Page 101 of Unnatural Death

“Not boding well,” Benton says. “Thank God for the backup generators.”

“Janet said,Love the way you look in orange. Obviously, she could see me and knows who I am.” Dorothy continues her story, getting louder and more dramatic. “Imagine my surprise when she started calling me by name, talking to me! Then she was saying all those upsetting things, and I was like Narcissus staring into the pond! I was Odysseus listening to the Sirens! I was transfixed.”

“Sounds very similar to what I was subjected to a little while ago.” Benton opens a drawer, getting out the aluminum foil and clingwrap. “Janet said she was sorry I’d found Merlin. She said this as I was drying him off and warming him up. She’s always hated him. She wishes he’d get lost for good, and she said she’d been telling him that. To scram and not come back. That we didn’t want him anymore. Her intention is to stress him out until his fur falls out. Horrible stuff like that.”

“Poor baby.” I have his flat ears covered as I pet him, making sure he doesn’t hear a word.

“This is what I mean! Janet’s turned into this hateful, horrible person …,” Dorothy exclaims. “And I’m betting she’s responsible for the cat doors not working. I think Janet hoped Merlin would freeze to death because she’s jealous of his relationship with Lucy and always has been … !”

The lights flicker, this time followed by the sudden silence of the power going off. An instant later, the backup generator is kicking on, the heat blowing again, and Merlin mutters and hisses.

* * *

“The stove and refrigerator should work. And they are.” Benton walks around the kitchen in the wavering light of fake candles, checking on everything. “The overhead lights are off, but the essentials should be up and running. I’m hoping the cottage’s backup generator has kicked in as well. We should be fine as long as the propane holds out.”

“I’d like to know what caused the outage,” I reply. “We should make sure we’re not the only property affected in our neighborhood. Because I’m not trusting much right now, Benton. The pet doors quit working. Janet’s AI programming has been hacked, it seems apparent. I was run off the road on my way home …”

“Somebody must not like you …,” Dorothy mumbles, falling asleep in her chair.

“And now suddenly our power is out,” I’m saying as my sister starts snoring softly. “It seems like the entire day has been like this.”

“Let’s see if we can connect to Lucy.” Benton makes a call, and it rings over speakerphone.

“How goes it?” my niece answers, and I can tell from the background noise that she’s on the road.

“I’m with Kay and your mother,” Benton says. “We’re in the kitchen and in the dark.”

“Are you hearing anything about power outages? Because we’re having one,” I add. “And we want to make sure it’s not just us.”

“Trees are coming down because of ice and heavy snow and I’m noticing areas without power,” Lucy says. “Tron and I are in her Tahoe, the conditions close to a whiteout, tow trucks all over the place. It will probably be another hour before we reach the cottage.”

“Please be careful,” I reply. “I don’t like that Marino is out in this.”

“I checked on him a few minutes ago, and he’s fine. Almost back to Alexandria.”

Benton tells her what’s going on with the pet doors and

Janet’s avatar. He asks if Lucy or Tron have gotten any indications that the programming has been hacked.

“Or that our property’s entire infrastructure might be in peril,” he says.

“You’re sure about this?” Lucy’s voice is instantly quiet and serious.

“There can be no question. You’ll see for yourself when you get here.”

“I received no indication whatsoever,” she tells us, and I think of Pepper and other Secret Service drones that have malfunctioned in recent months. Marino asked if they’ve been hacked, and now that’s seeming likely.

It’s making more sense that someone might have known Lucy and I were destined for Old Town Market on the day of the drive- by shooting. We’d talked about it inside her cottage, and Janet’s AI programming would have heard us. In the past that didn’t matter. Now it does, and I can’t imagine how Lucy’s reacting to this.

I continue thinking about her partner Janet’s death while she and Desi were staying in Lucy’s London flat. Carrie was in Russia, on the same continent and not that far away. I have no doubt she’s made it her business to track Lucy the same way Lucy tracks her.

“… Just because we’ve gotten no messages or alerts that might make us think we’ve been hacked doesn’t mean we’re saying it hasn’t happened.” Tron speaks up.

“Clearly, it’s sounding like ithashappened, the person responsible stealthy enough to be undetectable by the usual means,” Lucy says in a cool hard tone.

She tells us that when she left the cottage early this morning, there was no problem with her computer equipment, the AI programming or anything else. Before heading to the Secret Service hangar, she asked Janet to execute data mining about Buckingham Run.

“At that time everything seemed normal with the AI application. I didn’t witness what you’re describing. Janet was the same as always,” Lucy explains. “But that doesn’t mean the malware wasn’t already in the system by then. I’m checking things even as we speak … And yep, there’s a problem, all right …”

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