“I joined the OSI force a little more that fifteen years ago. I was working for a government group that was making a survey of all of the jungle tribes. I was somewhat indiscrete when we were visiting the Pawassa tribe and found myself pregnant when we returned to Atlanta City. I tried to contact the father but was told he had been killed while hunting. I didn’t totally believe that as Weldon was the youngest and most recent medicine man in the tribe. I did believe he was dead, but probably at the hands of one or more of the older medicine men. When I discovered I was going to have twins I quit my government job even though I had only been working for them for a few months, as I could see no future there. Instead I joined OSI, first as a clerk, but then after taking various exams I made an officer. So here I am.”
Amanda could not believe she was telling Liam things she had never told anyone except her daughters. But it felt so easy to talk to Liam. I am falling for this man and I am not sure that is a good idea Amanda thought to herself.
The restaurant was virtually empty by the time they had finished talking, and staff were making motions that they would like them to leave so they could set up the table for evening diners.
“I know you probably set this luncheon up to quiz me some more but it is such a beautiful day, any chance you could take what is left of afternoon and we could go walk by the river,” Liam asked the rest of the afternoon?”
Amanda’s first thought was No, of course not, but then a little voice reminded her that it had been a very long time since she had taken a day to enjoy herself.
“Let me comm my office, Liam. We have several important cases we are working on currently, but I am waiting on further information. I’ll see what is going on.”
A quick comm to her office revealed that nothing more had come in from the caravan team, nor had Investigator Townsead returned to report any findings regard the deceased Professor Pierson. Also, they were still trying to track down the cause of the static on the comm system.
“Thanks Felicia, I am going to be out of the office the rest of the afternoon unless something breaks. Give me a comm if that happens.”
“Sure will. Captain. Have a nice afternoon. It has been a while since you took any time off for yourself.”
See, Amanda thought to herself, even my staff thinks I should have the afternoon off.
“Liam,” Amanda said, “it looks like I can take the afternoon off unless something comes up at the office. What did you have in mind?”
“I haven’t been in the City that long, but I was told of a nice park and trail a little north of the City. If you know how to get there I thought we could take a walk along the trail.”
“You must mean the Highland Park and the river trail that leads out from it. Follow Main Street down to the docks and then turn north up River Road. It is about ten minutes out of town.”
They were able to park Liam’s aircar near the beginning of the trail network. Everything that had been told to Liam about it was right. Hugh imported mopane trees lined most of the trails with plenty of open space to watch the river. At several points of interest benches had been set at viewpoints where one could see both up and down the river. It was a cool day and at one such viewpoint Liam and Amanda sat with his arm around her shoulders.
They had talked about childhood and school experiences while walking but now they just sat and watched the waterfowl, both natural and imported from various planets, not saying anything but just enjoying the moment. But after a bit Liam questioned Amanda about her progress solving the attacks on the caravans.
“I really don’t know how much I can tell you about our active cases, but we could discuss some of the most outstanding, and sometimes funny, cases that have been closed.”
“You still don’t completely trust me, do you Amanda?
Amanda’s first impulse was to blurt out that of course she trusted him. But she didn’t. She had strong feelings toward Liam, possible she was even coming to love him a little, starting off with lies was certainly not the way to go.
“I like you a whole lot, Liam, but it is true that there is something regarding your being on Edge World that you are holding back from me.”
Liam gave a sigh! “You are right, I haven’t told you any lies, but I haven’t been totally explicit about my job here. All I can say is that I am totally on your side and as soon as I have collected all the evidence I need I will tell you the whole story.”
“Why can’t you tell me now,” Amanda asked?”
“I would love to but I need a couple more pieces of the puzzle, and my bosses would kill me if I let you get involved before I am ready.”
“So, you are some kind of investigator and not a professor,” Amanda asked in a chilled voice?”
“No, I am a Professor with degrees in alien biochemistry, psychology, and federation law.”
“My, you have been a busy little beaver to get all of those degrees and then to go to work for the Federation Government,” Amanda said in a colder tone than before. “I think we need to head back to the aircar. I need to get home for dinner with the twins.”
Liam had removed his arm from Amanda’s shoulders sometime back, and on the walk back Amanda remained several feet from Liam, much the opposite when they had occasionally held hands.
“I suppose there is no use me asking you out to dinner. We could even take your kids.”
“No, I don’t want to go to dinner with you,” Amanda said in a tone of voice that implied she would never again go to dinner with Liam. “I am sure the twins would have already started fixing dinner. The housekeeper has the night off and it is their turn to cook.”
Both finished the walk in silence, but once at the aircar Liam started telling some funny experiences he had in the past, and even through her reserve Amanda had to laugh at some of the situations.
Amanda knew that she was being totally unfair to Liam. She couldn’t give him details on the active cases she was working so why get upset when he did the same thing. But it was hard retreating from her current position.
