working for me. CIBL picked it up from her to describe the type of behavior that I exhibited at the time and uses it whenever I exhibit similar behavior. Just more of CIBL’s erratic behavior patterns that I have to deal with. It’s a real chore, but Maggie isn’t going to give me time to deal with it right now.
“Woman?!” Maggie exclaims with genuine shock. And then the questions come flying. “What woman? You were here with a woman last night? Who was she? What was she doing here? How late was she here? Was she the reason why you were still asleep this morning when I got here? Was she a date? What did you do? You guys didn’t do anything weird on my desk, did you?” I’m about to respond when she continues, “No. Of course you didn’t. You’re you. Why would you do anything even remotely social, like ever? CIBL, who was she?” I wonder if I waited too long to bring up the case with her. But she was hitting me, so… And she was off god knows where.
CIBL responds, “Caterine Payne. Maiden name, Winter-Garden. Widow of decedent Thomas Payne.” Finally, CIBL complies with my request and opens several lite-screens. Five in total. One each of Mr. Payne, Mr. Burges and Caterine. One is the same two dimensional rendering of the device I scanned last night from Caterine’s purse. The last one is the seal of her Alma matter, the Heartfield Academy for girls. CIBL continues, “The NMCPF maintains Caterine Payne is their main suspect in both the murder of her late husband and of Mr. Burges, last night.”
Maggie’s jaw drops.
“What?!” I have very rarely seen Maggie mad. Right now, she’s positively fuming. It’s that chip she has on her shoulder about caring about everyone else, especially if she fears that no one else may. She was really only playing this morning. “She was here last night?! And Civil thinks she killed her husband! And... and that she killed Mr. Burges, too! And you kept this from me!”
It’ll be fine as long as she doesn’t cry. I’ve never seen Maggie cry and I don’t want to. “Caterine—Mrs. Payne, did not kill her husband. And she sure as hell did not kill Mr. Burges.”
“Of course not! Why would you be on the first name basis with a killer?!” Maggie angrily proclaims. Then she takes a moment to think and process, collecting herself. “Then why does Civil think she committed these crimes, and why was she here last night?” Maggie is still breathing a little hard, after being worked up. In a sad, exasperated voice she begs, “If she didn’t kill Mr. Burges, then who did?”
She’s about to break up over it all, so I try to reassure her. “Civil may be wrong about Caterine being responsible for the murder of her husband and Mr. Burges; however, they are right that the two crimes are connected. I stopped by the crime scene on my way home this morning and saw that Civil had made the same connection that I did. Mr. Payne was killed and it was set up to make it look like Caterine was behind it. The M.O. for the Burges slaying may be different, but I believe that it was committed by the same persons.”
“Why do you say that? And why didn’t you just bring it up sooner?”
“You hit me, and I had to go take a shower. Plus, you were gone when I got back. Where were you anyway?”
“I went to go find out more about Mr. Burges.” Ah, there it is. She found out something that made her cry already. Sometimes I think her heart is too big. Or mine is too small. Either way, Maggie got herself very personally invested in this case. It’s something everyone should avoid. Being involved in such a way only messes with you. That’s the way I’ve always felt and how I tried to approach police work when I was on the force. And I know firsthand the pitfalls of not heeding that advice. Only thing we can do now is solve this case.
“I’m not going to ask what you found out.”
“Fine. Just tell me how Mr. Payne and Mr. Burges are connected.”
“I passed by both of them last night. Caterine was with her husband. I was walking to the office, in the rain, from the Dime Store. Mr. Burges was begging across the street. Half a block away, Mr. Payne was walking Caterine to their car. It’s my belief that Caterine left in the car, but Mr. Payne stayed behind for some reason. Whatever it was, Mr. Payne didn’t die in his home. He was killed in that same alley as Mr. Burges. Mr. Payne was the target, as was Caterine. That’s why his body was moved and it was made to look as if Caterine had committed the crime.”
“What about Mr. Burges?”
