“Tell you what, let me look for something right here at the resort.”
“Why here?”
“I have taken a liking to the sea. Besides, this is where it happened. You can’t tell, I may be able to nose around and find something. Couldn’t hurt.”
“It would give you time to get your strength up, and give me an excuse to come back here often.”
“Can Navy Intel help?”
“I don’t know who is handling the investigation,” he said.
“That should be the first thing we find out,” she said excitedly.
“Heck, I’m with Navy Intel. I’ll go back to that restaurant and ask some questions.”
“Yes, I mean, you need something to give the Admiral when he gets here,” she added.
“Yeah, show him some initiative, like Smith.”
“Okay, you start your sleuthing; I’ll go look for work,” she said.
“And a wedding dress?”
“And a wedding dress,” she laughed.
Chapter 6 – Interrogated
“I’ve already told you a hundred times; I was in the restaurant of the Conch with Lieutenant de la Fuentes when it happened,” said Smith. “Have you interviewed any of the waiters?”
“What’s your relationship with the lieutenant?” asked the constable in charge of the investigation.
“We work together, and we are friends.”
“Don’t you find it odd that the Prime Minister is assassinated by a Legion rifle on his first visit to the planet with the Legion training camp? Is it more than mere coincidence that three of you happened to be in town?”
“I don’t know. I did not know he was on the blasted planet or in town. I really don’t know anything about him. I didn’t even know you had a Prime Minister or what his name was.”
“What are your political leanings?”
“My political leanings deal with situations back on Earth. I really do not know anything about your politics. To be honest, I never gave it any thought.
“Now, let me ask you a question? I understand that you have not had anything like this in a very long time, correct?” asked Denver.
“Yes, that is correct. There hasn’t been a murder in almost thirty years, not until they brought you people up here. Many of us expected violence, but not something on this order.”
“So basically, you have no experience at this sort of investigation,” responded Smith. It was hard to keep calm when he knew this man thought him guilty, just because of where he came from.
“Have you ever heard of the concept, ‘innocent until proven guilty’?” he added.
The constable struck him across his face. “You did it; now confess!”
His boss quickly entered the room. “Okay, that’s enough, we’ll take it from here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you can’t just strike a prisoner.”
“But he’s guilty; he has to be, the damn monkey.” He only now noticed there was a naval officer with his superior. He got up and left without saying another word.
They waited until the door closed behind him. “I’m sorry,” began Constable Riley. “Tempers are pretty short.”
“Yes, I guess so,” Smith said standing to face the Admiral. “I would salute sir, but with my hands cuffed behind my back, it’s a bit difficult.”
“Are those really necessary?” the Admiral asked.
“We feel that with a prisoner this dangerous, it is.”
“Please remove them. I’ll take full responsibility for the prisoner.”
“Very well.” He removed the handcuffs but looked frightened.
“Please Captain, sit down.”
“Yes sir.”
They sat as well. “Are you being treated well?”
“That’s the first time anyone hit me, if that’s what you mean. I guess I’m being treated well enough. I don’t know about the others.”
“We are interviewing the prisoners separately and not allowing them to see one another.”
“A sensible precaution. Now Captain, tell me what happened, everything,” said Admiral La Force.
“Well sir, Lieutenant de la Fuentes and I were in a restaurant at the beach waiting for Commander Fitzpatrick and Mei Ling. She’s his fiancée.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I guess we arrived about six and took a table out on the balcony, overlooking the street and the sea. We had been there a while when we heard sirens. Only later did we find out what happened. I’m afraid that’s all I know. However, they keep asking me the same questions and keep accusing me of the assassination.”
“Very well Captain. Is there anything you can add?”
“I’m afraid not, sir.”
“If you’ll excuse us, Captain,” the Admiral said rising.
“Yes sir.” Smith rose and saluted.
The Admiral and Riley left the room and returned to Riley’s office. “Well, what do you make of it Admiral?”
“Have you interviewed anyone from the restaurant?”
“No, why?”
“That would allow you to check out their story.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Commander Fitzpatrick, my subordinate, has already begun investigating. He has interviewed the waiters. Here is a copy of his report. Please note the time when the first drink order was processed.”
“Oh yeah, can I keep this?”
“Yes, by all means. As you can see, the two of them were where they said they were at the time of the assassination.”
“What about the other one?”
“Lieutenant Jones was with a local woman in a public place as well. Commander Fitzpatrick has obtained sworn statements to that effect.”
“So, you think they didn’t do it.”
“So, it would seem,” the Admiral responded in an even calm voice.
“Well, it was done with one of their rifles. It had to be one of those, those monkeys.”
“Constable Riley, are we letting our prejudice blind us to the facts of the case?”
“Is the navy going to take over this investigation?”
“I think that will happen eventually, don’t you?” asked the Admiral.