As Liam set the aircar down Amanda said, “I am sorry for the way I have been acting. I do have to be with the girls tonight but I would like to see you again. At this point they arrive at her front door.
“I am going to be busy this week with several problems but how about next weekend?”
“That is fine. I will have a busy week too but let us plan on getting together Sixthday afternoon.”
Amanda waited, hoping Liam was going to kiss her but he didn’t. Finally, she put her arms around Liam’s neck and pulled his head down for a kiss, since he was considerably taller than herself. At first their kiss was moderate but then their feeling towards one another soon had them kissing passionately. Liam had his arms around Amanda, pulling her as close to himself as possible. Amanda could feel that Liam had an erection and she began trying to figure a way they could spend the night together or even just a few hours. Then she heard muffled cheering coming from the house. As she pulled away from Liam, after a second kiss, she told him she didn’t do well with audiences and that she would see him in a few days. After another quick kiss, Liam turned back to his aircar while Amanda entered the house with murder in her eyes.
*****
Investigators Townsead and Yugoslav entered the morgue with hardly a thought about the unique smells every morgue had. They had both been there more times than they liked to remember and Investigator Townsead sometimes even dreamed about the smells. It appeared that the forensic expert and the autopsy technician had already finished with Ja’haal and were in their office finishing up the reports. Townsead never gave a thought to the slightly unusual practice of the two men, or in this case a man and a woman, working as a team on autopsies. She had never been in any morgues other than this one although she knew Southport had a large set-up. She had not been in Southport for a long while, although she knew a lot of the officers let go during the recent staff shake up ended up working for the City Militia down there.
Stasick was a tall,
blond woman who had been in forensics for over thirty years while Fuller was a shorter, broad shouldered man who wore a small brown goatee to cover a neck scar that generated a lot of quiet speculation on how he had gotten it. But Fuller wasn’t telling and no one was quite brave enough to ask. Fuller had arms like oak limbs and very large hands. Yet he operated a scalpel and his other tools of trade with great delicacy. Stasick and Fuller had worked as a team for over twenty years and their immediate boss dreaded the day they both came into his office and told him they were retiring. Despite their working arrangement, they were both single, living in a different part of town, and never seen socializing together.
“Good afternoon Stasick, Fuller, how are you coming with Ja’haal.” Yagoslav asked?”
“We finished up with her an hour or so ago; just doing the reports now,” Stasick said, the usual speaker for the two of them.
“Anything unusual found? This is the second member of the team to die,” Townsead asked?
“Not unless you call dying of poison unusual,” Stasick replies.
“Poison!! Both officers said together.
“From what I saw of the amount of blood at the scene where she was stabbed, and the number of stab wounds, I was sure he would have died from that,” Yagoslav said.
“He might have died from that, eventually, but evidently someone didn’t want him talking. There was some of the poison, a fairly rare type from certain jungle plants, in her cheek. Apparently someone injected the poison in her mouth while she was asleep, or considering her knife wounds, unconscious. If it hadn’t been for that we would have had to wait several days for the tox screen to come in. Someone screwed up again, it seems.”
Both officers were stunned a but they were experienced officers and quickly recovered.
“Anything else you can tell us that stood out from the autopsy,” Townsead asked?
“We may have more for you when we get all of our notes finished,” Stasick said. “There were red marks on both wrists, which might mean some kind of cord was used to tie her hands together, but when you include scrape marks on both knees, right through the denim of her pants, I would say she had been dragged some distance on concrete from where-ever she was originally stabbed.”
This was the longest speech Tracy had ever heard from Fuller.
Fuller continued. “I would guess, looking at the knife wounds and the amount of blood the first responders reported, that she had been stabbed approximately one hundred feet away from where she was found, most if not all of it on concrete.”
“Well,” Yagoslav said, “we need to take another look at the site where Ja’haal was first reported. You with me Townsead?”
“Certainly, you couldn’t keep me away. But I suggest we get a tracker to take to the site. I know the Militia has a couple and OSI has at least three.”
They had walked back to the aircar after profound thanks to Stasick and Fuller.
“Have you ever worked with a tracker, Yuri?”
“I saw one working as part of a training session. The handler and the tracker worked miracles. They could find the exact track of one of our officers just by identifying his smell, even when several other officers came in and out of the room. So, no, I haven’t.”
“Same here. Comm your office and see if there is a tracker and handler available. I don’t think I could get one from OSI for about 24 hours. Our technical staff and equipment are scattered all over the country,” replied Townsead.
It was late in the afternoon and the quickest Yuri could get a tracker and handler was the first thing the next morning.
“I don’t know about you but I am starving after no lunch. A mound of paperwork awaits me at the office. So how about an early dinner?
“That sounds great,” Tracy said. “What time should I meet you tomorrow?”
