"It's a little late in the day to show up at those two businesses," I said. "But we can make appointments for tomorrow." One was a legal firm, the other a small electronics manufacturing concern. Hauling out my comp-vid, I called the legal firm first.
"We've already spoken with someone from the ASD," the receptionist was bordering on rudeness.
"And we're still investigating. Do you want answers or not?"
"Yes. But we wanted them a month ago."
"I understand that, and we'll do our best for you now," I said.
"Be here at ten bells tomorrow morning," she tapped the appointment into her scheduling-comp.
"Thank you," I nodded and terminated the communication. "Now, for the electronics plant." I figured this one survived because they made small household appliances—nothing that Dantel Schuul wanted to dirty his fingers with. He'd bought most of the competition long ago. I was more than grateful that I didn't have to deald vhave to with him or any of his employees. It would just be too awkward.
"Pripps Electronics," the face appeared on my comp-vid, mouthing the words at me. I wondered how often the young man said the same words every day.
"Hello, I am Reah Nilvas with the ASD," I held up my badge so the red-haired and freckled youth could examine it. "I need to make an appointment to ask questions about the murders at your business."
"Sure. We were wondering if the ASD had forgotten us. That attack wiped out most of our day crew," he said. "My name is Nirif, and my father was killed on that crew."
"Nirif, I am very sorry for your loss. May I make an appointment to come in and talk with someone about it? We're still trying to determine a cause for this."
"Sure. I wouldn't have pegged Jaske as a murderer, but he was." Nirif sounded angry. I would be, too. "You can come in tomorrow afternoon if you'd like, around third bell, if that's acceptable."
"That's good," I agreed. "We'll see you then." I tapped the comp-vid to end the call.
"How do we hedge around asking them about the information Bel got, without saying he's missing?" Ry asked. We sat inside a restaurant near our hotel, having sandwiches made with shaved ox-roast.
"I think I'll ask if they recorded the questioning," I said. "Just as a review, so we won't go over too much of the same ground."
"Good idea. Let's hope they thought to do it."
"I want to go over the records of the pirating activity for the past six months or so," I said. "Tonight."
"Good luck with that. I thought I'd fold to Le-Ath Veronis and check on a few things." I knew right away that Ry was going to see Tory; he just didn't want to upset me with that news. That didn't bother me; Tory was his brother, after all, and I certainly wouldn't interfere with that. I just nodded at Ry's words and we walked to the hotel in silence. Ry left shortly after we arrived.
I thought about contacting Lendill to see if he had half a click to spend with me, but changed my mind. He was busy with pirates. I was about to do a little research on them. I settled back against the headboard and pulled up the information stored in the ASD's archives.
"Did you know that between the two mass murders, two of Schuul Enterprises' ships were captured by pirates?" I asked Ry the following day over breakfast. He'd been out late and gotten around six clicks of sleep before we rose. Somehow, it didn't even bother me that Ry paraded around the room half-naked, brushing his teeth or drying his hair with warlock ability, running his fingers through the thick blackness until it was styled just right.
"I hadn't heard that," he said, biting into a breakfast roll. "I guess the two mass murder incidents drowned it out on the local news-vids. Plus, I figure everybody thinks Schuul Enterprises is wealthy enough to take dozens of hits before they even feel it."
"Yeah. That's probably true. I wonder what those chips are selling for on the black market," I said. "I'll have to look into that."
"If they're selling them. They could be keeping them for their own use."
"There's that," I agreed. &quoo tagreed.t;I'll check on that later, after we do our interviews."
The receptionist at the legal firm was falling over herself to be nice to us the moment she saw Ry. "My name's Genita," she gushed, holding her hand out for Ry to take. He gave her a charming smile and squeezed her fingers. He wasn't the best diplomat in either Alliance for no particular reason.
Genita led us to the cubicle belonging to the secretary who'd killed six of her coworkers. All the dead worked in the spaces surrounding hers. After the killings, she'd turned the laser pistol on herself, blasting her head off. According to the records I'd read, an ASD cleanup crew had picked up as much of the tissue and bloody matter as they could, hauling it to one of their labs for examination. They hadn't found anything.
"Maris even killed her own sister," Genita sighed as we examined Maris' cubicle. Bloodstains were still on the carpet and chair upholstery. The ASD hadn't given the firm permission to clean it up, yet. I knew about Maris Krastel's sister, Lethia. I couldn't fathom how Maris, the older sister, had been able to shoot her younger sister in the head and throat, killing her instantly. According to other relatives, the two had been very close.
"Do you have vids of the interviews the other agent did with the employees?" Ry asked.
"Oh, yes. We record everything. We're a legal firm, you know," Genita was smiling and running a finger around the low-cut neckline of her dress.
"Would it be a bother to get a copy of that?" Ry leaned closer to Genita and smiled back.
"No bother. Follow me," Ry walked beside Genita; I trailed behind, happy to do so. Ry was getting everything we wanted with a smile and a leer. We did perfunctory interviews with witnesses inside the office, asking if they'd remembered any other information since Bel had spoken with them. Two had minor information and we dutifully recorded it on comp-vid before thanking them and leaving.
"Do we have time to watch this before going to Pripps Electronics?" Ry held up the tiny case that held the data chip recording.
"Maybe, if we eat lunch while we're watching it," I said. Room service delivered soup and sandwiches while Ry and I settled in to watch the interviews that Bel conducted with Abinger's Legal Firm. The story didn't deviate much—Maris Krastel didn't have a grudge against anyone—at least to her coworkers' knowledge, and she and her sister had teased one another earlier in the day, laughing over some silly thing. After lunch, Maris had gone crazy, shooting her sister and five others with an unregistered weapon before taking her own life.