

  “Oohh, now that would be a juicy scandal! “Heiress and Westmorland in Twisted Relationship” Alas, no. We're just friends, and, to the best of my knowledge, we both enjoy the company of men. Still... nice try! I have to say, it's at least a bit more believable than me being a body-switcher. After all, Miss Westmorland is an attractive woman...” She wiggled her eyebrows, a move that she'd seen a few of the men use when she wasn't supposed to notice. The comedic effect hit the reporters hard. Even the woman that had asked the question started laughing.

  “Has your Father disinherited you? Why do you need a job?”

  This came from a man near the middle of the pack, wearing a plum colored suit in that same shiny material that most here seemed to like. He didn't hold a microphone, but a writing pad instead.

  “Oh, no. Not at all. He's fully supporting me in this, in fact. Literally, since he's paying all my bills right now.” Another chuckle went up.

  “Honestly, I'd have to say our personal relationship has improved lately. He's really been there for me during these, what have been for me, very trying times. Mother too... I know it'll sound strange, especially coming from me, but they've really been the force that's kept me going since the attack. Without them... well, I don't know what I'd have done. Probably curled up and faded away.”

  The man scribbled furiously on his pad.

  Finally, after half an hour, she asked if anyone had any more questions, since they seemed to be dying out. A man asked her if she'd take him to her Mother's birthday party. This made the room laugh.

  “Well, you are nice enough looking, but I think that might make my date uncomfortable. Plus, your wife may get the wrong idea...”

  On this high note, the detectives sent the reporters home, smiles on almost everyone's faces. They didn't get the scandal story they wanted, but they had enough to work with, a few funny sound bites they could twist into other things, or even, if they weren't all that evil at heart, the story of a spoiled little rich girl trying to change her ways.

  When the doors closed, Peals took her directly to his office, with Beth and Grimes the solicitor.

  “That... I don't think I've ever seen anyone manage a crowd like that before, certainly not a crowd of reporters and newsies.” Peals pulled a bottle from his desk and two glasses. He poured about a quarter inch of dark amber liquid in the bottom of one and slid it over to Gwen and took the same for himself. Grimes waived the drink off, it being only ten in the morning after all, he said, and Bethany informed them she didn't drink at all.

  “You know, best not to when you can rip a hole in the reality scheme and such.” She smiled when the men blanched and tossed her hair over her shoulder. Then she explained the joke, so they wouldn't be carrying that thought around all day.

  Gwen downed the liquor in a single swallow and had to fight not to gasp after. It didn't taste like anything she'd ever had before, but left a smoky aftertaste in her mouth along with a burning in her throat.

  “Thanks. Well, it was either sell them on that or go with plan B...”

  Grimes looked at her, interested in what she might have held in reserve.

  “You know, plan B? Run at them with a stick, yelling at them to fuck off and die? Isn't that everyone's plan B?”

  Beth started chuckling a little, covering her mouth. It took the men longer but they eventually joined in as well.

  When the laughing stopped, Grimes turned to Gwen and put his hand out, but instead of shaking it as she thought he might, he held it, looking at her very seriously.

  “I want to thank you. The Vernors have been close friends of mine for over twenty years and, well, this would have ruined them... They were ready to take whatever came, when this hit
the news last night, but your performance today... Well... If you ever need anything that I, or I'm sure, they, can provide, let us know and we'll make it happen.” His tone had become deep making the whole thing feel like an oath rather than a simple statement.

  “Witnessed,” both Bethany and Peals said at once. She'd heard this before, but couldn't remember the context at the moment.

  They weren't tasked to follow any leads on the sacrifice case, so Beth pulled out her small notebook and made some notations after a while.

  “We should telestate Doctor Debussey, to see how things are going with the Emma Forster ritual involving the orbs she charged. The only other thing I have for us to do is visit Mr. Pender, the shopkeeper? It's a little early, but this way, if he still has the illegal goods he'll know we're serious and we can give him another day or two to get rid of them.”

  The Westmorland detective looked at her then, as if searching her face for something.

  “Is there anything you want or need to do today?”

  Gwen stopped for a bit, thinking.

  “Well, I need to find a really good gift for Mrs... for Mother. I don't have a clue what to get her. People might notice if it's too generic. People do give gifts at birthdays here, right? There's so much I don't know...”

  “Oh, sure, a gift's a great idea. Perhaps... maybe you, maybe we, should visit them and arrange something tonight? I'd think that the public presentation would count more for the gift itself this year than anything else. Something that really shows how well you know... your Mother. You know, you really are being kind to them about all this. That's a big part of why this will work. No one would expect a victim of body theft to respond so calmly and gently with the family of their attacker. That you're standing up for them so strongly... Most won't look past that. I don't think you understand how bad this is here...

  “Think about it this way, if Katherine had been found in that room, with you tied to the table, eating your right leg while you screamed, it would have been about as big a deal. Well, this is actually a little worse, but it's close to that. Body theft is a huge fear for most people. Especially the wealthy or famous, but even the underclass knows that it would be nearly impossible for them to defeat, if someone wanted to steal their life.”

  The other woman smiled at Gwen and winked then, as if her words explained things.

  Gwen, finally getting somewhat used to the telestator, called Mrs. Vernor a bit later, after getting in touch with her driver, James, who promised to be over directly.

