"Tossed and turned," I said. My eyes felt gritty as a result.
"Yeah. Me, too." Ry went to turn on the small vid-screen that sat on a corner of his kitchen counter.
"Philis' sister, Jilis, disappeared nearly a moon-turn ago," a journalist said. "The twins did everything together, according to their parents." I turned, mildly curious as to why twins would be kidnapped in separate incidents, if they were together most of the time. An image of the twins in question, both very pretty blondes, I noticed, was displayed on the screen. The other thing that interested me was that both were wearing identical Stellar Winds logo shirts—the kind the tourists purchased. Those shirts were a status symbol and quite popular.
"Ry, do you see that?" I asked.
"See what?" I was moving closer to the vid-screen, coming to stand beside him.
"They're wearing shirts from Stellar Winds."
"Reah, lots of people have those shirts."
"I know. Do you have a comp or a comp-vid here?" I asked.
"Here." He opened a drawer at the kitchen island, handing an old one over. "That one's ancient, but it still works."
"I can see that," I said, poking him in the ribs. He grabbed me and swatted my behind.
"Careful, I have these things tied as tight as I can," I said. I was wearing some of his pajamas and they hung off me. I'd rolled up the legs a time or two, just to walk in them without tripping.
"What are you looking for?" he asked, le C hewaltting me go.
"Other disappearances," I said, scrolling through names from the past year. Actually, it was sun turn instead of year on Campiaa. I dismissed that thought and kept looking, sorting through information and images that popped up, courtesy of the ASD files I was accessing. Although they didn't investigate routine kidnappings, preferring to leave that to locals to sort out, the ASD (and CSD) kept files on all of it, in case the criminals they were tracking turned out to be involved.
"How are you picking and choosing?" Ry was mystified as he leaned over my shoulder to watch. I was busy searching through records of missing young women, setting a few of them aside in a separate file.
"I'm picking out the pretty ones," I said. After I'd collected about twenty-five female victims out of the dozens of records I'd scanned, I then went searching into their backgrounds. "Ry, look at this," I pulled up sixteen of the twenty-five records. "All of these girls visited Stellar Winds less than a year before they were abducted. And all these cases are unsolved."
Ry was now staring at me, his mouth open in shock.
"Do you think this is what Bel stumbled upon, working the other investigation?" Lendill asked later as we sat in the office he kept inside Ildevar Wyyld's palace.
"I think it's possible," I said. "Starshine certainly played a part in the investigation, and Bel may have gotten information somehow, since they only hand those brochures to the good-looking couples. They offered Ry and me half off our visit." I handed the brochure to Lendill.
He'd managed to rescue my purse and a few other items from our bombed hotel room, including the two boxed comp-vids that Pripps Electronics had given us. No pictures were shown of Ry and me, but the information Lendill released to the media said both occupants of the hotel room were dead, with two others in an adjoining room injured.
"Then I want you to go to Stellar Winds," he said. "Only not as guests. I want to get to the root of this." He pushed a comp-vid across his desk toward me. "There's a master cook's position open at the best place on Stellar Winds, and another job available in Guest Relations," Lendill looked at both of us. He'd been busy since I'd first contacted him with my hunches. "Reah, the first gishi fruit shipment from Kifirin was hijacked by pirates," Lendill added as I read the ad for the cook's position.
Raising my eyes, I stared at Lendill. "Hon, tell Garde to list the shipment as nannas next time. Both fruits need the same type of cool environment to ship, and I'll lay money on the odds that a nanna shipment won't get attacked."
"Code, Reah?" Lendill asked, frowning at me.
"If you want, yes," I said. "And tell them to seal the cartons, so nobody on board the ship can see what's inside."
"I'll do it, as a test run," Lendill agreed.
"I'm submitting my application now," I said, tapping the required information into Lendill's comp-vid. I had my master cook's license, now. Had it since I'd been pregnant with Raedah and Tara. I altered my official records on the application, using the codes I had. I now had worked for Dee's as an Eight-Day cook for three years, instead of only a few weeks.
Of course, I used an alias that Lendill gave me. I was Reah Windle, now. What Cle, size="+0" surprised me, though, was that Ry was Ryliff Windle, my husband. According to the records now, anyway. He had work experience on Le-Ath Veronis—in the palace. Let anybody argue with the Queen that he wasn’t who he said he was.
Lendill had grinned wickedly when he said he didn't want us separated on Stellar Winds. I didn't, either. I'd worry about Ry's safety, otherwise. Therefore, Lendill was sending us in as a married couple. Lodging was part of the compensation package, after all.
"You're going in undercover; I can't help with the jobs, you'll have to get those on your own," Lendill sighed. "I honestly hope you find nothing wrong, but this has me worried."
I stared at the comp-vid; I already had a reply to my application.
"They're asking if I can be there tomorrow afternoon to interview," I said, turning the comp-vid around so Lendill could see.
"Then tell them you'll be there," Lendill said. I sent the reply.
"I have one, too," Ry grinned at me. Of course he did. I'm sure they got one look at his vid-image and made the decision based on that.
"I have three interviews set up for tomorrow," Jerves was jittery with nerves as he stood in front of Zen. "Two of them look very good. One worked as master cook to the Governor of the Realm on Refizan, the other was an Eight-Day cook on Tulgalan.
"Put those two up first," Zen ordered.
"I already did, the Refizani first," Jerves nodded. "He has more experience, according to his records."
"Good. I'll see both of them for sure. We need another pastry and dessert cook, if I like both of them."
"Yes, sir." Jerves nodded respectfully and scuttled away.
"You look fine, stop fidgeting," Ry said softly as I dressed for my interview. We'd rented a room at one of the many hotels located on Stellar Winds. Lendill had ship's records altered, showing that we'd arrived in a conventional manner. Only we hadn't. Ry had folded us to the Starship Station and we'd mingled with the crowd getting off a ship. We'd brought one large bag each, and I had a new wardrobe, thanks to some quick shopping with Ry. He'd practically flung clothes in my direction, barely giving me time to try anything on before buying it. I gave up after a while and let him have his way.