Pack Animals by Peter Anghelides Page B

silence, Maddock surveyed the pit of the mall as the escalator took them higher. ‘Ambulances, police… God knows if the insurance will cover this.’ This thought made him brighten visibly. ‘Maybe an Act of God means the mall won’t be liable?’
    Toshiko did not share his callous enthusiasm. She scowled back at the general manager. ‘Why don’t we go and find Mr Belden in the security suite?’ Toshiko bit her lip. It wouldn’t do to let Maddock know just how much she already knew about the layout or staffing of Pendefig. She slipped the tell-tale PDA into her jacket pocket, and showed her smile again.
    Maddock rubbed his hands together with invisible soap, and unctuously agreed to chaperone her to his ‘state-of-the-art security facility’ on the upper level. Toshiko had to endure a lecture on the mall’s dedication to quality, choice of retailers, and exciting mall promotions. She doubted whether anything as exciting as a Weevil attack had happened in Pendefig before.
    A thin sheen of sweat formed a patina on Maddock’s high pale forehead. He wiped at it with the back of his hand, then wiped his hand on the tails of his jacket.
    ‘Nice suit,’ observed Toshiko.
    ‘Jasper Littman,’ grinned Maddock. ‘Bespoke.’
    That suit wasn’t bought in Pendefig Mall, thought Toshiko. No matter how much he banged on about the ten-million-pound refurbishment, Maddock thought he was way too good for this place. His enthusiasm was as synthetic as these plants that filled the gap between the up and down escalators. She asked him: ‘Why are these flowers all fake?’
    ‘They don’t need watering,’ replied Maddock. ‘Dusting occasionally. There’s no natural light in the mall.’
    ‘Why not?’ Even the Hub had some outside light artfully reflected into its underground location, thought Toshiko. ‘Is it like casinos? So that people forget how long they’ve been in here? Keep spending.’ She looked around them. ‘No clocks either.’
    Maddock responded with a thin smile, and began a long explanation about how it was a contemporary design feature to upgrade the principal trading areas beneath unglazed roofing. Toshiko sensed her eyes were glazing over instead.
    They reached the top of the upper escalator that led to the highest level. To their left, a U-shaped staircase led up to the security suite. No escalator for the staff, Toshiko noted. Open-tread steps, scratched wooden handrail.
    No shops on this level yet either. Just a handful of boarded-up units waiting for the retail recovery that might make it attractive to rent this far up in the mall. A library filled the whole opposite side of the open square. Behind a wide stretch of plate-glass windows, vivid posters advertised books, DVDs, readings and Halloween events.
    Except that one of the splashes of bright colour wasn’t a poster. It was a wide smear of blood, smudged upwards until it reached head height. Toshiko scanned the residue, blue lights flickering over the cracked glass. ‘Human,’ she said to herself. A red trail dribbled away towards the emergency stairs, suggesting a creature with four splayed toes and with a rear claw on the foot. There appeared to be two sets of scuffed, bloody tracks – one towards the stairs and the other back from it. They were distinct, not overlapping, so Toshiko couldn’t tell which was fresher. Whether the creature would be waiting for her in the stairwell or whether it had already left. Her PDS revealed no residual Rift energy signs.
    ‘Wait there,’ she called to Maddock.
    Maddock had only just seen the trail of blood. He covered his mouth with both hands. When he looked up at Toshiko, there was a wild look of horror in his eyes. ‘The police…’ he eventually mumbled.
    ‘On their way,’ she lied. The police would be on their way only when she called them in, and that wouldn’t be until she’d assessed the area. ‘Wait there,’ she reiterated. She slammed the emergency stop, and the escalator snapped