The Spare Man, page 21
The man seemed just wrecked. Tesla patted her dog on the shoulder. “Gimlet, go say hi.”
Gimlet trotted over to him and lay down with her head on his foot.
Piper sat in the chair opposite Haldan, pushing the home fries closer to him. “When was the last time you ate?”
He raised his head, pulling his foot out from under the little dog. “I … I don’t. Last night?” He sniffled, fishing a cloth handkerchief out of his pocket. “I figure I’ll go to the buffet at some point.”
“That should be fine, as long as you avoid the reconstituted veal.” Piper made a face. “Not even Gimlet would eat that for dinner.”
Gimlet’s head came up. Her tail wagged ferociously.
“Uh-oh. You’ve said the magic word.” Tesla limped to the cabinets to grab Gimlet’s food. “And someone hasn’t been fed breakfast.”
A double bark punctuated that remark, and Gimlet trotted after her.
Piper nudged the fries again. “They’re soggy, but the aioli is good.”
He nodded, still staring at the floor.
“Don’t make me Mom you without a license.” Piper watched until he picked up a fry and mechanically put it in his mouth. “Is there anyone else on board who would know both Ruth and George?”
He blew his nose, trying for discretion. “Maybe? But I didn’t even know Ruth was on board until I went down to sick bay.”
Tesla paused in front of the scanner. “How about Ory Slootmaekers, he/him?”
“Who?”
“Bald. White. Early fifties. He’s in George’s yoga class.”
“I don’t know—” His voice broke and he lowered his head, twisting the handkerchief between his fists. “Ruth and I didn’t really stay in touch after college.”
Shal stood with his head lowered, looking out from beneath his brows, just behind Haldan, but he was watching Piper. Her mouth was pursed as she picked up another fry.
Tesla cleared her throat. “I mean, we don’t … we don’t think Dr. Fish really killed herself, do we? If it was an isolated case, sure, but not with two other bodies.”
“What?” Haldan’s head came up sharply. “What do you mean two?”
Piper sighed. “Not common knowledge.”
“Oh.” Tesla removed the foil milk pack from the scanning bed and checked the results. Clean. Sighing with relief, she stuck the bag of dog food in its place. “I just thought … I mean, we figured it out. And then Wisor told us, so…”
“Doll, you were on the bridge. And he thought I’d done it.”
Gimlet scratched at the counter, whining that her food was Right There and she didn’t have it yet. Tesla started the scanner app. “Right. I forgot. Great.”
“Who else did you tell?” Piper asked.
The matter printer whirred as the scanning mechanism moved down and around the bag of dog food. “I don’t think—”
“Excuse me.” Haldan’s voice was shaking and he had gone completely ashen. “Who else is dead?”
The layers of Piper’s sigh contained information about Tesla’s upbringing, her inconsiderate nature, and deep concern about the amount of paperwork facing the security officer. “We don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Haldan stared at her with abject horror. “How the hell can you not know who they are? I mean, the ship has a roster. We have to sign God knows how much paperwork to board and you don’t know?”
“Nope. Let me assure you, I am pretending to be calm about this.” Leaning forward, Piper swiped a fry through the aioli. “I am not.”
“But Ruth— She left a suicide note.”
Tesla shook her head. “That was a confession … She didn’t actually say anything about killing herself, did she?”
“Blood.” Shal closed his eyes, brows coming together as he tilted his head. “Tesla— You took a picture. Is there blood on the floor?”
Shaking, she pulled up the snap she’d taken. Yellow caution tape. Blurred spoofer zones. “I can’t tell. It’s in the spoofer zone.”
“Dammit.” Shal turned to Piper, expression tense with the weight of memory. “I’m remembering right, though. There was no blood. She was dead before she hit the floor.”
Her expression was flat and cold. “You know I can’t share any information about the cases.”
“That’s—that’s a yes. Why would someone—?” Haldan covered his mouth, looking like he was barely holding down panic. He turned in his chair to find Shal. “You saw someone, didn’t you? When George was … You chased someone.”
“Yeah … narrow, straight build. Pale. Seventy-three kilosish. Black bowl cut. Sound like anyone you know?”
