Uxxl Aogan had helped to redress this imbalance and even defended some clients for nothing. He simply wanted to lessen the injustices meted out to those of his own species who were the most vulnerable. Many had little hope of ever paying for his help but he knew that and didn’t demand it.
“He also has a Human wife called Zelene and two children, a boy named Lex and a girl named Mino. I won’t be coming with you this time,” Curtis told her. She began to read through the list of questions he’d prepared for her. “I want you to have some experience of interviewing without having me to rely on. It’s all part of your training. Do you have any questions, Trainee Assistant?” He smiled at her and as always loved to see her sea-green eyes and olive brown skin.
“Yes, sir. What time is the appointment?”
“It’s up to you to make the appointment. He might want to come here or you may have to go to him. I’ll leave that for you to organise. Meanwhile I’ll be working here at my computer. Let me know if you need me.”
He turned away from Janux and began to type out a summary of his last interview with Oskin Vasco. He’d found him to be complex and inspired no confidence, but neither did he inspire total revulsion. To Curtis he seemed to be a Jekyll and Hyde type, unpredictable and very likely capable of violence and manipulation.
Janux finished reading the list and was now dialling Uxxl’s number. He could hear her making an appointment at his office in the village for that afternoon.
“I’ll be meeting him at two,” she said, putting the papers in her bag.
“Thanks,” Curtis replied. “I believe he’ll be able to tell you quite a bit that may be of help in finding out the truth about this murder.”
“So you don’t believe the husband was responsible?”
“Of course everything points to him, but no, I don’t think so. Neither does his son, Aidan.”
“Any suspects?” She looked at him with a serious expression.
“Not yet, I’m afraid, but then it’s early days. Good luck with the interview. Can you meet me at the People’s Microchip Centre when you’re through? It’s next to the library.”
“Yes, of course, but I don’t understand why you’re so easygoing about these chips. Don’t you see what we’ll become?”
“My parents taught me to obey Human law when there’s no other option.”
“I think you need to know what I found out in Ireland,” she said.
“Does this have something to do with your internet research?”
“Yes, and it has to do with my having the telepathy gene. While we were in Ireland, my father told me about an old woman called Ma Keoghan who he said could explain some things to me. So I went to see her and she told me I wasn’t the only woman with the telepathy gene. It’s a long story, but I think there may be other women on Muritai who are like me.
Ever since we returned from holiday I’ve been getting more static. I used to get it before and just ignored it. Now I know the truth I think it may be important.”
“I’d like to hear the whole story some time, Trainee Assistant, when we have some spare time to spend together. Perhaps tonight?”
Curtis wanted to take Janux in his arms but he restrained himself. They had both agreed to stick to business as usual.
Janux alighted from the taxi outside Uxxl Aogan’s office. The building was situated in a small block of shops with a bakery at one end and a dentist at the other. The name, Uxxl Aogan, Criminal Lawyer, was painted in gold letters across the entranceway. She opened the glass-panelled door and saw a well-dressed woman about forty years old sitting behind a handsome, leather-covered desk.
“I’ve come to see Mr Aogan,” Janux said to the woman, whose face looked tired and pale under her makeup.
“Janux Lennan? He’s expecting you. I’ll just let him know you’re here. Take a seat.”
Janux heard a man’s voice say, “Thanks, Zelene. Please show her in.”
Zelene ushered Janux into a sparse but expensively decorated office. Uxxl stood and bowed slightly towards Janux. She saw he was very tall and had shoulder-length, brown, wavy hair hanging untidily around his face. But Janux also saw there was something wrong with him. He looked frail and weak and had to sit down again straight away.
“Mr Aogan, as you know I’ve come to interview you on behalf of a client who has hired Curtis McCoy to find out who killed Nayxana Vasco. I’m Mr McCoy’s Trainee Assistant and have been sent to help him with his workload. We’ve been informed that you knew the victim well and therefore may be able to shed a little more light on what may have happened that day.”
“You can call me Uxxl. And yes, of course I’ll answer your questions as honestly as I can, Mrs. Lennan.”
After waiting while he coughed several times, she said, “Janux, please, I prefer that. Now can you tell me a little about the kind of relationship you had with Nayxana?”
“We were lovers and she lived in our house. That is, my wife and I, Zelene, both agreed that it was good for Nayxana to live with us. The plan was that eventually, when she’d divorced her husband, we’d have a Ryxin marriage. I’d discussed all this with Zelene and she was happy for me go ahead with the plan. The problem was that Nayxana had to persuade Oskin to let her go. He wasn’t cooperative in that area and so we were resigned to waiting for as long as it took. Nayxana and I loved each other and I’d asked her to become my Number Two Wife. That’s why I’ve become ill since her death.” Uxxl coughed again and reached for a glass of water, which he picked up with a shaky hand and drank from.
“I’m sorry. Did she tell you much about her marriage?”
“Yes, quite a lot. He virtually kept her prisoner in their home. She was controlled to the extent that even being late home caused her great anxiety. She was afraid of Oskin and knew what he was capable of.” Once more he picked up the water glass and sipped. Janux noticed how thin his fingers were.
