by Rachel Ford
“I will,” he nodded. “But first, I want to read the files.”
“Oh.”
Maggie came back with the tablet soon after she left, and we showed him to F’rok’s study. Then, with a promise that coffee would be delivered as soon as it was ready, we left him.
“Well?” I asked. “What do you think?”
F’rok shrugged. “J’kar says he’s a hell of a detective.”
“He seemed like he already made up his mind that Mags and I were guilty.”
“Maybe. But J’kar says he’s one of the best. I guess all we can do is wait and hope that he’s right.”
We did wait, though not as long as I would have thought. Maybe it was the coffee, but Zaldar seemed to power through the files. Then the questioning began. His line of questioning was similar to Investigator Kilar’s. If he asked me anything the other investigator had missed, I didn’t catch it. Indeed, it seemed rather a waste of time to me.
Then again, Zaldar wasn’t the type to waste time. Anton had called him the afternoon before, after J’kar returned home. He was here promptly after breakfast the very next day. He’d made short work of the files we gave him, and he barreled through the questioning.
If he was asking a question, it was a safe bet that he had a good reason to do it. So I answered what he asked to the best of my ability, telling him when I didn’t know the answer, and trying not to complain too much when I couldn’t see the relevance.
Then, it was Maggie’s turn. And, when he wrapped up his questions for her, he said, “Well, that’s what I need for now. I’ll be back tomorrow”
“Wait, that’s it?”
He nodded. “For now? Yes. I will see you tomorrow.”
And, with no further explanation, Zaldar took his leave. The consensus among all of us was confusion. We couldn’t say with any certainty if he’d changed his mind, or if he still regarded us as the likely suspects. We could only guess if he believed the answers we’d given him, or if he was more convinced than ever that we were guilty.
“I sure hope J’kar’s dad knows what he’s doing,” F’rok sighed, after a long and fruitless discussion.
“Give it time,” F’riya urged. “It can’t be any worse than what the police are doing, anyway.”
“He did promise to turn over anything against us he finds,” I reminded her.
“Yes, but you’re innocent. He’s not going to find anything.”
“If he doesn’t confuse opinion with fact,” I agreed. “But this whole case seems to be built on circumstantial evidence.”
“All we can do is wait and see,” Maggie said. “Hopefully, Anton’s judgement is on point.”
It was. Zaldar arrived even earlier the next morning, showing himself to his study while we breakfasted. He was waiting for us when we finished. “Ah. Good morning.”
“Investigator Zaldar,” F’rok said with no little surprise. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“No. Your man told me you were at breakfast. I thought it better not to disturb you.”
“Ah. Well, you would, of course, have been welcome to join us.”
He shook his head. “I’ve already breakfasted. Thank you. But, if you’re ready, I’d like to jump into the case.”
“Of course.”
We echoed the sentiment, and Zaldar nodded. “Good. Let’s go to the study, then, and review what I’ve found.”
“What you’ve found?” I could feel my eyebrows creeping up my forehead. He hadn’t even been on the case a full day yet. “You mean, you found something?”
He nodded. “Yes. Nothing that will break the case yet, if that’s what you mean. But I have discovered a few points of interest.”
“Oh.” That had been exactly what I’d meant – or hoped, at least. But any progress was still progress. I’d take it.
We settled into F’rok’s study and, at Zaldar’s request, called for coffee. Then, he took a seat and said, “I spoke with F’er ark inkaya yesterday.”
“I thought they weren’t allowing him visitors?” F’riya frowned.
“They’re not. But I know some of the staff.”
“Ah.”
“So, first things first: I do not believe you are guilty. None of you. Not F’er, not even you humans.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” I said, a bit more acidly than I’d intended.
“He has no motive to kill her. The facts back up his claim that he was the one to avoid the betrothal in the first place, and while his inconsistency of mind on the point is hardly commendable, it does not a murderer make.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“And the reports from the waitstaff indicate that they got along very well. F’er himself claims a second meeting was planned, though Kia wanted to take things slowly on account of her mother’s death. So, again, he would not have motive to kill her.
“As for you two, you are human, which introduces some chaos into the mix. Early on, I determined that I could not expect the kind of ordered logic from your motives that I might from Mister Inkaya.”
I could feel my eyebrow creeping up my forehead, and Maggie crossed her arms.
“Still, I can find even less cause for you to have had a hand in this crime than F’er. There’s no evidence of prior connection to the victim, or particular animus toward her. There is no reasonable motive.
“And while that – on account of the human condition – means less than in his case, there’s a more important factor than motive: opportunity. F’er had opportunity and no motive. You might have some motive that is incomprehensible to the Kudarian mind, but no opportunity. So unless the three of you worked in concert, he to act on your motives with his opportunity, you cannot be involved.”
“So,” Maggie said, “we’ve established what we already told you: we didn’t do it.”
He surveyed her across steepled fingers for a moment, then proceeded with his narration, as if she’d not spoken. “As far as means, here I think you all are in equally poor shape. No direct evidence links you to the poison, but you all would have had reasonable access to it at some point. It is, I believe, readily accessible on your planet.”
