“We’ll speak to Bop later and confirm whether or not the DNA from the crime scene belongs to him,” Nick said. “He’s our strongest suspect but we still have no conclusive proof that he’s the killer.”
No one Kass had worked with had seen who she spoke to outside. They couldn’t even be certain that Bop had ever been at the warehouse yesterday.
“It’s either him, Arwyl or Pos,” Poppy added. “He had personal motives for killing the women while Arwyl and Pos probably had financial motives.”
“Is that another wild guess?” Prince demanded as Siglinde padded in on all fours. “Damnation! This is unacceptable! You’re both letting me down...”
Nick had been listening irritably as the captain’s voice grew louder and, beside him, Poppy had her arms folded and her lips pressed tightly together. Siglinde walked past them both, rose up on two legs and punched Prince. Nick’s mouth fell open as the man fell to the floor, conscious but dazed from the blow. He glanced over at Poppy – who was grinning with delight – then back at the captain, who stared up at the retail specialist with wide eyes, his arms wrapped around himself.
“Men shouldn’t yell at women,” Siglinde told him. “It’s disrespectful.” She turned and nodded to Poppy, who returned the motion, and then dropped to all fours and walked out.
“We’ll go and do more work,” Poppy said, grabbing Nick’s arm as Keith helped the captain to his feet. She pulled Nick out, waiting until they reached the docking bay before she bent over, laughing. He joined in, thinking about the look on Prince’s face; he wouldn’t have been able to relax like this a few months ago but Reese’s arrival had changed his life for the better, making everything that used to worry him seem less important.
He hoped Siglinde wouldn’t get into trouble for this but the captain was probably far too afraid of her to say anything or to fire her.
Poppy straightened and said, “That was one of the happiest moments of my life.”
Her reaction made him laugh again. “Yeah. It was cool but we still do have a murder case and too little evidence. We can’t see Bop until later and, if necessary, we can go and see the solicitors tomorrow but, in the meantime, I might be able to trace who owns a gun through the planet’s records.”
“Fine. You stay here and do that and I’ll speak to Norla about Kass’s children and see if she knows anything about who inherits Kass’s money.”
“Be careful,” he said, not trusting the cold woman who had taken control of Ember’s business.
“Always.”
They parted ways and Nick headed back into the main part of the ship. His quarters were at the back, so he had to pass the control room again to get there and he ran into Reese near there. “How’s the captain?” He didn’t much care about this but he wanted an excuse to speak to the other man.
Reese threw him an amused look. “He’ll have an impressive black eye for a while. I left Lyn and Keith looking after him in their own affectionate ways.”
Nick gave a huff of laughter. “Don’t get on Siglinde’s bad side.”
“I’m pretty sure she likes me.”
Siglinde didn’t like any men but if anyone could win her round, it would be Reese. “How could she fail to? Does this mean the captain isn’t going to try too hard to win the bet against me and Poppy?”
“I distracted him this morning, although I got the impression he’d already decided it would be too much work to bother with.”
That was a relief. Nick tried not to imagine how Reese had distracted him and instantly got a mental image of Reese naked. He’d seen enough of Reese’s body while they were sharing a room on the planet to know that he had a mostly hairless lean body with smooth dark skin and a hint of muscle, so the picture was a vivid one. He coughed and glanced away. “Speaking of work, I’d better do some digging into who might have owned the gun that killed Kass.”
“I’ll go and do some research of my own on the running of the companies and the financial side of them – see if it shows anything new.”
They headed in separate directions and, when Nick glanced over his shoulder, he caught Reese looking back at him. They both grinned and Nick was left with a warm feeling as he walked away.
Chapter Forty-Three
NICK COULD find no information whatsoever about gun owners. Perhaps a planet with such a small population didn’t consider it too important. Poppy, similarly, learnt nothing new from Norla and it was too early to speak to Bop, so they went back to the warehouse where Kass had died and took more detailed statements about the events of yesterday.
“Did you see who Kass went to speak to outside?” Nick asked a ratall as they stood to one side of the large, busy warehouse, barrels and crates being carried about nearby and his sister speaking to someone else across the room.
“No.” The ratall seemed young and a bit surly. He wore a grubby uniform with the company logo on it, which clashed with his green fur.
“What members of the du Lissin family did you see?”
“Arwyl du Lissin and her husband and Bop du Lissin.”
“You saw Bop yesterday at the warehouse?” he said urgently. “What time?”
The ratall paused to consider this and to wave his tail at another worker, then observe her wave her tail back at him, which seemed to brighten his mood. “During the hour of the fish.”
He should have memorised the planet’s time labels. “Was that close to the time when Kass’s body was found?”
“A few unknown word before.”
He could have yelled with frustration but, instead, he phoned Reese and had the ratall employee grudgingly repeat his words to him. He held the hy-phone back to his own ear. “What did he say?”
“He saw Bop less than an hour before the corpse was found, in the main warehouse, which leads out to the crime scene.”
“If his DNA matches my sample, we’ve got him,” Nick said.
“Good work.”
