Deadeye Read Online Free

ajar, and Lee knocked. A female voice said, “Come in.”
    After pushing the door open, Lee stepped into a small, cell-like room that had a window, a hospital bed, and hookups for various types of medical gear. A woman stood as they entered. Like most females traveling in norm-controlled territory, she was dressed in a head-to-toe burqa or “baggie.” It was midnight black, and all Lee could see were two brown eyes. And even they were partially obscured by a strip of horizontal mesh. “Mrs. Fuentes?”
    â€œYes,” Mrs. Fuentes said hesitantly. “They told me that someone would come.”
    The woman’s voice was soft and had a tremulous quality. Lee could understand that. Mrs. Fuentes had lost her husband, was a long way from home, and surrounded by millions of people who feared and in some cases hated her. “I’m Detective Lee—and this is Detective Conti. We’re here to talk to you about your husband’s murder.”
    There was only one chair, and the room felt crowded. “We passed a lounge on the way in,” Lee said. “It was empty. Why don’t we talk there?”
    *   *   *
    Mrs. Fuentes allowed the detectives to accompany her to the lounge. She could smell herself and wondered if the normales could do so as well. It was difficult to keep up with the drainage. Gary had sworn that he couldn’t smell the pus, but that was a lie. “A love lie,” her mother called it—and proof of his feelings for her. And now he was dead. Killed the way she would swat a fly.
    Were the normales really trying to find Gary’s killer? Or were they going through the motions? From what she could see, the woman was pretty . . . Like the pictures in old magazines. It was difficult to believe that such a person would avenge her Gary.
    *   *   *
    Lee ushered Mrs. Fuentes into the lounge and closed the door. There was a table and chairs to sit on. Conti placed a small device on the surface between them. “This machine will record everything we say.”
    Through a combination of good luck and skill, most of Pacifica’s commercial infrastructure was still up and running. But according to news reports, tech-related services were spotty in the Republic of Texas, where some residents saw the plague as a message from God. Specifically, Revelation 15:1. “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.”
    Mrs. Fuentes nodded. “I know about such devices. That’s why Gary and I came to Los Angeles. We have a shop . . .
Had
a shop . . . Where Gary would take broken machines and make them function again. But he needed parts, so we came here to buy them.”
    The burqa rustled as Mrs. Fuentes brought a white handkerchief up to dab at her eyes. There was something universal about the gesture and the grief associated with it. “I’m sorry,” Lee said sympathetically. “I really am. But we need to hear what happened so we can find the person who killed Gary.”
    Conti cleared his throat. “That’s right. What happened?”
    Mrs. Fuentes looked down at her lap. “We crossed the border at the Blythe checkpoint. Then we rode a bus to LA and rented a room in Freak Town. Gary placed an ad on the computers that night.”
    â€œThe Internet,” Conti suggested.
    â€œYes, the Internet.”
    â€œWhat did the ad say?” Lee wanted to know.
    â€œIt said that Gary wanted to buy used hard drives, video cards, and old motherboards.”
    Conti turned to Lee. “Chances are Popeye looks for ads like that . . . He knows it’s the sort of stuff a mutant would buy—and that a mutant would have to carry gold.”
    Lee looked at Mrs. Fuentes to see if Conti’s use of the word “mutant” would bother her. The mesh in front of her