“It’s not a poison on our world,” I protested.
“That only means it’s easier to acquire,” he countered. “And would draw less attention.”
“But there’s nothing suspicious about us being on a world where something that’s non-toxic to humans is available.”
He regarded me coolly. “I did not say it was suspicious, Miss Ellis. Anymore than it was suspicious that F’er works on a pirate vessel that might put him in contact with this poison.”
“Privateer,” Maggie corrected. “We’re privateers, not pirates.”
“A distinction that carries more meaning in human circles, I believe, than Kudarian.”
I threw her a sideways glance, and caught her eye. I could see the sparks flying in them, and I flashed her a half smile. I had the thought that, if this conversation didn’t take a sharp turn, and soon, Mags and I might wind up murderers yet…
Chapter Fifty-One
The morning only got more interesting, though. After establishing that he saw no evidence that Frank, Maggie and I were involved, Zaldar laid out his plan for proceeding. “If we’re going to convince anyone else of that, though, we have to either prove that you couldn’t have done it or that someone else is a more likely suspect.”
“Proving a negative is almost impossible in a case like this, where there’s solid opportunity. In order to free F’er, we need to find a compelling suspect. Which means we need to find someone who had motive, means, and opportunity.”
“Means will be the most difficult to establish. The poison is not prohibited in other reaches of Union space, nor is it scanned for in our airspace. So it’s entirely possible that someone smuggled it in.”
He shook his head, his dark eyes concentrating on some distant point at the far end of the room – some point that only he seemed to see. “No, means is not going to be much help. N
ot at first. What we need to concentrate on are the people with opportunity and motive.”
“That’s great,” F’rok said. “Brilliant. Find an alternate suspect, and then they’ll have to see holding F’er doesn’t make sense.”
“But how will we know who might have wanted her dead?” F’riya wondered.
“We barely know the Nikyas,” Ger added. “We don’t know their enemies.”
The detective nodded. “No. That’s my job. I’ve already started some inquiries, but, remember, we have to factor in opportunity. We’re only interested in those enemies that might have had some access to her, somehow, in the few hours before and during her dinner with Mister F’er.”
“That’s true,” I nodded. Now that he was focusing on solving the case, rather than explaining how illogical and unpredictable humans were, my annoyance at him was making way.
“But it’s not only Kia’s enemies we need to look at.”
“It’s not?”
“No. There are four people whose connections we need to examine. The first is Kia, of course.
“But we cannot forget that there was another victim: her brother, Kor.”
“That’s right. He could have been the real target,” Maggie nodded.
“Why poison Kia then?”
Zaldar shrugged. “For the same reason, presumably, they’d have poisoned Kor if Kia was the primary target.”
I hadn’t thought about that. “I guess I always just assumed she was the hit.”
“Because she’s the one who died. But Kor left early, about midway through the meal, once he felt comfortable leaving his sister alone. The doctors believe that’s the only thing that saved his life: he stopped eating, while she did not.”
“So,” I concluded, “he might have been the target all along.”
“Yes. Or perhaps they were equally targets.”
“It couldn’t have just been indiscriminate killing, because they didn’t target Frank. So who would have had a grudge against both Nikya children?”
A grim smile lifted the corners of the detective’s mouth. “It’s entirely possible that the children were targeted for reasons that had nothing to do with them. The ‘grudge’ might have been with their father.”
“And they,” F’rok nodded slowly, “were the killer’s way to hurt Kri.”
“Precisely.”
“So we need to find out if Kia, Kor and Kri had enemies,” I concluded. “But who is the fourth person? You said there were four people we needed to look into.”
“Yes. The fourth is Mister Inkaya himself.”
“Frank?” My eyes widened.
“That’s right.”
“But he wasn’t even poisoned.”
“But the two people who shared a table with him were. And he, conspicuously, was not.”
I blinked. “You mean…you think someone wanted to frame Frank?”
“It is a thought we have to consider.”
A hush settled on us. Finally, Ger spoke. “Who would want to frame F’er, though?”
Zaldar took a long sip of his coffee, set the mug aside, and stared at us all over steepled fingers. “A question I’ve been asking myself all morning. Who would benefit from destroying F’er ark inkaya?
“His crew? Perhaps. His family? Certainly.”
A cacophony of protests met that declaration. “You already said it wasn’t Mags and me,” I said.
“Are you mad? Why would we want to frame our own brother?”
“What in the gods’ name would the Inkayas gain from destroying one of their own?”
He watched us all, but only spoke when we’d quieted. “F’er’s parents have no motive. Even after his disappointing behaviors, such drastic action would be far more harmful than other means of recourse within their purview.
“No, this case shames R’ia and Dre as much as anyone. I do not believe they’re involved.”
F’riya snorted, as if the conclusion was patently obvious, and F’rok shook his head. “Forgive me, Investigator, but of course my parents wouldn’t frame their own son.”
“As for other members of this family, though…well, that’s another story.”
“Please,” F’riya said. “Why would any one of us want to hurt F’er?”
“There could be any number of motives, of course. But the most obvious are: personal gain; jealousy; sibling rivalry; vengeance.”
