Free Clean: A Mindspace Investigations Novel by Alex Hughes Page B

respect. This is not my case. If it weren’t for the goodness of my heart, it wouldn’t be yours either. Now, tell me what it is you think is so important.” She looked at me critically, and I knew what I said in the next few minutes would determine whether she’d ever listen to me again.
    I sucked in air. “Every victim has brain damage in the parietal lobe, in the area controlling Mindspace processing. The victim’s brains were burned out from within.”
    “You mean a stroke?” She was listening, arms crossed while I could faintly feel an ache in her back.
    “No, a literal burn, an excess of energy. They were killed with the mind. I’d lay good money on it. I’m betting it’s those Frankies Joey was talking about—the ones with the Guild patch. Not easy to get if you’re not Guild.” And though it stuck in my throat to say it, I continued. “We need to call them, Lieutenant. I know we agreed we wouldn’t, but I’m finding more and more details that tell me we need to. As much as it’s the last thing I want to do. You want this guy—these guys—off the street, you want the murders to stop, we need to contact the Guild.” At minimum, I needed a list of names to cross-check with Joey’s description. I knew better than to trust the list they gave the cops.
    “It’s quite a can of jurisdiction worms you’re talking about, a can I don’t see any reason to open,” Paulsen said. “And I don’t know why you’re the one bringing this up. We’ve already made the decision.”
    “I know,” I said. “I know. But if Joey’s right, and it’s two Guild guys killing—at least seven bodies that we know about? Maybe more? That’s not an accident.That’s not an oops-I-didn’t-mean-to-kill-the-poor-citizen moment. That’s somebody with purpose, maybe two guys with purpose. I can’t be everywhere. I can’t protect everyone. And all it takes is five seconds, five seconds for someone to burn your brain from the inside.”
    Her eyebrows narrowed. “Why didn’t you say this before, when we were talking about the killer in the first place?”
    I took a breath. “To be honest, we’re not supposed to talk about details. The training is limited to maybe a handful of guys. There’s rules, Enforcement. Process. I’d rather not deal with any of that crap, trust me. But I can’t be everywhere at once. We need to call them. There’s things they can do we can’t touch.”
    She leaned back, keeping a lid on her anger only with difficulty. “I swear, you were put on this earth to make my life difficult.” She blew out a line of air. “The Guild’s trouble. You yourself have said it a hundred times. And I’m not convinced we need them. Two guys, well, we can track the records, start eliminating suspects. Sounds like something
you
should do. Like something you should have done before this.”
    “I can try to run down the records, cross-check.” I folded my arms. “But half of the guys with that training are off the books on purpose. Black ops.”
    “Of course they are,” Paulsen said. She muttered under her breath for a good long moment, and I did not listen in.
    “We need to call the Guild,” I repeated, though it burned to say. “They have resources, names, and data that we need. Maybe they’ll even share.”
    She looked up, scrutinizing my face, my body language. “What aren’t you telling me?”
    Um, what to say? I settled on a version of the truth. “There’s a lot I’m not telling you. I
can’t
tell you, kicked out or not—there are a lot of Guild secrets I only know of through rumors. I’m not getting my ass in trouble for rumors. But I can tell you this much: At least one of the killers is Guild. Not affiliate, not I-joined-because-you-made-me-and-I’ll-just-coast-along, but hard-core, invested, I-know-the-company-secrets kind of Guild. The I’m-not-listed-in-any-public-database kind of Guild. The scary kind. The kind we probably can’t touch legally. We need help here,