“Of course. It’s not like we live in a savage frontier colony filled with violent antisocials constantly trying to kill each other.”
Erik suppressed a snort. “Crime rate’s pretty low on most frontier colonies, let alone violent crime. It turns out when there aren’t a lot of people around, it’s harder to commit crimes. And no frontier colony has the resources for a decent rebellion.”
“That makes sense.”
“Let’s get back to the matter at hand,” Jia suggested, with slight irritation in her voice. “Did Victoria have any enemies at work? I’m not saying someone would be a suspect just because they didn’t like her, but the more people we can eliminate as potential suspects, the less time we’ll have to spend investigating people.”
Richard steepled his fingers. “She was liked by everyone, to the best of my knowledge. I never had any problems with her. She was dedicated to the company, and never gave any of her coworkers or subordinates any trouble. While she wasn’t all that social, she was polite and friendly. She liked to give both her subordinates and superiors gifts on their birthdays. Isn’t that nice?”
“You’re saying no one had it out for her?” Erik asked. “Not even someone who might have been passed over for a promotion? This is a decent-sized company. It’s hard to believe there are no corporate politics.”
“You misunderstand me, Detective.”
“Then clarify it for me, Richard.”
“I didn’t say we didn’t have corporate politics. Sometimes they get a little rough.” Richard clucked his tongue and stroked his chin. He took a deep breath and made a show of letting it out like he was trying his best to look thoughtful. “There’s no one who, as you might say, ‘had it out’ for her.” He added air quotes for emphasis.
“I’m confused,” Jia interjected. “You’re not denying there might be internal considerations. Are you saying she was so nice that no one targeted her? Gifts protect you from backstabbers?”
Richard chuckled. “She was nice, and she did know how to pick out a nice gift, but it’s less about her being nice and more about her choices. It’s not like QA is a ladder to the top. Operations and Sales are where those issues arise.”
“But aren’t you in QA?” Erik asked.
Richard nodded. “Yes, and I’m comfortable where I am. I’m paid well, and I have just enough responsibility that my job is not boring, but I’m almost at my ceiling. The next CEO will probably be an external hire, and if not that, he or she will almost certainly be from Operations or Sales. That’s the way it’s been at Luminous River from the founding of the company.” He spread his hands in front of his face. “We call it one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt be in Ops or Sales if thou wanteth a quick promotion.” He chuckled but again looked disappointed when neither detective laughed.
“So, you’re saying there’s no one with a motive to murder her?” Jia looked dubious. Erik was too.
“Oh, there are plenty of motives.” Richard nodded quickly. “A plethora, if you think about.”
“Such as?” Jia gestured for him to continue, the irritation in her voice ignored or unnoticed by the smiling Richard.
He shook a finger. “A swap! That has to be it. It’d fit with the kinds of cases you’ve worked.”
“A swap?” Jia squinted at him. “What are you talking about? What swap?”
“Hear me out. What if someone invented a way to force-grow clones? So you could clone a person but get them to adulthood in days. Okay, that’s ridiculous.”
“Yes,” Jia muttered. “It is. I’m glad you agree.”
“But what if they could do it in weeks or months?” Richard nodded quickly. “That still makes it possible.”
“What does that have to do with the victim?” Jia sounded more confused than irritated.
Erik revisited the idea that Richard was stonewalling their investigation in a creative manner. But there was something about the eager, stupid smile on his face that convinced Erik Richard believed every word leaking from his mouth.
The detectives had gotten so used to careful conspiracy that they had forgotten how badly moronic well-intentioned idiocy could threaten a successful investigation.
Richard rubbed his hands together, the glee building on his face with each movement. “Maybe there’s a changeling situation, like with Rena Winston, but in this case, the bad guys made a clone of Victoria, force-grew the clone until she was the right age, and then killed Victoria, so the clone could take her place. They probably genetically engineered it to be more subservient to the bad guys.”
Jia stared at him, her mouth open for several seconds before she could get over what had just been said. “So, let me get this right. A secret conspiracy has invented a technology well beyond anything we have, and they’re using it to replace a middle manager at a medium-sized company in a division that you just got done telling us wasn’t even that big a part of the internal politics of this company?”
“When you put it that way, it sounds stupid,” Richard complained. He shivered with excitement. “But you know where the word changeling comes from, right?”
Jia sighed. “Old European myths about faeries replacing humans with their own kind, but that’s just an etymology thing. It doesn’t mean anything in the modern context, and your theory doesn’t make sense.”
“It doesn’t. Hmm.” Richard rubbed his chin some more, the purposeful movement now obvious. “Just because the company is small doesn’t mean there’s not something the bad guys might not want. What’s wrong with the theory otherwise?”
Erik was impressed that Jia was attempting to grapple with the utter absurdity of what they’d just heard.
If it weren’t for the obvious enthusiasm in Richard’s voice, Erik would have been convinced the man was screwing with him, but no one could play dumb for this long and not slip up without being a professional actor.
Conspiracies were real. Deadly conspiracies with advanced technology were real. Erik was fighting them, but just because some things were real, it didn’t mean everything was.
