Fade to Black, page 14
“Any joy in the financials?” she asked Amanda.
“Too soon to be sure. And I’m struggling to think. Time for that nap.” Amanda stretched and turned the screen off. “Anything from Nhu?”
“I got a name and a warning. I think it might be too risky to hack into the databases.”
“We’ll see. Maybe Rick had better luck.” She tipped her chin toward the bullpen.
Rick pushed open the door and dropped into the nearest chair.
“So?” Sofie asked. “What did you get?”
“The aide’s name, and that he’s missing. Denied access to the databases.”
“Same here,” Sofie said. “Tran Gilbride, right?”
“Yeah, so probably true. Haadiya thinks the guy is secretly lobbying for one of the candidates. I can find him tomorrow.”
“Nhu thought he was hiding out until after the election,” Sofie said. “Anything else?”
“He thought Oswald’s partner was in the Temporaries. We should go talk to your contact.” Rick checked his stim-juice glass but found it empty. “Tomorrow.”
Torque wouldn’t like it, but Sofie agreed. “Nhu was distant. I got the feeling they were hiding something against their better judgment. Why would the Ruiz family care?”
“Maybe we should have looked there before now,” Rick said. “Their Pratham was interested at the beginning of the case, remember? Before the rest of them reached out to Llewelyn.”
“Did you get warned off?” Sofie asked. “Like your career was on the line if you looked too high up in the Mallet for answers?”
“Now that is interesting,” Rick said. “Amanda, can you get the Ruiz financial papers?”
“The public ones only,” Amanda said. “I can look for patterns between them, but public records are cleaned.”
Sofie’s exhaustion was growing. This was important, but they couldn’t afford to miss something because they needed sleep, or misinterpret something for the same reason. “Tomorrow at four hours. Rick and I will head into the Temporaries. Amanda, you can send us anything you find.”
Sofie watched the others leave and checked that everything was shut down or locked away. She set the windows on permanent privacy, then set a tiny camera to record any activity while they were gone. It might be tiredness, but Nhu’s warnings had Sofie on high alert. She tested that the door was locked before walking out of the bullpen, the stim-juice and meds overload warring with her body’s demand for sleep. She had sedatives at home, but Bindes had warned against that. Only this one time, she promised herself.
36
As Sofie and Rick walked through the Maintenance section, people turned their heads to follow them. The section was always noisy with arguments verging on fights, raucous parties and celebrations spilling out of pubs and restaurants, and people hurrying between work and home. Today it was quiet. Not the peaceful kind; a menacing silence that seemed ready to boil over with the slightest provocation. Like the side-glances she noticed from people as they walked past. No words, but definitely a challenge. And again, there seemed to be more people than usual hanging around.
“Did something happen last night?” Sofie asked Rick.
Rick checked the news on his pad as they continued through the corridors. “Some idiot in the media is trying to blame Maintenance for the spike in violence.”
“Fuck,” Sofie said. She’d been expecting something like this. The Mallet media didn’t care about repercussion, just followers and ad sales. “Did they give any details?”
“Of course not.” Rick glanced around and walked closer to Sofie. “Why give facts when innuendo is easier and more fun? I guess it’s a good thing they haven’t named a suspect. We probably need to let Mitch go soon.”
Sofie wished she could say they only needed to concentrate on the case, but she didn’t have to strain her imagination to know what would happen next. “Have they suggested that no one is safe if a Pratham can be killed in public?”
“Not yet, but… well, that wouldn’t be wrong.” Rick shut down the news feed and dropped his pad into his jacket pocket. “I’m sure Llewelyn will be putting on the pressure to keep things from boiling over.”
The entrance to the Temporaries was empty. “It looks like no one wants to be around if things kick off,” Sofie muttered. “Let’s find Torque. Let me do the talking, and if he says you should leave, just go.”
Ten minutes later they sat at a table in Torque’s favorite restaurant and waited for the mech to deliver drinks. Water for Sofie, but the two men chose weak beer. She shuddered at the idea of alcohol this early, but weak beer was no worse than stim-juice.
“You have someone in custody?” Torque asked as their drinks arrived. “What do you want from me?”
“Don’t sulk, Torque,” Sofie said. “I needed my partner with me. He won’t bother you.”
“He’s welcome to bother me when he’s off duty,” Torque said. “Now, I’m busy, so let’s get to it.”
Sofie told him the high points of their progress, although there were too few for the investigation to be called anything other than stalled. “We need to find the parents. And Oswald’s partner.” She trusted Torque further than most people, but it made sense to her to keep their actual progress under wraps. Maybe Torque would add something they didn’t know if he thought they were unaware of the details.
“I never saw the Pratham with a companion,” Torque said. “I’m sure you realize that a partner would have to be a high-level Elite.”
She’d been hoping for a name, one to confirm their suspicions. “Another Pratham?” He didn’t know they’d already learned that fact.
“Any kids missing in the last few days?” Torque asked.
“Not yet,” Rick said. He swirled the half glass of beer before looking at Torque. “Probably waiting until we catch the killer.”
“So to save kids you could just let the case die out,” Torque said.
