“Were you one of the spotters for last Monday night’s murder?”
“Yes.”
“Was Susan Kaplan also a spotter?”
“Yes.”
“Was Josip Bronsky the shooter for last Monday night’s murder?”
“I only know him as Joey Bronze.”
“And Joey Bronze was the shooter?”
“Yes.”
“Joey Bronze hired you to be a spotter?”
“Yes.”
“Did Joey Bronze also hire Susan Kaplan to be a spotter?”
“No, that was my idea. He wanted to make sure his spotters would be careful and not be identified on security recordings, so I suggested a couple would be more obscure.”
“So you hired Susan Kaplan?”
“Yes. I introduced her to Joey, and he said that she was ok.”
“How long have you known Joey Bronsky?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe five years. We hang out at some of the same places.”
“Have you worked as a spotter for Joey Bronsky before?”
“Yes. Twice.”
“Those were murders as well?”
“Yes.”
“Which murders? That is, who were the victims?”
“One was an attorney, I think. That was in Imperial Park East, about a year, year and a half back. The other was a hooker. Domino Scarlatti. I think she was blackmailing a john, and he didn’t like it. That was more like two or two and a half years back.”
“Were you the only spotter on those murders?”
“Yes.”
“What were you paid for those?”
“A thousand credits on the hooker, and two thousand on the attorney.”
“And you were paid three thousand for being a spotter for this murder?”
“Yes.”
“And Susan Kaplan was paid two thousand credits?”
“Yes.”
“You were paid in person by Joey Bronsky?”
“Yes.”
“Was that before or after the murder?”
“Half before, half after.”
“And Susan Kaplan was paid in person by Joey Bronsky?”
“Yes.”
“Same half-and-half deal?”
“Yes.”
“Were you both paid in cash?”
“Yes.”
“What were you told about the victim?”
“I was told she had very red hair – he showed me a picture – and that she would exit the Imperial Park West entrance to the palace sometime after normal work hours.”
“Did you know she was an Imperial Palace employee?”
“No. She could have worked anywhere in Imperial Park, or she might just have been visiting for some reason, like a job interview or something. All I was told was that she would come out of that entrance sometime after five.”
“Did Joey Bronsky tell you anything about why someone wanted her dead?”
“No.”
“Did you ask him?”
“No. None of my business. I didn’t care. It was just a job.”
“And you followed her from the palace entrance to her apartment building?”
“Yes.”
“And you kept Joey Bronsky apprised of her location as she went?”
“Yes.”
“And you told Joey Bronsky when she entered the building?”
“Yes.”
“All this communication was done by messaging in VR?”
“Yes.”
The Imperial Guard captain got a blank look on his face as he consulted his notes in VR.
“All right. That’s it for now.”
The Imperial Guard captain left, and two Guardsmen took Beckham back to his cell.
It was Josip Bronsky’s turn in the chair in the interview room. He was allowed to view the interrogation and death of Susan Kaplan, but it did not affect him in the way it had Derek Beckham. He had seen death – in fact, caused death – up close and personal too many times to be much affected by the death of a virtual stranger.
He was also allowed to see the interrogation of Derek Beckham. Even Bronsky couldn’t blame him for his answering their questions, given that they had demonstrated that they could get the answers anyway. In the clinches, everybody had to make their own deal.
When the Empress entered the room, he noted her hair, arranged just so, her manicure, her artfully done makeup. She was young and soft. Pampered. He could work this. He addressed her first.
“I already know your spiel, Your Majesty. I’m not going to answer your questions.”
“And die instead, Mr. Bronsky?”
“Why not? You’re going to kill me anyway. There’s nothing left in it for me but to deny you what you want.”
“I’ll get the answers anyway.”
“No, you won’t. One-word answers won’t tell you what you really want to know. You know it and I know it. Make me a better deal, Your Majesty.”
“I cannot allow you to run free in the Empire, Mr. Bronsky.”
“I don’t want to die, but life in prison doesn’t thrill me either, Your Majesty.”
“Then we are at an impasse, Mr. Bronsky.”
“Not necessarily, Your Majesty. Isn’t banishment one of the traditional punishments in a system of high justice?”
“You mean exile, Mr. Bronsky?”
“No, Your Majesty. Banishment. Put me on a passenger ship to some other polity. Let me be their problem. If I am ever caught in the Empire again, it is an automatic death penalty.”
The Empress seemed to consider.
“Very well, Mr. Bronsky. If you answer my questions honestly and completely, banishment it shall be.”
The Empress stood up and left the room.
When the questioning got under way, Dee was sitting in the monitoring room down the hall with Doctor Galway, who was monitoring Bronsky’s autonomic responses through receptors in the chair. Dee could see and hear Bronsky, as well as see Galway’s notes on the auto-transcriptor as the interview went on.
They had been at it for a while and Bronsky was confident. This Imperial Guard captain didn’t know what he was doing. Bronsky had assumed a conversational air, and answered the questions with an offhand casualness as the questioning continued.
“Who gave you this assignment?”
“I don’t know the guy’s name. He came around the South End looking for someone like me, and people pointed him in my direction.”
