**********
Alice Tarraway returned to her small office to find Paul Divine sitting at her desk working.
"I have informed the colonists that you and Charles Bragg have been appointed by me to look into the strange death of Rosalyn Peterson, as there is some doubt that she died from natural causes. I had thought of telling them all that she had been murdered, but maybe that would be going too far until we get Doctor Schwartz`s report into her death." Alice said to Paul Divine.
"Yes I agree with you there Alice, people are more likely to speak a little more freely if the 'M' word is not mentioned just yet." Paul said. Just then, Charles Bragg popped his head around the corner.
"I heard that Alice has told the folks that we are to investigate Mrs Peterson`s death, so I will head out Paul, and talk to the remaining families on our list, ok?"
"Yes Charles, I will also head out now, to see if Mr Peterson is awake and well enough to speak to me, maybe you would like to come along Alice, to soften my approach? He will feel better if you are there by my side while I ask him about his wife."
"Yes of course Paul, it might be as well, he is less likely to explode if I am there."
Paul and Alice walked up to the middle level deck, and approached the Peterson cubicle, George Peterson was awake and talking to Tricia Brand who was standing just inside the cubicle trying unsuccessfully to comfort a very distraught man.
"How are you feeling George, are you up to talking to me and Paul?"
"What do you want to speak to me about; can`t you just leave me alone?"
Paul Divine felt sorry for the man as he moved forward a little and spoke to him sympathetically.
"I am sorry for your loss Mr Peterson, if there is anything Alice or I can do for you, please let us know?"
"Do, what can anybody do, can you bring my wife back to me, tell me can you do that?" Peterson was almost in tears again and Paul Divine decided to cut the interview short.
"No that is the one thing that I cannot do, but Alice and I will go and speak to the doctor and see if he has finished his report, if he has I will let you know what he has found."
Peterson had slumped down onto his bed and was now openly crying without any attempt to hide it.
"Yes thank you both, I would appreciate that." Peterson managed to say. Tricia Brand then moved forward for she also saw that Peterson was not ready to answer questions at that moment.
"Maybe you should leave George alone for the moment, until he feels a little more like himself." She advised.
"Yes of course, you are quite right Mrs Brand." With that, Paul and Alice left George Peterson to his grief, and the care of Tricia Brand.
"Well Alice, either he is a very good actor or he is truly distraught."
"Oh George is truly distraught, that I have no doubt about." Alice looked at Paul Divine and thought that he was so unlike the agents portrayed in the films she had seen, they were cynical and hard, exactly like the ones that drove colonists away from Earth, and towards the planets at the edge of galaxy. She knew that her father would have liked him, as she found herself doing, and so very easily at that.
Paul and Alice arrived at the small clinic on the middle deck, and knocking on the door popped their heads around it.
"How are you getting on Doctor, have you found out why Mrs Peterson died so suddenly?" Paul looked over at the doctor`s wife, smiled at her, and said. "Good afternoon nurse, I hope that you are well?" To which she replied. "I am fine thank you, hi Alice, are you now a detective too."
"No I am here to see that no one takes umbrage with our new coroner and hits him." For one moment in time, all was quiet until the doctor answered Paul Divine`s question about the death of Mrs Peterson.
"There doesn`t appear to be any outward signs that point to anything. I have checked her blood but it was clear, no sign of drugs or poisons in it, although with all the synthetic ones around, I would have to know what I was looking for, and I would probably have to do an autopsy to find any trace of it."
"When are you going to start on the autopsy Doctor?" Paul Divine asked, although he already knew the answer.
"As Rosalyn Peterson was a member of the Church of the Universe I cannot perform an autopsy without her husband`s consent, and the bishop`s of course." Christopher Schwartz looked at Paul Divine and the look he gave him was saying you know that so why bother asking.
"Yes I know Doctor, but it is a crazy law that has allowed many a killer to escape justice." Paul Divine bemoaned.
Since the year 2450, the Church of the Universe insisted that none of the members of their church undergo an autopsy, not without the permission of the next of kin and the bishop of the See. Also at this time a law was introduced that amended the existing laws and made it illegal to perform an autopsy on a member of a church that forbid it, unless the proper consents were received, this affected something like seventy five per cent of the population of Earth. The rate of unsolved murders skyrocketed, but the churches were all insistent that there be no autopsies performed on any of their members without the proper consents being received. Since that date, the life of a detective went from bad to worse, many experienced men simply resigned in protest.
"It is lucky I suppose that autopsies are allowed by law on the remaining twenty five per cent of the population that don`t follow one of the larger mainstream religions." Paul Divine said resignedly.
"Later today I will approach her husband and ask for his permission, but without any proof as to whether she was indeed murdered I think that the bishop will refuse his permission in any case." Paul was silent for a moment and then he asked a question of the doctor.
"I expect that you are a member of the Church, doctor?"
"A lapsed member, my parents were members, so of course I was baptised into the faith, but as regards this law I feel that if a law is wrong, it is wrong, but it is the law so what can I do but abide by it, how about yourself Paul, are you an active member of a Church?"
Alice Tarraway had been on the side lines so far, but now she found herself waiting for Paul`s reply, and with more attention than she would normally have given to such a question asked of a relative stranger.
"Me, Doc, well no I am not, oh I am not saying that there isn`t something or someone looking after all of us, I just feel that the major religions have all missed the point." With Paul, not rejecting God out of hand Alice felt that his answer was the one that she had been hoping for, but she wondered just why she was so interested in waiting to hear him state his views on religion.
"Well maybe when we both have some spare time we can discuss theology Paul?" With that, Paul and Alice left the clinic to the doctor and his wife and returned to her office.
Alice had spoken to the colonists berthed around the Peterson couple, but all had said that they seemed to be a devoted couple, which while that was just what they had expected to hear; it left the mystery still unsolved. It was early evening when Paul Divine returned to the Peterson`s cubicle and he found that Peterson was sitting on the edge of his bed staring into space.
"Excuse me once again for bothering you Mr Peterson, but I need to ask you one question, would that be all right?"
"Yes of course it is, go ahead."
"The doctor couldn`t find out the reason behind your wife`s death, and he would need to do an autopsy to stand any chance of doing so, would you give your consent to one being carried out?" Paul Devine asked quietly.
"No I will not give my consent to an autopsy Mr Divine; if God wants us to find an answer he will show us the way to do so, if not then so be it."
Rebirth Page 25