Death's Handmaiden

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Not your fault.’ Tanzi was a moderately tall woman, a little shorter than Courtney but by no means small. She was also slim aside from a substantial bust which was currently squeezed into a one-piece, white body suit, there to protect her from whatever she might come up against when on duty. It was armour for meditechs. Add a helmet and better gloves and it would keep even the nastiest of pathogens out. Tanzi was pretty, like most people from a good family. She had short, dark-brown hair, tanned skin, and hazel eyes. She was, in fact, the eldest sister of Marie, the treasurer for the student council. She was also a competent medical technician and sorceress. Checking someone’s pulse was a little beneath her really. She still did it. ‘No pulse, no sign of respiration…’ She focused for a second. ‘Time of death was twenty-two forty-eight on Saturday night.’

  Well, ‘more than thirty-six hours’ had been right. Courtney nodded. ‘Ties in with the statements from her friends. I know this is asking a lot, but is there any immediate indication of cause of death?’

  ‘Well, that kind of depends on what you consider an indication.’

  ‘Huh?’

  Tanzi nodded to the table the body was lying beside and Courtney moved closer. She saw what Tanzi meant more or less immediately. The plastic bottle of pills, several of which were spilled out over the table surface, had been hidden by the back of one of the seats. The pills themselves looked more like sweets. Each was about five millimetres in length and purple in colour. Courtney knew exactly what they were without waiting for a lab test.

  ‘Crystal Mana,’ Courtney said.

  ‘That’s a lot of them too. You don’t normally see almost full bottles of the stuff.’

  ‘That seems to be a trend this year.’ Raising her voice, Courtney called back over her shoulder. ‘Kyle, get this place locked down and get Don over here. We’re going over this apartment with a fine comb.’

  From the doorway, Kyle said, ‘On it, Captain.’

  ‘Now, the question is, what killed her?’

  ‘I’ll check for signs of overdose,’ Tanzi said. ‘There’s no obvious physical trauma, so overdose seems like a likely cause. Or a severe crash after taking too many in sequence. Thing is, that doesn’t make too much sense either.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Only idiots overdose on Crystal Mana. About the only people who try taking too many at once are the ones trying to really rush the power-gain process.’

  Courtney shrugged. ‘If you ask me, only idiots take it at all, but that does open up the possibility that she didn’t take the pills voluntarily. We might just have a murder case on our hands.’

  235/3/34.

  ‘Death was due to neurological collapse,’ Courtney said. ‘That resulted in a complete failure of the autonomic nervous system and heart failure. The cause of that collapse was an overdose of Crystal Mana. She took around fifteen tablets. Surviving that is just about impossible.’

  ‘Oh,’ Mitsuko said.

  ‘That’s terrible,’ Melissa said, her voice almost a whisper.

  ‘It’s supposed to be a relatively painless way to die,’ Courtney said. ‘Your brain just shuts down. You don’t have time to notice that you can’t breathe or that your heart’s stopped beating. It’s like going to sleep. Anyway, we found a large supply of the drug in her apartment.’

  ‘How large?’ Darius asked.

  ‘Large enough to suggest that she’s supplying rather than using. She was a member of the MagiTag Club, which also suggests that she was the one who supplied Siegmar Tate.’

  ‘She was obviously using too.’

  ‘No, not really. The tests didn’t show any signs of long-term use. It appears that this was the first time she’d taken any. Or, she certainly hadn’t been using it for more than a day or two and the state of the stash we found suggests that she was supplying more than just Siegmar.’

  ‘I’ll get the entire club tested,’ Leland said, his tone low and angry. ‘Still, you’ve broken this problem’s back, right? With the supplier out of the picture…’

  ‘It’s not that easy,’ Courtney replied. ‘No one with a clue takes that much Crystal Mana in one go. If she was supplying, she probably knew what it did. She wouldn’t have swallowed fifteen pills of her own volition and waited to die.’

  ‘Remorse over what happened to Siegmar?’

  ‘Suicide? It’s a possibility, but no one I’ve talked to has said she was acting strangely since Siegmar crashed. If she was depressed about harming another student, or worried about being caught, she was a good actress.’