Haldan frowned, looking up and to the left as if he were accessing his memory or a HUD database. “Not personally … but George’s yoga coach? At least the bowl cut.”
Tesla said, “There’s also a ship employee, Yuki Something, who was with Nile Silver in the R-Bar looking at the stage.”
“Pierced ears,” Shal said.
“What?” Haldan frowned.
“Yuki has multiple piercings in one ear. No piercings on the person I chased.” Shal wheeled around and headed for the bar. “On the other hand, from below and behind, a bowl cut hides a multitude of ears.”
“And you can take earrings out.” Gimlet rested her paw on Tesla’s foot and made a sigh that was halfway to being a whine. Dragging herself away from the conversation, Tesla checked the scanner and the results were clean. She poured food in Gimlet’s bowl. “Sit.” Gimlet sat. “Down.” Gimlet was the most downward dog ever. “Stay.”
Piper watched Tesla carry the bowl a little away from Gimlet. “I did not think she obeyed commands.”
“When breakfast is on the line, she is the most obedient.” And when Gimlet was on-duty, but Tesla didn’t feel the need to advertise her PTSD to Haldan. She gripped the counter with one hand, bracing, as she set the bowl down.
“I asked Fantine to get a list of names of people who had access to our cabin and gin. If we ask for the same thing for your cabin and compare, then that ought to narrow the field. Gimlet, release.”
Before Tesla finished the “R,” Gimlet shot forward and began to inhale her food with ferocious snarfing snorts.
“I was actually wondering if we could take this contraption to Haldan’s cabin and test his booze…” Shal scowled at it. “Can this be moved?”
“Y-Yesss…? Yes. But it would be easier to bring the rum here.”
“Better, as evidence, if we don’t move it.”
“Ah…” She studied the collection of parts loosely connected by wires. “With a cart? Yes.”
“I’ll order it and you can make that coffee you promised while we wait.” Piper slid off her chair to kneel on the floor and patted her thigh. “Gimlet? There’s my sweet girl. Let me know who your lawyer comes up with, and I can compare them to my list.”
So Piper wouldn’t share anything with them, but was perfectly willing to take their work and—and it was different for her. She might lose her job. Fantine would get Shal out of any trouble.
“Would your list come from the same source that said Immanuel wasn’t working in the R-Bar?”
“Swapping shifts doesn’t change security access levels—no, the fries are still not for you—and yes. Comparing my lists to your lists gives an additional data set.”
Shal said, “Now that I’ve bribed you successfully with Gimlet playtime, and we’re trading names … Can you tell me who ID’d me?”
“Can’t. You know that.”
He shrugged. “Fair. Can’t blame me for trying.”
Tesla should not push, but there were so many things the cruise ship wasn’t doing. “Have you interviewed Ory or Nile Silver? They were arguing with George before she was killed.”
Gimlet snuffle-snorted with delight while Piper concentrated on petting her as if that would give her plausible deniability about being in the room as the conversation continued.
Piper’s hand slowed on Gimlet, pausing on the little dog’s ear. She fondled it, her mouth tight. “There was an active spoofer in the R-Bar. None of our interviewees have given accounts that match yours. No one remembers seeing George at karaoke at all.”
“Oh, come on. Immanuel definitely saw George, because he dropped an entire tray of glassware on her. Ask him.”
“Thank you for that hot tip.” Piper’s voice was level, but there was an edge under it. “I need you to understand that just because you don’t see me working doesn’t mean I’m not doing my job when I’m out of your direct line of sight.”
Tesla bit down hard on a retort. She was mad because she wanted to win, not because she was right. She took in a slow breath, felt the air expand her lungs, and breathed out, letting it carry away some of her disproportionate anger. Piper was doing the best that she could in difficult circumstances. “I know. I’m sorry. And thank you for keeping us in the loop as much as you have.”
“Sorry.” Haldan raised his hand. “But who’s Immanuel?”