“In short, he was collateral damage. I’m not sure why he followed Mr. Payne over a block into that alley where he died.”
“Mr Burges was in the World Military, until he lost his family.”
I can see why she’s more invested now than she was before she found all that out. People should have recognized who Mr. Burges was sooner. Hell, he might even be a war hero. But the world will realize it before too long. Just not soon enough for Maggie.
“That might have played a factor, if he believed Mr. Payne to be in some kind of danger.”
“So… who killed them? Do you have a lead?”
“Not quite sure, yet. But it is why the office is dark right now. When Caterine was here last night, she was sure that her husband was dead. And she believed that she’d be next. She left in the car, but Mr. Payne didn’t. She didn’t know anything after that. And didn’t know anything about Mr. Burges either.”
“If she believed that her husband was dead, why not go to the police?”
“She knew someone was after her and feared that Civil was compromised.”
Maggie shakes her head, “So why you? Why’d she come here?”
“Maybe she recognized me last night and just looked me up on the net. I don’t really know. But I’m sure someone told her about me. She almost let it slip. But she was too broken up to say anything of real value to this case.”
“So she gave you nothing?” Maggie asks, a little defeated.
“She gave me this,” I reply, indicating the lite-screen showing the device with my outstretched hand.
“What is it?” Maggie asks, looking at the device quizzically.
I tap the air towards the lite-screen with my left hand, then I outstretch my right arm in between me and Maggie and open my palm face up. The lite-screen disappears and above my hand materializes a three dimensional rendering of the device. I slightly twist my hand and fingers and the rendering starts to slowly rotate. “I can’t say with any real certainty, but I believe this is why Caterine and her husband were targeted. All I know for sure is that this device allowed her to break into this office last night, through the teleporter.”
Maggie whips around and peers at the teleporter and then back at me. “Is that why it wasn’t working this morning?” Maggie inquires, pointing back at the teleporter over her shoulder with her index finger.
“I believe so, yes.”
“How does it work? Did she make it?” Maggie poses further questions looking up at the screen of Caterine. It’s good that she’s showing some genuine interest. It’s good because it’ll put her head in a better place to work on this case.
“My limited understanding of the device is that I know it can override most systems, if not all. But that is likely more from her rather than the device itself. And I know that the device provides remote teleport capability. She didn’t come in through the lobby. And I have CIBL looking for the location of origin. If CIBL will please continue with the tasks as assigned.”
“Affirmative, St.Claire,” echoes CIBL’s electronic voice.
“As for the question of whether or not she made it. I believe she did. The grey components are unidentifiable from my scan of it.” Approximately fifty percent of the device is grey in color. The rest is gold colored, to show identified components. It is a rather basic design. The main component of the device is a rod made of unknown material. It is three inches long and has a sensor plate at the top of a curved surface. Sensor plates like that are usually installed to prevent unauthorized access. All of the remaining parts are affixed onto or into the rod. The largest part, aside from the rod,
is also fashioned into a grip so it can be more easily held in someone’s hand. “However, the majority the components are made from foreign material and the identified parts are different than the parts of teleporter platforms, but still consistent. Despite there being no public records of Caterine or her husband over the past ten years, she showed remarkable talent for technology when she attended the Heartfield Academy. So, it’s within reason that she’s advanced enough to be the architect of such a device. But it is unlikely that she accomplished it all on her own.”
“Absolutely,” Maggie agrees. “These materials,” she says pointing to the gold highlighted parts of the device, “are strictly controlled. Only the World Government has authorization to bring them down from space. So, if she was working with it, she had to have done so at a government controlled facility. So, how was she even able to take the device off premises, if that was the case?”
“It only had to be government sponsored for the lab to get this material. With lesser controls, she was likely able to conduct real world tests on the device.”
“Then who is after her and how did they even find out about the device in the first place.”
“I’m still looking into that. Right now, I need you to find out the lab she worked with. Go back over the records that I sent you. Find any connection you can
Origami St.Claire No. 2 Page 5