  ‘You’re saying someone fed her those pills,’ Mitsuko said.

  ‘Not exactly. The autopsy came up with no evidence of violence. She’d have fought back if she was being forced. Equally, I don’t think she took them of her own volition.’

  ‘Mind control, then.’

  ‘It’s a distinct possibility. Yes.’

  ~~~

  ‘Okay,’ Nava said, her gaze on Mitsuko, ‘what’s up?’

  ‘What?’ Mitsuko responded. ‘Nothing’s up. What would be up?’

  ‘You tell me. It’s probably not any of my business, unless you’re getting tired of me, but you have something on your mind.’

  ‘I’ve nothing–’

  ‘Suki, you’re barely interested in what we’re doing.’

  ‘Oh. Well. I suppose… It’s the Crystal Mana thing. If Courtney’s right, we have a real problem.’

  Nava looked away for a second and then turned back. ‘You have a real problem.’

  Mitsuko did not have Nava’s poker face. She frowned. ‘What do you know, Nava?’

  ‘I don’t know anything. I suspect that a couple of people in the Flight Club are using. On Sunday, at the next meeting, I plan to confirm that one way or another.’

  ‘You should take what you have to Courtney.’

  ‘Courtney Martell is not my greatest fan. I need to confirm what Mel and I have seen before I go to her with it. Besides, we may be wrong.’

  ‘Be careful. If this is some kind of larger conspiracy, they’ve killed someone already. I doubt they’ll worry too much about hurting someone else.’

  Nava’s lips twitched, a slight curl at the left corner. ‘Worried about me? You have met me, haven’t you?’

  ‘You’re not invulnerable, you know. There’s a possibility that they used mind control of some kind on Brynn Hermanson.’

  Nava gave a small shrug. ‘That just means I have to take them out before they can use it on me.’

  235/4/4.

  Michelle Yamasaki Sonkei made her way quite quickly into the girl’s restroom in the building attached to the field where the Flight Club met. The members changed there before taking to the air, and it was not uncommon for people to need to use the toilets considering that they were out for most of the afternoon. So, no one batted an eyelid at Michelle heading off there during a rest break from practice.

  She was one of the novices aiming to go to the next Shinden Aerobatics Competition. Freestyle aerobatics was her life. Well, maybe it was not quite that important to her, but it was far more than a hobby. Doing well in the competition had become something of an obsession and, were she honest with herself, she was not quite good enough. That, of course, was why she was taking the stuff. It gave her an edge. She would stop as soon as her talents had caught up with the others in the team. She could stop now, if she wanted.

  The restroom was empty, and Michelle decided to risk it. She slipped a small bottle from a pocket in her suit, popped open the top, and let a single purple pill drop into her hand. Briefly, she looked at it before she dropped it into her mouth, then she swallowed it down with a handful of water. She could stop at any time… But it was getting harder to think of stopping.

  Turning, she rushed back to the door and out into the bright sunshine of a Sunday afternoon. She ran straight past Nava, who was watching the entire thing, hidden by an invisibility spell.

  Now it was time to go see Courtney.

  ~
~~

  ‘Can’t use it,’ Courtney said flatly.

  ‘But–’ Melissa began.

  ‘You didn’t see this, Melissa Connelly. That’s right, isn’t it?’

  ‘Well, no, I guess–’

  ‘So, what you’ve got is the word of a clanless schoolgirl against that of a Yamasaki Sonkei.’

  Melissa’s face twisted into something which was about as angry as the girl ever got. ‘That’s just the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! Are you really that prejudiced that–’

  ‘She has a point, Mel,’ Nava said, cutting off the tirade. ‘It may be unfair and unjust, but my word isn’t enough evidence under the circumstances.’ Her eyes were on Courtney’s face, but the SSF captain was not budging. Which was what Nava had expected. ‘If I can get more evidence, can you act then, Courtney Martell? More physical evidence?’

  Courtney nodded. ‘Get me something I can’t ignore and I’ll arrest her faster than you can blink.’

  ‘I can’t wait to see that. You’ll have your evidence tomorrow.’

  235/4/5.

  Courtney would not have approved. Nava was quite sure that the SSF captain would have viewed Nava’s method of obtaining the evidence they wanted as… well, criminal. Technically, it was, but that was not going to stop Nava from doing it. She was simply not going to capture the illegal bits.

  For example, Nava had her ketcom portable unit waiting to video her search, but it was not turned on while she cracked the security on one of the service doors at the back of Michelle Yamasaki’s apartment building. It was not especially hard. She considered talking to Courtney about improving security, but then she would have to admit how she had got in, and there was always the point where she might need to do this again.

  Once inside, with her invisibility spell working to keep her hidden, she went through to the lobby and turned on her ketcom’s recording program before heading for the elevator. Huh, rich girls got elevators; Nava’s building had stairs and that was it. Nava frowned on the way up to the fourth floor because she had never had that thought in Mitsuko’s building. Maybe her own prejudices were coming out.

  She turned the recorder off again while she hacked her way into Michelle’s apartment, turning it on as the door slid aside. That would look… mostly natural. Now all she had to do was locate the drugs which she was sure were here. If Michelle had been improving since the early spring break, she had been on the stuff long enough that she was probably physically dependent on it. She would need daily doses to stave off increasing amounts of pain and, potentially, the loss of sorcerous power. That meant she was keeping the majority of her stash where she could easily get to it.

  Now, where would a rich girl keep her stash of illegal drugs? Nava mentally kicked herself for the ‘rich girl’ thing. Where would someone like Michelle Yamasaki keep her stash of illegal drugs? Okay, so that actually did not sound much better.

  Nava started for the main bedroom.