“A server.” Tesla pinched her nose, trying to keep from just yelling at everyone. Everyone in the room was trying to cooperate, and Piper, at least, seemed willing to consider that Shal was not the only suspect. So they needed to work together and play to their strengths. Hers was money. Shal’s was detectivey stuff. Piper’s was … also detectivey stuff, combined with access to the ship’s information. And Haldan’s was … “Oh, hang on. Haldan, it just occurred to me that you can probably get the list of passengers with access easier than Fantine can.”
He stared at her for a moment, mouth a little open, and squeezed his eyes shut. A single tear escaped before he lowered his head to rest it in his palms. “Right. I own the goddamned ship.” He half laughed, blowing his nose again. “George said I couldn’t survive without her, and I think she was probably right.”
REMEMBER THE MAINE
2 oz rye
.75 oz sweet vermouth
.25 oz cherry Heering
1 dash absinthe
1 cherry
Stir all ingredients over ice for 40 seconds. Strain into coupe. Garnish with cherry.
The elevator music tried to be upbeat and calming at the same time and was doomed to failure. Tesla leaned against the glass elevator, gripping her cane with one hand and Gimlet’s leash in the other. Cradling a cup of coffee, Piper nudged the service drone back further into the elevator so it wouldn’t block the door as Haldan and Shal got on.
They’d thrown a tablecloth over the modified matter printer, and a corner of the cloth trailed on the floor. Shal had said that they needed Piper with them so they had an official cruise line representative to record the process. It was so annoying when he was right. Tesla hooked the end of her cane under the tablecloth and tucked it back onto the drone.
Shal stood at the glass wall, looking out. “Pretty good view of the Yacht Club entrance from here.”
The floor of the Terran level was clear of caution tape. Pedestrians walked down the terrace without any sign that someone had died there the day before. Tesla chewed the inside of her cheek, thinking. “Do we know where Dr. Fish was scheduled to be before here? I mean, the ship.”
Piper pressed the button for the Terran level. “What do you mean?”
“She changed ship rotations…” Tesla turned to Haldan. “Two weeks before? Can you find out?”
He nodded. “I only know because she told me, but I can get the—”
“Hold the door!” A teenager slid into the elevator and pressed their hand against the door.
Five more giggling kids, damp from a pool, crowded into the elevator. “Soak me, that was awesome!”
The kid who’d held the door let it close, turning to their friends. “I told you the Martian pool was flash. That surface tension is—Hey! A dog!”
“Oh my land! She is so cute!”
Even on-duty, Gimlet was fully aware that she was, indeed, the most adorable and worthy creature ever assembled by nature or laboratory. Her tail was generating its own electrical current of delight.
“Can I pet your—shiiiiit. You’re Tesla Crane.”
“That’s right.” She’d been so focused on making sure her jerry-rigged scanner hadn’t come apart that not only had she left the courtesy mask in their suite but now she was stuck on a slow elevator as it transitioned between gravity levels with a bunch of kids. It was time to deploy her secret weapon. “And this is Gimlet, who would be happy to be petted. Gimlet, go say hi.”
Gimlet’s tail wagged faster.
The one who recognized Tesla grinned. “I dressed up like your dad for Halloween when I was a kid. That suit! So cool. Pew! Pew!” They mimed firing bolts from their hands. “Why didn’t you use it on Zero-G Dancing with the Stars? It would have been flash. Like, epic, acid flash.”
“Also outdated and unsafe.” Not that her version had been better. Stars and black. Elevator. Dog. Teenagers. Shal. Tablecloth. “Did you have an interest in robotics?”
“He thinks he do.” One of the other teens draped their arm over the boy’s shoulders. “Boy Wonder here can’t change a light.”
“Hey.” Boy Wonder blushed. “It was one lightbulb.”
“Well, you’ll be happy to know that Gimlet is not a lightbulb.” In fact, her dog would already be belly-up if there were space in the elevator. For that matter, as Earth gravity asserted itself, Tesla would also not mind going belly-up. “Go ahead. Really. You can pet her.”
The kids crowded down, pressing Tesla farther back into the elevator. Her spine settled and compressed under the slowly increasing gravity load. One of the kids leaned on the cart, trying to squeeze in and something under the tablecloth made a quiet snap. Great.
The doors to the elevator opened on the Terran level, and the kids tumbled out. “Thanks for letting us pet your dog!”