  “Mother?” Gwen decided to play the call to the hilt, since she didn't know if these things could be tapped or eavesdropped on. “It's Katherine. I don't want to alarm you, but have you heard the nonsense that's going on in the news? Apparently I'm another person now. Isn't that ridiculous? Be sure not to tell daddy or he'll cut off my stipend.”

  Her voice came out crisp, pronouncing every vowel separately and making every consonant hard, giving her an accent, if not identical, at least far closer to the one everyone else used here than her own mid-western one did.

  Hopefully Mrs. Vernor wouldn't get confused and think her real daughter had returned somehow. That would be too hard on the woman, Gwen knew.

  “Dear? Oh yes! I heard you on the news earlier. I think you cleared things up nicely. When you're at our social strata small misunderstandings like this can happen. I just hope it's not too off-putting to you?” Real concern filled her voice then.

  “Oh Mother, you know me, I'm not one to get upset over trifles like this. Really it's kind of amusing, Chief Peals, Beth and Mr. Grimes were all sharing a laugh about the whole thing just a few moments ago. Given everything though, I wondered if you and Father would be available for dinner this evening? Perhaps somewhere public... Oh, bother...What's the name of that place Father likes again, the one I hardly ever go to?”

  No voice came for a bit, Gwen could hear breathing in front of her, from between the silver orbs of the device.

  “I don't... Oh wait! Do you mean The Rustic? Well, that will make your Father happy at least. But, are you sure, do you think your friend Det... Bethany, will like it? It's a little common, what with the log cabin theme and all...”

  Gwen shrugged, happy that her blind stab about the restaurant had turned up anything at all.

  “I'm sure she'll love it. In a lot of ways I think she and Father probably have a lot in common, as unlikely as it seems. We'll meet you at, actually, what time would be convenient for you two, do you think?”

  Another pause came, it sounded like she spoke to someone off in the distance.

  “Would five be too early? We've been eating earlier in the last week, so that your Father can take care of early business after dinner, you know, business in the Chinoise, on the other side of the world?”

  That sounded fine to her, she asked if they could take a driver from there, so that her driver, James, could get home at a reasonable hour.

  “He never complains, but he has a wife and family waiting for him at home. I'm sure his time is better spent playing with the kids than waiting for us to eat dinner...”

  Next, Bethany checked on Debussy's progress. The reconfiguration of energy, she told them, had been successful. It didn't remove anything, it just wouldn't let it be used for teletransportation, so the next time they chased one of that crowd, they'd be out of luck trying to flee. Her voice carried a wicked sounding little chuckle.

  “Oh! Also, how's Gwen doing? We've all heard her press event here at the school. She didn't even sound the same! I take it that everything is well in hand there?”

  Standing back, so that her voice wouldn't be heard easily over the device, Gwen listened as Beth gushed about her handling of things earlier. They both sounded... proud of her for some reason, even though she'd stood up in front of the whole world and lied her ass off. Not that she felt bad about doing it, but she didn't feel proud either.

  Part of that, she realized, had to do with the fact that someone, somewhere along the line, had to have leaked, or sold, the information about the body switching to the press. Gwen hoped it had at least been sold, because greed was something she could understand as a motivation. If it had just been, well, spite, that might make sense too. Mathews knew, for instance, and had no reason not to tell the press and every reason to try and muddy the waters. Their last meeting hadn't ended very well after all.

  He'd said they didn't plan on killing her, but he didn't say that he wouldn't rat her out. Besides, he'd said that before she'd tried to brain him with a chair and, given that he'd also stabbed her, his word might not be worth all that much.

  She'd hate to think of Dr. Schmidt or one of the nurses having done it, since she liked all of them. Nurse Rogers still tied for the top spot of cool people on her mental checklist, she'd hate to see her lose that position. The Vernors wouldn't have said anything, and she really doubted that Benjamin Grimes would have betrayed them like that. Bethany wouldn't. That didn't even bear considering. One of the detectives? Maybe, but... why? Besides, if they wanted money for it, going to her or the Vernors made a lot more sense, they'd probably pay a lot more to keep the whole thing silent than the press would for a one-time story.

  She kept all this to herself, not wanting to bother Beth with it, not yet.

  They finally got everything around for the visit to the shopkeeper, Mr. Pender, who'd gotten rid of the goods as promised, giving them to those in need as asked. Before they left, Gwen took him aside and asked him if he sold any writing supplies. His eyes lit up when he realized what she wanted and wasn't trying to shake him down over his fantasy life.

  “Just a pad and some pencils, maybe an eraser and a sharpener?”

  The man looked baffled and asked what the last two things were. Her explanation caught Beth's interest it seemed, causing her to look at Gwen, but she hadn't been asked out of her telepathic state yet, having been put into it to make sure Pender was being honest. Panicking a little, Gwen got the other woman out as soon as possible. A bit of fear ran through
her, having forgotten to do it already. Especially given what had happened before.

  Beth just grinned at her and gave her a friendly half hug.

  “Mr. Pender, she wants a rubber and a folding knife, I believe.” As the man turned away to get the items, she turned to Gwen and whispered, “I can't tell you what a relief it is to have someone actually panic about leaving me in state for a few extra seconds like that. I think you may be the nicest person I've ever worked with.”

  Gwen paid for her new supplies and got Beth to sharpen her pencil for her before they got back into the carriage of the lorrie, so they wouldn't leave a mess. She'd tried to do it herself, but kept cutting the end off, forcing her to start over. James noticed this and tipped his hat to them for their consideration, since he'd be the one that would have to clean up any mess they made inside.