by Bob Blanton
“How, the records don’t show that?”
“Oh, the records show some other people from Vancouver Integrated live in them units. They even show she has a roommate, but nobody lives there except her. She paid to have them connected together and upgraded her condo the first year. She still keeps them other people on the books.”
“Does she have many guests?”
“No. She likes her privacy.”
“No male visitors?”
“Oh, I think she has someone. Every once in a while, she opens the door herself. Brings her royal-self down to the service entrance, opens the door, then goes back upstairs. I assume she’s letting someone in that she doesn’t want registered as a guest.”
“How often does she do this?”
“Oh, maybe once a month, sometimes twice.”
“Have you ever seen this guest?”
“No, it’s always late at night. I can just tell by the records that she came down.”
“Come on, you mean to tell me that you’ve never been tempted to look at the surveillance tape to see who she was letting in, the camera must have caught him outside the entrance while he waited?”
“Oh, sure. But whoever it is, wears a hoodie and is careful to hide his face.”
“Well, was he a big person or small?”
“Oh, he’s a fine strapping man. Maybe 188 centimeters, real fit looking.”
That matched Markham’s description, making Sophia sure that he and Randall were having an affair.
“Thank you for speaking with me,” Sophia said as she got up and let herself out.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Chief Nawal, a Sophia Michaels is on the line.”
“Please tell her to talk to the communication officer.”
“She says she has new evidence.”
“Okay, put her through,” Chief Nawal said as she shook her head. “Ms. Michaels, this had better not be a ploy to get another interview or ask a question.”
“It’s not,” Sophia said.
“Okay, what evidence do you have?”
“First, I want you to promise me that if it leads to an arrest that I get the exclusive.”
“Ms. Michaels, we are not in the habit of making deals with the press!”
“Well, I’m not in the habit of doing the police’s job for them. I can assure you that I have information that you will find valuable.”
“Fine. If your information leads to an arrest, we’ll contact you and do our best to give you an exclusive.”
“Thanks,” Sophia said. “Are you aware that William Markham was having an affair with Ms. Randall?”
Chief Nawal was totally shocked at the suggestion. “What evidence do you have of that?!”
“The building supervisor has seen a man matching his description being let into the building by Ms. Randall on several occasions. One of the women who worked in the office with Mr. Markham was given a signal by Ms. Randall that Mr. Markham was not available.”
“What do you mean, not available?”
“As in not in the market for female company. I’ve also found records showing that often both of them were out of the office on the same days, and other records that show that they took different flights to Wellington on those same days. Their flights would have arrived in the city the same evening. Both returned on different flights the next morning.”
“Interesting. How did you come by the information on the flights?”
“I can’t reveal my sources, but I can assure you that they are accurate. You probably would rather verify the information yourself.”
“Yes, that would be better. We do have her on our list of suspects, but haven’t considered her a very strong candidate.”
“Just remember my exclusive.”
“I will.”
Chapter 12
Daddy’s Little Girl
“Sam, have you talked to Catie lately?” Marc asked.
“No, not since the board meeting, why?” Samantha asked.
“Nothing serious, but she wanted to work on a design mod for the jetliners, and she hasn’t done much on it yet. It’s so unlike her, I’m worried she might be sick or something.”
“Liz is in Delphi City now, ask her to check in on Catie.”
“Call Liz,” Marc ordered his Comm.
“Hey, what time is it in Delphi City,” Samantha scolded.
“It is 2300 hours,” ADI said.
“Hey Marc. What’s up?” Liz asked.
“I was wondering if you knew how Catie is doing?”
“I think she’s fine, why do you ask?”
“She hasn’t accomplished much on the design mod for the jetliner. I wondered if there was a problem or if she’s just busy.”
“She didn’t look busy when we met,” Liz said. “At least no busier than you would expect at the Academy.”
“No problems?”
“Not that she mentioned, but I’ll check on her tomorrow and let you know,” Liz said.
“Thanks.”
“And sorry to call so late,” Samantha added, pushing Marc’s shoulder.
“It wasn’t a problem. I was just doing some reading before bed.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Yvette,” Liz said as she knocked on the door to Yvette’s and Catie’s dorm room. “Is Alex around?” Liz knew very well that Alex wasn’t around. She was in her space fleet ops class.
“No, you just missed her. She’s in class now.”
“How are you guys doing? Do you have anything special planned for the break, are you going to anyplace exotic?”
“No, we just got back from a rotation on Delphi Station. We got certified for microgravity and got some control room experience.”
“Oh, that’s right, you guys used my cabin. How many cadets were in the class?”
“Thirty-two,” Yvette said, sounding pleased with herself. “The rest of them were crowded into four rooms. It was so nice to be able to use your cabin.”
“I’m happy I could help. What’s going on with Alex? She seemed preoccupied last time I talked with her.”
“Oh, probably that guy she’s dating. They’ve been out twice and she thinks he’s très rêveur.”
“Oh, been there, thought that,” Liz said.
