ANGEL BLUE [1]

LEAD 34: yule shoot your eye out

      I sigh, “I’m not sure.”

      Maria.

      “Hey,” he says softly, making me look into his confused eyes. “The best way to get through this case is to take it at face-value, the deeper you go the more lost you’ll become. Remember what Nikita said, simplify it.”

      “I’m missing the clue to focus on, this entire case is a bunch of murders mushed together to hide what’s really going on. I think whatever happened in ninety-eight is a start,” I say.

      “You saw something,” it’s more of a statement than a question. “Didn’t you?”

      I avert my eyes, “No.”

      “I don’t want to go through this process again, you can trust me Stevens. If you saw something I want to know, is that why you were so frightened back in the apartment?” Sam queries.

      I gnaw on my lip, “There were a bunch of faceless people and they were torturing Snag, poking him like a…an animal. They referred to him as a Diablo and a Subject number, he looked so afraid and he was screaming. He kept calling out for someone; I figured that that’s how you awaken the JH Complex, when you lose someone you love.”

      Sam’s silent, he knots his hands together in his lap. The anxiety is still there, tight like a coil, constricting his insides, I can see from the strained look on his face that the onset of grief and guilt is waiting to kick in and consume him. I cover his bunched hands with mine, turning away from the computer.

      “There was one other thing,” I say. “A little faceless boy was talking to a faceless father about his work; I’m thinking it could be Quade. Did he ever have a father that worked in the FBI?”

      “I–I don’t think so, if he did Dad never mentioned him,” Sam says. “Maybe Nikita was wrong; your Diablo gene has surpassed his. All we could hear was high-pitched ringing, but yours happened just like that night with Dianne Hemming, seeing the Baines.”  

      I sigh, “We better get ready, we’re meeting the parents in an hour.”

      “You’ll be fine Stevens, my sisters and parents will love you as much as I do,” Sam gets off the bed and tugs a black tie from around the doorknob. “I’ll leave you to get changed.”

      I wait until he leaves down the corridor back to the bathroom; once he’s out of sight I swivel towards the laptop and highlight the entire sixth page of text in Snag’s PDF. It’s an inquiry from the ‘Office Memorandum’, signed by the notorious GSP.

TO: SPECIAL AGENT GSP
FROM: [blacked out line]   
SUBJECT: DOC. E. SNAGINSKY
SPECIAL INQUIRY COMMISSION

Request received 13/4/98 by letter dated 27/8/97 from [blacked out line] Commission on Government Security for an investigation of former Associate Medical Examiner to the Bureau, Doctor Edward Snaginsky. Request does not indicate nature of position for which being considered.  

In accordance with instructions issued in connection with this investigation, the field will be instructed to confine the investigation to contacting Doc. Snaginsky’s current references.

(1) the attached airtel be sent to the Washington Field Office requesting the interviews to be done at[blacked out line] under complete confidentiality of both parties.

(2) it is recommended that the summary prepared for the commission includes information concerning Doc. Snaginsky’s education and employment prior to entering the Bureau and a statement from[blacked out line] highly recommended him, all notes will be taken from the Bureau’s investigation and destroyed.