He thanked the ratall, who was clearly underwhelmed by the excitement his words had caused, and shared the news with Poppy. They left at once and hurried back through the snow and townspeople to the castle, more than ready to bring the murder case to a conclusion.
Beja confirmed that Bop had returned and they followed her up two sets of staircases and past expensively framed holo-paintings and furnishings, then she knocked on a door before leaving them.
They went inside and found themselves in a room ten times more grand than the captain’s quarters, which made Nick nervous about accidentally breaking something worth a fortune. It even had a moving fresco painted on the walls and ceiling, above a plush red carpet.
Bop was sitting, leaning against Mung Sen Zhan on the bed, and he straightened and wiped moisture from his cheeks when he saw them. “I can’t believe my mother’s gone. Do you need a statement or something from me? Are you close to finding the person responsible?”
He was clearly in mourning and showed no sign of concern about what they might have discovered. Nick had a sinking feeling that they had been wrong after all, when the evidence against him had seemed so strong.
“Yes,” Poppy said as she walked over to him. “We believe so. We have DNA samples from where your mother died and we need to check who was there. You were at the warehouse yesterday, weren’t you?”
“No. I had other things to do.”
Nick frowned. Why would he lie when anyone might have – and had – seen him at his mother’s company and when he had innocent reasons, as an employee, for being there?
“Could we test your DNA to eliminate you from the scene?” Poppy asked.
Bop didn’t hesitate before speaking. “Yes, of course. What do you need me to do?”
Poppy scanned his arm and said, “Bop du Lissin, you’re under arrest for the murders of Ember du Lissin and Kass du Lissin.”
“What? But you can’t... I didn’t...” Bop looked back at his lover, confusion and fear evident in his expression.
In that moment, after everything they had done to catch hi
m, Nick was certain Bop du Lissin was innocent.
Chapter Forty-Four
MUNG SEN Zhan came back with them to the ship, insisting the whole way that his lover could never have done what they were accusing him of. The du Lissin family hadn’t wasted any time either and a group of solicitors arrived at The Prince in robicles just before they got there, passing the walkers by in the giant metal vehicles.
It was pandemonium, with people on both sides talking at the same time, and Bop was silent through it all, holding tightly onto Sen Zhan, his pallor evident even after a walk in the icy weather. This was all wrong. They had made a mistake.
“You’d better lock him in your cabin until we can interview him formally,” Poppy said to Nick, “and you need to phone the local cop. I’ll fend off the solicitors.”
She turned away without waiting for an answer and began speaking to the nearest legal person. He grimaced, wishing he could have had a chance to tell her what was bothering him but there would be time later to talk it through.
He took Bop’s arm and Mung Sen Zhan said, “Can I stay with him?”
“Not for the moment,” Nick told him, “but you can see him again soon.”
Mung Sen Zhan turned to Bop, who still seemed to be in a daze. “I love you.” He lightly kissed Bop’s cheek. “I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“I love you too,” Bop said with a sudden desperation, before Nick led him away, past the captain, who looked more interested in speaking to the solicitors than the prisoner. Nick had no idea what Prince intended to say to them but he might at least be able to stop them boarding the ship en masse.
“I was at my mother’s company the day before yesterday,” Bop said, staying at Nick’s side in a docile way. “If my DNA was there, it was from then.”
“It was fresher than that,” Nick said, wishing he understood where his reasoning had gone wrong. Bop must have been at the warehouse, even if he hadn’t committed the murder. Could he have gone there to cover up for someone else? “If you saw anything or did anything, you should admit it now rather than being caught in a lie later.”
“But I wasn’t there,” he insisted. “If I knew anything about my mother’s murder I’d tell you.”
They reached Nick’s quarters and he opened the door. It must look as bleak as a prison cell compared to what Bop was used to, the furniture currently lying shapeless against a wall and most of his clothes packed down to almost nothing in the invisibag.
“Promise me you’ll find out the truth,” Bop begged and Nick could see from the redness of his eyes that he had spent the day crying.
“Yes,” he said, putting conviction into his tone to reassure the younger man. He would find a way to sort this out. “Try not to worry.”
He locked Bop inside before heading to the control room. Reese and Keith were there and Reese said, “Have you arrested Bop?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t make sense anymore. Hang on.” He used the ship’s hy-phone to get the appropriate phone number and call the crime expert, filling him in on Bop’s arrest. He had only just finished the call when Poppy and the captain reappeared, the cop with them after, presumably, teleporting straight here. Damn, he’d forgotten about that ability, hoping to have an hour or two before his arrival to speak privately to Poppy and Reese.
“We can hand the murderer over to you as soon as you wish,” the captain said to Fwis, Seaspray’s crime officer, “and you will, of course, need to confirm with your government that we were the ones who caught him, so they can pay my fee immediately.”
Trust Prince to focus on the money before the case was even finished.
“This is a member of the founding family.” Fwis’s whiskers twitched. “I find it difficult to believe he could kill his own mother and aunt. What evidence do you have against him.”
“We have...” Prince looked uncertain and waved Poppy closer. “My lead investigator will answer that for you.”
