Resident Evil_ Extinction - Keith R. A. DeCandido [40]
A knock came on the door before Hicks could reply to that. An older man with a steel-gray crew cut and horn-rimmed glasses poked his head in. “Gentlemen, may I see you a moment?”
Graves started to say, “Sir, we’re in the middle of—”
“Now, Agent Graves.” The older man didn’t change his tone, but something in it made Graves cease his objection.
He and Hicks left.
Jill wasn’t sure how much time passed after that—no clocks in the interrogation room, since you never wanted perps to know how long they’d been in there—but eventually the crew-cut guy came back alone.
He sat down at the desk in a very studied manner, placing a manila folder on the table in front of him. “Officer Valentine, first of all, let me apologize for Agents Graves and Hicks. They were simply doing what they were told.”
“It’s not a problem,” Jill said, matching the older man’s politeness.
“Can you tell me, please, Officer Valentine, where you obtained the tape that was found on your person yesterday?”
“From a handheld video recorder owned by Terri Morales, now deceased.”
Unlike Hicks and Graves, this guy was actually taking notes. “Mr. Morales worked—”
“Ms.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Morales was a local reporter?”
Jill smiled. “She used to be. At the time we met, she did the Raccoon 7 weather. She used to be a field reporter until she was demoted.”
“She was demoted for airing a fraudulent videotape, yes?”
Nodding, Jill said, “That’s what I heard, yes.”
“You don’t know?”
“Don’t care—I met Morales a few times before that last time, and she never impressed me overmuch. And the doings of TV reporters were never something I was overly concerned with.”
At that, the man smiled. “I can understand that.” Then it was back to all business. “Officer Valentine, you were suspended from the Raccoon City Police Department. Why?”
“Excuse me, sir, but are you a U.S. attorney? ’Cause I gotta tell you, this sounds more like court testimony than my giving a statement.”
“Do you wish to give a statement, Officer Valentine?”
“I wish the truth to be revealed,” Jill said in an even voice, “and I wish to know who I’m talking to.”
“I’m a federal agent, like Hicks and Graves.”
“And yet you’re not carrying an ID badge like everyone else in this building.”
“I left it on my jacket, which is back in my office. I can go back and get it if you want, Officer Valentine.”
Jill wondered whether to believe this man or not. Whoever he was, he got Hicks and Graves to jump.
And he seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say. But then, so did Captain Henderson until Umbrella exerted its pressure. Who was this guy?
“Shall I continue with my questions, Officer Valentine?”
After a second, Jill nodded. “I don’t suppose I can get a cigarette.”
“No smoking in the building, I’m afraid.”
Jill chuckled. “World really is going to hell in a handbasket.” She let out a long breath, as if she was puffing out cigarette smoke. “To answer your question, I was suspended without cause. I reported some kind of biological contamination that I saw in the Arklay Mountains.”
“Are the Arklays part of the RCPD’s jurisdiction?”
“Technically, that’s the domain of the county police. I was there hiking, and I stumbled on some—infected people. Later on, I learned that they were corpses that had been animated by a virus.”
“Who informed you of this?”
“I was told by a woman named Alice Abernathy, but even if she hadn’t, I’d seen it for myself. People would die and then start walking around again. The only way to stop them was to shoot them in the head.”
“What were the symptoms of these—these infected people?”
“Lack of breathing, lack of blinking, lack of beating