“You don’t know who he was?”
“No.”
“Do you know why he wanted the young woman murdered?”
“No.”
“No clue?”
“No clue.”
“Why would you take an assignment like that from someone you didn’t know?”
“He had cash. There was a substantial up-front payment. It was a job, he had cash.”
“Simple as that?”
“Simple as that.”
His questioner stopped at that point, and seemed to be waiting. Bronsky didn’t know what was going on. After a couple of minutes, the door opened, and the Empress and the doctor from Kaplan’s execution came into the room. The doctor had his bag with him.
“I’ve heard enough. You’ve been watching the doctor’s notes, Captain Mercer?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“And you know where he’s been lying, Captain Mercer?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Very well, Captain Mercer. Drug the correct answers out of him, then execute him.”
“WAIT!”
The Empress stopped in the doorway and turned back to Bronsky.
“Yes, Mr. Bronsky?”
“I’ll tell you the truth. Ask me the questions again.”
“No, Mr. Bronsky. I’ll not give you a chance to lie more artfully. We may not be able to detect it.”
“But you can’t do this.”
“Why not? Mr. Bronsky, are you under the illusion that I’m one of the good guys? That you can trifle with me, because I’m naive? I assure
you, I am neither. I am the Empress of Sintar. I am pledged to protect my subjects in this, my Empire. There are no rules, no morals, no code of honor to which I adhere other than that one overriding purpose. You sat down by mistake at a very high stakes table, Mr. Bronsky, and you’re playing out of your league.”
And with that, the Empress left.
Bobby was viewing the ultimately fatal interview of Josip Bronsky. He did not fight the first drug as Kaplan had, and his answers were rambling but complete.
“Who hired you to perform this murder?”
“Stash came by the diner one night. He and I met there once in a while. He would bring some job or other. He came up and sat down when I was eating. I was thin at the time, so it was a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of soup. I like grilled cheese sandwiches OK, so it wasn’t so bad – ”
“What’s Stash’s full name?”
“Stanley Gorecki. He’s with the Imperial Police. Not the Imperial City Police Department. Those guys hate me. Get on my case any time anything goes down. They pulled me in on that murder over at Sintar Suburban College, even though I didn’t – ”
“Did Stash often hire you for jobs like this?”
“Yeah. He hired me for that hit on the attorney over in Imperial Park East. I had to get some new clothes for that one, clean up my look. Got my hair styled and all. There’s a barbershop down by Imperial Park South does an OK job for that kind of thing – ”
“Did Stash tell you the victim here was an Imperial Palace employee?”
“Yeah. He said she was working on military weapons stuff, and really fucking things up for the big boys. I don’t have anything to do with military weapons. Powder guns. Loud, messy. And you can link the bullets to the gun that fired them. I like airguns. Quiet, clean. They don’t leave evidence all over the place, and there’s no ballistics tracking. That’s what’s nice about – ”
“Did Stash tell you who he meant by the big boys?”
“No, but Stash does special jobs for Chief Stanier and his assistants. Calls him the boss. He’s like their dirty jobs guy. Sometimes he brings dirty jobs to me. Always pays good. Cash. No nonsense. He gets it, you know, how to work with the guys that do that kind of stuff – ”
“How long have you known Stash?”
“Geez, we go back six, seven years. He used to hang out in the South End. I asked, who’s that guy anyway, and somebody said Imperial Police. I’m like, Are you kidding me? And everybody’s like, Nah, he’s cool. He’s dirty. Does dirty work. No better protection than being friends with a cop – ”
“Stash paid you in cash?”
“Yeah. He always brings it in a little candy box. You know, one of those little sweetheart boxes. Sweets for the sweet, he says. He’s a funny guy. One time, we were sitting in a bar in the South End – ”
“How much did he pay you for this murder?”
“Fifty thousand. Half up front, half later. Always in that little sweetheart box. Still smells like chocolate. I think Stash likes chocolate. He’s a big guy, you know. Got arms on him like a gorilla – ”
“When he paid you the second payment, after the murder, did he say anything about it?”
“He told me, Nice job. The boss was happy. I guess she really had some people pissed off. It never pays to piss off people with power. Like my spotter. Screaming obscenities at the Empress. How stupid you gotta be to – ”
“Did Stash say what the victim did that pissed people off?”
“Stash called her a traitor. Ratted on her group where she used to work. Got them all in trouble, and their bosses and all. Ratting on people is not OK. That’s why Stash uses me all the time. He knows I’d never rat on anybody. You’d have to drug me first – ”
“So he gave you the money and what else? Her schedule? Her picture?”
“Stash said she always left that entrance to the palace after she got off work at five. Nine to five job. I don’t think I’ve ever had a nine to five job. I’m just not a morning person, I guess. It’d be weird to have some place you had to be at nine in the morning. I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep for worrying about it – ”
“Did Stash give you her picture?”
“Her picture was in the candy box with the money. Stash said she had flame-red hair. Couldn’t miss her. Only one other girl I ever knew had hair that red. Jeannie something-or-other. We were in low school together – ”
“Was the picture Stash gave you a surveillance picture?”