“We have motive, means and opportunity. Bop du Lissin is in a romantic relationship with Mung Sen Zhan and, because the Mung family are direct competitors, Ember du Lissin and Kass du Lissin were furious over the relationship and tried their best to destroy it. Our initial investigation was hindered by the du Lissin family but we have DNA evidence that proves Bop was present at the crime scene on the day of Kass’s death and he lied to us about being there. We also have a witness to saw him just prior to the murder.”
“That proves he could have killed his mother, but not that he did,” Fwis said.
“Exactly,” Nick felt forced to agree and every head turned towards him. “Fwis, can we compare notes on the case?”
“I have much job to do before I could name any suspect.”
“What do you mean by exactly?” Poppy asked him and Nick realised no one else had similar doubts, that he was on his own with this.
Put on the spot, he tried to make sense of what was worrying him. “Bop wasn’t concerned about the DNA test because he was certain we wouldn’t find anything against him and he was shocked when it matched the sample from the crime scene.”
“Then there are major doubts about him,” Fwis responded, with an expression on his green face that looked like relief. “I will wait until you have more conclusive findings before I take any steps against Bop du Lissin.”
The captain opened his mouth just as Fwis vanished from the control room.
“What the hell have you done?” Poppy demanded, rounding on Nick.
“His job with this case is the same as ours. He has to be sure we’ve arrested the right person.” They could ask him to come back at any time so didn’t matter if this took slightly longer to resolve.
“We do have the killer. You thought he was guilty too before he got all teary and you fell for his performance like a complete moron.”
“Moron is an understatement.” Prince was flushed with anger. “A buffoon has more sense than you.”
Nick tried not to react to the insults, although his sister’s condemnation hurt. He just needed a chance to talk this out.
“Perhaps we should discuss this calmly,” Reese said, thinking along the same lines, and Nick nodded. “If there’s a chance Bop is innocent...”
“Of course he’s guilty!” the captain roared. “Weren’t you listening to all the evidence Poppy just listed?”
“That’s right.” Poppy caught Nick’s arm. “Just admit you’re wrong.”
“But I’m not. When we found him tonight he was in mourning over his mother’s death.”
“Perhaps he had a crisis of conscience,” Poppy responded.
The captain waved his arms in the air. “Exactly.”
“The first crime scene was wiped clean. If there was a chance his DNA would be found at the second, why was he so calm?”
Poppy shook her head, her expression growing grimmer. “It’s called acting and his DNA was there because the first murder was premeditated, whereas the second one was clearly opportunistic.”
“What’s the harm in discussing the case again and being sure?” he asked.
“We have all the necessary proof or we did until you ruined everything.” Poppy turned to Keith, who had been skulking in his corner, looking amused by the trouble Nick was in, but not keen to draw the attention of anyone angry. “Call Fwis again. Tell him we’re certain of our findings and, if he won’t handle the case, we’ll take it directly to Ocean’s government.”
Why wouldn’t she just listen to him? Nick thought about his promise to Bop that he would get to the truth. If Kass’s murder wasn’t properly investigated now then the real killer might never be caught and someone innocent could take the blame. “You’re wrong about Bop. He...”
“Get out,” Prince snapped at him. “I’ve heard enough from you. Poppy, keep this idiot on a leash from now on.”
Nick winced. They were treating him as if he was the one who’d committed a crime. Even his own sister was refusing to listen and acting as if his opinion was worthless. Since there was nothing
more he could do to get them to take him seriously, he left.
Chapter Forty-Five
“ARE YOU all right?” It was Reese who had come to the kitchen after him – the only place on the ship he could get any privacy to think – and, as grateful as Nick was for the concern, he hated the fact that Reese had seen how little respect Poppy and the captain had for him. There was a part of Nick that wanted to shout at the captain or go off and get drunk, but there was no point in doing something while he was angry that he might regret later and, besides, he couldn’t watch an innocent man face charges for murder.
“Bop didn’t do it.”
“I don’t...”
Poppy’s voice spoke over Reese’s and Nick caught sight of her over the other man’s shoulder. “I need to speak to my brother. Could you give us some time alone?”
Reese glanced at Nick, as if to check whether this was okay with him. He nodded and Reese walked away. Nick felt a spark of hope – perhaps his sister regretted not taking his concerns seriously earlier. Poppy came into the kitchen. Her face had the look she got when she was holding rage under the surface and he realised that helping him was the last thing she had come here to do.
“I can’t believe you behaved like that,” she said in a quiet, even tone.
“He’s innocent.”
“That’s not what this is about right now. We worked on this investigation together. If you had doubts about Bop you had plenty of time to tell me about them.”
“I was following the trail of evidence, like you. It was only tonight, when I saw all his reactions, that I realised he’d been set up somehow.”
“Set up? There was a witness.”
“I know.” He couldn’t understand that. All he knew was that the case against Bop was wrong. “I can’t explain that.”
“That’s right. You can’t explain anything. You made us all look bad just now and you don’t have any proof whatsoever for what you’re saying.”
No One Likes Humans Page 15
