The Kingmaker

20 - News

 "Thank you, I really appreciate this."

Eden smiled at the librarian who proceeded to slowly toddle away without acknowledging her gratitude, but she suspected that it had more to do with being hard of hearing than any rudeness. If that was the case, that made it doubly convenient for Eden; she didn't want anyone prying into her business in the dimly lit room nor did she want anyone accidentally overhearing anything. Admittedly, she wasn't planning on talking to herself in this tiny projector room, but even so, it was nice to know she could have some privacy in here.

The front wall was covered in a sheet of white laminate where she would project the slides she found. The other three walls, minus the lone door in the corner and a fire exit at the back, were occupied by shelves full of archived records all the way from the floor up to the ceiling.

It was going to be a long while before she found everything she needed this way, but it was better to go manual than digital. No doubt if she came day after day to use the electronic system to search for her answers, it would leave a trail for others to find and follow. No, she had to be old school about this.

She flicked on the dusty projector and positioned the light just so, shifting the old machine a few inches on its cart so that it would land in the center of the laminate wall. A few twists of the knob and some adjustments later, she slid the first of the slides inside and turned to inspect its magnified contents.

Police Commissioner Found Murdered in Home

Eden's eyes lingered on the headline, noting with dry amusement how tame the language was. The Alexandria Gazette that she remembered had been enthusiastic about using the most garish headlines they could possibly concoct, as if the city's citizens didn't have enough morbidity and gruesomeness to deal with on a daily basis as it was.

Bodies of her husband, former professor at MIT, forty eight years old -

Twenty four year old daughter, graduate of Alexandria University, research assistant -

Horrific aftermath of what police are calling the most brutal and vicious murders this city has seen since the Good Samaritan Butcher's reign of terror in the South End decades ago -

New commissioner appointment being postponed as fears rattle Alexandria that crime rings are retaliating against tightening enforcement -

This was useless. All things that she knew already or had no interest in. She didn't want firsthand accounts of the grisly details or the state of the civilian population following the incident, she wanted information. Valuable information, something she could use to track the targets she had in mind. She didn't know who they were, true, but she would recognize the trail when she found it.

The next three slides yielded similar results. It seemed the Alexandria Gazette's writers had milked the violent triple homicide of one of the most visible families in the entire city for as long as they could, interviewing people Eden knew her mother had never met about how the incident had traumatized them.

People would do anything for a taste of fame, even if it came tainted with blood in the batter. She grinned at the thought of people professing their surpassing grief at losing their closest and most personal friend Laura Ingram when the woman damn well never had any friends to begin with. That was how she had managed to survive so long, after all, by not trusting the crooked tongues and backstabbing hands of the people all around her.

Police determine that this was the rest of a break-in gone bad, and that the assailants left no trace behind that could lead to an arrest -

Three days after the violence, the city is eager to move on past the horrific violence, but it is perhaps too soon to forget the grip that the criminal world has around the throats of even the staunchest figures in Alexandria government and law enforcement -

Oh. Now this was promising. Eden positioned the slide with a little more care, keeping her gaze fixed on the projected image and following the lines of faded text at lightning speed. She hadn't expected much from the headline which had been exceptionally bland, but there was a certain tone to this piece that suggested something more than journalistic impartiality.

"Eager to move on" and then "too soon to forget the grip of the criminal world" in one breath, that was something only a writer with a particular aim would say. On one hand, urging readers to forget and pocket the incident, while simultaneously warning them who was really in charge, the crime barons that ran the city from their underground thrones -

She quickly skimmed the rest of the article which had been split into only two slides. Even more questionable, considering that it had been front page material - whoever had written this simply wanted the message out and nothing else. No fluff, no grisly details or analysis, nothing, just the bullseye point.

Eden slipped the small notepad she carried in her pants pocket and jotted down the name of the writer as well as the head of the editor's staff at the time. She recognized one but not the other, which meant she would need to do a little additional research when she got back to her apartment.

Delilah Mayes, she thought to herself. Strange. The language had been articulate yet so...abbreviated. She would have to hold her suspicions until she knew more.

But what she was really searching for as she dug through slide after slide was any mention of the Salini. Not a direct one, it would be too soon for that. But indirect mentions, perhaps news that speculated on the arrival of new competitors, new kingpins unassociated with any previously known cartel. Gang wars, turf wars, even uncharacteristic crimes that were well out of season: she needed to find the inconsistencies that arose before and after the murders.