Haldan held the door as Piper guided the luggage cart out. Tesla followed, leaning on her cane more heavily here than she had on the Martian level. With each step, it felt like a butter knife extended from her spine into the muscles on the right side. A dull pain but not terrible. The dragging weakness of her left leg was more annoying. She couldn’t mask that.
Shal was trying to look like he wasn’t watching her, but she could tell by the way he was oriented toward her with one hand slightly away from his body as if he were ready to catch her. Gimlet didn’t pull on her lead, even though she clearly wanted to follow the kids, and stayed in perfect heel position. Even Haldan was watching Tesla with a line of concern between his brows.
On the other hand, she wasn’t sure she’d seen him not concerned, so that was either his natural expression or the situation. He leaned down. “How often does that happen?”
“Often enough.” She waved at the kids as they left. “And now you know why I take Gimlet with me everywhere.”
“Smart.” He led the way past the ficus trees toward the entrance to the Terran-level Yacht Club.
The doors whooshed open and they entered the calm oasis of the lobby. Auberi looked up from behind their concierge desk. Their face brightened as they rose. “Mx. Kuznetsova! Mx. Crane, and Mx. Steward! And the petite Gimlet! I am so pleased to see you all. So happy. Ah! And Officer Piper, you are well, no?”
No, but that wasn’t the answer they wanted. Shal grinned at the concierge and took Tesla’s hand, raising it to his lips to kiss. “Now that I’ve got my best gal, nothing could be finer.”
On his other side, Piper snorted, shaking her head. She gave a nod to Auberi, who hesitated before responding with a renewed smile for Haldan. “Ah! Mx. Kuznetsova. Your friend was looking for you about the tea time.”
“Tea time?” He stopped in the lobby and looked baffled. “I don’t have any plans for tea.”
“My apologies. They were speaking of golf. Tee time.” They looked back at the ostentatious paper notepad where they had written the message. “Mx. Smith.”
Haldan still looked baffled and then frightened. “Smith?” He turned to Piper. “Smith…?”
Tesla said, “Annie or Jalna?”
Auberi shook their head. “No, no. No one from the Yacht Club.”
Piper stepped forward and set her cup of coffee on Auberi’s desk. “When was this?”
“About a half hour ago.” They consulted what looked like a paper planner, but it had smart ink controls at the edges. “Specifically, 8:53 a.m.”
Piper nodded and scrolled through a couple of screens on her handheld. One she tapped three or four times, and then sighed. “Okay … Old-fashioned way then. What did Mx. Smith look like?”
“They wore a courtesy mask but were European, I believe, with hair that was quite curly. Red. A natural red, to my eye. But at the shoulders with layers. Mm … freckles. About Mx. Crane’s height, perhaps?” They looked at the ceiling as if trying to picture them more clearly. “If I were supplying them with a complimentary T-shirt, I would guess that they wore an XXL.”
“Pronouns?”
“They did not say, I am so sorry.”
Piper nodded, tapping her screen again. That could be Annie, if she wore a wig and heels. Although her skin was more olive than natural redhead. Definitely not Jalna. From where Tesla was standing, she could see Piper pulling faces together on the page, and it included Annie and Jalna.
After a moment, she turned it to face Auberi. “Do you see Mx. Smith here?”
Auberi studied the screen, frowning, and then shook their head. “I am sorry. I do not.”
“You’re sure.”
“Oui. If I were … if I were to guess gender based on stereotypes, then I would have said that this passenger was a man.”
“Thanks.” Piper picked up her coffee mug and took a sip. Turning, she rejoined their group, looking at Haldan. “Ring any bells?”
“No. I don’t know anyone who looks like that.” He swallowed, looking at Auberi and then back at Piper. “What is going on?”
“Smith. Not Doe?” Shal muttered and rubbed his ear for a moment before exchanging a glance with Piper. “Let’s head to his room.”
She nodded, guiding the drone forward. Tesla leaned on her cane as they followed Haldan down the Golden Promenade to his room. They didn’t talk about the mysterious note, but you didn’t need to be a detective to tell that someone had just wanted to know if Haldan were present.
