Page 65 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

“Old man Silas Carnegie stepped down to “retire” last year, the Syndicate has been run by
his Nephew Robin Holloway since. It could be he sees an opportunity to make his mark and
get a reputation for zero tolerance. Cordeaux had been shooting his mouth off about
Syndicates muscling in on legitimate business territory” Dreck said “We know Jaden Whelks
was one of their money men when it came to trade in the Unity. Perhaps it was a way of
making the others notice as sort of a reprisal for Whelks’ murder. You could be right about a
Turf War approaching.” He added. Lomax didn’t like the way this investigation was heading.
He decided to let Tibers and Williamson “leak” some of this to the public.

“Krank is going to take Frankie’s statement. Dreck you see if there’s any connection with
Hagron & Splitt, My gut tells me those two are mixed up in this somehow. Lucy; I want you
to use your connections at City Hall. See if you can pull up the plans for the Casino and the
nearby buildings. I have a vague hunch there’s a clue there somewhere.” Lomax ordered
and they parted ways; Lomax headed to records; something about all this was niggling at
him, something lurking in the past.

Krank found Frankie’s recollection of the events remarkably clear and helpful. He
had recalled the incident with the man that had almost bumped into him and had given
Krank a very detailed description of the man. Something about that irked Krank, he
recognised the description of the man’s face, and the scar above the left eye rang a bell. He
got HQ to send him the details of the Vasilly Triplets to him via vid link. There were no
holographs of the brothers; but the description matched that of the one called Marven. He
too would need to go through past cases, he was sure he had come across the Assassin
before in his first year as a Detective Inspector. He left The Chief and his wife with Frankie
and headed back to HQ. Lomax would be fielding things and sorting the Media. He probably
had a tight lid on things, but something about all this just stank of manipulation, but by
whom?

Lomax had held the Media Conference; it left him drained. He went to the HQ
canteen. Lucy was there ordering a Klipka and a Holiday Cake. He decided to have just the
Klipka. He joined her at a table. She was talking with someone on her communicator. She
finished and smiled wryly.

“That was my ex-boyfriend Dave Teller, the City Architect. He has had three requests
recently for the plans of certain buildings. The Casino was the latest, the Hall of Records in
Hedebar another and then the oddest one. Remember that old recycling plant down by
Grindor Acres?” He nodded and let her continue, “It had to be demolished because one of
the construction materials turned out to be carcinogenic. The Company hired for the job by
City Hall was Feebler Demolition, now part of the Kinray Group, but originally owned by…”

“The Carnegie Corporation Property Trust!” he interrupted “Yes I remember now. That was
in the days before the Zoning Commission changed the regulations about the use of Sintivar
Multi-Crete. It was hyped as the building material of the future. Fireproof, waterproof, and
resistant to twisting stress etc. until it was found that the principle ingredient was mined
from a planet in the Dixar System. It would leech out and be absorbed through the skin and
into the blood stream. It caused lymphatic cancer and induced deformities in the foetus in
pregnant women. The company that made it went bust with all the compensation
payments. The CEO committed suicide, supposedly, but it was rumoured that Old Man
Carnegies daughter lost her first child because of the stuff. The brother of the CEO swore