Acolyte by Seth Patrick Page B

dismissive. ‘Then the truck drove up the alley and she was left behind?’
    Bob frowned. ‘Like I said, clutching at straws. Road drag just doesn’t do that. You get an uneven result, flesh stripped raggedly, irregular wear on the bone. There was no CCTV covering the alley, though. We just don’t know what happened down there. There was one witness, the man who found the body, and his statement – let’s just say it didn’t clarify things for the judge.’
    â€˜The upshot of all this,’ said Ray, ‘is that the coroner wouldn’t classify Mary’s death as homicide. It was put down as “unexplained”. Wouldn’t even rule out accidental and go to “suspicious”. The Afterlifers considered this as an unnecessary revival of one of their own, and they saw a chance to make legal precedent.’
    Jonah shook his head. ‘Surely there’s a clear public interest here? That should take priority, so you have good grounds to appeal the decision.’
    â€˜We did appeal,’ said Bob. He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Jonah. ‘Here’s the judgement. It didn’t go our way. The decision was considered borderline. A judge needs a damn good reason to overrule a fellow judge.’
    Jonah scanned the judgement and looked up. ‘The ruling of accidental death and the victim’s Afterlifer membership were the two primary reasons given by the judge, but he also said he wasn’t willing to put the victim through the trauma of a revival given the severity of the injuries. That traditional investigative methodsshould be sufficient to explain her death.’ Mary Connart’s horrific wounds were still visible on Bob’s phone. ‘Maybe the judge had a point,’ said Jonah. Everyone turned to look at him, surprised. He could understand. Even he was surprised to hear it from his own lips; surprised to feel distaste at the thought of forcing a revival subject to confront the terror that had led to their death, considering how many times he’d done exactly that.
    â€˜Come on, Jonah,’ said Ray. ‘Imagine if she’d somehow survived. Do you really think we’d even
consider
not getting her side of things, just because it might distress her? The question wouldn’t be whether we talk to her or not. The question would be how we go about it. We’d do it with people who are trained for that. People who could help her through the process. People like you.’
    Jonah said nothing at first, and the silence was an uneasy one. ‘Tell me why I’m here.’
    â€˜My apologies, Jonah,’ said Bob. ‘I know I’m taking the long route, but I just want you to know how we got to this position. You see, if we challenge again it’ll go to the Court of Appeal, then maybe to the Supreme Court. We might not get a final decision for six weeks. What do you honestly think the chances of a successful revival would be?’
    Jonah thought for a moment. ‘Injuries that extensive? If you did it now, you’d be very lucky to get thirty per cent. Every additional week the chances will drop by a third or more. In another six weeks … even being generous, it’d be one per cent or less.’ An ominously low figure, for a specific reason: ‘That’s below the FRS threshold.’
    â€˜See?’ said Bob. ‘The Supreme Court probably wouldn’t overturn the decision because even if they did, FRS guidelines would force it to decline the revival.’
    â€˜So there’s no point challenging,’ said Ray. ‘And the Afterlifers know it. They’ve won.’
    Jonah frowned, confused. ‘I don’t understand. Are you askingme to be ready, just in case the court overturns the decision? You want me to attempt it if the FRS declines?’
    Bob gave a sly smile and shook his head. ‘We’d run out of options, Jonah, but when I heard you’d left the