“The tracker and handler will be at Militia Headquarters at 0800 hours, so let’s say I will pick you up at your place about half an hour earlier. Any suggestions for dinner?”
“I liked that place we had dinner the last time. Wasn’t it called the Blue Seafood restaurant?”
“That’s the name. I like it too.”
As Tracy slid into the aircar she wondered if they would end the evening in her bed as they had the last time.”
*****
When Amanda entered her house, both girls were hard at work in the kitchen preparing dinner. Amanda didn’t really know what to say to them. They were just acting like teenagers and she had already placed them on strict terms, not allowing them to leave the house except to feed and water their friend’s sorties. She decided to not say anything and let them worry a bit. There were a few comm notes awaiting her at home; nothing very serious but as she quickly reviewed them a pattern seemed to be developing. Something was going on and Amanda felt it somehow tied together. She just needed a little more information.
Amanda had a good night’s sleep and was in her office by 0730 hrs. waiting to see what developed. As the office began to fill up with staff, she received a comm from the officer she had assigned to looking into the static that was blocking most of the civilian communications and even some of the separate law enforcement systems. Sargent Lanos had left a comm message that he had sent two of his officers to check out the satellite comm center in the hope that it is just a large amount of sun spot activity and nothing connected to human interference. Captain Santos started the daily staff meeting at 0800 hrs., surprised to see Sargent Lanos at the meeting. Captain Santos’ policy was that only the supervisory staff currently in OSI Headquarters was required to attend. There had been some staff meetings were only Captain Santos and her three lieutenants were present.
“Sargent Lanos, I didn’t expect to see you in person today,” Captain Santos said to start the meeting.
“There really isn’t anything for me to do in the field until I get a report either from the team I have embedded in one of the caravans or from one of the officers assigned to track down the source of the static we are getting in our communication systems.”
“As long as you are in the office you might see if Investigator Townsead needs any assistance. She is following up on the murder of a second of Dr. Pierson’s team members along with Investigator Yugoslav from the Militia. It is mostly the Militia’s case at this point but there are a number of clues pointing towards a jungle tribal influence.”
“I can do that, Captain. I understand she is meeting with a Sargent Yagoslav this morning. They have brought a tracker in to see if they can determine where the victim was first attacked. I will catch up with her when she gets back to headquarters.”
“Nothing new in regards to the caravan attacks,” Captain Santos asked?
“That is going to be a real long shot, Captain Santos. The odds of the particular caravan in which I have my officers embedded being attack is very slim. If we are going to be serious about this, we need to pull a larger number of officers from other locations and put an adequate team in each caravan. Otherwise we are just shooting in the dark hoping to hit someone.”
“It would be nice Sargent if we had that many officers available, but we don’t.”
“What about the new class graduating in two weeks? We could assign one seasoned officer to each group of new recruits and cover five or six caravans at one time. Not perfect but a lot better chance
“That would be a possibility, but that would be almost two weeks from now and if there are no further attacks by then we have better use of the recruits than that. We will have to wait and see what happens. On second thought, I do agree that the eight-man team we have on one of the caravans is pretty much useless. Pull them back. I want to have a discussion with that team and you when they get back. Having been with a caravan for a few days they may have some fruitful ideas on how to deal with this problem.”
“Certainly, Captain. I may have to send a courier out to get them if the static on our law enforcement system keeps getting worse.”
“While on that subject Sargent I received the note you
left me. Do we have any further idea what is causing the problem?”
“Mostly we have eliminated some causes but haven’t found the right cause yet. The observatory reports no increase in sunspot activity over normal. Both civilian and law enforcement system seem to be affected with the civilian system totally unusable right now. The supervisor of the switching station says the staff at the satellite receiving center have not reported any problems.”
“How often do they rotate staff at the satellite center? I know it is set up on a barren island near the north polar region and the staff are rotated frequently, but that is all I know.”
“I thought of that, Captain. They rotate once a month and the current two employees have been there for approximately three weeks.”
“Three weeks ago was when the increased static started, isn’t it?”
“Yep. I sent two officers up there rather than wait for them to rotate down, so we should hear from the officers in a day or two.”
“Ok Sargent. Do you have anything else to report?”
“That’s it for today, Captain.”
“As I said, get with Townsead when she gets back and see if she needs any assistance. What else do we have this morning?”
Lt. Owens, night supervisor, reported on over-night doings. “We had one domestic fight that ended with one of the partners stabbed to death. There was also a stabbing in the Cowboy lounge and the victim may not make it. Both stabbers are in Militia custody. The rest of the night was pretty quiet with various non-violent incidents. We got another request from the Southport Militia to loan them a few seasoned officers for training. I told them we had a new recruit class coming on board in two weeks and might be able to send them a couple of training officers. Apparently they had a couple of major screw-ups lately and the Chief believes more training is needed.”
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