“Just been there? You should have them following you around like puppies.”
“Dreamy guys?”
“Yes.”
“Problem is, you have to wake up some time and they’re not so dreamy then,” Liz said. “Tell Alex I said hi.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Liz, did you learn anything?” Marc asked as he and Liz connected again.
Liz laughed, “Oh, yes. I learned that your life is going to be hell for the next few years.”
“Why?” Marc asked, completely puzzled.
“Catie has decided she likes men.”
“So?”
“One man in particular,” Liz said.
“She can’t be dating that much,” Marc said.
“Oh, she’s only been out with him twice,” Liz said.
“So, I’m confused,” Marc said. He looked at Samantha who had just started to listen in on the conversation.
“Well, how much did your productivity go down after you started dating Sam?” Liz asked.
“Why would it go down?”
Samantha glared at Marc. “It better have gone down.”
“Well, I had a little less time since we spent time together doing things besides work,” Marc said.
“I’m going to kill you!”
“Cer Sam, Marc’s productivity dropped twelve percent when he started dating you. Only six percent of that was due to time you spent together,” ADI said.
“ADI just saved your ass,” Samantha said.
“Really, six percent on other stuff?” Marc said.
“Well, you did need to think about where to take her to dinner, what presents to buy her, much less all the time you spent thinking about how much you enjoyed your time together,” Liz said.
“Oh, it didn’t seem like it took that much time,” Marc said, as he ducked a slap from Samantha.
“Well, daydreams don’t seem like they take much time. How often do you find that when you have free time, all of a sudden, you’re working on a problem? How many problems do you solve by daydreaming about them?” Liz asked.
“Quite a few.”
“Same thing is true with Catie. But now she daydreams about how hunky that guy of hers is. How nice he kisses, what they’re going to do, when will he call,” Liz said.
“It can’t take that much time,” Marc said.
“Oh, but the best dates are the ones in your head,” Liz said. “They can take a lot of time and you can have as many of them as you want.”
“I guess.” Marc shook his head. “I’m not sure I’m ready for her to start dating.”
“You don’t get a choice there,” Liz said. “Better get used to it.”
“Don’t worry, she’s almost seventeen, it was bound to happen sooner or later,” Samantha said. “I just hope he doesn’t break her heart.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Sophia had just been alerted that the arrest was happening the next day. It was going to be made in the lobby of Vancouver Integrated when Ms. Randall arrived for work in the morning. Sophia arranged for her and Chaz, her boyfriend and cameraman, to be present in the lobby the next morning.
Ms. Randall arrived promptly by taxi at eight A.M. The taxi dropped her off right outside the door. When she entered the lobby, Chief Nawal was standing at the reception desk.
“Chief Nawal, I wasn’t aware that we had an appointment,” Ms. Randall said, sounding slightly perturbed.
“We didn’t. Dorothea Randall, I’m placing you under arrest for the murder of William Markham. . . .”
“How preposterous! I won’t stand for this; I’ll have your job.”
“You’re welcome to it. Now, you do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Please allow the constable to place you in handcuffs.”
“I will not!”
The constable took her refusal as an invitation to grab her, push her against the reception desk, and cuff her. Chief Nawal had brought a female constable to deal with Ms. Randall. It looked like the constable had thoroughly enjoyed the fact that Ms. Randall had refused to be polite about being handcuffed.
“I demand my lawyer!”
“You’ll be given a phone call when we reach the station.”
“Call Timothy!” Ms. Randall told her Comm.
“Sorry, Ms. Randall, your Comm has been disabled. You may place your call when you reach the station.”
The constable escorted Ms. Randall out of the lobby and into the police car that had just pulled up.
Sophia quickly used her specs to check her hair and makeup. Then she moved to the front of the door and nodded to Chaz. “You have just witnessed the arrest of Ms. Dorothea Randall for the murder of William Markham. Ms. Randall is the vice president in charge of marketing and sales for Vancouver Integrated Circuits. It came to the attention of this reporter and the police that Ms. Randall was having an affair with the victim and that possibly the announcement of his engagement to another woman led to his murder.”
Sophia added a few more lines about Ms. Randall then gave Chaz the signal to cut. “Great, let’s edit it and get it on our site,” Sophia said. “Take that, Leslie Walters!”
“Good job,” Chaz said. “I can’t believe you figured this out and scored an exclusive.”
“Excuse me, but would you mind leaving the building,” the security guard requested.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Chief Nawal, we’ve heard you’ve made an arrest. Can you tell us about it?” Leslie Walters asked as the chief arrived at the police station.
“We’ve arrested Ms. Dorothea Randall this morning for the murder of William Markham. We are now in the process of serving search warrants for her home and office. At this point all further communication about the case will be the responsibility of the district attorney.”
“Can you tell us why Sophia Michaels of the Delphi Gazette was allowed to be present at the arrest?”