“I hope so, between this and the man found dead in his room the day after the assassination, I’ve got my hands full.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know, some guy from one of the asteroids. I don’t even know what he was doing here. Apparently, he wasn’t employed nor had any contact with the navy.”
“Tell me, Constable, do you often have deaths in New Town?”
“No never, these are the first, and to have them happen at about the same time has put my department under considerable stress. I will be happy to see these prisoners go, as soon as somebody gets here to take charge of them.”
“What did he die from?”
“We don’t know. He was just found by the cleaning crew, dead.”
“No injuries, nothing?”
“Not that I know of,” responded Riley.
“That’s interesting. Where is the body now?”
“We’ve fashioned a makeshift morgue, why?”
“Do you have anyone in New Town to handle forensics?” asked La Force.
“No, not really. We have a doctor.”
“Tell you what, hang onto the body. Let me see if I can get a team from the navy on this.”
“Okay, I can do that, for a while at least. We are still trying to find the next of kin.”
“You have the identity of the dead man?” asked the Admiral.
“Yes, we do. He had tickets back to the solar system the day after the assassination.”
“Would you be so kind as to forward me anything you come up with concerning the dead man?”
“Sure,
what are you getting at?”
“I don’t know yet. I find this pushes coincidence just a bit too far,” added La Force.
“What do I do with the prisoners?”
“From what I see, you have no reason to hold them. Release them to me, and I’ll take them back to the base.”
“What if they try to escape?” asked Riley, his surprise approaching fear.
“The entire base is on lockdown,” La Force reminded him. “Besides, where would they go? We are a long way from Earth.”
“Yes, I suppose so. You will have to sign for the prisoners. They will be your responsibility.”
“I take full responsibility.”
It took several minutes to get their belongings back. The police had taken everything from the hotel. Admiral La Force stood by watching in silence. Their personal effects were a mess, but they soon had everything repacked and were ready to go.
“Come with me,” ordered La Force. The Admiral’s naval vehicle was waiting out front. Soon they were on their way.
“Thanks for getting us out, sir,” said Smith.
“I had to.”
“What’s going on, sir?” Farouk asked.
“Everything has gone crazy. The news people are making Boynton look like some sort of martyred hero. He wasn’t so bad as politicians go, but he was no conquering hero.” La Force lowered his face and shook his head.
“The Legion is on lockdown. Nobody leaves the training base. The navy has assumed all guard duty assignments. They are even guarding the armories.”
“Are any of the weapons missing?” asked Denver.
“No, they’ve all been inventoried. Nothing is missing.”
Like a searing pain, it hit Denver where the weapon might have come from. He knew he might be to blame if the weapon came from Dmitri’s team. He said nothing but made a note to find Dmitri.
As they drove past the entrance to the Legion base, they could see a mob of people outside the gate, many with hand-lettered signs. The navy had a vehicle blocking the entrance, and there were a large number of guards at the gate. Every so often, there was a navy man stationed along the outside of the fence.
Smith noted little activity within the training base. He wondered if everyone was confined to barracks. This could only lead to resentment among the troops. It would not take long for this to boil over.
“Sir, where are we going?” asked Smith.
“I’m taking you to Intel. You will meet Commander Fitzpatrick there.”
“We are not to be confined to base.”
“You are no good to me there. The Commander has begun his own investigation. He will bring you up to date,” Admiral La Force assured them.
Interestingly enough, there was extra security over on the navy side of the base as well. The admiral’s car passed through the gate without incident. Still, the whole place seemed on edge.
Fitz was in his office. He came to attention and saluted when the Admiral entered.
“I’ve brought your lost sheep,” he said with a lopsided grin.
“Thank you, sir. Would you like to go into the planning room where we have a bit more space?” asked Fitz.
“Good idea,” responded La Force.
Once seated, the Admiral said, “Commander Fitzpatrick has taken the initiative to begin his own investigation. If anyone objects, I will take the blame. You are acting under my orders. To date, no one has. Okay Commander, what do you have so far?”
“Well, it looks like this.” He went over the details of the assassination for the benefit of his newly released officers. “I was able to get signed statements from people who worked at each of the places the three of you were when the assassination occurred.”
“Is that how you were able to spring us?” asked Smith.
“It was,” answered La Force. “There is something else.”
Everyone looked at him expectantly. “You see, in an apparently unrelated event, someone else turned up dead in New Town, the day after the assassination.”
“That is interesting,” said Fitz.
“I take it, that it’s unusual?” asked Smith.
“Sir, has there been an autopsy?” asked Argie.
“No,” said the Admiral. “It’s been an extremely long time since something like this has happened. Back in the solar system, we do have people who perform that sort of work.”
“If you don’t have homicides, why would you have people to do postmortems?” asked Argie.