F’rok, F’riya and Ger objected in unison. “This is preposterous.”
“I can’t believe you’d even go there, Investigator.”
“You must be joking.”
He, though was unruffled. “The most obvious suspect, of course, is the one who stands to benefit the most by displacing the elder brother. The sister who would inherit next, if the heir was convicted. The sister who has kept her place in the family, who tended her duties, while the heir ignores his duties and flits about the universe, all the while promised everything. While she is guaranteed nothing. While her loyalty, her sense of duty, counts for nothing.”
He fixed F’riya in a stony gaze, and she flushed a deep, angry crimson. “Investigator, I would never harm my brother. Not for any inheritance. Not for anything.”
“You have no right to talk to her like that,” Ger said. “None at all.”
“Hmm.” He held her gaze for a minute, then moved on to F’rok. “And let us not overlook the younger brother, the black sheep of the family. He stands to profit less, but perhaps there are other motives at play. Perhaps he resents the more popular brother’s standing. Perhaps he resents the treatment he has received. Perhaps he contrasts his elder brother’s antics, and the forgiveness so easily granted him, to the harshness he’s faced. Perhaps, under that pretense of brotherly love, there’s a heart full of hatred.”
F’rok flushed as deeply as his sister. “Asking you here was clearly a mistake, Investigator. I might have got more sense out of a madman.”
Zaldar smiled, and fixed Ger in a curious stare. “Of course, we must remember the young husband, too: the unworthy in-law, who perhaps resents that F’er, and not his dutiful wife, stands to inherit. Who, perhaps, hopes to raise his own family’s fortunes. Who wants his sons and daughters to inherit the Inkaya fortune and estate.”
“Leave my husband out of this nonsense,” F’riya said.
“I’m sorry,” the investigator shook his head, “but that’s not how this works. I’m here for the truth, and until I find otherwise, everyone is a suspect.”
“So you think a member of F’er’s family did it?” I asked, too incredulous to hold my tongue. “Investigator, they’re trying to free him.”
“Which brings me back to you, Miss Ellis. You and Captain Landon.”
“I thought you already cleared us?” Maggie wondered.
“I did. Of wanting to kill Kia. But what if that wasn’t your motive? What if your motive was to harm Mister Inkaya, and the dead woman was just the way to do that?”
“Jesus,” Maggie sighed. “We work together on the same spaceship. It’d be a hell of a lot easier to arrange an accident in the deep of the void than to go through a rigmarole like this. Have you ever heard of Occam’s razor, Investigator?”
Zaldar held her gaze for a moment, his eyes twinkling. Then, he laughed. “I have, as it happens, Captain. And, for the record, I don’t believe any of you are responsible.”
We all glared at him. “Then what,” F’rok demanded, “was the purpose of that exercise?”
“I told you: I’m examining the motives of everyone connected to the case. And the fact is, you all have motive, or could have motive, depending on your feelings toward Mister Inkaya.”
“But we can’t all have done it.”
“No. As I say, I don’t think any of you did it. But if we’re going to find the killer, we cannot leave any stones unturned.” He shrugged. “Not out of courtesy. Not out of respect. Not for any reason at all.”
“I believe you’ve made your point, Investigator,” Ger said. “Now, instead of looking at who you thin
k it isn’t, can we talk about who you think it might be?”
Chapter Fifty-Two
“I do not have a suspect at the moment. But there are a few avenues of inquiry I intend to explore. The first is the father, Kri ark nikya.” He ignored our stunned reactions. “The Nikya wealth was inherited by his now deceased wife, Nefi, and on her death it and the estate passed to her eldest child, Kia. However, if both children died, the estate and all of its wealth would have reverted to their nearest living relative: Kri.”
“Still, you can’t possibly think he’d murder both of his children for money,” I argued.
“The man looks like a wreck,” F’riya protested. “Have you seen him on the casts?”
He shook his head in a bemused fashion. “And this, of course, is exactly how crafty killers imagine they will get away with their crimes: the credulity of the masses.
“In my line of work, tears and trembling voices don’t mean much. They’re too easy to fake.”
F’rok sighed and shook his head. “It can’t be Kri. There’s no way.”
“I didn’t say he was my primary suspect. You will remember, I said I do not have a suspect at this time. However, I will not rule out anyone with a clear motive and opportunity.”
“You already ruled out all of us,” Maggie reminded him. “Even though you invented motives for everyone here.”
“Yes. You all had motive, but no opportunity. Kri had both. He stood to inherit if his children died, and he had the opportunity to poison them before they left for dinner.”
“That’s insane,” F’rok shook his head adamantly. “No father is going to murder his children.”
Zaldar arched an eyebrow. “Do you know how many people I put in prison, Master F’rok, for murdering their children? Or their parents? Or their siblings or best friends or lovers? And you know how many of them shed tears and protested their innocence and swore they’d be unable to go on living without the person they just put in the ground?” He shook his head. “You cannot view the realm of the possible through the prism of rationality or decency. The moment you do is the moment you deceive yourself, because people are neither rational nor decent. Not even Kudarians, I’m afraid to say.”
