by C. J. Nash
“I still don’t see why you regret calling the governor.”
“Oh, right. My first thought was to just call the Farmer and have him deal with the body. Everyone’s final destination is the farm. Instead, I had to bring the body here and prepare it for long term storage. And now I’m wasting my time sitting here talking to you. I should have just called the Farmer.”
“Did you examine the crime scene? Did you find a weapon?”
“I’m a doctor, not a criminal investigator. I didn’t see the weapon, but I wasn’t really looking for one. The man was dead—finding the weapon wasn’t going to bring him back to life.”
Mason asked Janet, “Has the crime scene been preserved?”
“Yes. The governor ordered it closed. Only Governor Richards and myself have access.”
“Good. I’ll want to examine the crime scene. But right now, I guess I should examine the body.”
Dr. Norton stood. “You won’t need it thawed to examine it, will you?”
“Thawed?”
“Yes, thawed. The body is frozen. It’s been sitting on a slab for eleven months; we had to freeze it.”
“Okay, I want it thawed. How long will that take?”
“Probably be thawed by tomorrow evening. I’ll have Dr. Gardner give you a call when it’s ready.”
Mason shook his head. “I need you to be here. I may have more questions.”
“Fine!” Dr. Norton spat. “Make that the day after tomorrow. I’ll just go ahead and clear my whole damned day for this useless investigation!”
“Why do you call my investigation useless?”
“You’ve been here over a week now. Hasn’t anyone told you about The Day of Secrets?”
“Yes, I know about The Day of Secrets. And I know that no one is going to tell me a damned thing that happened on The Day of Secrets. And I know damned well that no one likes me and that no one wants me here. But if the lives of the colonists are so damned sacred, why wouldn’t you want me to find out who murdered Mr. Echols?”
“In my professional capacity as a doctor, I have gotten to know every colonist and I can’t believe that any one of them would ever kill another human being. I honestly believe that there is not a single colonist that would take the life of another colonist unless they absolutely had to. Whoever killed Mr. Echols must have had a valid reason for doing so.”
“Do you know of a reason that Mr. Echols should have been killed?”
“No, I don’t. But I mind my own business. Secrets revealed too often cause pain.”
****
Janet pressed her palm against the door which swung open allowing entry into the Echols’ apartment. Mason sniffed the air. Dust and dried blood assaulted his nostrils.
Mason searched through all the rooms leaving the master bedroom for last. Except for a fine layer of dust, the apartment looked lived in. “What happened to the wife?” he asked.
“Lisa and her two girls were relocated to another apartment. They took their clothes, but the governor insisted that everything else be left as it was. They will probably want some of their belongings when you finish with your investigation but most of it will probably be recycled.”
“She has two girls? Were they here when Mr. Echols was killed?”
“No, they weren’t here. On The Day of Secrets all the children go visit the farm. The older children look after the younger ones. For the children it is a big all night party. The adult females have their own parties. They generally drift from one party to another, maybe stopping to visit a man or two along the way. The men all stay home as Mr. Echols did. The children couldn’t have been here when he died.”
“Were they with Ms. Echols when she returned home? Did they see the body?”
“No. Fortunately Mrs. Echols, Lisa, had given them permission to stay over with some of their friends. I’m glad they didn’t see the body. It was bad enough that they had to be told about their father’s death. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if they had actually seen him covered in blood.”
“One last room,” said Mason, as he turned toward the master bedroom.
The bed was covered with the brown stain of dried blood, the bedclothes in total disarray. “Signs of a struggle,” commented Mason into his notepad. He donned a pair of nitrile gloves and tugged at the sheets. With every tug, flakes of brown ripped free of the fabric. “No weapon found in the bed.” He dropped to the floor and used the light from his ‘pad to examine the space beneath the bed. “No weapon under the bed.” He completed his search of the room. “No weapon found in the master bedroom.” His search of the master bath also yielded nothing. “No weapon found at the crime scene.”
Mason closed the notepad. “There’s no blood on the floor.”
‘Did you expect any?”
“Dr. Norton said that there was. And if there were blood on the floor, there might have been footprints in the blood.”
“The CleanBot must have taken care of it.”
Almost as if summoned, the robotic cleaner appeared and began sweeping up the flakes of blood that had been deposited in the floor when Mason examined the bed sheets. “So much for preserving the crime scene,” commented Mason. “I need to talk to the investigators who were here after the murder.”
Janet shook her head. “There were no investigators other than Dr. Norton.”
“How can a doctor be the only investigator when a man is murdered in his bed?”
“We don’t have investigators; we don’t have crimes to investigate.”
“A man is stabbed to death in his bedroom and no one chose to find out why—or who killed him?”
“Dr. Norton wasn’t lying when he said the colonists hold human life sacred. So there had to be a very good reason for Mr. Echols’ death. Even if I knew why he was killed, I probably wouldn’t want to know who killed him. Like the doctor said, secrets hurt.”