Jia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her face reddened. She reopened her eyes. “We’ll set aside why some dark genetic-engineering conspiracy is involving themselves with your company. As you’ve noted, that’s not necessarily impossible. We’ve chased down some strange connections in the last year, but you’re missing the fundamental problem with your theory.”
Richard leaned forward and nodded. “Which is what, Detective Lin?”
“Even if someone had the technology you’re describing, and even if they wanted to replace Victoria Dwazil with a clone with genetic modifications to make her more pliable to whatever fiendish schemes they had, killing her and leaving her body to be found would make it pretty obvious she’d been replaced, right?” Exasperation laced Jia’s words. “It’d mean they went through all that trouble for nothing.”
“Huh. I guess you’re right.” Richard shrugged. “That makes sense when you put it that way.”
“I’m glad you’re being reasonable. Now, do you have anything more grounded you could suggest?”
Richard snapped his fingers. “I know.”
“What now?” Erik asked. “I doubt it has anything to do with advanced technology and changelings.”
“No, no. I get that was an absurd theory.”
Jia looked relieved.
“Victoria led a quiet life, and while friendly with a lot of people, she didn’t have a lot of friends,” Richard explained. “She was dedicated to this job. She never got married, never dated much. Don’t you see what that means? It’s obvious when you think about it.”
“She might not have cared about dating,” Jia suggested. “Not everyone is interested in that kind of thing.”
Richard slapped his palm on the table. “I’ve got it! The conclusion is obvious!”
Erik vaguely remembered the slapping and phrases from some old mystery drama that had aired a couple decades back. They didn’t have time for Richard to live out his detective dre
ams, but threatening him wouldn’t help.
Jia sighed. “Do you have something concrete to add, Richard?”
“Now, hear me out.” Richard spread his hands in front of him, his eyes widening. “What if she kept to herself because she was a former notorious Grayhead leader. She got tired of the violence and decided to take up a normal job and keep her head down.”
“Hasn’t she worked for this company for twenty years?” Erik asked.
“Sure, but she could have done all that terrorist stuff twenty years ago, right?” Richard gave him a hopeful look before shifting to Jia like an eager puppy. “I think she found out about secret yaoguai breeding. Not the things that were going on in the Scar, but something else. Something Uptown. Dark conspiracy. Dark monsters. Dark fate.”
“Wasn’t that the tag line for a movie that came out last year?” Erik asked.
“Yes, but it applies to the situation, don’t you think?”
A pained smile took over Jia’s face. “Sir, I understand that you’re excited to meet us and want to help. I also understand that we’ve had a number of high-profile and colorful cases, but the average case we’ve worked doesn’t involve changelings, yaoguai, or terrorists.”
“Really?” Richard sank into his chair. “Now that you say it out loud, it makes sense. It’s not like the news is going to talk about you arresting some random midlevel businessman. It’s not sexy and exciting.”
“Exactly,” Erik replied. “Now that you understand, we need to know if you’ve got anything useful to add to our investigation?”
“It’s not impossible that something like that is involved.”
“No, but until we have a reason to suspect it is, we will do this the old-fashioned way and presume normal suspects.”
“Feel free to talk to anyone you need to.” Richard averted his eyes and let out a long, weary sigh. “Our CEO has made it clear he wants a full and quick investigation. I was hoping for something a little more interesting, but it’s not like I can do anything about that.”
“Richard, she was a QA manager, correct?” Jia pressed.
He sat forward, but the sadness clung to his face. “Yes.”
“Is it possible that she might have come across something? Something that someone in the company would want to cover up?”
Richard gasped and sat bolt upright. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. Sure! She wasn’t a frontline sort, but maybe she stumbled upon some records and realized we were supplying chemicals to a yaoguai factory.”
“I still doubt that yaoguai are involved,” Jia kept up her strained smile. “But it’s not impossible there’s a connection to something criminal. Given her position, how unlikely is it that she would personally review supply and production records?”
“That was a big part of her job. She’s a manager, but was also responsible for spot checks. There’s a filtering system that sends random record samples to her. It’s all in the company systems.” Richard shook his finger a few times. “I’ll make sure you get copies of those. But…there is one other possibility we should at least consider. I know it’s unlikely, but I just want to throw it out there.”
Erik’s jaw clenched, but perverse curiosity pulled words out of his mouth. “What is it?”
Richard licked his lips and leaned in. He braced his arms on the table before whispering, “What if she was an Orlox who changed itself to look like a human?” He lifted his eyebrows at their incredulous faces. “Huh? I read an article the other day that said they’re probably centuries ahead of us in genetics technology. The force-clone thing doesn’t make sense for the reasons you already said, so she changed herself to spy on humans but went native, so the other Orloxes showed up and assassinated her.”
“An Orlox?” Jia asked.
“Sure, like a fungus spy among us, but one who was overwhelmed by the greatness of human culture.”
Jia scrubbed a hand over her face. “We’ve already verified her identity through her DNA. So, she’s an alien spy or defector who was altered to look like a human, but somehow her DNA is human?”
Richard nodded quickly. “They did something, you know, alien to hide it.”