  ~~~

  Courtney’s ketcom chimed, indicating the arrival of a message. She had a sort of special dispensation during council meetings because, when her ketcom got a message, it might be something which needed immediate attention. Darius still glared at her when she checked.

  ‘Uh, excuse me,’ Courtney said. ‘I need to check this. It could be important.’ She stood and moved to one side of the room before opening the full screen and then opening Nava’s message.

  ‘Sure,’ Mitsuko said. ‘I’m not sure this meeting is really getting us anywhere anyway.’

  ‘We need to come up with a way of dealing with this drug problem once and for all,’ Darius said. ‘It’s been going on for too long and we’ve made no inroads into it.’ His gaze shifted toward Courtney. ‘The SSF has entirely failed in its role as custodians in that respect.’

  ‘I don’t believe that’s fair. Tell me, Darius, how would you deal with the problem?’

  ‘We need to find the distributors and–’

  ‘How?’

  Darius stalled and then tried for a strong rally. ‘We have to get the users to give up their distributors and work our way to the top.’

  ‘By what means?’

  ‘What do you mean? We ask them who–’

  ‘And they say they won’t tell you. What next? The school already applies the maximum censure possible for almost all users. Courtney has no say in that matter and neither do you. What’s your bargaining chip? Why should they agree to anything you ask?’

  Darius, red-faced, was saved from having to come up with an answer by Courtney. ‘I’ve just had confirmation of something,’ she said as she retook her seat. ‘I’ll be conducting a search of a student’s apartment immediately after lessons end today. It’s possible that we may be able to apply some leverage to this particular student to get her to talk.’

  ‘Who?’ Mitsuko asked.

  ‘Michelle Yamasaki Sonkei.’

  Mitsuko flinched. ‘You’re sure? Her family are… full of themselves.’

  ‘Precisely. I think they might be persuaded to get her to talk to keep things quiet.’

  ‘It’s hard to believe that someone like her would be using in the first place,’ Darius said. ‘You’d better be right about this.’