“Do you know why he was killed?”
Janet’s gaze fell to the floor. “If I knew, I couldn’t tell you.”
“Do you know who the murderer is?”
Janet stared coldly into Mason’s eyes. “I will help you with your investigation in any way that I can. But no one, myself included, will speak of anything that happened on The Day of Secrets.”
“How can you help me if you refuse to be honest with me?”
“I am being honest with you. But your investigation will have to be based on evidence. There will be no witnesses and I doubt that there will be any evidence.”
“Okay. I’m sorry. I can expect no witnesses. Maybe I can work this puzzle, anyway.”
“Maybe,” agreed Janet.
Mason returned to the master bath and began examining the shower stall.
“What are you looking for?” asked Janet.
“There was definitely a struggle, and there’s a lot of blood. The killer couldn’t have just walked down the street covered in blood after she left here. She must have showered first. Maybe she left some evidence, some of her hair, maybe.”
“She? Why do you assume it was a woman?”
“Do you even listen to yourself? You and everybody else keep telling me that all the men stay at home on The Day of Secrets. All the children are at a party on the farm. Only the women are roaming the streets. Only a woman had the opportunity to kill this man. It was a woman who killed Mr. Echols. She may have had a good reason, but that is not for me to decide. It is also not for you to decide.”
“No, it is not for you to decide. It is certainly not something the NAU should decide. Officially we are bound by the laws of the NAU because the colony only exists at their mercy. But we are not the same as the people of Earth. Out of necessity, we must be different; otherwise the colony would disintegrate.”
“Different?”
“Crime, for instance. Name a crime that gets maximum punishment on Earth.”
“Well, how about murder?”
“Okay. On Earth, the murderer would sit in prison for a couple of years waiting on a trial. On M
ars, we have neither a prison, nor do we have the resources to waste on a prison. On Earth, the trial would begin with finding twelve jurors who knew nothing about the case. Also they cannot know the person who was murdered or the person who committed the murder. On Mars, you couldn’t possibly find twelve people who didn’t know the deceased or the defendant. We would know if the deceased were a good person or if he were evil. We would know the same about the killer. We would have already formed an opinion about whether the killing was justified or not before the trial even began. On the other hand, you probably could find twelve people who knew nothing about the case. We like to keep our secrets, especially if those secrets might cause pain to ourselves or others. Silence isn’t a way to avoid punishment; silence is a means to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
“And finally, on Earth, at the end of the trial there are two possible outcomes. The killer may be set free because the killing was justified—or because the defense lawyer was better at manipulating the facts. Or the killer is sent to prison for a term determined by a judge and jury. On Mars, we have neither judge nor jury. We have no prisons. If someone commits a crime that they cannot justify, they must be put to death.”
“And if the killing is justified?” Mason asked.
“Then why should the killer be punished?”
“Was this killing justified?”
“If you can find the killer and you learn the motive, you decide.”
“How many murders have been committed on Mars?”
“You already know the answer to that.”
“This is the first?”
“Yes, this is the first.”
“Do you believe that it was justified?”
“I told you. You decide. But I can tell you that Mr. Echols’ death is no concern of the NAU. The colony is capable of seeing that justice is done.”
“The governor doesn’t agree.”
“Maybe justice just takes time. Remember lesson number one. Or maybe. the colonists are satisfied that justice has already been served.”
“Are you satisfied that justice has been served?”
“Complete your investigation and decide for yourself, assuming that you can find any evidence to complete your investigation. Or you could just cease your investigation and enjoy life here on Mars. Abandon your investigation and become a tourist.”
“I can’t do that.”
“I know.”
“Okay. I guess I’ve seen enough here. I’d like to talk to the wife. Can you set that up?”
Janet tapped out a message on her notepad. “I don’t know how long it will be before I get an answer. I think we should…Oh! Wait.” She tapped another message. “She said that any time was good, so I told her we’d be there after dinner.”
****
“Please call me Lisa,” said Mrs. Echols, after being introduced to Mason.
“And you can call me Mason. I assume you know why I’m here?”
“Yes. But what can I tell you that you don’t already know? Are you going to ask me where I was on the night of my husband’s murder?”
“A week ago, I would have; I have since been educated. You can tell me what happened when you returned home the morning after your husband’s death. About what time did you return?”
“I think it was around ten. I don’t know exactly, but around ten.”
Mason turned to Janet. “Is that a normal time to come home after The Day of Secrets?”
Janet shrugged. “Maybe. It depends. If I were to spend the night with a married man, I would definitely want to leave before his wife got home. But his wife would probably make sure she didn’t come home too early just in case I overslept. Hopefully, we would both do whatever was necessary to avoid embarrassment.”
Turning back to Lisa, Mason asked, “Okay, you arrived at your house around ten. Were you alone?”
“Yes. I have two girls, but they had a play date at a friend’s house. Her mother picked them up at the farm.”
“Was there anything unusual when you got there?”