Sofie could feel the jitters returning. She’d burned off most of the jumpiness from too much stim-juice during her sleep. Not all of it, but enough that she could tell the difference between the onset of an attack and simple jitters.
Sitting and talking was not helping, but this was their only choice. “The Elites will find a scapegoat,” she said. “This won’t end up an unsolved. We need information to get the right person, even if it’s a parent.”
“So, you’d punish a grieving mother for stopping that awful business? I thought you had a heart, Sofie.”
Torque was just marking time. He knew something, Sofie was confident. “We don’t punish. That’s for the judges.”
“Yeah, yeah. You just feed the machine,” Torque said. “You know if this was somewhere off the Mallet, Oswald would be locked up. You’d have the partner’s name and most of those kids would still be running around.”
“Well, we are on the Mallet. And there are plenty of worse places.” Sofie finished her water and pushed the glass to the center of the table. Time to give Torque something to deny, even if she wasn’t convinced herself. “We figure a parent killed Oswald. The only place they could disappear is in your section. You’re planning to smuggle them off-station, right?”
“So blunt.” Torque leaned in and dropped his voice. “You have no proof that it was a mother or father. You won’t get to search my area without pissing off a lot of important people. And even if you’re right, could you bring yourself to take in someone who cleaned up that kind of shit?”
He might not know who the partner was, but his words confirmed for Sofie that the missing parents were hidden somewhere in the Temporaries, waiting for space on an outgoing transport so they could disappear into the galaxy. “What about Tran Gilbride? Oswald’s aide. He’s missing.”
“You should look at the remaining Prathams if you want to find Gilbride. They tend to steal staff from each other just for sport. Or any of the Sato candidates. Yes, Gilbride would know everything. He’s not in my section. I would know.”
“I get it,” Rick said. “You have some kind of hero complex. Saving the poor, oppressed Mallet workers. Have you been outside your section lately?”
Torque shrugged, but Sofie could tell he knew what Rick was insinuating.
“Nothing out there is of interest to me. If you refer to the muttering and glaring? Well, if it gets bad enough, we have a way out. We follow the rules. We care about the business arrangements that keep the Mallet running and the people fed.”
Rick glanced to the street and then back. “If it escalates, you must know a mob doesn’t care. They run on fury and spite. The line on the floor marking the border of the Temporaries isn’t a wall.”
Before Torque could respond, Sofie added, “It’s pretty quiet in here today. People trying to hide from what’s coming?”
“I’ll ask around discreetly about your parents and Tran. But I don’t know the name of the partner for certain.” Torque raised his hand to call the mech over. “People at this end of the Mallet have been unhappy for a long time. Finding the killer might calm things or be just the flame that ignites rioting. Tread carefully, Sofie.”
She stood and gestured for Rick to do the same. “Tell me as soon as you have information.”
Torque ordered another drink and pretended to ignore her words.
Out in the street, the residents of the Temporaries were stirring, but the few parties were subdued and none of them moved near the entrance to the section.
“He’s right,” Rick said. “If a riot is coming, we might not be able to stop it.”
“We just do our job,” Sofie said. “We solve the case. We don’t decide the outcomes.”
“Maybe that’s true, but I would prefer not to be a scapegoat for the fall of the Mallet.”
Sofie elbowed him. “Don’t be so dramatic. Anyway, Torque will tell me about the parents. I know him too well for him to hide a lie. He knows where the parents are, and he knows exactly who the partner is. Maybe I should have come alone. Maybe he didn’t like you being there.”
“Yeah, a Pratham makes sense. Unfortunately, six of them have been poking into the investigation, and if we try to investigate one Pratham, we’ll be standing on a Manufacturing line by the end of the hour.”
37
Sofie and Rick sat at a table in the back of a small bistro in the Temporaries section and ordered stim-juice and pastries. Sofie checked her notes and entered the comm code Lilianna Ruiz gave her. Maybe following up on the offer to help would reveal a clue to the name of the partner, even if it was Ruiz herself. She expected an automated appointment bot, but Ruiz answered after one tone.
“Yes, Detective?” The Pratham did a great job of projecting a desire to help in her tone, while being clear that she was busy.
“Pratham, I apologize for the disturbance. We received some… delicate information that you might be able to clear up for us.”
“If I can, of course. This murder is upsetting to all the Prathams.”
She doesn’t know about the growing unrest, or she doesn’t care. “We have reason to believe that ex-Pratham Sato worked with another high-ranking individual. One outside the Sato family.”
Lilianna’s attention snapped into focus. “Do you have a name?”
“No, unfortunately we were unable to glean that information from the available data. I thought you might have information we can’t access about the business structures.”
Sofie worried that if she asked a direction question Ruiz would end the call. And she wouldn’t give the woman any names. She hoped Ruiz wouldn’t suspect a source gave them the information. If the Pratham thought there was someone behind this who knew too much, Sofie wouldn’t be able to protect anyone.
“I don’t have dealings with the Sato family business,” Ruiz said. “Our interests don’t align in that way. Who gave you the information?”
“I can’t reveal the names of our sources. I’m sure you understand the need to protect people who are brave enough to step forward and do the right thing.”