“Do you think Oskin murdered his wife?”
“I can’t say for sure. But I don’t think he would’ve gone that far. My opinion is that someone else murdered my darling Nayxana – most likely a Ryxin male.”
“Why would that have happened, do you think?”
“I don’t know what the motive could’ve been but Oskin was having Nayxana followed and watched almost all the time. I saw this man and he looked Ryxin to me. Of course, he did have a day off now and then. For instance I never saw him on the day she was killed. Usually he was standing on the footpath opposite our house, but not that day.”
“Did you and she communicate telepathically?”
Uxxl’s face grew even paler and he reached weakly for the water glass again. “That’s a dangerous question, Janux.”
“I know but I’m looking at all possibilities.”
He paused. “Yes, we did communicate that way.”
“Did this man who was watching her have the same day off each week?”
“No, that’s the funny thing. The days off weren’t the same, but there was always one day in the week when he wasn’t watching her. In fact I’d started taking her to work with me so she wasn’t left alone, except for the one day a week when she helped out at the Women’s Refuge.”
“So you didn’t see him on the day Nayxana died?”
“Not that day. I’ve never seen him since either.” He took another sip of water and coughed several times.
“Can you give me a description of him?”
“Quite short, thick-set and strongly built. Mind you, I only saw him from a distance.”
“Was Oskin ever violent towards Nayxana?”
“He was once that I know of. But I was able to haul him off her. He’d twisted her arm up her back and was just about choking her too. She was screaming in pain before he blocked off her windpipe. All because she’d got home late and he worked out she’d been seeing someone.”
“How did you know she needed help?”
“She sent me a telepathic message. I’d known she could do that ever since we became close. When she left my
office that day she was scared and I told her to let me know immediately if she needed my help. It turned out she wasn’t okay and I stepped in and took care of things. Nayxana came to my place that night and never even went back for her things. Both Zelene and I welcomed her into our home.”
“How long had you been sleeping with each other?”
“About fifteen months. Then she lived with us for just over three months before being viciously killed.” He bowed his head and Janux saw tears running down his cheeks.
He wiped his face with the back of his hand and turned away to look out of the window onto the street. Janux could see this once strong and confident man was a weakened invalid. She knew he was not only suffering from grief but also from the Ryxin blood-sickness – what was sometimes called the sacred sickness. Only time could heal him from the ancient curse all Ryxin males were afflicted with. After the telepathy gene had been taken from the female Ryxins, to disempower them, Queen Ryxina had imposed this curse which served to disempower the men, at least for a while.
It only took a few months of marriage or sleeping with a Ryxin partner for the man’s blood-type change to be fully accomplished. After that the wife or partner’s death would be the only thing that allowed the changing back of the male’s blood-type to what it had previously been. But this process always brought on a severely debilitating sickness in the male partner, usually lasting around two years, while his blood slowly reverted back to being just his again. This was purely a male affliction.
“So you had no idea of this man’s name – the one who was watching her?”
Uxxl turned back to face her. “No idea at all. Wish I did. But there is something. You see, she sent me more than one message the day she died.”
This was the kind of information Janux had been hoping to hear. “What did she say?”
“That day she wanted to go up the road, just a short way, and buy us doughnuts for morning tea. I told her to be careful. After she’d been gone about twenty minutes I began to worry because it should have taken her no longer then ten. Then she started sending messages. She said a van stopped near her and a woman got out and asked her directions, and while they were both looking at a map, a man had put his hand over her mouth and tried to drag her to this van. As they struggled she dropped the bag of doughnuts.”
“Did she recognise either of them?” Janux was on tenterhooks now and didn’t want Uxxl to lose the thread of what he was telling her. He looked drowsy.
“She said he was one of the men who’d been watching her. She managed to pull free and tried to run, but he dragged her back and threw her into the back of the van. The man then climbed in with her, slammed the doors shut and called for the woman to drive away. She did, very fast, and Nayxana said she was being been thrown around as they sped round corners and drove over potholes and bumps in the road.”
“So she was able to keep sending you messages all the way?” Janux asked him.
Tears began to run down Uxxl’s face. “I didn’t want to tell you about these things,” he said, wiping his eyes with the back of his thin, bony hand. “It broke my heart to know there was nothing I could do to save her. I keep thinking I should have done something – after all I was supposed to protect her. She told me the van smelled of fish. He’d put a gag over her mouth so she couldn’t call out for help, and tied her wrists and ankles together. After that he threw a smelly old blanket over her so she couldn’t see anything either.”
“Did she have any idea where they were taking her?” Janux had taken notes on everything Uxxl told her. She knew her report would be full of useful information and she hoped Curtis was going to be impressed with it.
“No, but she said after a while the van stopped, and the man got out to drive while the woman climbed into the back with her. The woman talked to her and told her when they were nearly at their destination. She also told Nayxana not to worry. Perhaps the woman didn’t know what they were going to do to her.”