Erik stood. He’d had enough of the conspiratorial fanboy. “You remind me of an old neighbor of mine. He also was an interesting guy.”
“Oh? That’s nice.” Richard smiled. “Thank you for the compliment, Detective.”
“But we’ll assume she’s human until we have evidence to the contrary,” Erik finished.
“That’s boring,” Richard complained.
“Boring?” Jia narrowed her eyes and stood. “With all due respect, Richard, it’s a murder.”
“But where’s the pizazz?” Richard clucked his tongue. “Good luck, Detectives. I hope you find your alien. I mean, find your suspect.”
“Uh, thanks.” Erik headed toward the door.
Jia hesitated for a moment before spinning on her heel and stomping after him. She didn’t speak until they’d exited the office and the door closed. “What is wrong with him?”
“I’d say he’s a suspect, but I don’t think that’s chaff. I think he’s just watched too many movies and read too many articles about us.” Erik shrugged. “Who knows? With our luck, it’s not impossible we’ve got a fungus murderer assassinating defectors. For now, let’s stick to interviewing human witnesses. There’s not much else to go on until Malcolm finishes examining the security feeds.”
Chapter Eight
September 30, 2229, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Digital Forensics Division, Office of Malcolm Constantine
Malcolm smiled at the detectives as they stepped into his office, his bright white coconut-covered Hawaiian shirt even more distracting than his normal wear. Data windows freeze-framed on the hallway outside her apartment and living room floated on either side of him. Both were empty of people.
“Good morning, Detectives.” He spread his arms and bowed. “You may thank me for my greatness. I’ve gotten you a lead.”
Erik chuckled. “It’s funny that you’re dating a ball-buster like Camila, but she makes you like this.”
“Confident women breed confident men,” Jia suggested with a smirk.
“I’ve got plenty of confidence already.” Malcolm placed a hand over his heart. “Detective, this is pure Constantine. Camila’s just shown me that I can be pure Constantine and still land a hot, smart girlfriend.”
Jia gestured to the data windows. “Your love life can wait.”
“You just say that because you work with your boyfriend.” He withered under her glare. “Sorry.”
“Moving on. The message you sent during our arrival said you’d reconstructed the feeds? I hope you’ve got something useful because we struck out during our interviews. No one seems to be able to come up with any reason why anyone would want to murder our victim. We’ve just started to dig into the records.”
“Watch this, Detective. They managed to spoof the primary feeds, but their technique wasn’t thorough. They didn’t get all the backup data.” Malcolm made a few gestures, and the feeds started. A tall man in a bulky jacket, dark mask, and gloves stomped down the hall and stopped in front of the apartment door. He looked both ways before stripping off a glove and placing his palm on the access panel. A few seconds later, the door opened, and he put his glove back on and headed inside.
The second feed started. Victoria sat in her back office, poring through a dense field of numbers on a data window. The suspect jogged toward the office. Four flags on short poles stood by her desk, paired on either side, the flags barely rising above the top of her desk.
She looked up with a frown. “Who are you? What do you want?”
The suspect didn’t say anything. He stalked into the office.
Victoria jumped and screamed. She ran past the suspect, whose snatch found only air. He grabbed the UTC flagpole and sprinted after her, catching up with her in the living room. She batted at him, her blows accomplishing nothing. With one
arm, he brought back the pole and shoved it through her body, the flag pushed down by her chest as the tip popped out the back in a spray of blood. She gurgled up some blood before falling on her side. A final feeble reach for her PNIU failed, and her hand fell to the ground. The murderer ran out of the room, closing the door behind him and then jogging down the hall in the same direction he’d come.
Jia narrowed her eyes. “He didn’t even charge her with that pole, and it’s not pointed at the tip. It’s not like I need to be Emma to figure out that’s physiologically unlikely for the average person.”
Erik grinned. “What about a transformed Orlox?”
“Very funny, but if he’s not cybernetic, I’d be shocked.”
Erik nodded. “One or both arms is probably hardware.”
“A cyborg.” Malcolm nodded. “That’s what I was thinking, too.”
“It’s also consistent with Camila’s autopsy report,” Jia mused.
“You read it already?” Erik asked.
“Yes, I read it first thing this morning. The cause of death was, unsurprisingly, the trauma and blood loss from the pole that’d gone through the victim’s chest and heart. There were no unusual chemicals, no drugs, nothing like that. Only the victim’s DNA on the pole.”
Malcolm swiped through the air. The feed windows disappeared, replaced by a dense oscillating waveform display annotated with tiny numbers and notes Jia couldn’t read.
He nodded at the new evidence. “There was a weird local signal, too. It was messing with her PNIU and the security cameras, but there doesn’t seem to have been low-level systems access. The logs show slight discrepancies, but like I said, they didn’t get the backup data. They simply erased it, but weren’t thorough enough to stop reconstitution.”
“They obviously hacked the feed,” Erik concluded. “Otherwise, we would have seen the suspect before.”
“That’s just it. The discrepancies don’t start until the guy enters the feed.” Malcolm frowned at the data window. “Why play it that loose? I don’t know what it means, but we’ve got a trail now.”
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