“I didn’t notice anything until I opened the door. That’s when I smelled the blood. I called Miss Edwards and told her…No. I went into the bedroom and saw him. He was dead. That’s when I called Janet.”
“You didn’t call Janet before you saw your husband’s body?”
“No. Of course, not. Why would I?”
“How did you know that he was dead? Did you check his pulse?”
“He wasn’t breathing.”
“So you called Janet. Why did you call Janet?”
“Who else would I call? My husband was dead. I figured that the governor’s office would know what to do.”
“Did you see the stab wound? Or was his shirt covering it?”
“There was blood on his shirt. But he wasn’t breathing. I could tell that he was dead. I had to call somebody. I called Janet because she would know what to do.”
“And she called Dr. Norton?”
“I think so. Yes. She did call him.”
“And he came right away?”
“I don’t know. Janet called my friend, Patrice. She and another of my friends came and took me to Patrice’s apartment. I haven’t been back inside that apartment since.”
“But you got your clothes.”
“Janet got our clothes for us.”
“And your husband wasn’t breathing?”
“I told you that.”
“You didn’t spend the night with your husband?”
“That’s a ridiculous question. That is the one place I would not be on The Day of Secrets.”
“Because…”
“Because…Because…Shit! You don’t know anything about the colonists. The Day of Secrets isn’t a perfect solution to our genetic diversity problem, but it is better than nothing. Husbands and wives do not spend the Day of Secrets together.”
“So, you didn’t spend the night with your husband?”
“The answer is no.”
“Do you have an alibi for that night?”
“Nobody has an alibi for that night. It’s The Day of Secrets. Ask Janet if she has an alibi.”
Mason looked at Janet. Janet shrugged. Mason continued, “What was your relationship with your husband?”
“We were married. We have two very pretty little girls.”
“I didn’t ask for the status. I want to know about the relationship.”
“Okay. It’s no secret. We weren’t the perfect loving couple. Everybody who knows me knows that.”
“Tell me a little bit about your relationship.”
“Nothing to tell, really. We just grew tired of each other.”
“Indulge me. How did you meet?”
“We were both top candidates for the Mars colony. He had connections with the selection committee and I was an orphan with no family ties. Neither of us was eligible because we were both single so we married and got our names on the list. I was twelve—almost thirteen years old—still a child, but I wanted to go to Mars.”
“I didn’t realize that you could marry at twelve. How old was he?”
“Special dispensation for orphans destined for the colony. Lawrence was twenty-seven. He treated me like a princess the first few years that we were here, but I changed—No—I mean he changed. We haven’t been close for a lot of years. I had a lot of pregnancies that weren’t viable. That’s what the geneticists say about the pregnancies when they find something wrong. We’re not allowed to have children that would be a drain on the colony.” Lisa wiped a tear from her eye. “We’re not monsters; the colony just can’t afford children with problems.
“Finally, I got a viable pregnancy and we had a beautiful little girl. The next pregnancy was also viable. We decided that we shouldn’t tempt fate and didn’t try for a third. Besides, he didn’t seem to care about me anymore.”
“Then why didn’t you end the marriage contract?” Mason asked.
“I wanted to, but I didn’t want to be alone. There are not any single men my ag
e in the colony. And he was good with the girls. I didn’t want to break up our family.”
“And now that he is dead, how do you feel?”
“Am I happy that he is gone? I am sure that there are those that are. But I wouldn’t say that I’m happy—just relieved.”
“Why relieved?”
“Mr. Turner…”
“Call me Mason.”
“Mason, you ask too many questions that nobody is going to answer. I’m relieved because I couldn’t stand living with him anymore. And I couldn’t cancel the marriage contract because I was not going to share custody of my two girls with him. I didn’t kill Lawrence and I’m not happy that he is dead. But I do feel as if a tremendous weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”
“Fair enough. Do you know who killed your husband?”
“It happened on The Day of Secrets. If I knew, I could not tell.”
“You said that there were people who were glad that your husband is dead. Anyone in particular?”
“No one who would have killed him.”
“Well, Lisa, thank you for your time.” Mason extended his hand. “Do you have any further comments or questions?”
Lisa took the hand and squeezed gently. “Just one thing. How has your visit to Mars been so far?”
“Enlightening.”
“Lonely?”
“Not really.”
“Mars can be lonely, even when you’re with someone.”
“I suppose so.”
“Sometimes, tourists get lonely and enter into a temporary marriage contract. Terminates upon departure.”
“Are you suggesting something?”
Lisa laughed. “Not with me, of course. But there are several women who might be tempted if you would give up your silly investigation. Too bad you will be gone before the next Day of Secrets. You could be very popular.”
“Thank you. I’m flattered,” said Mason, as he headed for the door.
Outside, Janet punched Mason playfully. “Lisa was flirting with you.”
Mason laughed. “She just wants me for my genes.”
“True. We do what we can for the good of the colony.”