“Was there anything else?” Janux wondered how much longer he could keep talking. His face looked contorted with pain.
“She said the van stopped again and she could hear the man talking to someone so she started kicking out at the sides of the van. Then something cold and wet was put over her face and she became very tired and that was it – no more messages. In fact the last message she sent was cut off halfway through. She said something like – I know who the woman is – but that was all.”
Janux had one more question she had to ask. “Do you know anyone with a motive to kill Nayxana? Who hated her that much? Apart from her husband who may have wanted payback?”
“I’m sorry – I really can’t be of any more help. I couldn’t imagine anyone hating her.” Then his eyes began to close and his head fell forward. Uxxl Aogan seemed to have fallen asleep.
“Thanks for your help,” Janux said but received no reply.
She stood up and opened the door leading to the reception area, almost knocking Zelene over. She must’ve been listening at the door and now hastily returned to her desk.
Janux smiled and decided to ask Zelene one or two questions before leaving.
“I wonder if you’d mind answering some questions relating to the death of Nayxana Vasco, seeing she lived in your house.”
“Of course, please take a seat.”
“Your husband has told me how Nayxana used to accompany him to the office sometimes so that she’d be safe. Were you here on the day she went missing and was subsequently found murdered?”
Janux noticed Zelene’s face immediately appeared tense. “No, I was helping out at the Ryxin Women’s Refuge that day.”
“How often did you go there?”
“I started going there more often after Nayxana began coming to the office. Uxxl wanted her to practice the reception duties on her own, unaided by my assistance.”
Janux sensed that Nayxana’s presence in the household may not have been as welcomed as he’d portrayed to her. “So when Nayxana went missing that day, did Uxxl phone and tell you about it?”
“No, I didn’t find out until he picked me up at 4.30 p.m.”
“Did he seem upset?”
“Yes, he was worried, he said, but didn’t want to go to the Human police. He knew they wouldn’t have started searching for her until forty-eight hours had passed. That’s the rule for missing Ryxins. They say Ryxins must search for their own people first and then after two days, the H-police will assist. By then it’s usually too late.”
“Did Uxxl tell you about the messages Nayxana had sent him after she was kidnapped?”
“No, he never discussed anything they said to each other. He said he had no idea what to do. Later that day he found out she’d been murdered in her own home. He began to change after that. Now he’s a wreck and can’t even work.”
CHAPTER 6
Janux had arranged to meet Curtis at 4 p.m. The sign outside the concrete slab structure simply stated: People’s Microchip Centre. People was now the modern term that had to be included in the official names of all public buildings but was also being used on other businesses. Janux supposed it was a way of including everyone, no matter which species they happened to be. There were now places called People’s Hospital, People’s Hairdresser and People’s Supermarket. Janux hated this because she knew what it all meant – a kind of lumping of everyone into the same category, like jellybeans in a jar. She didn’t want to be a jellybean and particularly didn’t want to be microchipped.
On the plus side, the Ryxin Justice Department, as it was now called, was getting bigger and bigger and actually helping the people it was designed to help. The severe authoritarian Ryxin pure-blood element was diminishing as more Ryxin half-bloods began to work for the RJD, including women.
Half-blood women who were victims of Ryxin rape could now report their crimes, and about seventy percent of the rapists were caught and dealt with in the Ryxin court system. Neither was any leniency given when their sentences were handed down. Usually these men were in
stantly sterilised, and then had to give half of their wages for two years to the woman they’d raped. If she became pregnant because of the rape she was ordered to have an abortion, and the man responsible served a ten-year prison sentence as well as being sterilised.
The Human government had given permission for such prisoners to see out their sentence in one of the maximum security prisons they had set up around the country. So Ryxin women were finally being acknowledged as legitimate victims – at least by the RJD if not by pure-blood Ryxins.
“Come on then, let’s get this done,” Curtis said as he walked towards Janux who was sitting on a wooden bench outside the centre.
“How long will it take?” she said. He could tell she was nervous about the whole procedure.
“I don’t know, probably just a few minutes.” He was beginning to feel apprehensive too. He’d always hated having vaccinations of any sort.
They walked up the concrete steps together and went in through the sliding glass doors into the reception area. Behind a long, wooden desk sat a stern-looking woman with dyed orange hair and heavy, black-rimmed glasses.
“State your name and species,” she said to Janux without smiling.
“Janux Lennan, half-blood.”
“Curtis McCoy, half-blood.”
“Take a seat please and an assistant will be with you shortly.” The woman then continued typing as if impatient to resume a task they’d rudely interrupted.
A tall man entered. He received the same unsmiling treatment until he announced his species. The word Human was like a password to friendliness.
The woman receptionist immediately rose and bestowed a full, gleaming white smile on the newcomer. “I’m so happy to meet you, sir. Please be seated and an assistant will be out shortly to see if you’d like some afternoon tea.”
“Why, thank you, ma’am,” he replied, also smiling.
The tall man sat down next to Janux. “They sure do treat you well here.” He gave her a beaming smile.
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