After was more promising, of course. The Salini had used the killing of the old police commissioner to catapult their credibility as well as their perceived threat in the eyes of the rest of the underworld. If Nate could be believed, it had been almost instantaneous, but Eden knew better than to trust the words of a man whose brain had already been half wasted away at the time of his most untimely death (she had to wonder how such a thing came about?).

She needed to look wide. Far. The Salini had moved in swiftly and viciously, and yet their existence was still a secret to some. That was only possible through the exercising of fear, the ability to strike loyal terror in their associates so profound that they wouldn't utter the name even under duress.

And it spoke of discipline, too, that they wouldn't sloppily distribute their name on the streets like clumsy street goons. Decisive. Savage. Capable of calling to heel the other cartels and crime rings that operated in Alexandria from every end of the city. Eden had to wonder exactly what kind of person was capable of heading such a syndicate with such fearsome success.

She'd like to meet them one day. Not now, since it would spell her death warrant before she could exact her full vengeance, but soon. Before she killed them, preferably. Her curiosity knew no bounds, and she could think of nothing more satisfying than getting to speak personally with the head of the organization that had reduced her old life to blood-splattered ruins.

But life was short and messy. If they had to die before that could happen, she would just investigate post-mortem and spare a little regret for not having had the opportunity. Simple.

"Show me," she murmured as she dropped in yet another slide. "Show me what I want to see -"

New police commissioner Brantley Stacker, endorsed by District Attorney Reagan Beauchamp as well as dozens of other notable city officials, proceeded to take the polls in a landslide victory yesterday, blowing out of the water even the previous estimates that predicted heavily skewed numbers in his favor. With eighty four percent of the vote and the competing candidate taking only thirteen -

Blah, blah. She needed the other details. Name. Age. Family? Oh yes, a beautiful little wife and two small sons. One of them would be...eleven now, and the other nine. Eden pored over other slides related to Commissioner Stacker, particularly the ones that highlighted his wife and children. That would come in handy later.

Ah, the tragic downfall of public life. There were few secrets one couldn't ascertain with enough astuteness and a willingness to dog the story until the answers fell out onto the pavement.

The barest flicker of light from under the doorway made her pause. What was that? Her eyes darted to the door and watched the slim beam of horizontal light underneath it that was cast by the bright hallway lights outside. From inside the heavily dimmed projector room, it was too easy to catch a ripple of a shadow, the slightest change in illumination.

And she knew she hadn't imagined it. Someone was standing there next to the doorway.

Eden's eyes flitted to the rear of the room where the fire exit sign glowed cherry red in the dark, but that wasn't an option: too visible. The librarian would remember her regardless of how deaf she might be, and attention was the last thing she wanted. If there was a way to get out of this place discreetly, unseen, then she had to try to find it.

Making a disturbance had to be the last resort.

So what were her options?

The door swung outward, which was an advantage. She would also not cast a shadow from her side of the door, another advantage. But she had no way of knowing how many people there were outside, had no way of knowing if they were going to charge in -

Knock-knock.

"Hello?"

Eden smiled. "Yes?"

"Hi, I was wondering if you know when you'll be done?"

She was still suspicious, still alert, but at least it was the voice of an adolescent boy rather than an adult. True, kids could stab and kill just as easily as anyone else (vulnerable, soft flesh didn't put up much a fight where steel was concerned regardless of the hand that wielded it), but at least there was a possibility that the boy wasn't a murderer about to break down the door and gut her in the dark.

But even so. She had to keep her guard up, always had to assume the enemy was on her heels if not several steps ahead. It paid to be over-cautious.

Now, the slides...

"A few minutes, and I'll be done," she called, and the boy answered with a mumbled affirmative and seemed to walk away. No telling when he would return (and no telling if there was anyone else waiting to pounce outside the door), but Eden didn't want to be here by the time he returned. She deftly replaced all the slides before pulling her hood over her head and slipping out of the room, releasing a single exhale of relief when she wasn't immediately assaulted the moment she stepped foot in the hallway.

Time to leave. She'd gotten enough information to keep her busy for a few weeks at least.