“Ms. Michaels was the one who brought certain information to our attention that allowed us to get warrants for Ms. Randall’s Comm and to track her movements. This led to evidence being uncovered that indicated that Ms. Randall had murdered Mr. Markham. This resulted in us going to Ms. Randall’s office to make the arrest. Given that Ms. Michaels was privy to our raised interest in Ms. Randall, it was not surprising to me that she followed me to Vancouver Integrated’s office when I went there to make the arrest.”
Chapter 13
Board Meeting – April 4th
“Let’s bring this meeting to order,” Marc said. “I assume everyone has heard about the arrest this morning.”
“Yes, can you believe it was his boss?” Blake asked.
“Yeah, usually people want to kill their boss, not the other way around,” Kal said.
“I can assure you the feeling goes both ways,” Marc said.
“Oh, I think he’s threatening us,” Blake said, feigning fear.
“No, just stating the facts,” Marc said. “ADI assures me that they have the right person. Hopefully the arrest will alleviate people’s fears.”
“I’m sure it will, but I understand they’re going to release her on her own recognizance,” Nikola said.
“Sure. They’ll put a tracking chip in her. And it’s not like she can flee the jurisdiction.”
“But, she’s a murderer.”
“Then I would suggest that nobody date her,” Marc said. “Seems a low-risk release. Now, let’s get to business. Liz, how are you doing?”
“I’m heading up to the Dutchman right after this meeting. We set sail tomorrow.”
“Any problems?”
“Not yet, but with a little over ten thousand Paraxean colonists on board, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
“So they’re really using half their capacity for colonists?” Samantha asked.
“It’s only twenty-five percent, eight pods and all of our passenger space,” Liz said. “The governor says that with us delivering the grain to them, they’ll be able to handle that many. They’re in a hurry to get that colony on its feet, and they’re anxious to get the asteroid delivered as well.”
“What did you do with the stasis pods?” Marc asked.
“They used them to pay for the cargo and cabins,” Liz said. “We’ll be bringing them to Delphi Station on Oryxes for the next few months.”
“What are you going to do with them?” Samantha asked.
“Harvest the electronics and metals from them,” Liz said. “They’re worth about one hundred thousand dollars each.”
“That’s one billion dollars,” Blake gulped.
“Hey, the grain they’re buying is three hundred million and then there are all those cabins.”
“Still. And what are you bringing back from there?”
“Mostly platinum metals,” Liz said. “We’ll be half empty though. They haven’t been there long enough to mine that much. Their planet isn’t as rich as Artemis.”
“Is that all?” Samantha asked.
“We’re talking about some exotic foodstuff,” Liz added. “We’ll see what we come up with while we’re on the way.”
“How did the Dutchman come through the first trip?” Marc asked, trying to get the meeting back to his agenda.
“Ajda did a full inspection. She and Commander Griggs say things look good. They had to do some work realigning the antimatter reactors, but it was just tweaking,” Liz reported.
“Good, so are you going ahead with the second ship?” Marc asked.
“That’s Catie’s plan. We’ll have to see how the money goes. This trip will help a lot.”
“I’d say so,” Blake said. “I knew I should have invested.”
�
��It might not be too late,” Liz said. “Damn ships cost almost one billion.”
“What?!” Fred said. “I thought a few hundred million. Did you clear that much on the futures deal?”
“Barely, I had to leverage my shares in MacKenzies to come up with enough.”
“Who did you leverage your shares with?”
“Catie.”
“Ahem,” Catie interrupted as her Comm linked into the meeting. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Oh, hi,” Blake said. “We were just talking about some shipping tycoon named Catie McCormack.”
“They were asking if we’re going to build the second StarMerchant,” Liz said.
“If we can,” Catie said. “I’m working out a deal with Ajda and Fred now.”
“Are you looking for investors?” Blake asked.
“Talk about that later!” Marc snapped. “What’s the latest from Margaret?”
“Why don’t we invite her to these meetings?” Blake asked. “I’m just playing messenger boy.”
“And a good messenger boy you are,” Marc said. “Now, the update.”
“The farmers are very happy, grain prices are way up, especially corn. It’s made most of the governments happy.”
“You mean the grain exporting countries,” Samantha said.
“Of course. Importers aren’t too happy, but prices were pretty depressed. So moving on, we’ve reached a tentative deal on the licensing and patent process between star systems,” Blake said. “A few of the ambassadors on the Security Council are starting to wonder whether the colonies are really going to be joining the U.N. instead of some interstellar council.”
“Awww, are they finally figuring out that they’re not masters of the universe?” Samantha asked.
“That’s the impression Maggie gave. Marc, do you have a plan for that?”
“I’m just going to let it play out,” Marc said.
“Okay. Maggie also says they’re having serious discussions about intervening in Africa to see if they can straighten out some of that mess,” Blake continued.
“Is that a good thing?”
“Maggie says it is. We’ll see what they come up with later. I’ll let Kal tell you about Mexico.”
“Kal?” Marc prompted, suddenly very interested in what Kal was going to say.
“Mexico is asking for a little help with one of their cartels,” Kal said.