“No, it looked more like an ID photo. The kind you take of your employees at work every year. He said it was several years old, but should be good enough. Once somebody’s in their mid twenties or so, they don’t really age that fast, so a few years old on a photo isn’t that big a deal – ”
Plans and Preparations
Dinner tonight had been a lemon chicken piccata served on angelhair pasta, with a Caesar salad and garlic bread on the side. Lemon gelato for dessert topped it off. After dinner, they had retired to the rooftop gardens, as was their custom.
It was chilly tonight, and they sat around a campfire in the fire pit. The other lights were off, and the flickering fire cast ominous shadows, moving and swaying in the trees around them.
“Well, now we know,” Bobby said.
“We know more,” Dee said.
“What do we know?” Cindy asked.
“Pomeroy’s people found out from Fairfield who was the likely palace expert on small weapons acquisition,” Bobby said, “then Pomeroy asked his buddy Stanier to take care of it. One of Stanier’s goons hired Joey Bronze to make the hit, probably with tax money that got siphoned off somewhere.”
“That’s a conclusion. It’s not in evidence,” Dee said.
“That’s what Joey Bronze said,” Bobby said. “Gorecki called Stanier the boss, and after the murder, Gorecki told Joey the boss was pleased.”
“But he didn’t say Stanier ordered it, just that he was pleased,” Dee said. “All of which is hearsay anyway, because Bronsky didn’t actually hear Stanier talk to Gorecki. Finally, Pomeroy asking Stanier to take care of the problem is conjecture. It’s not in evidence at all, although that is likely what happened.”
“Boy, that Bronsky guy was sure a piece of work,” Sean said.
“Yeah. Completely remorseless. ‘Just a job.’ Killing somebody in cold blood. For money,” Bobby said, shaking his head.
“Well, now we know who killed the original prosecutor in the Haggerty case,” Dee said. “He probably wouldn’t accept a bribe to throw the case.”
“That was also for the benefit of Pomeroy,” Bobby said.
“I understand,” Dee said. “It looks like Stanier’s been taking in Pomeroy’s laundry for a while now.”
“And Pomeroy got Stanier military-grade weapons for the Imperial Police in return.”
“Yeah, I know,” Dee said.
“But you won’t go after Pomeroy now?” Bobby asked.
“No, Bobby,” Dee said. “Pomeroy’s on the Council, and the Throne can’t go after anyone on the Council without absolute proof. Not unless they strike first.”
“So now what?” Cindy asked.
“Probably the next step is to pick up Gorecki and Whitmore,” Dee said.
“Not Kershaw?” Cindy asked.
“No,” Dee said. “Picking him up would be a big public thing. And Stanier would definitely notice. With Gorecki, it could be he just got drunk and is sleeping it off somewhere, or he got rolled over in South End. With Kershaw, he’s a public figure. There’s no way to avoid his disappearance becoming public.”
“If you pick up Gorecki and Whitmore, they’re going to notice anyway, Dee,” Sean said.
“I wish you would reconsider General Daggert’s request to move to a more secure location,” Bobby said.
“Daggert asked you to move?” Cindy asked.
“Yes, and I’m not going to do it,” Dee said. “I’ll not be chased into hiding by these cowards. Killing a young woman in cold blood, with a hired stooge shootin
g her from behind? No, I’ll not hide from the likes of them. If they want to come after me, they can, but they will regret it. I can promise you that.”
“And if they do manage to kill you?” Bobby asked.
“Then they’ll regret it even more,” Dee said, her eyes flashing in the light of the fire.
Stanley Gorecki was worried. He didn’t usually contact Chief Stanier directly. In fact, he never did. Stanier always got a hold of him. But this time, he put in a contact request to Stanier.
For his part, Stanier was surprised to see it. He got in touch with Gorecki right away.
“What is it, Stash?”
“You know Joey Bronze, right, Boss?”
Of course, Stanier knew Joey Bronze. He was Gorecki’s man for wet work, including the most recent little job.
“Sure. He staying out of trouble?”
“I dunno, Boss. Nobody’s seen him in three-four days.”
“Is that so unusual, Stash?”
“Unusual enough. Joey’s always around. But the other rumor runnin’ around is he got picked up by Imperial City PD.”
“That’s not unusual, though, is it? I thought they hated that guy.”
“’Cause they can’t ever get him on nothin’. That’s right, Boss. But Imperial City PD records don’t show him in detention. They don’t even show him as havin’ been arrested. He’s just not around, and some guy claims he saw him get arrested, but the PD’s records don’t show nothin’. But that’s not all. Suzie Q and Derek are missin’, too. They’re Joey’s – how do you put it – helpers, I guess you’d say.”
“They’re missing, too?”
“Yup. All about the same time.”
“OK. Well, that is curious. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Stash.”
“Sure, Boss. You want me to do anything?”
“No. No, not yet. I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
“OK, Boss.”
Lord Pomeroy and Chief Stanier were out to dinner.
“What’s going on, George? This isn’t our normal night.”
“Larry, I’m getting a little worried. We got three more people disappeared.”
“Really?”
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