“There are accidents, and occasionally, people die alone. By figuring out what happened, we can look for ways to see that it does not happen again,” said Fitz.
“Admiral, do you think it important that we find out why this guy is dead,” asked Argie.
“I don’t know, but it keeps nagging at the back of my mind.” Then he added almost as an afterthought, “What sort of mind would think of such an assassination, much less carry out the act?”
“The kind of mind who felt it had something to gain,” said Farouk. He had been sitting silently, listening, and processing the conversation.
“Who would have something to gain?” asked Fitz.
Smith spoke up. “Sir, I don’t know much about your society, but I don’t believe your people have achieved some sort of nirvana out here.”
The Admiral laughed. “No, no we haven’t achieved nirvana.” Then he added, glancing meaningfully at Fitz, “Nor anything like it.”
“How do you mean, sir?” asked Smith.
“We have a great deal of political infighting,” said Fitz.
“It’s especially brutal at the top levels, such as Parliament and the Prime Minister’s cabinet.”
“From what I remember of my father’s conversations, political assassination is done for political reasons.” Argie quickly added, “Or economic ones.”
“Going on that, who would profit from his assassination?” asked Fitz.
This is what La Force had hoped for, Fitzpatrick and his team had that spark of genius so often missing in Separatist’s culture. He smiled inwardly. Just let them run with it.
“Who had anything to gain,” asked Smith, “and what could they hope to gain? The table was silent for long moments.
Then Denver added, “Sir, tell us about the decision to establish the Legion.”
Both La Force and Fitz laughed. The Admiral spoke up. “Now that was a battle, quite possibly the most divisive thing to ever happen in our society.” He laughed nervously.
“Yes, at one point the constabulary had to take to the floor of Parliament to bring the house back to order,” added Fitz.
Smith exchanged glances with Argie and Farouk. “From what you say, I would expect some bad blood to remain from that fight.”
“Bad blood?” asked La Force.
“Hate, bitterness, anger left over,” answered Farouk.
“Yes, there is still some ‘bad blood’ as you call it. The only way the Prime Minister finally forced it through was by promising not to call the ground force, Marines.”
“What difference would that have made?” asked Argie.
“Oh Lieutenant, our budding military was dead set against anything that would attach the ground force to them. So in one of the hundreds of backroom deals and public compromises, someone decided our military would be the navy.
“That suited them, us having been under-seafaring people for so long. However, to call the ground force Marines, that would have attached it to the navy. There were fistfights over that. The Parliamentarians in that same backroom cooked up the idea of considering the ground force some sort of ‘foreign legion’, helping to keep the ground fighters separate from our own people.
“Well, that got the French on board, and they command a large contingent. So, the Prime Minister was able to marshal the votes.” The Admiral was grinning as he finished his explanation.
“Sir, is that the same Prime Minister who was assassinated?” asked Smith in a calm, low voice.
The Admiral looked at him with the light of understanding slowly dawning in his eyes. “You think his support of the Legion was the reason for his murder?”
“Given how difficult the negotiations were, it is a possibility we might consider,” responded Smith.
“But, other than revenge, what was there to gain? I mean killing your top guy, that’s not a thing to do lightly,” added Argie.
“No, it isn’t,” mused La Force.
“Who would have thought he could get away with it, much less profit?” offered Fitz.
“Somebody pretty high and hot,” answered Farouk.
“Anybody that high and hot is not going to be too happy with our little investigation,” added Argie.
“If someone was willing to go to such extremes to get rid of the Prime Minister, they would also be willing to get rid of the Legion,” said Denver.
“Maybe that was the purpose,” said La Force.
“That would be easier if you had some heinous act to blame on the Legion,” added Farouk.
Denver turned to him. “Like murdering the Prime Minister.”
Fitz looked at the Admiral who looked around the table, drumming his fingers. Who, who, who, he asked himself, then added - why? The Admiral looked up from the table, “Find the ‘why’, and we might find the ‘who’.”
“Whoever it is, is going to give himself away by trying to get rid of the Legion,” said Argie.
The Admiral’s eyes grew large and glazed. He turned to Argie. “It can’t be. It just can’t be.”
“Sir?” asked Fitz.
“Wolfgang Schiller stood up in Parliament and accused the Legion of a coup against us.”
“If this line of thinking is correct, the effort to get rid of the Legion has begun,” Fitz said.
“What we are saying is that Schiller is behind the assassination. That’s fantastical,” said Fitz.
“Sir, if that dead man you mentioned, has any connection whatsoever to this man Schiller, then we might be on the right trail,” said Argie.
“Yes, we’ll need to find the cause of death and find any connection between him and Schiller. The hospital commander is a friend of mine. I’ll go visit him at his office, no at his home this evening. I’ll come up with some excuse to get him to do an autopsy on the dead man to find the cause of death.
Hell Fighters From Earth Book 2 Page 5