“Are you saying I am not to be trusted?”
Sofie smiled to soften the words. Rick moved closer but stayed out of visual range. Sofie had hidden any location information before making the call. Ruiz wouldn’t know they were in the Temporaries, let alone sitting in this specific bistro.
“Of course you are trustworthy,” Sofie said. “If a detail of the case leaks out, I don’t want you to be suspected. It helps to know that you and Oswald Sato didn’t engage in business together. One more question, if you have another moment.”
“Ask and we’ll see if I have time to answer.”
So much for giving us all the help we need. “Tran Gilbride, Oswald’s assistant. Have you ever met him?”
Ruiz paused as if she was trying to sift through her memories. Sofie didn’t buy the act. She was trying to decide how much of a lie she could get away with.
“Possibly at a meeting, or an event. I don’t recall specifically. Why do you ask?”
“He, along with a number of people we’d like to question, has disappeared.”
“I know nothing about people disappearing, Detective. My family does not condone criminal behavior. Is there anything else?”
“Thank you for your time, Pratham.”
“You may speak to my representative in the future. If you have questions for me, Nhu Eckerman will relay them.” Ruiz cut the call.
Rick pushed Sofie’s drink and pastry toward her. “You’d think someone who made it to Pratham would be better at lying.”
Sofie took a bite of the pastry. Butter and chocolate woke her appetite. The Temporaries got supplies from off-station. No resident would have access to ingredients this good.
“I don’t think she’s had experience lying to anyone outside her social caste. It’s hard to be convincing when you don’t have the right cues. I thought she gave it a good try. Or maybe she wanted us to think she was a bad liar.”
Rick grunted agreement and finished his stim-juice. “Let’s hope that doesn’t change. I don’t trust any Elite on principle, but if we can’t tell when they’re lying about something specific, we’re screwed.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know anything. It’s probably harder for her to admit she’s ignorant of something than to lie about facts she knows.”
“Even if that’s true, we don’t know what to do about it.”
Sofie finished her pastry as she thought through the last hour. Lots of information but very light on details. She believed Torque when he said he didn’t know the partner’s name but had no doubt he was hiding the parents. Probably not Tran. Ruiz she didn’t trust at all.
“You know, she was careful to say the families didn’t work together,” she said finally. “Maybe it was a personal gig. Something not official.”
“Like a child kidnapping business?” Rick checked his pad. “We need hard evidence to accuse a Pratham of murder.”
“She probably won’t get charged,” Sofie said. “But maybe the Ruiz family will want a Pratham who doesn’t bring the cops to the door.”
“So we dig deeper on Lilianna Ruiz? See if she makes a good suspect even if we can’t arrest her?”
There was no one else to investigate. “Yes. Maybe we’re wrong and you won’t find anything.” Closing that avenue will help me feel better.
Rick roared a laugh. “Sure. I have a contact I can use to get dirt.”
“And I need to keep an eye on Torque.” There was no way she could do that in secret. And hanging out in the Temporaries might give her a chance to look for the parents’ hiding place. “Go ahead. I’ll stick around here. Just check in periodically.”
“Thanks. I hate this section. No one is actually in charge. At least the dark streets have someone to reign them in.” He walked out of the bistro, leaving Sofie to ponder her next move.
The one good thing about no one being in charge of the Temporaries was that no one had the authority to kick her out. She paid the bill and strolled out to the street thinking about where she would hide a group of fugitives. Close to the launch bays for sure.
38
The outgoing shuttles were launched from a series of bays that crossed the back end of the Mallet. Three hundred shuttles headed out loaded with processed ore, manufactured items, and people six times a shift. No one was authorized to be on those ships except envoys from the Mallet and Temporaries who were returning home. People who paid to escape the hell of their lives in the lower castes, or to dodge retribution from crime bosses, neighbors, or the authorities went as cargo.
Everyone knew it happened, but no one bothered to look into it. Or maybe they tried without success enough times to give up.
Torque had to be part of the smuggling operations, but he wouldn’t give Sofie any details about his business at all. Her search was based on guesses and a little knowledge of the setup. There was order to the launches. If someone was escaping, they would look for a safe haven. Some of the shuttles traveled between stations like the Mallet. Some went to planets, and some supplied long-distance colony ships.
Sofie headed for the bays that serviced planets. That’s where she would go if she needed to escape, and if she didn’t have the Fades. A condition unique to the Mallet made it very difficult to change identities somewhere else.
The section was laid out the same as the rest of the non-Elite parts of the station. Straight passageways made to look like streets were interrupted by the occasional open square with restaurants, stim-juice bars, and retail outlets. The residential areas were clean and well lit, the units twice the size of any in the Maintenance or Administration sections. The mechs were kept serviced, and within an hour any detritus from the frequent public parties was gone.
In the shuttle bays, gray-overall-clad workers hurried between storage areas and waiting shuttles. They crossed paths without touching at a pace that should have resulted in multiple collisions.
Could the storage spaces contain people waiting to be loaded? Not in the open, she thought. There would be containers fitted with tight living spaces. With environmental equipment and food for the journey.