  ‘She’s using,’ Melissa said. ‘She’s shown sudden improvement in her aerobatics since the holiday. Her and–’

  ‘Let’s stick to the one we know for now,’ Courtney cut in. ‘And we’ll see how talkative she is when we have her stash in our evidence store.’

  ~~~

  ‘This is outrageous!’ Michelle Yamasaki screamed as Courtney’s team spread out through her apartment. ‘You can’t do this!’

  ‘This apartment is on school grounds,’ Courtney said in an even tone. ‘The SSF has the right to go anywhere on campus in the pursuit of its remit.’ She watched as Kyle and Donovan headed straight for the main bedroom. This was going to be a short operation. The other searchers were really just for show.

  ‘I am not a Crystal Mana user. I would never!’

  ‘Then you have nothing to worry about.’

  ‘Tell me who’s accusing me of using the abhorrent stuff and I’ll prove my innocence in the arena!’

  ‘This doesn’t work like that, Michelle Yamasaki.’ Something was off. Michelle looked… just a little smug. That was when Kyle reappeared in the bedroom doorway, his expression discouragingly dark.

  ~~~

  ‘Nothing,’ Courtney said. ‘We found absolutely nothing.’

  ‘You saw the video,’ Nava said. Courtney was fuming. Nava was calm, as always. Courtney being annoyed was par for the course.

  ‘So what? For all I know, you faked the damn thing. You planted those bottles under her bed and then filmed going back to find them!’

  ‘That is enough, Courtney,’ Mitsuko said. Mitsuko was outwardly calm, but you could see the cracks in the skin of serenity. The meeting was taking place in Mitsuko’s apartment, largely so that it did not take place in the council room or the SSF HQ. Yes, Melissa was there, but she was not taking minutes. Kyle was there too, looking like he was readying himself to physically restrain his boss.

  ‘No, it’s not enough! Darius is screaming his lungs out. He wants my resignation. I haven’t heard from the Yamasakis yet, but it’s just a matter of time.’

  ‘I can handle the Yamasakis. As for you resigning, I won’t accept it.’

  ‘You don’t have a say in the matter. The captain of the SSF is appointed by the principal from a shortlist provided by the student council and the faculty. And if I want to resign, there’s nothing anyone can do about it. As Nava Ward knows, participation in the SSF is purely voluntary.’

  ‘Fine, but I’ll argue with you about it. For as long as it takes. I still won’t have you throwing accusations of faked evidence around.’

  ‘What the Hell am I supposed to think?! We went to the place the video shows the drugs were in and there was nothing there!’

  ‘That doesn’t mean it was faked, boss,’ Kyle said. Courtney swu
ng around to glare at him, but he kept on going. ‘What possible reason does Nava Ward have for faking evidence against Michelle Yamasaki? I get that you’re worried about Darius Miller. The man’s wanted you out since he became VP, but you’re not being rational.’

  Courtney’s glare faltered. Then she looked away and the red in her face turned more to embarrassment than anger.

  ‘Rationally,’ Nava said, ‘someone removed the drugs before you went in to search for them.’ Courtney glared at her, the anger rising again. ‘But let’s assume for a moment that I have a reason to frame Michelle Yamasaki as a drug user.’

  ‘But–’ Melissa began.

  Nava held up a hand. ‘Let’s imagine that I managed to get my hands on about a six-month supply of Crystal Mana on my minimal student grant… And that’s not going to happen. So, let’s assume that I’m a master criminal and that I’m actually the person behind the drug supply in school. I’m only pretending to be a poor student living in a one-room apartment and I’ve had a lifelong vendetta against the Yamasakis.’ Courtney’s embarrassment had gone back to anger. She was beginning to turn purple. ‘So, I produce video of an illegal search of Michelle Yamasaki’s apartment having secreted a carton of pill bottles under her bed for me to “find.” And then I send the video to the captain of the SSF, who could use it to have me expelled, and get her to raid the apartment in search of the drugs I planted. But then I take the drugs away with me when I leave.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Courtney more or less growled, ‘you did it to force me out of the SSF.’

  ‘Because you’re constantly, irrationally, trying to blame me for every tiny problem you can find? An interesting theory.’ Both Melissa and Mitsuko looked a little shocked at that. In both cases it was because Nava was clearly demonstrating that she was getting fed up of Courtney’s attitude. Well, clearly if you knew her fairly well. ‘But in that scenario, I can’t really be the criminal genius. I would be a poor, clanless student who could not afford to buy a bottle of Crystal Mana, never mind a carton. Perhaps, instead, we can entertain a simpler theory?’